#& while painting i decided i wanted sect leader!nhs

[thatswhatsushesaid]

do you think NHS will ever be satisfied with the way things have turned out in the end? or is he already? I've seen polar opinions on this one and honestly can't decide which one I like more

oooh, what crunchy questions, anon.

short answer: I think he thinks he's satisfied.

the tl;dr answer: I don't think it's possible for us to know with any degree of certainty how nhs feels about anything post-canon, because the text gives us almost no insight into his interiority outside of wwx's speculation in the aftermath of the guanyin temple sequence. but I think we can make some educated guesses based on what we do know about his character.

rather than just rewrite stuff I've already written on this subject before, I'll drop some links to previous posts that I think are relevant to your ask:

nhs took so long to enact his revenge quest because he could not make up his mind about what he wanted to do. also this one, which includes discussion of his cql performance as well. indecisiveness is as core to nhs's character as his desire for vengeance, and I think that extends to his feelings about his situation post-canon, too.

this is definitely more within the realm of headcanon and speculation but I went deep on this the magnus archives-mdzs fusion reblog speculating on why I think nhs would be an avatar of the hunt, and a big thing about the hunt is that once the hunt is over, the hunters... don't really know what to do with themselves. womp womp.

now on to the point I don't think I've spilt much digital ink on yet:

nhs is, and always has been, a people person. this is extremely obvious when you dip back into the gusu lan summer camp for wayward young cultivators chapters, where nhs is at his most effervescent when he is bopping around the cloud recesses as wwx and jc's bubbly tag-along, lamenting how much lwj and lqr clearly hate wwx while cheerfully offering to give wwx more porn to make up for what he's lost. (it was nhs's porn, too! he'd be justified in being a bit cheesed off about it, but he really isn't!) if he sees a didi-shaped hole in a prospective friends' group, he sees an opportunity to make himself lovably indispensable as the court appointed littlest brother no one asked for, and quite frankly who could blame him? he loves to be spoiled and doted on, but imo there's some clear self-awareness and reciprocity at work in these dynamics that goes beyond a desire just to be pampered and looked after. I suppose an uncharitable read on teen!nhs would be that he's lazy and manipulative and finds easy marks to do the heavy lifting for him so he can sleep and paint and catch birds for his private collection, but tbh I think that interpretation does his character dirty. most people who end up spoiling and doting on nhs in the text are clearly happy to do so and seem to get something out of making life easier for this charmingly incompetent dandy. good for him--and for them!

...and then, post-canon, he is a people person without any people around him. sure, we can presume the existence of some unnamed nie sect subordinates who are stuck dealing with a sect leader who allowed his sect to languish and decline in the years after nmj's death, but I think if any of those unnamed subordinates were inclined to be people nhs could rely on to fill the 3zun and/or wwx and jc-shaped voids in his life, we'd at least know their names. I think it is telling that we don't, and that the last meaningful interaction we see between nhs and the characters who used to be his closest friends in the text amounts to an interrogation. whatever affection wwx used to feel for nhs has clearly withered on the vine and has been replaced by mistrust and suspicion--to say nothing of lxc's dead-eyed silence as soon as he begins to put the pieces together.

also: the last glimpse we get of nhs in the text before he disappears from the story altogether is him picking up jgy's hat and walking off with it. why does he do this? why is this the very last thing we see him do in the story? there are a few different possibilities:

"he's taking the hat to keep as a trophy!" I mean. maybe? I suppose I can't entirely rule out this possibility, but it is the least interesting one to me because it glosses over the complexity of nhs's pre-existing relationship to jgy.

"nhs doesn't know why he picks up the hat and takes it with him. he just does it." this is the idea I vibe with the most because it is most consistent with my read on his character--namely that he is never 100% sure about anything (except what qualifies as good erotica). but I think the part of him that still cares about jgy (it's there! it's tiny and shrivelled and warped by his transformation into the wuxia version of montresor, but it's still there) does not want to see his hat abandoned in the mud and dirt, and also does not want to interrogate his feelings about why he feels that way that closely.

"nhs can't abide littering! he's doing his part to keep the city streets clean." doubt.jpeg

#asks answered #mdzs meta #nie huaisang #let him have birds!! 🕊️

[shieldherostuffs]

Jade Blossom of Lan (Shield Hero/MDZS Crossover Prompt)

(Inspired by the MDZS/RotSH Crossover with Lan!Naofumi HERE. We're also going to ignore everything about Naofumi's name sounding nothing like everyone else, but he is Lan Naofumi here.

This turned into more of an overview of a whole fanfic than just a prompt. )

꧁*★°*:.☆.:*°★*꧂

Naofumi is the Third Young Master of the Lan Sect. He is only two years younger than Lan Wangji. He has less resemblance to his elder brother than they do to each other, as he came out with more of his mother's genes, giving his green eyes and more wavy black hair, apparently inherited from his grandfather and grandmother on his mother's side.

Therefore, Lan Wangji and Lan Xichen are still called the Twin Jades of Lan, while Naofumi gains his own nickname after people find out about a secret hobby of his.

