#untamed winter fest

[laynefaire]

I was tagged by @allwaswell16 to post five fics of mine I really like (despite her knowing how very much I struggle with self-promotion). I’m going to tag @so-why-let-your-voice-be-tamed, @evilovesyou, @a-brighter-yellow, @haztobegood,and @crinkle-eyed-boo because sharing is caring . . . .

  Live a Thousand Lifetimes (57K)

It’s 2025.

After secretly writing and producing their first album in ten years, One Direction is weeks away from releasing their first new single and announcing a world tour.

With the whirlwind about to begin again, Liam re-evaluates the last ten years - the fame, the money, the people who changed his life forever - and the person who walked away.

I don’t even know where to begin talking about this fic. It started out as something that wasn’t supposed to be more than 4-5K words, and somewhere along the way this is where I ended up. I anguished over each sentence, researched way more than I probably needed to, and cried buckets of tears when I finished. This was also the story that reminded me that I am still a writer, even if the stories only matter to me.

Let Me Be Your Everlasting Light  (12K)

Harry Styles and his partner Louis Tomlinson have been dating for four years. Over those years, he has always known that Louis' biggest dream has been to see the Northern Lights in person. Harry arranges a trip to Norway as a gift for Louis, but little does Louis know Harry is also hoping to make his own dream come true, too.

While I much prefer to write Ziam, there are a few rare occasions where a Larry fic makes it’s way out of my brain. This story was intended for @kingsofeverything​’s 28 Proposals fest in the winter of 2019. Unfortunately, between a hospital stay, a trip to England, and Live a Thousand Lifetimes demanding my undivided attention, I didn’t finish it in time. However, finish it I did, the following spring, and dedicated it to Lauren for her friendship and patience when dealing with my unreliable arse. This is another story that I did an absolute tonne of research for because I wanted the details to be as perfect as possible.  

Untamed Hearts (68K) 

It could have been the heat of the summer sun; it might have been the silvered sheen of an early harvest moon. If he dug deep enough, Liam could find every reason ever needed to explain away what happened. In the end, though, it all came down to two meddling friends, a touch of Prince, a bit of Keats, and the moon over the ocean. Its a recipe for disaster. Or love. Probably love.

I started writing Untamed Hearts in late 2013, after two of my fandom writing friends challenged me to do it. They both left the fandom not too long after, but whenever I see the posts for this story, I remember them and all the fun we had together. They encouraged me to try my hand at writing in this fandom, and if I were to dedicate Untamed Hearts to anyone, it would be them. Thank you Sam and Jesse, for always believing in me.

For Evermore (17K)

A Beauty and the Beast AU in which Liam is the Beast, trapped in a world suspended in time, and Zayn is the only one willing to look past the facade of enchantment to find the humanity of the man hidden within.

Beauty and The Beast is my favorite fairytale and my favorite Disney movie.  When the mods for Disney Direction were looking for pinch hitters, and this story was still available, I jumped at the chance.  Being able to recreate it with my OTP was was like a dream come true, and having it received well by those who have read it has been amazing. 

Shadow Dancing (169K+)

As a small child, Liam Payne dreamed of being a firefighter. He took up boxing to defend himself from school bullies, but never lost sight of his dream. 15 years later, Liam is set to be the youngest brigade watch commander in his district, and his recent boxing win puts him in line for the British national title - if he can learn to get out of his own way.

Zayn took his first dance lesson at 5, after watching his sister's tap class. At 18, when an injury derails Zayn's dream of dancing professionally, he sets it aside to attend university, but the lure of dancing proves too great to ignore. He becomes an instructor, and eventually, the owner of a small dance studio, where he encourages other dancers to chase their dreams.

When their worlds collide in a cacophony of misunderstandings, Zayn, confronted with his own biases, realizes there’s more to Liam than meets the eye, and offers to help him prepare for his upcoming fight.

While Liam learns to dance, Zayn learns the art of compromise, and along the way, they find each other.

And when tragedy strikes, Liam finds that Zayn’s love will help him face the shadows of his past, and give him the courage to believe in himself and his dreams for the future.

Shhhhhh! Yes, I know it’s not done. Yes, I know it’s been a while since I updated. It doesn’t make me any less proud of this story - what is already posted, and where it is going. Once again, a story I have done a literal shit tonne of research for - there are over 100 links in my research folder. And while yes, they do fall in love, this story is more a journey of self-acceptance, and as I have explored the dynamics in my characters’ lives, I’ve also done a good deal of introspection on the ones in my life, as well. 

#5 fics tag meme #self rec #fic rec #Live a Thousand Lifetimes #Let Me Be Your Everlasting Light #For Evermore #Untamed Hearts #Shadow Dancing

[rosethornewrites]

Wednesday & Thursday NR, E, & M reading

The usual

Finished

Not Rated:

A Boy and his Cat, by Kakushigo (3rd in a series)

Baishen chose her master when he was still a small, starving child. She has stood by him while he has grown into a teenager and she will stay beside him until his heart stops.

(Written for The Untamed Winter Fest 2019, Prompt: Promise)

When Broken Ties Renew, by ElissaOfVere

Jiang Yanli is unable to push Wei Wuxian out of the way in time and he gets stabbed. As he lays there dying he says all he needs to say to ensure the survival of the Wens, the safety of his son, and reveals the truths he kept hidden. We also see from multiple perspectives how everyone feels about the matter. The sorrow of siblings. The guilt of a partial perpetrator. The love of a soulmate.

But as you know, soulmates belong together in any lifetime. They don't stay separated for long, and neither does family.

Explicit:

worship in your touch, by Anonymous

“Hey, if we’re like this,” Wei Ying murmurs in his ear, breath fanning against Wangji’s skin, “why don’t we do a little more than hugging?”

Wangji’s eyes snap to meet Wei Ying’s.

“You—“ He can’t speak. Is his mouth dry or flooding? Did Wei Ying just— Was he… was he asking? Wangji had never… he’d-

Wei Ying’s eyes are locked with Wangji’s own.

“I know your family doesn’t approve of this before marriage, but I’m asking anyway.”

“I would break any rule for you,” Wangji dismisses. “And Wei Ying is the only one for me.”

He feels so young and old when he says that, but it’s true. Nobody has ever made Wangji feel this way, nobody ever could. But he sees the way a small smile forms on Wei Ying’s face. It’s not the bright one that glimmers with mischief that never fails to brighten a room. This one is Wangji’s favorite smile, the small, flower-like in its slow unfurling. His whole face softens with it, and Wangji knows that smile is only for the people Wei Ying loves.

“Make love to me,” Wei Ying whispers, “I need to feel you in me or I may go insane.”

Or: WangXian modern au first time. That’s literally it.

Unfinished

Explicit:

old loves die hard (old lies die harder), by yuer (vintageblueskies)

Three years ago, Lotus Pier burned and Wei Wuxian disappeared. Lan Wangji spent months searching desperately with Jiang Wanyin, only to be called back to the Sunshot Campaign without finding Wei Wuxian. Officially, Wei Wuxian is missing, not dead, but the unspoken truth is that only death would keep Wei Wuxian from the Jiang sect for so long.

The Sunshot Campaign creeps along arduously. They’re able to sabotage Wen Ruohan incrementally thanks to their spies in Nightless City, but it’s not enough. Wen Ruohan’s corpse puppets are tireless and endless—there are always more bodies to be found.

Then, Wei Wuxian walks out of the Burial Mounds with resentful energy trailing off his body like smoke.

--

or, lwj marries the yiling patriarch in exchange for victory in the sunshot campaign.

Mature:

We Get It, You're In Love, by SimpleSoupsandAppleTarts

It is pointed out to Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji, that they are, in fact, in love with each other.

Naturally, they make up for lost time. This has a wide variety of reactions from those around them.

Time, by WithBroomBefore

Time travel fix-it AU, diverging from after Wei Wuxian's death and before Lan Wangji's punishment.

One: Perhaps the not-voice is a spirit, wailing its own grief. Two: Perhaps it is Wei Wuxian. There is no shortage of unhappy spirits in the world, now, so there is no certainty of that, but Lan Wangji must find out if there is any chance at all. Three: They have not taken his guqin, but the guards will hear it if he plays, and they may stop him. Four: He must then leave Cloud Recesses.

Addicted to a Certain Kind of Sadness, by CynicalMistrust

Wei Ying learns many difficult lessons before he is ten years old.

First - if a body stops moving and begins to grow cold, they will not get up again. Death is a permanent thing.

His parents are dead.

Second - hunger pains grow less severe after the third day.

Third - the line separating "human" from "animal" is fluid as a river.

These, among other lessons needed for survival - failure to take shelter from the rain can lead to weakness and illness, hungry dogs can be far more vicious than angry humans, and men will never offer anything for free - Wei Ying learns, because he refuses to die.

~on hiatus or discontinued, haven't decided yet~

#the untamed #mo dao zu shi #mdzs #cql #chen qing ling #untamed fanfiction

[daktyl-z-jordanii-blog]

family

(untamed winter fest 13/31)

#the untamed #untamed winter fest #lan zhan #lan wangji #lan sizhui #a yuan #lan wangji & lan sizhui #my gifs

[weiwuxiandidnothingwrong]

❄️ Untamed Winter Fest 2019 ❄️ Day 28: Together

We've walked both sides of every street / And through all kinds of windy weather / But that was never our defeat / As long as we could walk together -- Crossroads, Don McLean

#the untamed #untamed winter fest #wangxian #wei wuxian #lan wangji

[bloody-bee-tea]

Untamed Winter Fest Day 5

Ribbon

When Lan Xichen steps into the room, Nie Mingjue is already pacing. Lan Xichen heaves out a sigh, because that is never a good sign, and he is glad he brought his guqin. If Nie Mingjue is already this agitated, he will surely have to play for him later.

“What’s wrong?” Lan Xichen asks and Nie Mingjue whirls around to him, anger clear as day on his face.

Lan Xichen wishes he would calm himself down, this can’t be good for him.

“They want me to marry!” Nie Mingjue exclaims and Lan Xichen freezes for a second.

“Oh,” he then breathes out, and he tries his best to not let the hurt show on his face.

He knew that it didn’t mean anything for Nie Mingjue when he touched his forehead ribbon, but for Lan Xichen it only held one meaning.

And he doesn’t intend to marry anyone else. 

“Do they already have someone in mind for you?” he wants to know, even though he really, really doesn’t want to know.

“You’re not angry,” Nie Mingjue observes and he instantly deflates. “So it’s true then,” he mutters, clearly not intending Lan Xichen to hear it and he sharply turns away from him.

“I don’t know,” Nie Mingjue says. “I didn’t give them a chance to explain themselves.”

“Why call me here then?” Lan Xichen wants to know, because he can’t see what his presence would do for Nie Mingjue right now, and frankly, he wishes he could be very far away from this right now.

Nie Mingjue turns back around and scrutinizes Lan Xichen for a very long while. The only reason Lan Xichen doesn’t squirm on the spot is because he has known Nie Mingjue for so long that he knows he just needs his time to bring his thoughts in order.

“I hoped you would object, actually,” Nie Mingjue says finally, after a deep breath, and his shoulders tense like he’s bracing for impact. 

Baxia even quivers in his stand next to Nie Mingjue’s seat.

Nie Mingjue has never been this agitated when Lan Xichen was around, and he’s not sure he likes it.

“I don’t have a right to object, do I?” Lan Xichen carefully asks, voice even, because it might start to quiver if Lan Xichen let it.

He wishes he had a right to object.

He has loved Nie Mingjue for longer than he cares to remember, long before they even became sworn brothers and the first time Nie Mingjue touched his forehead ribbon he had felt it in every bone of his body.

But of course Nie Mingjue didn’t mean it like that. He probably doesn’t even know that he’s not allowed to touch it, not anymore, not since they grew up.

Only Lan Xichen’s family and his spouse are allowed to touch it, after all. 

Lan Xichen has no intention of ever letting anyone else touch his ribbon ever again, and if Nie Mingjue truly has to marry someone, someone who isn’t Lan Xichen, then Nie Mingjue won’t be allowed to touch it anymore either. 

Not that Lan Xichen would still want it if that happens.

Lan Xichen instinctively reaches out for the long, dangling ends of his ribbon, freely falling down his back and he wraps them around his own hand, trying to minimize the danger of anyone touching it, of Nie Mingjue touching it again when he doesn’t do it because he wants to marry Lan Xichen.

“I thought--,” Nie Mingjue starts but then shakes his head. “Never mind, actually. I’m sorry I called you here.”

Lan Xichen isn’t, not truly even though these news hurt, because he always takes every chance to see Nie Mingjue, but he bows his head anyway.

“Do you want me to play for you today, or should I leave immediately?”

Nie Mingjue hesitates and then he shakes his head. 

“You don’t have to play,” he says and Lan Xichen’s heart falls, because it’s a clear dismissal.

Nie Mingjue has never been this short with him.

“But you shouldn’t fly back today, either. Rest. You can stay here,” Nie Mingjue goes on, and Lan Xichen wishes he hadn’t.

He knows it’s the right thing, to rest and recuperate, because he flew here in a hurry after getting Nie Mingjue’s letter, and it’s already getting dark out and frankly, Lan Xichen is exhausted.

Emotionally more than physical, but it still wouldn’t be a good idea to fly on his sword right now.

“Alright,” he agrees.

“You know the way, right?” Nie Mingjue asks, already occupied with some paper on his table, and Lan Xichen nods towards his back.

“Yes, I know my place,” he mutters, means it for more than just his room, but Nie Mingjue doesn’t react to it at all.

When he reaches his room, he puts his head in his hands and just breathes for a few minutes. 

This is not what he expected. He knows, logically, that the matter of marriage had to come up sooner or later, for both of them, but he always thought they would marry. 

Going by the Lan’s tradition, Lan Xichen has proposed to Nie Mingjue more than twenty times already, and while he has never been accepted, he also hasn’t been outright refused, and that was enough for Lan Xichen to hold out hope.

Hope, that one day, Nie Mingjue would feel the same for him as he did, that he would be glad to marry him.

It was nothing more than a nice dream, Lan Xichen knows that now.

“Xichen-ge, is everything alright?” Nie Huaisang suddenly asks from the door, and Lan Xichen sits up straight again, pushes everything away and smiles for him.

“Of course it is, Huaisang, why wouldn’t it be?” he says and beacons him into the room. 

Nie Huaisang has grown quite a bit lately, though he’s still very small for an eight year old.

“You looked sad,” Nie Huaisang says and snuggles up to Lan Xichen.

“I’m not,” he reassures him and puts his arm around Nie Huaisang. “I’m just tired.”

“Da-ge looks sad as well,” Nie Huaisang says and plays with the fan in his hand.

Lan Xichen’s heart throbs painfully in his chest; he never wants Nie Mingjue to be sad, but he also doesn’t know how to fix this.

“Xichen-ge, you’re family, right?” Nie Huaisang suddenly asks and Lan Xichen frowns at him.

“A-Sang, you know I’m not part of your family,” he says and Nie Huaisang’s face falls.

“But I have seen da-ge touch your ribbon and call you brother and only family is allowed to touch the ribbon, right?” he inquires as he reaches out to play with the ends himself. “And I’m allowed to touch it as well, because if my brother is your brother, then that makes me your brother, too, am I right?” 

Lan Xichen stares at him in surprise as his mind goes into overdrive.

Could they really be this stupid? Could it really be that Nie Mingjue thinks it’s normal he’s allowed to touch his ribbon because they are sworn brothers?

“Is your brother still in the hall?” Lan Xichen faintly asks and Nie Huaisang beams at him as he nods.

“He’s sitting there much like you were just now,” Nie Huaisang says and Lan Xichen nods. 

“I’m going to talk to him again,” he decides and Nie Huaisang claps his hands together, careful not to damage the fan.

“You should,” he decisively says and Lan Xichen narrows his eyes at him. 

Sometimes, Nie Huaisang strikes him as a lot more intelligent and crafty than he lets on normally.

“Off you go,” Lan Xichen says and gently pushes Nie Huaisang off his bed, but the boy goes more than willingly, skipping along the hallway and whistling a happy tune.

Lan Xichen stares after him until he vanishes around a corner and then he shakes his head. He’s probably giving Nie Huaisang too much credit. 

Lan Xichen quickly walks back to where he saw Nie Mingjue last, and true to Nie Huaisang’s words, Nie Mingjue is sitting there, head in his hands, much like Lan Xichen was just minutes before.

“So I just had a very revealing talk with your brother,” Lan Xichen starts and Nie Mingjue’s head snaps up in surprise.

“What?” he asks and Lan Xichen smiles.

“Sometimes I think he’s a lot more perceptive than he lets on usually.”

“He’s a devious little shit,” Nie Mingjue agrees without hesitation and Lan Xichen can see how proud he is of his brother, before he frowns at him. “What did he say?”

“He asked if we’re family, since he saw you touch my ribbon,” Lan Xichen starts, and reaches back for the ribbon again. “But that’s not how that works, Mingjue,” Lan Xichen explains.

“What do you mean?”

“Only family related by blood, and even then just the immediate one, is allowed to touch the ribbon.”

“Oh,” Nie Mingjue breathes out and Lan Xichen prays to all the ancestors that he isn’t imagining the hope on Nie Mingjue’s face. 

“Other than family only the spouse or cultivation partner is allowed to touch it,” Lan Xichen goes on, as if Nie Mingjue doesn’t know about this. “And if it happens before then, it’s a marriage proposal actually,” Lan Xichen further explains and holds Nie Mingjue’s gaze.