Naofumi had first become interested in Fans during a visit from the Nie brothers, where he and LWJ were left to entertain Nie Huaisang. LWJ had quickly excused himself to study, while Naofumi decided to listen to NHS rant about fans and paintings.

After that visit, Naofumi tried painting fans on his own too, and during a visit to Caiyi Town, Naofumi found out about Veiled Fans and decided to get two white, pastel blue, and pastel green ones for himself, after watching a few dancers use them.

Secretly, Naofumi went to the back hills of Cloud Recesses and tried teaching himself by copying the dancers he saw. It's awkward and embarrassing at first, even if no one is nearby, but he slowly gets the hang of it.

Naofumi becomes incredibly good at dancing with veiled fans, after dressing down three of his six layers of robes.

During one of the yearly lessons at the CR, Naofumi meets L'Arc, a young sect heir. The two become friends, even though L'Arc is closer to LWJ's age, and one day, L'Arc takes Naofumi to Caiyi to meet his friend, Therese, since they can't see each other in the CR.

After months of spending lots of time together, and the two learning to easily read Naofumi's small expressions and wanting to see more of his bright smiles, Naofumi starts confidentially calling them both his Zhiji (I think that's what it's called, I just copied it from MDZS). And one day, Naofumi decides to take them to a secluded area a little away from Caiyi, and dance for them.

They're both in complete awe, at don't stop complimenting him until they return to the CR.

For months, there have been rumors from Caiyi about the Third Young Master of Lan spending a lot of time together with two sect heirs with ancestors of foreign descent. Therese's ancestors were traveling sword-dancers, hence her clan's love for jewellery, and L'Arc's ancestors were refugees of royal descent.

Their sect's small lands were bordering each other, and they often visited one another and became close, with the leaders usually forming sworn sister- or brotherhoods.

Because of the rumors, a few disciples had followed the three, and seen Naofumi dancing, and quickly spread the words with their friends.

As words spread of Naofumi apparently 'Dancing Like A Fairy', paired with his gentle and frosty beauty, he was nicknamed the Jade Blossom of Lan, though a few daring people even called him the Jade Fairy of Lan.

However, even now, the Wens are taking over the smaller sects to expand their territory and power. L'Arc and Therese's sects are some of the first to go, but L'Arc and Therese refuse to back down, even after most of their sects are dead. They refuse and fight back as much as they can, before Wen Chao, decides to reward them for their useless courage.

By throwing them into the Burial Mounds.

Rumors go all around, about how the two sect heirs that'd been so dear to the Third Young Master of Lan had been thrown to death in the BM.

When Lan Qiren gets confirmation of this, he decides to sit his youngest nephew down for tea and tell him the news. Naofumi is shocked, his face frozen and eyes wide as tears silently start streaming down his face. His hands are shaking as he holds the teacup unsteadily in his hands until LQR takes it from him and puts it down. Naofumi grips his robes tightly as he hangs his head low at losing two of the people he'd loved the most in this world.

Naofumi does not take the news well, and end up entering seclusion to process and mourn his love.

When LXC and LWJ as why their younger brother suddenly entered seclusion, when he usually enjoyed being with other people, even if he was generally pretty quiet unless the topic was something he was passionate about, they're shocked when they hear why.

The Love of a Lan is not something to be taken lightly, and something that only happens once. Naofumi fell for two people, and it becomes even harder. He lost his soulmates at such a young age.

Since the news, for the next few years, Naofumi has not danced even once. His favorite fans, gifted to him by L'Arc and Therese, are in pristine condition, but lay unused.

When the year Wei Wuxian and multiple Sect Heirs come for the Lessons at CR arrive, Naofumi exits seclusion, but he's different. Before he was more like a brighter, smilier version of LXC, but now, he's more like LWJ with an aura of sadness and mourning around him.

When the burning of CR comes, Naofumi flees with LXC, but they end up separated. While on the run, Naofumi ends up taking in and taking care of Raphtalia and Filo and teaches them as they travel together.

When Wei Wuxian is thrown into the Burial mounds, he end up finding himself being taken care of by two people in ragged clothing and bony bodies from too little nutrition, inside a Cave. L'Arc and Therese, they introduce themselves as. They've been trying to survive for years in the place, but they're getting weaker without their Golden Cores, and they've been unable to get out.

Wanting to help, and to survive without his Golden Core, WWX invents Demonic Cultivation.

In the end, he escapes the Burial Mounds with L'Arc and Therese in tow. The two decide to hide their identities during the Sunshot Campaign and act as sort of Trump Cards. They start using their lost sects' bloodline techniques. L'Arc starts using a scythe, and Therese starts using Sword Dancing.

After a while, Naofumi end up finding and joining the Sunshot Campaign, while leaving Raphtalia and Filo behind when he goes to the battlefield. He keeps sneaking glances at the two people who joined with WWX, who're either wearing hoods and veiled hats at all times.

The way they fight... It reminds him of L'Arc and Therese.