“I touched your ribbon,” Nie Mingjue says and his eyes fall down to where Lan Xichen is now holding the ends of his ribbon. “And you didn’t object.”

“Because I didn’t want to,” Lan Xichen admits. “Because I have known since the very first time you smiled at me that I wanted to marry you.”

“Why didn’t you say?” 

“I was afraid,” Lan Xichen softly says. “You touched my ribbon so freely, but it never seemed to mean anything to you.”

“I thought you only allowed me to touch it because we are sworn brothers. That it made me as good as family and that you didn’t object because of that. I never dared to hope for anything more.”

“Mingjue, in the eyes of my sect, I’m already as good as married to you. Promised to you, at the very least. If my uncle knew how often you touch my ribbon he would have a stroke.”

“Why didn’t you object then, when I told you about the marriage earlier?” Nie Mingjue wants to know, though he’s already walking towards Lan Xichen.

“I thought I didn’t have the right. If you don’t feel the same way about me, then what right do I have to meddle in your business?”

“And what way do you feel about me?” Nie Mingjue asks, a small smile playing around his lips as he reaches out to take the ribbon from Lan Xichen’s hands.

“Like I want to marry you,” Lan Xichen gives back, a huge smile on his face, as he wraps his forehead ribbon around Nie Mingjue’s wrist. “How do you feel about me?” he asks, even though the answer is clear in Nie Mingjue’s sparkling eyes.

“Like I want to accept your proposal,” he whispers back as he tugs Lan Xichen forwards so that he can press a kiss to his lips.

Lan Xichen presses up, deepens the contact, and his heart is beating so fast in his chest, he’s sure Nie Mingjue must notice it.

Not that it matters much when Nie Mingjue chuckles low and happy against his lips before he leans down again, kisses Lan Xichen again and again, and Lan Xichen is sure he’ll never get enough of this.

Not that he has to, now that they are getting married.

“But seriously, your brother,” Lan Xichen starts when Nie Mingjue moves his kisses along Lan Xichen’s jaw.

“Knows too damn much for his own good,” Nie Mingjue agrees between kisses and then gently bites Lan Xichen’s jaw. “Let’s not talk about him now.”

He sucks on the soft skin on Lan Xichen’s throat and Lan Xichen finds it very easy to forget all his thoughts, especially when Nie Mingjue tugs on the ribbon wrapped around his wrist and it comes lose completely. 

“I’m allowed now, right?” Nie Mingjue asks as he gathers the ribbon up, wraps it around his wrist again, before he takes Lan Xichen’s arm and wraps the other end around his hand. 

Lan Xichen stares at their connected arms, feels the happiness settle deep into his bones, and he laughs up at Nie Mingjue.

“That and so much more,” he promises and leans up to press a kiss to Nie Mingjue’s chin.

He has waited so long for this, after all. The more can’t come quickly enough.

#bt writes #the untamed #mdzs #untamed winter fest #nielan #canon divergence #hurt/comfort #getting together #pining #marriage proposal #ribbon

[imaginaryelle]

For the Untamed Winter fest day 7 prompt, “relax.” A soft wangxian moment.

Wei Wuxian sits with his back against a tree and draws his fingers through Lan Wangji’s hair. He keeps the touch light and slow. Careful. Reverent.

It’s a rare moment. Precious. Gentle sunlight filters through the pines. Birds chirp. The breeze down from the mountains is just lightly cool, and carries with it the scent of gentian flowers.

Lan Wangji sleeps with his head in Wei Wuxian’s lap, the rise and fall of his breaths soft and regular. His hair ornament sits on a small square of cloth beside them. Bichen stands propped against the tree. A short distance away, Little Apple grazes on bright summer grasses.

Wei Wuxian’s left leg is asleep, but he doesn’t move, and he doesn’t complain. He starts again at Lan Wangji’s brow, smoothing his fingers through ink-dark hair in long, steady strokes, careful not to tangle the forehead ribbon. He watches lines of tension fade from the corners of Lan Wangji’s eyes, watches his shoulders shift and his fingers relax around Wei Wuxian’s other hand as he sinks more deeply into sleep. He hums, softly. A hint of a lullaby.

Later, Wei Wuxian will draw this scene. The two of them, and the tree, and Little Apple, and the flowers. Later, he’ll make a show of inspecting the cuts and bruises Lan Wangji acquired during their night hunt yesterday, even though he can feel his lover’s qi surging, already healing such minor wounds.

Later, he’ll draw his hands over Lan Wangji’s bare wrists, and kiss his palms, and tell him to be more careful.

Later.

Now, he listens to the wind in the trees, and watches the sun shine on white silk and black hair, and waits with the unhurried patience of mountains.

#untamed winter fest #wangxian fic #mo dao zu shi fic #the untamed fic #wangxian #chen qing ling #mo dao zu shi #alex writes #winterfest2k19 fic

[fytheuntamed]

❄️ Untamed Winter Fest 2019 ❄️ // Day (4/31) // Decorating - Wei Wuxian living his best goth life ft. candles

#the untamed #mdzs #untamed winter fest #wei wuxian #wwx #scenery #utwf day 4 #all i could think of while making this is that meme about the dude who needs help with his budget #and he's spent 95% of it on candles #does anyone know the meme i'm talking about? #screencap #edit*

[theflowergirl]

❄️ Untamed Winter Fest 2019 ❄️ Day 1: Shiver

[Modern AU]

Wei Ying only notices Lan Zhan is next to him when he sees his reflection on the glass window of the antique store.

 “Lan Zhan,” he says, turning his head to him with a lopsided smile. “Aren’t you tired of me yet? I’ve been talking your ear off all day.”

 Jiang Cheng and Nie Huaisang definitely were, having no qualms about leaving Wei Ying behind while he stopped to look at every single shop in Yunmeng like he had been stranded at sea and hadn’t visited his hometown in something like ten years. In truth, it had only been two whole years since he had gone to Gusu for university, but it was the first time all of his friends were over for winter break and Yunmeng felt so homely with the fairy lights of the season, was he not supposed to bring them everywhere, picking up trinkets and turning them in his hands with no intention to buy them and eating hot snacks from street vendors at Jiang Cheng’s expense around the corners?

 And how could he help himself when Lan Zhan let him pull him by the hand while he gossiped about the residents of every house they walked past, making up stories for those that he didn’t actually know in a matter of seconds, pointing and laughing at all the meaningful places of his childhood while Lan Zhan nodded quietly and Jiang Cheng refuted everything that came out of his mouth?

 With Lan Zhan there, pliant and agreeable and looking closely at everything Wei Ying held and showed, even as the sun started setting, he didn’t really mind it when the others walked away to talk about their own things and listen to their own voices instead of Wei Ying’s. So he really thought Lan Zhan was going away with them, for some peace and quiet of Yunmeng’s dusk. He got tired of himself sometimes too, so he’d understand.

 But if he really is tired of him, he’s too polite to say it. He just walks close, his shoulder brushing against Wei Ying’s as he glances down at the ornate music box the antique shop has on display. His breath fogs up the glass slightly, and Wei Ying’s playful smile fades bit by bit the longer he keeps his eyes on the other’s profile, fair skin contrasting against the lavender Yunmeng sky that slowly receded to a deep violet. He’s so used to seeing Lan Zhan against the cool colors of Gusu and he’s beautiful there, of course, but in the warm winter of Yunmeng, the store lights reflecting their colors on his clear eyes...

 He almost takes a step back when Lan Zhan raises his eyes to him. And even if he tries grinning to cover up the seconds where he heard nothing and saw nothing but Lan Zhan by his side, he must have shown something because the next second, Lan Zhan is unwrapping his own scarf from around his neck and securing it around Wei Ying. The light blue wool carries the scent of Lan Zhan’s body cream and it’s right there, brushing against his nose. And if he felt stupid for staring before, his thinking about short-circuits when Lan Zhan’s fingers touch his nape in an attempt to pull at the hair there, to adjust it over the scarf. He’s incapable of fighting back the shiver that plays down his body and the involuntary action causes Lan Zhan to freeze, a delicate frown appearing between his brows as Wei Ying looks up at him with wide, blinking eyes.

 “Why are you dressed so lightly?”

 He blinks more.

 “Yunmeng winter isn’t as severe as Gusu’s?” He says, his voice tilting with a question mark that he hadn’t really intended. Lan Zhan looks entirely unconvinced. “It barely even snows here, Lan Zhan.”

 “You were shivering.”

 Was I?

“I’m okay!” He insists, but he can’t even try convincing him with a smile because the scarf sits high on his neck and almost covers his nose. He makes a pull at it, desperate to breathe something that is not so obviously Lan Zhan, but the other holds his wrists and pull them down gently. When Lan Zhan makes movements that clearly indicate he’s ready to take off his coat, Wei Ying holds up both of his hands. “Okay! Okay, I’ll keep the scarf. It does get chilly after dark and Jiang Cheng will yell at me if I get sick during the break.” He laughs, waving a hand before clasping both behind his back. “Do you want to go in? Maybe there’s something pretty for sister.”