One day, the two get captured by the Wens, and when they returns, they're wearing neither hoods nor hats.

Naofumi silently breaks down upon seeing them, and as soon as allowed, rushes to the infirmary to see them.

The three reunite, which includes tears and kisses, and after that, they start fighting together on the battlefield, slipping into it almost seamlessly.

Canon MDZS happens as it happens. Naofumi notices LWJ's love for WWX, and tries encouraging his younger elder brother to communicate with WWX, but it's still hard for LWJ to say what he feels.

Naofumi does not fight in the siege at the BM, not against his younger elder brother in the cave, he refuses to and has to be held back by multiple senior disciples as LWJ is whipped 33 times. Naofumi allows no one but himself and one doctor to tend to LWJ's wounds. They betrayed LWJ, and Naofumi won't stand for it.

When LWJ wants to look for WWX's remains and properly bury them, Naofumi offers to do so instead, and makes LWJ stay in bed.

Naofumi flies to the BM, and find nothing but blood and cloth scrapes scattered all over, and a feverish A-Yuan clutching a crimson ribbon.

Naofumi takes A-Yuan back, and LWJ sheds a few tears upon seeing the boy alive. Naofumi relates to LWJ about mourning his love, and they bond a little over losing their loves, and then raising kids in the meanwhile.

While all of this happens, Raphtalia and Filo and traveling around for a bit with L'Arc and Therese as Rouge Cultivators.

A few months later, A-Yuan is introduced to his two adoptive cousins, Raphtalia, some years older than him, and Filo, around his age.

A-Yuan grows up with a few visits from his cousins, and his younger uncle often leaving the CR to travel with his family.

Naofumi is overjoyed for his elder younger brother when WWX comes back.

At some point, Naofumi leaves the Lan Sect to establish one with L'Arc and Therese after they Elope, named the Rock Valley Sect, where they include teachings from all their sects. Raphtalia and Filo are the first disciples, but then some refugees Naofumi saved during the SSC come, and decide to join as well, and their sect grows steadily.

꧁*★°*:.☆.:*°★*꧂

————— Tagging: @rosesinbloom7love, @ideas-of-immortality, @crypid-called-ash, @eli-elien, @bluelovestoship, @queen-of-carven-stone, @zachy-akaya, @wisdomismyloweststattm, @maloteddy —————

#shield hero x mdzs #rotsh x mdzs #mdzs #rising of the shield hero #the rising of the shield hero #crossover #shield hero crossover #naofumi iwatani #therese alexandrite #l'arc berg #therufumi #lan wangji #wei wuxian #lan!naofumi iwatani #raphtalia #filo #shield hero prompt #shield dad #shield hero prompt except nothing in this includes the shield hero worlds

[zazrichor]

perhaps before Nie MingJue passed away, Nie HuaiSang really knew nothing. But after Nie MingJue’s death, he knew everything.

#the untamed #nie huaisang #cql fanart #mdzs fanart #chen qing ling #mo dao zu shi #zazrichart #it's nhs loving hours #*stares into distance* i think i lost myself during this #this underwent so many revisions #i made the mistake of watching fatal journey while painting him so i made him cry #the tears were golden but i thought it disrupted the whole look so i made the fan dribble?? #it was all very symbolic but i didn't like how it was taking too much focus off his face #then i started angsting about which side of his fan i wanted to show #me not wanting to paint seal script & making mistakes won out #& while painting i decided i wanted sect leader!nhs #so i had to take his wisps away :((((( #oh & i spilled a little purple my bad 💜💚 #translation by ExR scanlation #krita

[vvienne]

SANGCHENG FIC RECS

flight of a one-winged dove by bloodletter

Talking at someone is only fun for so long. That's all being a sect leader is: talking and talking to people bound by courtesy to listen to you. It's so fucking dull. A relief, then, to face one’s equal, and no less an old friend who is inclined to interrupt you whenever you ramble. He likes it. It’s one of Jiang Cheng’s best qualities.

In the years after Guanyin Temple, Nie Huaisang attends to unfinished business.

whipped by reindeercolin

Jiang Cheng blinks. “Dammit, they do think you’re dating one of us! I hate it when Wei Wuxian is right.” “Excuse me?” Nie Huaisang gives him an incredulous look. “First of all, they think I’m dating you, and if anything, they’re getting more aggressive!”

(or, the one in which Jiang Cheng has too many relatives, not enough patience, goes through a brother-divorce and finds out he has a boyfriend - in that order, more or less.)

Ponder the Manner of Things by Pip (Moirail)

It's not that Jiang Cheng can't do a quadruple flip followed by a triple toeloop. It's that his mother seems to think that's still not good enough.

Jiang Cheng is grateful that Huaisang doesn’t have the same kind of family life that he does, all - messy with expectations and cravings for closeness and nothing but vague filial piety where love is meant to be.

a matter of time and organ donation by nev_longbottom

This is it. The call he’s been waiting for. His brother had ‘an accident’ or ‘died in his sleep’ or some other lie to cover up the murder.