 He unclasps his hands and takes Lan Zhan’s, having lost count of how many times he’s done that exact same thing that day, and walks into the shop. They walk through the aisles, all the way to the back, taking in all of the faded gold and vintage decorations, Wei Ying putting on a few silly hats on himself and Lan Zhan for the other’s amusement. He’s delighted that it makes his friend smile in that way he only does when they’re alone, and for that, he could spend his entire break on days just like this one — fun and full of pretty little nothings. When he stops to look at some pretty bracelets for Jiang Yanli, he feels warmth slipping away from his grasp as Lan Zhan walks to the counter to talk to the shop owner. He was still holding his hand? He feels his palm sweaty all of a sudden. The scarf is definitely too much, his face too hot under it.

 He calms himself thinking of his sister, taking his time to choose a piece of jewelry that matches her discreet grace. When he finally walks up to the counter to pay for the gift, he notices Lan Zhan has bought something of his own.

 “Eh, why didn’t you show me what you wanted to buy, Lan Zhan?” He whines, his glare definitely ineffective under the bundle of the scarf by the way Lan Zhan tilts his head at him.

 “It’s a secret.”

 “Lan Zhan! You can’t keep secrets from me!”

 Without another word, Lan Zhan walks away as Wei Ying pays for Yanli’s present. Once outside, Wei Ying nudges his shoulder against the other’s.

 “Is it for brother Xichen? Is it for me? Tell me, you know I hate surprises.”

 “You’ll see.”

 He says his name with a whine again, at the same time his phone sounds an alarm in his pocket.

 “Jiang Cheng says that if we’re not at the restaurant in five minutes, I’ll have to pay for my own food. Let’s run, Lan Zhan!”

 “I’ll pay for you,” Lan Zhan answers simply, slipping a hand in the pocket of his long coat, walking slowly (perhaps even slower than his usual pace). Wei Ying laughs.

 “I knew you cared for me, Lan Zhan!”

 Lan Zhan doesn’t grace him with any agreement, but neither does he show any sign of disagreement. The grin Wei Ying sports underneath the layers of the scarf disappears when that warm hand takes his, taking the initiative for the first time that day and ever.

 “Let’s go before you get cold,” he says.

 They take fifteen minutes.

#untamed winter fest #The Untamed #Mo Dao Zu Shi #fanfiction #Wangxian #Lan Wangji #Wei Wuxian

[myasphodelmeadow]

❄️Untamed Winter Fest 2019❄️

06 Warmth

Hold me in this wild, wild, world ‘Cause in your warmth I forget how cold it can be

Warmth - Bastille

#untamed winter fest #the untamed #fytheuntamed #wangxian #cqledit #my edit #lan wangji #wei wuxian #lyric quotes

[satonthelotuspier]

❄️ Untamed Winter Fest 2019 ❄️

Day 10 - Glow - 0.9k

Jin Ling woke to what he thought might have been the sound of something rattling the shutters of his inn rooms. He lay there, wondering if he’d imagined the noise, and wondering if he even cared if he hadn’t. He could feel the cold air of the room against his face and determined to snuggle down deeper into his blankets.

Then the noise happened again, and Fairy padded towards the window, whining to draw his attention.

“Fine” he groused, climbing from underneath the tempting warmth of thick winter covers to stand shivering as he pulled on his outer robes and boots.

He threw open the shutters.

And was promptly hit in the face by a projectile made of packed snow.

There was utter silence on either side of the shutter and time seemed to stop. It took Jin Ling exactly that time to process what had happened.

There were no two ways about it, Lan Jingyi was going to die.

The snickering began to sound from outside now, Lan Jingyi wasn’t really even doing much to smother his, but Lan Sizhui and Ouyang Zizhen had better manners and tried to hide their laughter behind their sleeves.

“In fairness I meant to hit the shutters but you opened them” Jingyi called up, then “Young Mistress Jin, there’s a field full of fresh snow outside the village, come with us”

“Childish” he sniffed in his superior tone which he knew riled Jingyi up.

Another snowball flew fast and perfectly aimed towards him, but pre-warned as he was now he dodged easily.

“Lan Jingyi, prepare to die” he threatened as he leapt lightly onto the windowsill and dropped down into the courtyard. Jingyi had taken off running out of the inn yard and out of the village into the pristine fields of snow that had been their intended destination, Jin Ling hot on his heels pelting quickly scooped up snowballs at his ever retreating back.

Lan Sizhui, Ouyang Zizhen and the other juniors followed after them at a more stately pace, until Zizhen took a Jingyi snowball to the face.

Then battle ensued.

It was a giant free for all, the air became thick with flying snow and thicker with the high, excited shouts of youngsters enjoying themselves. Jin Ling couldn’t ever remember having this much fun before in his life as he sent snowball after snowball at his friends, dodging and weaving and occasionally getting hit by returned volleys.

They didn’t feel the chill at first as they ran about, whoops and hollers reverberating around the empty field but as the morning wore on their hands began to get cold and their faces began to glow as the frosty air turned their cheeks pink.

There were still snowballs flying around but thrown with slightly less enthusiasm now. Then someone went and did something stupid.

Completely by accident.

A rogue snowball flew through the air and hit Hanguang-jun in the shoulder. Actually it had been about to hit Wei Wuxian, but Hanguang-jun would never allow that to happen, and he’d used himself as a shield.

It would have been funny. If every junior of his generation wasn’t terrified of Hanguang-jun.

Total silence reigned where there had been noise and merriment.

Until Wei Wuxian started to laugh.

Uncontrollably and whole-heartedly.

He fell to the snow and curled over laughing, “Oh Lan Zhan, you should see your face” he told Hanguang-jun, who didn’t react, just brushed the snow off his shoulder carefully.

Wei Wuxian continued laughing right up until Jin Ling’s snowball hit him in the side of the head.

He looked confused for a moment before zeroing in on Jin Ling who smirked in amusement, but he didn’t get a chance to reprimand his nephew because Jiang Cheng got there first.

“Jin Ling” his voice lashed out like Zidian and Jin Ling tensed, awaiting the dressing down. ”You are a Sect Leader and you should behave like one-”

He didn’t get any further as another projectile flew through the air and hit Jiang Cheng in the face. Jiang Cheng sputtered and Jin Ling fought with all his might to keep the laugh from breaking loose. As if his life, or at least his legs, depended on it.

“Wei Wuxian!” Jiang Cheng ground out eventually, and there was a passage of time that Jin Ling thought Zidian itself might make an appearance, but Wei Wuxian waved his finger at Jiang Cheng.

“Now now Sandu Shengshou, you are a Sect Leader and should behave like one” he mimicked.

And honestly Jin Ling had to marvel at how much Wei Wuxian liked to play with fire.

Time seemed to stand still, Jin Ling swore he could see the purple crackle of lightning play around his jiujiu’s hand. And then everything speeded back up again as Jiang Cheng bent to scoop up snow and launch it back at Wei Wuxian in one fluid movement.

Wei Wuxian, never one to be outdone in frolicking, responded in kind.

Round two began, the shouts and yells of youngsters this time joined by the threats and calls of the two adults.

Eventually Jin Ling sank to the snow, completely exhausted, to sit and watch. Zizhen and the two Lan disciples came to sit with him.

“Honestly, I don’t know where they get their energy from” Lan Jingyi said, watching Wei Wuxian try to escape from a barrage of snow thrown quickly by Jiang Cheng.

Jin Ling pressed his chapped hands over his glowing cheeks to try and rub some circulation back into them and stop the tingling. “At least they’ll sleep tonight” he said and the others burst into peals of laughter.

#untamed winter fest #day 10 #juniors #lots of juniors #jin ling #lan jingyi #lan sizhui #ouyang zizhen #wei wuxian #lan wangji #jiang cheng #mdzs fic #mdzs #snowball fight #silly fun #shay's stuff #the untamed

[rosethornewrites]

Wednesday & Thursday T & G reading

The usual

Finished

Tumblr:

Untitled, by @themagicmistress

Teen:

finally found you, by wolframvonbielefeld (maknaeline) (3rd in a series)

Sizhui has been looking for his Xian-gege for a very long time.

or: children can forget lots of things, but not their parents' love.

Friend of Lotus Pier, by Kakushigo (4th in a series)

Nie Mingjue would have never imagined himself a cat person, then he fought alongside the Yunmeng Jiangs and realized, yes, he's kind of a cat person.

General:

If a man stands in silence for long enough, by TheRealFailWhale

If a man stands in silence for long enough / eventually only the silence remains

This is a short piece about LWJ's silence, and how regretting that silence might have changed his actions when he finds Mo Xuanyu/Wei Ying at Dafan Mountain.