“Please, Mingjue is missing. He got into one of his moods and he was gone when I came back from grocery shopping. He’s not answering his phone. I don’t know if he left or was kidnapped or if something else happened. Huaisang, please, if you’ve heard anything,” Meng Yao begs.

Nie Huaisang hunts his brother's killer.

no tip necessary by tattletold

With all the nervousness of a virgin in a whorehouse, Jiang Cheng closes the door behind himself and enters, sitting on the low seat across from the escort. The pretty young man keeps his face hidden behind the delicate fan, and Jiang Cheng thinks for a moment that he recognizes the design painted onto it now that he’s closer.

It’s only when he lowers the fan and opens his eyes, wide, does Jiang Cheng paralyze with realization.

They speak at the same time in equally horrified tones.

“Jiang Cheng?”

“Nie Huaisang?”

Your Place in the Family of Things by raisedbyhyenas

No matter what happens, no matter the circumstances, Wei Wuxian will always leave and Jiang Cheng will always get stuck trying to rebuild from whatever’s left.

*************

In which Jiang Cheng makes friends; gets a cat; begins to rebuild a relationship; and maybe, possibly, potentially, learns a little bit how to be happy.

sigh yourself to sleep by merthurlin

“Let me take care of you, A-Cheng.”

No one—no one has ever said that, not to Jiang Cheng. He wasn’t a very sickly child, true, but the few times he remembered being sick it was never—he had a-jie, and later on he had Wei Wuxian, for what it was worth, but he never—

halcyon days by serein

They're in a forest, it seems just the two of them.

"You have to be patient," Nie Huaisang says, "I once waited for three days to catch a sparrow."

"Three days?" Jiang Cheng replies, sceptical. He can't imagine Nie Huaisang having the attention span for that.

"It's not that hard," Nie Huaisang says, "if you know what they want, and find a way to get it for them."

[JC stumbles across an array and gets physically de-aged to be 16/17. NHS kindly offers his help to an old friend, but things... escalate.]

To Distraction by isozyme

It’s the third night of Yunmeng’s kite festival celebrations. Nie Huaisang has come visiting, eager to partake in the food, the arts, and Jiang Cheng.

-

Jiang Cheng wants to forget. Nie Huaisang has some new lube and wants to see if he can put his whole fist in somebody’s ass.

Lights, Camera, Kiss by MissMagus

When Nie Huaisang gets paired with straight porn star Jiang Cheng for a five-part series, he’s sure it will be an utter disaster. Until the cameras start rolling and their chemistry alights like wildfire.

(Or, the five times Nie Huaisang and Jiang Cheng have sex for their job, and the first time they have sex outside of it.)

Only the Shallow by hamburglar

When Nie Huaisang gets bored and convinces Jiang Cheng to make out with him, he’s probably not expecting to still be dealing with the guy 16 years later.

OR the story where Jiang Cheng goes into: the Cloud Recesses, denial, some bushes, the private porn library at the Unclean Realm, and subspace.

Blind for Love by manamune

Jiang Cheng is poisoned with an aphrodisiac and needs to orgasm repeatedly in order to flush it from his system.

The first person he thinks of going to for help is Nie Huaisang, who does what any good friend would do: he shoves his three decades worth of feelings for Jiang Cheng deep into the recesses of his mind, locks them up so he can pretend they don’t exist, and then fucks him so hard that he passes out.

Descending by lightningwaltz

“I want to… to not be embarrassed.”

“To not be embarrassed during what?”

“During sex.” There. Jiang Cheng can say it. “In general. Also with you right now.”

“Very good.”

“When did you become so authoritative?” Jiang Cheng wants to sound irked, but can’t quite manage anything beyond nervous curiosity.

dark water by Morgan (duckwhatduck)

There are words, somewhere, for this. Words that would put a shape to the thing that sits between them, would seal their understanding. There are words for sympathy, for friendship, for understanding, for that touch, for this feeling.

Jiang Cheng can feel them, somewhere, fluttering formless at the back of his throat, squirming under his ribcage, but he cannot grasp them. They swim beneath the surface, fish in muddy water - and like fish, they will dart away if he grabs for them incautiously, and leave him nothing but cold splashes and grit.

Or: Why talk about things when you could fuck about it instead?

never knew i was a dancer by isozyme

“What’s a stone butch and why aren’t they real?” Jiang Cheng asks, too buzzed to care too much about not being up on lesbian culture.

Huaisang pats Jiang Cheng on the no-man’s-land between her boobs and her shoulder. “You’re so useless, Jiang Cheng. A stone butch is a fictional hottie who doesn’t make you do any work at all, just wants to give head and fuck you stupid on her strap.”

“Fictional?” Jiang Cheng echoes, having - not a moment, per se, but sort of a problem where her thoughts are going too fast for her poor drunken brain to keep up with.

“Nobody actually wants to fuck a chick who’s too lazy to eat you out after,” Huaisang mumbles.

-

After leaving Wei Ying and Lan Zhan’s bachelorette party, Jiang Cheng and Nie Huaisang decide to experiment with some outdated stereotypical lesbian sex roles.

lights out by rynleaf

“Nie-zongzhu makes the most sense,” Sect Leader Yao nods sagely, to murmurs of assent across the Jin Sect’s gold gilded banquet hall. Jin Ling, clad in opulent robes that look somewhat comical on a boy of sixteen, inclines his head as his scribe makes a notation, and the noise rises as sect leaders pat themselves and each other on the back for a decision well made.

Jiang Cheng groans and downs his cup of wine in one go.

-

In which the Sect Leaders elect a new Chief Cultivator.

shadow eternal by rynleaf

“You want me to distract the Chief Cultivator from the Annual Cultivation Conference, so you and other sect leaders can… what. Sign contracts without adult supervision?”

“If Jiang-zongzhu is amenable,” Sect Leader Ouyang repeats with a nod.

Jiang Cheng pinches the bridge of his nose. The pressure he felt building behind his eyes all morning is swiftly coalescing into a bitch of a headache. “Just what do you all think I’m capable of?”

Sect Leader Ouyang bows with a cheerful smile. “We have utmost faith in Sandu Shengshou’s abilities.”

-

In which a night hunt ends in disaster, Jiang Cheng catches a glimpse of Nie Huaisang's heart, and feelings are discussed after a certain fashion.

Four Days in Lanling by halotolerant

Nie Huaisang looks at him. ‘You are confusing me, Clan Leader Jiang, perhaps I misunderstand, but…’

‘You didn’t misunderstand. You don’t misunderstand. You understand all of it.’ For six months Jiang Cheng has been mulling this over, and now with Nie Huaisang in front of him he can’t figure out if he most wants to knock him down or kneel at his feet. What he does is try and breathe. Clench his hands at his sides. ‘And now I am going to ask you to do something for me. You have to do something for me. You have to help Jin Ling.’

Lean for Love Forever by Pip (Moirail)

Having a crush on your roommate is really embarrassing, except that's apparently the opposite of a problem. Jiang Cheng can't deny that's pretty convenient.

Wei Ying holds it up, a series of straps and buckles and velcro and wow, really a lot of leather. It has absolutely no conceivable form beyond tangled.

Nie Huaisang opens the door at exactly the moment that Wei Ying holds the thing up to Jiang Cheng’s chest, as if he’s trying to imagine how exactly it would fit onto a person, and it falls into a tangled pile between them while they stare at Huaisang in mild mortification.

acquired momentum by mongrelmind

Had Madam Yu known that this is where her son would end up, she would have gouged his eyes out with her bracelet before he made the grave mistake of looking in the direction of Nie Huaisang.

-

in which Nie Huaisang has an art show, Jiang Cheng is begrudgingly topless*, and there are. Shenanigans.

*Nie Huaisang excluded.

#sangcheng #mdzs #mdzs recs #fic recs #jiang cheng #nie huaisang #ill probably add more fics when I read more fics

[robininthelabyrinth]

AU where the Nie clan has dragon blood in their lineage, and usually it just manifests as bad temper and a generally martial inclination. Except, once in a rare while, generations apart, an actual dragon will be born among them... (aka nobody really expected that NHS was the latest Nie dragon).

The Nie sect’s ancestors were butchers; that lowly heritage is well known and widely celebrated, much to the not-entirely-concealed disdain of some of the more refined, gentlemanly sects. Butchers at home and butchers at war – everyone knows that.

What’s rather less well known is that the third sect leader, colloquially known among his descendants as ‘that idiot’, rather heroically saved an imperial princess in battle and then – and this was why he was that idiot – married her. She was a proper princess, too, the true-born daughter of the emperor; other sects might see that as a good thing, since for all that cultivation sects saw themselves as being above petty things like the politics of the common folk, a princess was still a princess.

The Nie did not.

The reason for this was quite simple. What does a cultivation style that already incorporates an increased chance of death through anger most assuredly does not need?

The blood of the eight-clawed dragon, that’s what.

Arrogant, explosive, unruly –

It was a mess.

The sixth sect leader came up with the saber halls to honor his father and grandfather – most especially his grandfather, who’d had a bad tendency towards slit-pupiled eyes when he’d been especially enraged, and whose saber had absorbed every ounce of his ferocity – and the next few generations made a point of finding especially meek daughters or sons for their children to marry, and that was that; everyone hoped that that idiot’s mistake could be diluted out of existence.

It was, for the most part. 

But every few generations, imperial blood ran true, and not only in terms of majesty or arrogance, and then the entire sect had to close its doors to the outside world and pretend with all their might that no, of course there wasn’t a rampaging beast of an especially draconic variety raging behind the extremely sturdy walls of the Unclean Realm, what nonsense that would be.

Still, if Lao Nie had to wager on one of his children being a dragon, he probably would have put money on it being his firstborn: already far too tall for his age, a brilliant prodigy with his saber, and a temper that rivaled some of the older members of the clan.

Certainly not Huaisang.