Picnic in the backhills..., by Ladycroft4evr (16th in a series)

Lan WangJi's Shufu wakes up (finally lol I let him off the hook) and Wei WuXian playfully suggests hiding out: Cue WangXian picnic in the Back Hills of Cloud Recesses. Wei WuXian tries to have this long overdue conversation about Lan WangJi's guilt, Lan WangJi dodges...and there are sighs and chaste little kisses and sweet songs played on flutes and naps after. Enjoy this lazy afternoon with WangXian, everyone 🥰

Yunmeng Cat Sect, by Kakushigo

The Yunmeng Jiangs have always had a very close relationship with the cats of Lotus Pier. Other sects won't say it's strange to their face, but it is certainly strange. (Also known as the fic where everyone at Lotus Pier has a cat. But you don't chose the cat, the cat chooses you.)

(Written for The Untamed Winter Fest 2019, Prompt: Tradition)

With This Ribbon, I Wed Thee, by Kakushigo (2nd in a series)

When Huan and Baishen saunter into Xichen's study with ribbons clutched in their mouth, he knows to start preparing for his little brother to marry. (Also known as LWJ & WWX's cats exchange their human's ribbons & Lan Qiren nearly has a heart attack.)

(Written for The Untamed Winter Fest 2019. Prompt: Ribbon)

Fishing in the Back Hills..., by Ladycroft4evr (17th in a series)

Vacation is almost up for WangXian, Jinlintai looms closer, mild dusting of angst. WangXian decide to put a lid on their respective anxieties and make the most of their time together before pandemonium... Lan WangJi keeps his promise from the day before and takes Wei WuXian to the Back Hills again to spend the day there.

Mission: Prank the Juniors..., by Ladycroft4evr (18th in a series)

WangXian take the Lan Juniors on a night hunt, camping at a forest after..JingYi loses a bet to Wei Wuxian, Lan WangJi is jealous, Wei WuXian decodes it too lol..mostly just WangXian having a good time being around each other

Bet Your Heart, by Vamillepudding

Wei Wuxian grins. “I’m going to use this summer to seduce Zewu-jun, and I’m going to get his brother to help me do it.”

Or: To win his bet against Jiang Cheng, Wei Wuxian has to kiss Lan Xichen. Who better to ask advice from than Lan Zhan?

Unfinished

Teen:

Finding Answers, by Golden_Cores_and_Teleportation_Circles

Set two years after the story ends, Lan Sizhui joins forces with Nie Huaisang to get justice and call out the Cultivation World, he also maybe falls in love along the way.

Relentless, by nirejseki

“Why are we even here?” Wen Xu groused.

“Yeah! That’s right! Why are we here?” Wen Chao immediately chimed, very obviously taking his cues from his elder brother – much to the latter’s irritation, judging by his immediate scowl.

Lan Qiren knew that he needed to pick his next words very carefully. With recalcitrant students, a teacher only had a few opportunities to really connect with them. If he allowed them to dismiss him or categorize him as an enemy at this early stage, it would be an incredibly uphill battle to gain enough respect in order to teach them anything, and in this case, given the strength of their background and the fact that this little teaching session was both likely to be short and definitely completely unauthorized, it would quite possibly make it completely impossible to ever get through to them.

“You are here,” Lan Qiren said solemnly, each word slow and thoughtful, “because your father is an ass.”

(a story of kidnapping and falling in love, reluctantly)

Truths Laid Bare For All, by Preludian_Staves

The betrothal letter comes in the Springtime with a Lan escort, changing how events happen in Wei Wuxian's life.

AKA Wangxian meets early before the Cloud Recesses lectures and slowly starts moderately sooner, some things change and others stay moderately the same. Plus WWX flourishing under the tutelage of the Lans when there isn't prickly Heir or his equally prickly mother lurking around that needs near constant appeasement and a truth serum is involved somewhere in the course of things.

General:

Then not in vain for you I pine, by BlueAthena (2nd in a series)

In another world, Jiang Fengmian does not find true love and is accused of loving the ghost of a dead woman.

In this world, he finds true love but it is not with the ghost of said woman.

(Because long before he met the maiden that descended from celestial mountains, he grew up with a man who held the moon in his eyes and unbeknownst to them both, held Fengmian’s heart in his hands.)

#the untamed #mo dao zu shi #mdzs #untamed fanfiction #cql #chen qing ling

[twistedteacupart]

Just a cute modern-y winter scene for WangXian ^_^ 

Untamed Winterfest - Day 28: “Together”

#untamed winter fest #utwf day 28 #wangxian #wei wuxian #wei ying #lan wangji #lan zhan #mdzs #mo dao zu shi #mdzs fanart #the grandmaster of demonic cultivation #ariaartifex

[daktyl-z-jordanii-blog]

for you

(untamed winter fest 21/31)

#the untamed #untamed winter fest #song lan #xiao xingchen #my gifs

[problematiquefics]

i’ll bet your sadness shimmers (wangxian, g)

for day 29: frozen of untamed winter fest. cross-posted to ao3. 

Lan Wangji was born with a curse.

Cold seeped from his finger tips and ice crystals formed on everything he touched. When his emotions got the better of him, the surrounding air turned frigid and storm clouds gathered over his head.

So he didn’t lose control. He wore gloves. He didn’t touch anyone. He didn’t allow himself the luxury of feelings. The heart, where emotions were rooted, was a traitorous organ – and it was where the curse lied.

Conceal, don’t feel, he reminded himself again and again. He said it to himself when he woke up in the morning, when he ate his breakfast around the other students of Gusu Lan, during lessons with Lan Qiren, each time he flipped a page while studying alone in the library, and every night before bed. Forgetting wasn’t an option. If anyone knew…

He doesn’t remember the first time his powers manifested. Too young. Perhaps he was an infant, reaching for his mother’s hair with chubby hands, crystals of ice forming before his unknowing eyes. Maybe he was a toddler, first learning to walk, each step leaving a footprint of frost. He doesn’t know and no one has told him.

(He’s also never asked.)

But his first memory is related. It wasn’t of his powers. It was of a discussion about them.

He was sitting on Lan Qiren’s lap, playing with strands of his uncle’s hair. Words were spoken around him, about him, but he was too young to care. Too young to know what most of it meant. In hindsight, he flinches when he remembers some of those suggestions. They were cruel, more fit for a ferocious ghost than a little boy. But what were they to do? They didn’t even know where the powers came from. But they knew, with certainty, that it had to be a curse.

An unbreakable one, evidently.

Lan Wangji’s control is impeccable. He was seven the last time he lost control, an incident he’ll never forget – not when his uncle still has a stripe of white hair. The gloves never come off, he never loses his temper. He can’t afford to. Yet…

A boy with dark hair and a wicked grin arrives in the Cloud Recesses.

He has no respect for the rules. He sneaks wine in past the gates and offers it to Lan Wangji like it’s no big deal. It’s not, not to Wei Wuxian. He is reckless and wild, a storm of black and red and flashing teeth. On his first day in class, he suggests another way to combat ferocious enemies – to harness resentment, to practice dark magic.

Wei Wuxian is trouble.

Lan Wangji knows this.

But he stirs something inside of Lan Wangji. He has a temper that Lan Wangji can’t have. He has a rebellious streak that Lan Wangji can’t have. He has a soul that Lan Wangji wishes he could have.

Wei Wuxian leaves him conflicted, confused, and out of balance. No one and nothing has ever tested his control like Wei Wuxian has.

If Wei Wuxian were the only one to test him, he thinks he could handle it. But then the Qishan Wen burn the Cloud Recesses. They gather the young members of each clan and force them to work under Wen Chao’s cruelty. He is trapped in a cave with little hope of survival. Lotus Pier is razed to the ground.

Wei Wuxian goes missing.

They find Jiang Wanyin but the only sign of adopted brother is his bell.

Lan Wangji searches. Night after night he plays Inquiry. Gossip may be against Cloud Recesses’ rules but it doesn’t stop him from listening to every whispered word. He needs to knows. He has to know.

Finally, he hears something.

Wen Chao cast Wei Wuxian into the burial mounds.

His heart thuds against his ribcage.

No.

It can’t be true.

Wei Wuxian can’t be dead.

Because there is only one fate if it is true – that wicked smile, that storm cloud of a cultivator, is gone.

Lan Wangji locks himself in his room. The temperature plummets inside, icicles forming on the ceiling. Snowflakes hang suspended in air. He sits on his bed and tries to breathe. Tries because his lungs feel frozen.

“Lan Wangji?” a familiar voice calls from the other side of his door.

Lan Xichen.

The door slides open. His brother’s eyes scan the room. He breathes in and then out, a white cloud escaping his lips.

“What’s wrong?”

Barely louder than a murmur, he answers, “Wei Wuxian.”

“We’ll find him.”

“He’s dead.”

“Maybe not,” Lan Xichen says, a look of desperate hope in his eyes. “Wen Chao boasts. It might be a lie.”

“He’s gone.”