The only time that child hadn’t been a disappointment was when he was a baby: he’d been remarkably lazy even back then, sleeping more hours of the day than he didn’t even past infancy, and what had been a relief to his nursemaids quickly turned to annoyance by everyone else. It was commonly believed that such a weak and unlively child was likely to grow up to be slow-witted and dull, and, worse, the doctors confirmed his muscle tone was underdeveloped; even with a great deal of practice, he would likely always be a bit behind those his own age.

As he grew older, his penchant of sleeping twenty hours out of every day got even more noticeable, and the family largely lost interest.

Well, most of them. His older brother, who’d quietly taken on the responsibility for caring for Huaisang when no one else in the family had had the time or, truthfully, the interest in the disappointing son of an especially fortunate (unfortunate?) family maid-turned-concubine, indulged him far too much, even carrying him from place to place.

“You’re not a mule, Mingjue,” Lao Nie scolded one day, reinforcing the lesson through swipes of the flat of his saber. “Have some dignity! If Huaisang wants to go places, he can damn well walk there himself!”

Nie Mingjue bowed his head, obedient and filial in every way except for the fact that he didn’t listen; if anything, it got even worse from that point on, the boy barely being seen anywhere without a napping toddler as an accoutrement.

“Did you hear what I said?” Lao Nie roared at him.

“I’m not a mule,” Nie Mingjue recited. “If he wants to go places, he can walk there himself.”

“If you heard me and persisted regardless, you’re undisciplined,” Lao Nie said, arms crossed.

“I accept whatever punishment is appropriate,” Nie Mingjue said, and that was most irritating of all: why would his otherwise perfect eldest son insisted on being beaten once a week when all he had to do was leave that useless lump behind in his rooms, where he’d be happier anyway? It wasn’t as though Nie Huaisang even wanted to be outside: sometimes it seemed he’d only learned to talk in order to complain about how uncomfortable he was, how hot, how sweaty – and he even had the gall to keep complaining even after his older brother fetched a fan for him, like a loyal dog.

Discipline was paramount in the Nie sect; to be undisciplined is to risk being monstrous, and with their cultivation style they could not tolerate such a thing. That was why their punishments were so strict, even if the rules were relatively sparse - more principle than rule, really. But on the other hand, their family had always been the sort that would rather break than bend: if Nie Mingjue wanted to pay for his willfulness by accepting punishments, he was entitled to do so.

Still – there was punishment, and there was wanton cruelty; at some point, one of the men in the punishment hall abandoned the former for the latter. He was a popular man, the son of another sect’s diplomat that had married a close cousin of the main family and stayed in Qinghe; for some reason he’d developed an intense dislike of Nie Mingjue – a dislike which was mutual, and likely to cause trouble in the future when Nie MIngjue became Sect Leader, but which currently put Nie MIngjue in a very bad position given the man’s status as his elder.

Lao Nie only learned about the whole matter much later, and when he did he was so spitting mad he grabbed his saber and would have spitted the man on it, cousin or no cousin, if he hadn’t been held back; but at the time he had no idea, busy as he was defending the borders of his lands against troubles caused by that ever-smiling bastard Wen Ruohan.

When he did hear about it, though, he was infuriated: his son and heir had been beaten three times the usual amount, a compilation of a thousand little offenses that could only technically be termed breaches of discipline, forced to complete several dozen of their most demanding exercises, and then made to kneel outside on the hottest day of the year; to no one’s surprise, he had eventually collapsed rather than yield and beg for mercy, his skin cracking and lips starting to bleed as his consciousness left him.

He was after all a Nie. 

Who knows how far that bastard might have gone, his eyes fixed on a prize he would never inherit with his outsider’s surname, if Nie Huaisang hadn’t been there, tucked away curled up underneath a shady tree and made to watch despite Nie Mingjue’s request that he be sent back to his rooms.

Those who were near enough to see – and Lao Nie had plans to punish the whole lot of them for not having interfered: what was the point of a clan motto that prioritized justice and suppression of evil no matter what the consequences if they would allow it to happen in their own damn home? – said that it didn’t happen at once, that there was a pause when Nie Mingjue’s body hit the ground; perhaps it was only that Nie Huaisang was slow to realized what was happening.

Perhaps it just took a while for the change to happen.

Either way, everyone agreed on what happened next: the unfurling of a serpentine body twice the length of a fully grown man, although only about as wide around as a goat, a red-eyed glare that was backed with teeth and claw, and a roar of challenge at anyone who even thought about pulling Nie Mingjue’s body away from the center of those coils.

Apparently Nie Huaisang had needed all that sleep because he was still growing. Who would have known?

It was the youngest full transformation they’d ever had in their clan by far. The boy hadn’t even reached the age of three!

“If he’s stopped sweating, he has heatstroke,” Lao Nie told his apparently not useless younger son, having been urgently summoned to the training field. “He needs to be taken inside at once; you’re only making things worse.”

Nie Huaisang bared his teeth at him, and Lao Nie bared his teeth right back.

He might not be a dragon, but his son’s blood had come from somewhere.

“I am your father,” he snarled. “You will listen to me and obey. You hear me? You will get off of him this instant. If he doesn’t get water soon, he will die.”

Lao Nie will never know if it was the demand for filial piety or the threat to Nie Mingjue’s life that got Nie Huaisang to comply – he suspected the latter – but Nie Huaisang gave in and backed off, allowing the clan’s medics to rush over and take Nie Mingjue away.

Lao Nie looked at the dragon, thinking to himself that the vastness of the underground caverns beneath the Unclean Realm weren’t for nothing: if this was what a two-year-old dragon looked like, he’d be a full-fledged calamity when full grown.

His saber itched in his palm at the thought, but he ignored it. The embarrassing yao-derived portion of their bloodline aside, the Nie sect set itself against evil, and Nie Huaisang was lazy, not evil.

“This is going to be trouble,” he finally said. “It can’t be allowed to get out.”

You can’t go out, he meant, but maybe Nie Huaisang in all his laziness wouldn’t mind being restricted to the Unclean Realm. Maybe, if they were lucky, they could teach him to like paintings and books instead, since he could never be allowed out to join a proper battlefield.

He’d be locked at home forever, unless the Sect Leader decided otherwise - and that meant Lao Nie would be the one responsible for it.

Ancestor or not, damn that idiot. 

In the end, Nie Huaisang didn’t respond to him at all, merely took to the air – flying must be inherent, since he didn’t seem especially bothered by what should be something brand new – and headed inwards, aiming towards…

His brother’s bedroom.

Not really a surprise, that.

A bit of a surprise that he could find it so quickly, though, from such an unfamiliar angle…

Lao Nie’s eye twitched.

If his stubborn older son had known about this, he was going to wish he’d died of heatstroke.

#mdzs #nie mingjue #nie huaisang #my fic #my fics #dragons #oneiriad #not my usual backstory for the Nie sect #but hey #gotta have those dragons #dragon nhs

[ibijau]

I saw a post about, not sure where god!lxc fic goes next? I assume nhs insists on going back to the cave to make a proper offering. Lxc accompanies b/c nhs is still a little sick and nmj is busy. Nhs continues panicking about this uber-powerful god. Lxc enjoys the offering, it's nice, but not the panicking, and hey he committed to being honest? so he tells nhs he's the god. This does not have the calming effect he was hoping for --the anon who got super excited about god!lxc can't read sideplot

ok so, didn’t quite use all of that, but big thanks anon for giving me a way to at least write a little more on that AU which is very dear to me

Price of Wishes on AO3 (can’t remember my tumblr tag for it... orz)

Lan Xichen stares at the altar.

It is a small one, hurriedly installed among others inside the Unclean Realm. Its only decoration is a bolt of pale embroidered fabric from which Nie Huaisang apparently once wanted to have a robe made, and a portrait of Lan Xichen that Nie Huaisang personally painted, as promised in the temple. It doesn’t look like Lan Xichen does in this mortal form, and it probably doesn’t look the way he once did as a god, but the main attributes of his last remaining statue are there.

How long has it been since he was granted a new altar? Not since before this Nie sect even came to be, he thinks.

And now not only was he given this altar, but there are offerings on it. Nie Huaisang put incense to burn and offered flowers and rice, yes, but surprisingly others did the same, and thanked Lan Xichen for keeping their young master safe when he ran away. Even the stern Nie Mingjue, who clearly didn’t share his brother’s certainty about a godly intervention, still lit up some incense and bowed before the altar, simply because he realised how much it mattered to Nie Huaisang.

It had been a flight of fancy to help that boy and get him into the temple, just a sudden impulse to feel like a real god again, but Lan Xichen finds himself more than rewarded for this kindness. If he can keep this up, if they continue honouring him, he might well survive a century more.

Lan Xichen had forgotten what hope feels like.

But hope or not, Lan Xichen knows to whom he owes this. As days pass, he sticks close to Nie Huaisang, who is currently his strongest believer. Even the old lady, dear to Lan Xichen as she is, never had such unwavering faith in his power. She prays to him mostly out of habit, while Nie Huaisang does so out of conviction. Being near him feels like stepping into the sun after an eternity in darkness, and Lan Xichen cannot get enough of the sensation.

Besides, if they are to be married, he needs to know more about the young man whose life he will share.

Nie Huaisang is an interesting person, Lan Xichen thinks. He acts a little spoiled, but of course he is young, and Lan Xichen vaguely understands that the Nie family has gone through rough times in the recent past, and Nie Huaisang’s childishness might be how he dealt with it. At his core, Nie Huaisang is more serious than he lets on. For example, he is determined to fully repay the debt he contracted toward Lan Xichen. The altar he set up is but a first step. In spite of his brother’s warnings, Nie Huaisang has inquired what it would cost to have a safe road to the mountain temple, just as he promised to do. In fact, he goes beyond his promise, determined to find every possible detail about Lan Xichen so that he may be worshipped properly. To that end, he spends day after day in Qinghe Nie’s immensely rich library, reading through books with a speed which astonishes Lan Xichen, writing letters to make inquiries as if it is the easiest thing in the world.