The room grows colder, darker. Outside, clouds block the sun – the rarest of occurrences.

“Brother…”

He can barely hear Xichen. There’s a storm inside his mind, a blizzard howling in his ears. It’s consuming. The cold is racing through his veins.

“Brother!” Xichen squeezes his wrists. He hadn’t even realized his brother had moved. “You’re losing control. You need to control it.”

Objectively, of course, he knows that but the words he has told himself all his life are drowned out by the storm.

“I can’t.”

A broken whisper but it goes off like a firework.

The storm rages but it’s no longer inside his head.

The world is white – from Lotus Pier to the Nightless City. If one thing can be said, it puts a damper on the fighting. Yet it certainly doesn’t stop the war. Rumors spread of Wen soldiers bbeing gruesomely massacred – it’s not the work of any clan nor the work of any ghost. Dark shadows fall over the fresh snow.

But Lan Wangji knows none of this.

After the blizzard started, he fled the Cloud Recesses.

He can’t tell you where he is now. Some mansion, some place, somewhere. Completely alone. Yet it doesn’t calm his mind and it can’t tame the storm. His mantra has stopped working.

At this point, he doesn’t know what can.

“Lan Zhan?”

That voice…

He opens his eyes, tilts up his head, looks at the face staring back at him.

It’s changed but… The same, too.

His hair is done, somehow more wild than even. His eyes are the same shade yet colder. And the energy that radiates from him is…

Dark.

Wei Wuxian kneels beside him. Slender fingers reach out, caressing his cheek.

He grins. It’s a different kind of wicked.

“Did you miss me?”

Lan Wangji blinks at him. “You died.”

“Rumors of my death were greatly exaggerated. Besides… I couldn’t die without saying goodbye to you, could I?”

It’s not right. He’s not right. But Wei Wuxian is right in front of him, alive, and the storm outside stops.

#untamed winter fest #mdzs #wei wuxian #lan wangji #wangxian #fic: miscellaneous #based on the donghua mostly since i'm only ep3 of the untamed

[bloody-bee-tea]

Untamed Winter Fest Day 10

Glow

This is inspired by the Eldritch!Lan AU back on @angstymdzsthoughts and it was a delight to play in this sandbox (I might do some Zhuiyi later because I love this AU) 

When Jiang Cheng wakes up, he’s immediately alert.

He doesn’t wake up during the night; he always sleeps like a log, so when he blinks awake and notices that it’s still pitch dark outside, the adrenaline spikes hard.

He calms his breathing, tries to listen for anything that could have woke him up, but he finds only silence, can’t even hear the soft breathing of Lan Xichen, who should be next to him in bed.

Jiang Cheng carefully turns his head, maybe the absence of his boyfriend is what woke him up, but when he looks at Lan Xichen’s side, he’s met with something so dark it even stands out against the darkness of the night.

There’s a void next to him in bed and Jiang Cheng throws himself out of it, Zidian already crackling and sparking, illuminating the room in a faint purple.

Jiang Cheng can see the black mass jerk, as if it was startled, and then eyes appear on the shapeless form. A cold shudder runs down Jiang Cheng’s back when more and more eyes open, too many to count, all over the blackness, and they all must glow, emit their own light, because the room gets brighter and brighter with every eye that is opened.

And it just doesn’t stop.

Jiang Cheng thinks there must be eyes on every inch of that black void, and his heart goes into overdrive.

The monster is laying where Lan Xichen should be. If it hurt him, Jiang Cheng will find every single eye on that thing and squeeze them out.

The black thing suddenly becomes agitated, Jiang Cheng can see some kind of tentacles move, and it shakes him with how wrong it seems. There are too many eyes and tentacles and limbs, and his brain has a hard time processing it all.

Suddenly a sound fills the room; Jiang Cheng can’t see a mouth on the thing, doesn’t know where it comes from, but it fills every inch of the room, putting an immense pressure on his head. It almost sounds like a whine, low and distressed, but it’s also sparking an intense headache, so Jiang Cheng only cares for it to stop.

Zidian comes alive in his hand, whip uncurling and slightly moving against the floor, though Jiang Cheng still hesitates. There are just too many limbs.

And then, suddenly, everything stops. The whine fades out, the limbs still and the eyes close one after another, until only two are left. A ripple goes through the form, a sound like a sigh coming from it, and then, in a move that almost makes Jiang Cheng go insane with its impossibility, the black thing reshapes to take the form of Lan Xichen.

“Jiang Cheng,” he rasps out, trepidation and fear clear on his face, and Jiang Cheng knows it wasn’t a trick of light or whatever.

Lan Xichen is not as human as he made Jiang Cheng believe.

Jiang Cheng continues to stare at Lan Xichen’s pleading face for a very long moment, before he calls Zidian back, turns around and leaves.

Lan Xichen is a monster. That’s the only thought in his head; his memory helpfully replaying the sight of that eye-covered, tentacled void next to him in bed over and over again and Jiang Cheng feels sick.

Lan Xichen lied to him all this time.

Jiang Cheng’s mind is whirring, wonders if it’s just Lan Xichen or if it’s a Lan thing in general, and he briefly fears for his brother. Hopefully Wei Wuxian is safe. He married one of the Lan’s after all.

Jiang Cheng shakes his head at that thought; Wei Wuxian can take care of himself. What’s more important is that a monster is lose in Lotus Pier and it needs to be stopped, before it can hurt anyone.

Jiang Cheng has barely thought that when he stops dead in his tracks.

If Lan Xichen has been like this all the time, then he has never done anything to hurt Jiang Cheng or anyone else in Lotus Pier.

Lan Xichen has been nothing but doting and sweet; he cares for Jiang Cheng as much as he does for everyone else of this clan and if he really, truly is a monster, then it doesn’t make sense.

Jiang Cheng grinds his teeth together as he balls his fists, because it doesn’t change anything.

Lan Xichen lied to him all this time.

For good reason, a traitorous voice in his head says, and Jiang Cheng has to admit that it might be right.

If this is how Jiang Cheng reacts to this secret, then it’s no wonder Lan Xichen tried to keep it hidden.

Jiang Cheng huffs out an angry breath as he turns around and storms back to his room. He deserves an explanation, and by the ancestors, he will get one, even if he has to face Lan Xichen in that other form again.

When he throws the door to his room open, he hesitates in the doorway when he sees Lan Xichen pack his things.

“What are you doing?” he snaps out, and Lan Xichen whirls around, clearly taken by surprise that Jiang Cheng is back so soon.

“Preparing for the inevitable,” Lan Xichen tells him with a small, sad smile. “I’m sorry.”

“So it was you,” Jiang Cheng says, because that apology clearly is a confession as well. “It wasn’t just a trick of light, or something else stealing your shape. It was you.”

“Yes,” Lan Xichen admits, and he’s not meeting Jiang Cheng’s eyes.

He distantly wonders what happened to all his other eyes.

“You’re not human,” Jiang Cheng states the obvious and Lan Xichen flinches under his words as if he’s been hit with Zidian.

Jiang Cheng is only met with silence, though he doesn’t expect an answer.

“Is it just you, or is it everyone in your clan?” Jiang Cheng asks, and the Sect Leader part of him wonders if they could take the Lan Clan if all of them are like this.

“No Lan has ever been born human,” Lan Xichen lowly admits and the admission sends a shiver down Jiang Cheng’s back.

He gives himself a moment to process that answer, before his brain turns into an unsuspected direction.

“Your mother was human,” he says and suddenly it makes a lot more sense, the unhappy marriage Lan Xichen has told him about.

Lan Xichen merely nods at that.

“But she loved you regardless,” Jiang Cheng goes on, because he remembers how Lan Xichen talked about her.

“On the days where she could forget what we were,” Lan Xichen lowly admits. “She tried her best, but there were days where she could barely look at us. Days, where she wouldn’t even touch us. It got better once Wangji learned to control his form, but it was never easy.”

“What are you?” Jiang Cheng wants to know but Lan Xichen helplessly shrugs.

“We have no language. There is no word for what we are. I think our Ancestor tried to give us one, but the best he could do was Lan.”

Jiang Cheng is silent for a moment before he looks to the side as he asks his next question.

“Do you sleep like that every night?”

Jiang Cheng doesn’t know what Lan Xichen sees on his face, but he sucks in a surprised, pained breath before he shakes his head.

“I’m usually a lot better of keeping to this form,” he admits. “I don’t know what happened.”

“Would you have told me?” Jiang Cheng wants to know, though he knows the answer and he tries his best to not let that sting.

He thought they had more trust in their relationship.

“Eventually,” Lan Xichen says, effectively catching Jiang Cheng off guard. “I would have told you before I asked you to marry me. My mother—she only found out afterwards, and I would never do that to you.”

Jiang Cheng can only nod at that, too surprised that Lan Xichen has even thought so far yet to form any coherent words.

Apparently the silence is too long for Lan Xichen, because he nods once, almost to himself, before he grabs his pouch and picks up Liebing.

“I’m going to leave now,” he whispers and then looks back up at Jiang Cheng. “Please don’t tell anyone. We have never hurt anyone, we’re not a danger to you or the other sects. We just wish to live in peace.”

Jiang Cheng’s heart is beating wildly in his chest, an immense pressure building up at the thought of Lan Xichen leaving, and he blurts out the first thing that comes to his mind.

“How many eyes do you have?”

Lan Xichen stops in his tracks, blinking at him in clear confusion.

“As many as I need,” he eventually says and Jiang Cheng tries to imagine how he just wills more eyes to appear, but his imagination fails him.

Lan Xichen waits for a moment, clearly expecting more questions, but when none come, he resumes his walking.

Jiang Cheng takes a moment to imagine it, Lan Xichen leaving his life never to return, and he is surprised at how much it hurts. He doesn’t want to live without Lan Xichen by his side, no matter what he is.

Jiang Cheng doubts Lan Xichen lied to him about his feelings; he remembers every kiss and every whispered “I love you”, and he never detected any insincerity in it. Though, given how successfully Lan Xichen kept this secret from him, it might not mean anything.

“Did you lie to me all this time?” Jiang Cheng blurts out, just as Lan Xichen reaches the door and he turns around with an incredulous look on his face.

“I didn’t just turn like this last night,” Lan Xichen gives back and Jiang Cheng shakes his head.

“No, not about that,” he tries to explain. “About your feelings. Did you lie when you said you loved me?” he asks, and suddenly he wishes he could take it back, doesn’t want to know the truth.

If Lan Xichen says yes, Jiang Cheng will break, he knows it.

“Never,” Lan Xichen says with vehemence. “I have never lied to you about that, Jiang Cheng. I love you. We might not have a language, but we do feel. And I feel so much for you.”

Jiang Cheng staggers slightly, he’s so relieved, but then he straightens back up. Lan Xichen is still hovering at the door, clearly uncertain if he should leave now, and Jiang Cheng wants to call him back so desperately.

He doesn’t want Lan Xichen to leave.

“Can I see?” he lowly asks and Lan Xichen jerks with his question.

“See what?” he carefully asks as his hand drops from the door completely.

“Your form. What you truly are.”

“You already did,” Lan Xichen reminds him but Jiang Cheng shakes his head.

“I saw something where I expected my boyfriend to be. I have not seen you.”

“I don’t know—,” Lan Xichen starts and trails off when Jiang Cheng shakes his head.

“Xichen, please. Let me see.”

Lan Xichen works his jaw for a moment, before he nods, once and sharp, and walks back into the room.

Jiang Cheng quickly wonders if they have to light some candles for him to see better, but by now it’s light outside and he should see just fine.

“Don’t watch the transformation. It’s hard for the human brain to process,” Lan Xichen instructs him and while Jiang Cheng all too clearly recalls the sickening feeling of his brain trying to put the view in front of him into an understandable shape, he shakes his head.

He has to see, in order to fully believe it.

“Fine,” Lan Xichen huffs out and then, without warning, his shape ripples before it expands into something else.

It hurts Jiang Cheng’s brain just as much as the first time, but he keeps his eyes on Lan Xichen, watches him grow and twist into his true form.

The daylight just makes it more pronounced just how black Lan Xichen is like this; it’s not the absence of light, it’s more like he’s emitting the dark, and it’s eating any light that touches it. Jiang Cheng can’t make out a head, wouldn’t even know where to start with the fluidly changing shape in front of him.

He watches tentacles grow and disappear again, an ever-moving void where once Lan Xichen stood and Jiang Cheng shakes his head at that.

It’s still Lan Xichen. And he’s holding back.

“Show me,” Jiang Cheng demands, again, and the whole mass halts, before it slightly crumbles, something resembling a sigh filling the whole room, and then the eyes blink open again and the tentacles spread out even farther.

This time Jiang Cheng takes his time to look at the eyes, really look at them, and while there are still too many for him to be entirely comfortable, now he can see that they all have Lan Xichen’s eye color, even though they are not all of the same shape.

They truly must glow, because they cause something like a halo to form around the pitch-black mass, and it makes the darkness glitter and gleam, almost like oil on water.

If Jiang Cheng is honest, it’s kind of beautiful.

He takes a deep breath and then starts to walk around Lan Xichen. He doesn’t turn with him, doesn’t have to with eyes all over his body, but Jiang Cheng knows that he’s watching his every move very closely.

Jiang Cheng wonders if Lan Xichen will compress himself into his human form again, if he should find a trace of disgust or hate on Jiang Cheng’s face.

Jiang Cheng unconsciously reaches out and the mass in front of him jerks back, causing Jiang Cheng to take his hand back.

“Can I touch?” he asks, waits patiently for permission, even though now that the thought has entered his head, his fingers itch with the need to reach out.

There’s a new sound in the air, something almost questioning and Jiang Cheng shrugs.

“I saw, and now I want to touch,” he explains and the sound stops.

Neither of them move for the longest time, but then, finally, Lan Xichen uncurls one of his many tentacles and brings it closer to Jiang Cheng.

Jiang Cheng holds out his hand, waits for the tentacle to brush over his skin before he turns his hand and touches his fingertips to the too smooth surface.

He slides his hand up and down, mesmerized by the feel of it, by the sight of his pale hand against black so dark it swallows everything, and he can’t help the fascinated smile on his face.

Jiang Cheng startles slightly when an eye blinks open next to his hand and he laughs as he lightly slaps the tentacle, careful not to hit the eye.

“You did that on purpose,” he accuses Lan Xichen, who somehow manages to get a bashful shrug across, even in this form.

Jiang Cheng can feel some smaller tentacles touch his legs, his back, curious and light in their exploration, and he wonders if he feels different to Lan Xichen in this form.

Before Jiang Cheng can think too much about it, he takes determined steps forward, right into the ever-moving blackness of his boyfriend.

He had thought it would be terrifying, being swallowed by this much darkness, but it’s not. It’s warm and protected and Jiang Cheng sinks into Lan Xichen with a smile, trusts his boyfriend to catch him, and he does.

It’s not at all like falling into a soft bed, but it’s the best comparison Jiang Cheng is capable of making and when the tentacles hesitantly embrace him, he lets himself go boneless.

He isn’t sure how he knows, but he can feel how much Lan Xichen loves him and when another eye blinks into existence next to his head, he isn’t even surprised anymore.

“I love you,” he sighs out as he nuzzles into the tentacles all around him and when Lan Xichen takes his human form this time, it barely even hurts his brain anymore.

“I love you, too,” Lan Xichen tells him and leans down to press a kiss to Jiang Cheng’s forehead.

“I could feel that,” Jiang Cheng contentedly tells him and only looks back at Lan Xichen when he lets out a soft “Oh”.

“You didn’t know about that?”

“I have never held a human like this, never allowed anyone to see my true form after mother,” Lan Xichen admits and Jiang Cheng is surprised at how pleased he is by that admission.

How possessive, as well.

“Is it strange for you, to take this human form?” Jiang Cheng wants to know and slightly pulls away from Lan Xichen, who takes a second to think about that question.

“It’s not strange, per se. I feel—compressed, like too much of my mass has to fit into this tiny space,” he finally says and to Jiang Cheng it feels like he’s trying the words out, to see how much they actually fit, but in the end Lan Xichen nods. “It’s not bad, though.”

“You can be who you are around me whenever you like,” Jiang Cheng offers him, and he’s startled to see the tears in Lan Xichen’s eyes.

“Thank you,” Lan Xichen breathes, as he pulls him close, presses him to his chest and doesn’t let him go for the longest time.

Jiang Cheng just puts his arms around him as well, knows Lan Xichen is thanking him for more than just the offer and he hates to think that Lan Xichen was so afraid of showing this to him.

When Jiang Cheng feels some tentacles join in on their hug, he just smiles into Lan Xichen’s chest, as he offers one of his hands, which one of the many tentacles wraps around immediately.

It’s like being hugged and holding hands all at once and Jiang Cheng loves it.

He knows they have to talk about this some more, there are still questions Jiang Cheng has, but for now, he just enjoys being held and being loved by his not-at-all-monstrous boyfriend.

Next part

#bt writes #the untamed #mdzs #untamed winter fest #xicheng #eldritch!lans #eldritch!lxc #established relationship #hurt/comfort #fluff

[imaginaryelle]

Meta: Luminaries and Power in MDZS

Apparently I’m doing meta for the Untamed Winterfest “star” prompt (day 14) because I keep thinking about “rising stars” and “falling stars” and supernovas and the sun and guiding stars, which makes me think a lot (a lot a lot) about Wei Wuxian, and the Wens, and Jin Guangyao, and Lan Wangji.

Like, we have the Wens here, right?

And the Wens are basically the cautionary tale for the whole rest of the plot. “Do Not Covet Power” the story tells us over, and over and over, “Power Will Turn Against You,” but the Wens come (chronologically) first. They wear the sun, and the phoenix. They stand triumphant, the brightest star in the sky, and they start thinking that means they are the sun, the source from which all other power flows, the unkillable generator of life. And so the sun turns scorching—there are too many suns in the sky, shoot them down or all life will burn—and the rest of the world snuffs them out, one by one (until one single sun is left, excuse me while I cry over A-Yuan; okay, we’re good).

Pretty blatant, in-your-face cautionary tale for a whole generation, right? Maybe even two generations? “Hey, look, those people over there, they tried to gather up all the power and they died horribly, maybe we should not do that.” Except none of them learn anything. Anything. They still all think it’s about who’s right, completely ignoring the fact that they’re all operating under a “might makes right” mentality, the lot of them (Especially Jin Guangshaun, of course).

Wei Wuxian starts out as a rising star—the child who came from nothing, but he has so much talent and he shines so bright that no one can ignore him. Even when they hate him, they can’t look away. (He’s also pretty much the only cultivator who regularly talks to the everyday people of the world as if they’re equals, but that’s a whole other thing.) He freely gives power away when he gives Jiang Cheng his golden core. It doesn’t define him, it’s just a tool, which has been very useful but which he can do without.

Honestly, I think if Wen Chao hadn’t found him and dropped him in the Burial Mounds he would have found something else to do. He’d likely stay with Jiang Cheng (who would have to know about him not having a core, once he found Wei Wuxian basically half-dead in that town, I don’t think Wei Wuxian was originally planning to hide that part once it was finished), and still be part of the Jiang sect and consult on tactics and do work that you don’t have to be a cultivator to do (which is a lot, really). He’d still have all the competent-gentleman-skills: archery, riding, calligraphy, etiquette and math, as well as all the general knowledge he’s collected from a truly rarefied education. He can’t use a cultivator’s sword, and he’ll never attain immortality, but there are plenty of other cultivators whose sword skills and quest for a longer lifespan are suspect. Maybe he’d still go on night hunts. Maybe he’d write excellent training manuals or mentor Jiang-sect kids. Maybe he’d make lots of talismans and just wave that in everyone’s faces, idk, it’s really hard to say how talismans work in this universe. Point is, I think he would’ve made things work in a less drastic way than what he ended up with, because at the time the power didn’t matter to him.

But instead Wen Chao does find him and does drop him into the Burial Mound, and whatever happens there (I really, really want to know what happens there), he comes out of it with TOO MUCH power. Power no one has ever seen before. It’s the only way he can survive there. He hoards power for good reasons, for his own survival and (later) to ensure the survival of others, but he is absolutely biting off more than he can actually deal with, and it immediately starts fucking up his life. He’s a supernova in the making. That bottomless source of power not based on his own physical limits + the Tiger Seal + his apparently endless well of traumatic life events means that he is absolutely going to collapse in on himself at some point. He loses reputation, and standing, and then people. He is almost universally reviled, with multiple actions both correctly and falsely attributed to his name. He knows it’s happening—Who can tell me what I’m supposed to do now?—he’s lost every reason he had for hoarding the power in the first place, he’s having uncontrolled explosions of power where thousands of people die, and so he tries to give the power back by destroying the seal so no one can have that power, but power doesn’t work that way: it has to go somewhere, and it goes through him in an event that people are still talking about over a decade later.

And yet. Does anyone learn anything? “Hey, that seal seems like a super dangerous tool there, maybe it should … not be used ever again? Be destroyed? It made that guy incredibly unstable and then he exploded over the whole cultivation world, maybe we should… not?”

No, of course not. (Aside from Lan Wangji, the Nie sect and Wei Wuxian. Lan Wangji seems to have developed this knowledge early. Wei Wuxian learns the lesson; it goes hand-in-hand with his (novel) daydreams of leaving the life of a cultivator to be a farmer with Lan Wangji. I think Nie Mingjue knew it too, because the Nie sect has some themes going on with the damage power can do, but he didn’t get a chance to talk about it much. Nie Huaisang, in addition to Nie sect things, is very observant and doesn’t have strong ambition at all until he starts getting fucked with, so he has less to figure out on this front.)

Everyone else still thinks it was about the Wens, and “corruption” and that Wei Wuxian was just wrong, even though they were the ones you know… killing children and elderly people in a culture that supposedly values both quite highly. Power is just power, right? Nothing wrong with power, in fact, maybe we should expand that power even more, with a centralized system of control. Supervisor posts? No, no, these are watchtowers. They’re for your benefit too, I promise. Also blackmail, lets use lots of blackmail and some really deep dungeons, but it’s totally okay because it’s us doing it, right.

Jin Guanyao is Hou Yi, the archer who shot down the sun (that link again), and rose to become an imperial tyrant—whose cruelty led his wife to abandon him (I’ve read multiple versions of Hou Yi, but this one fits here) and cut short his quest for immortality. His whole life is about gathering power, and justifiably so given how aware he is of the precarious nature of his position for most of it. Anytime someone feels like it, they can cut him down with a single reference to his mother. It doesn’t matter what his talents are, or how clever or well-spoken he is. Everything he’s built up for himself can be taken away in an instant, because he’s the son of a prostitute and that means he doesn’t matter. This is not to say that he doesn’t deserve Nie Mingjue’s reprisal or Nie Huaisang’s revenge, of course. He absolutely does horrific, terrible things every step of the way, and for entirely selfish reasons. But he’s Wie Wuxian’s closest foil: here’s what happens when someone of merit, rather than bloodline, seeks power: they’re creative, and innovative, and oh boy are they going to shake the world. This is what happens when cruelty and manipulation take the place of love and affection in a child’s life: each perpetuates itself on a larger scale—I will kill even those closest to me vs. I will die to protect a stranger. This is how the quest for power plays out when the motivation is selfishness, rather than selflessness. In the end, both are inherently flawed, because the power itself is the root of the problem.

Unlike Wei Wuxian, Jin Guanyao holds onto his power until the very last second. Literally, any scrap, even just Lan Xichen’s affection for him. His fall is fast, and guttering—so fast that it’s over before most of the world even knows it’s started. He’s a meteorite, his origins worse than obscure, growing ever brighter in the sky until he crashes to earth, leaving devastation in his wake. And I mean that literally, the power-structure of the world is shattered by the dual events of his exposure and his death. It’s so completely broken that in their rush to consolidate power once more, the person all these leaders turn to is Lan Wangji, who just happens to be the most reputable guy still standing at the end.

So, let’s look at Hanguang-jun, the Light-Bearer.

Lan Wangji is the lodestar. He’s a constant that rarely, if ever, wavers in his convictions, and for the purpose of the plot he’s effectively the example of what an “ideal” cultivator should be (I know other people have written about LWJ and the Confucian ideal, especially @rustycol so I’m not going far into that here). He’s arguably the most successful character in the canon. He has both bloodline and merit working in his favor, and he’s pretty much the most respected cultivator in the world by the time he’s 35 (ages in this canon are a mess). He can disobey or even betray his clan and not be uprooted, which is a luxury literally no one else has (yes, he’s punished, yes, there are consequences, but he attacked 33 elders and didn’t get kicked out or killed! He’s still respected and part of the clan! Don’t tell me that’s not because he’s the clan leader’s bloodline—there are a lot of things that can be said about LWJ and his clan and morality but they’re for yet another post).

The protagonist thinks highly of him. The next generation looks up to him, pretty much universally. He is respected even by people who don’t like him, and has almost zero actual enemies (Su She isn’t even a luminary in this meta analogy, Su She is a dude with a lantern trying to blame the stars for the fact that he can’t fly). Lan Wangji is the guiding light that goes into dark places where chaos reigns and brings clarity, and calm, and (often unforgiving) justice. He doesn’t seek power, and he doesn’t hoard it. In the novel, the only prize he takes away from Jin Guanyao’s fall is the certain knowledge of Wei Wuxian’s love. He doesn’t want anything else, and that’s why he gets to walk off into the sunset with the love of his life and keep his peerless reputation, even in a culture as steeped in homophobia as the novel’s world. Obviously the drama has a different ending, but I think the point still stands: Lan Wangji is so well-respected and utterly reliable that I doubt anyone even thinks twice about offering him the position of Chief Cultivator. Who else could they choose, shocked and appalled as they are in Jun Guanyao’s wake, but the star that never moves no matter how the heavens turn?

It’s been a rough 15 years. Between Lan Wangji, Nie Huaisang and that last Wen child, maybe they’ll finally get that lesson about hoarding power to stick in a few more people’s minds. We can only hope.

#untamed winter fest #mo dao zu shi #the untamed #mdzs meta #the untamed meta #wei wuxian #lan wangji #jin guangyao #long post #theres more about the nie sect #but i dont have a star ready #so #next time #alex writes