Lan Xichen thinks Nie Huaisang might just be the cleverest person he has ever met, and the most stubborn as well. Both are qualities he appreciates in a follower, and in a person.

It’s quite funny to Lan Xichen to realise that Nie Huaisang is considered lazy. Perhaps he only puts efforts into things that interest him. Lan Xichen, of course, is glad to be one of those things.

In general, he’s just glad to be around Nie Huaisang. The steady warmth of belief is quite nice, of course, but that’s not the only reason. Nie Huaisang, although he apparently realises to some degree that Lan Xichen shouldn’t exist as a mortal, still tries hard to be kind to him. He gives him delicious foods, and tries to find subtle ways to look for gaps in Lan Xichen’s knowledge of the mortal world so he can fill him in and help him fit in better. He is a pleasant person to talk to, a pleasant person to silently spend time with, a pleasant person to look at even, his youthful face showing every sign that he will develop into a handsome man someday.

In just this little time, Lan Xichen finds himself quite fond of this little mortal. It won’t be unpleasant to marry him as agreed.

First, though, Nie Huaisang must mature. And part of that means heading out toward the Cloud Recesses, where Lan Xichen himself is supposed to come from, according to the narrative Nie Huaisang demanded in his prayer. It is a stressful perspective, since Lan Xichen isn’t sure he is quite strong enough to shift reality around people who have much stronger reasons to refuse his intrusion into their life, but he will try his best. It is the deal he made with Nie Huaisang, and he will see it through.

To Lan Xichen’s relief, just before they are set to head south toward Gusu, Nie Huaisang begs his brother for a full ceremony at the mountain temple, with incense and prayers and everything that can be done to honour Lan Xichen. Nie Mingjue grumbles and complains and even gets angry, but he eventually gives in, as seems to be common for him when his brother makes a request. Nie Mingjue is a wise man, and he apparently understands that little can be done when Nie Huaisang is in a mood to be stubborn about something.

So the three of them head out into the mountain, followed by a few Nie disciples who carry food offerings and some tools to clean the temple.

The temple’s floors are swiped clean. Rubbles are removed. The nearly faceless statue has its layers of dust carefully cleaned away by Nie Huaisang who climbed on its pedestal so he can reach every part, revealing details that Lan Xichen himself had forgotten. There are even some traces of colour here and there.

“I’ll have to make another portrait,” Nie Huaisang notes. “Mine isn’t accurate at all after all.”

“I’m sure this god is already more than happy with what you have given him,” Lan Xichen says, lifting his gaze from the altar he’s wiping clean. It is a struggle to keep himself from crying from joy, and his voice comes out a little strangled, but Nie Huaisang doesn’t appear to notice.

“I need to do better,” Nie Huaisang says with a shiver. “I cannot risk offending him.”

He sounds almost afraid, and his hands tremble slightly as he carefully dusts the statue. Lan Xichen stares at him a moment more, and sighs.

However pleasant everything else has been, this is one thing that doesn’t sit right with him. For whatever reason, Nie Huaisang seems to be afraid of his god self, and it taints his every prayer. This doesn’t change the value of those prayers, it doesn’t make his belief any less strong and valuable, but Lan Xichen can feel that fear almost constantly and he doesn’t enjoy it. He is too used to the old lady’s belief, simple and companionable. She treats him like an old friend to whom she can make requests, and he wishes Nie Huaisang would do the same. They are set to be married, it is the deal, and Lan Xichen doesn’t like the idea of a union set in fear. 

“I am sure that god would not be offended,” Lan Xichen quietly insists. “You haven’t found anything about him in all your books and your letters, have you? So he must not be a very important god, and your efforts are sure to have been noticed and appreciated.”

“But it’s not enough,” Nie Huaisang retorts, gritting his teeth. “It can’t be enough. Nothing I do is ever enough, there’s got to be more I could do!”

Lan Xichen frowns, and looks around until his eyes land on Nie Mingjue. He heard this, and is staring at his brother with some concern.

From what Lan Xichen understands, the reason Nie Huaisang took refuge in his temple a few weeks ago was because of a great argument with Nie Mingjue regarding his capacity to do… nearly anything, really. Nie Mingjue, taking Lan Xichen as the confident Nie Huaisang asked that he be, admitted to him one day that he is terribly worried for his brother’s future. There might be a war, he said, and Nie Mingjue could die in it and leave Nie Huaisang alone to lead their sect before his time. Nie Mingjue confessed he is terrified that the elders of their clan won’t respect Nie Huaisang because his mother was of lesser birth, that some of their cousins will attempt to rob him of his birthright, that even if he becomes sect leader he will not be respected and some people will try to take advantage of his inexperience. So Nie Mingjue pushes his brother as hard as he can, demanding more efforts, more results, but it is all in vain because Nie Huaisang has stubbornly decided he isn’t good at anything that matters, and refuses to try anymore.

It was a terrible argument they had that day, Nie Mingjue said. And then, proving all his fears right, Nie Huaisang nearly died after running away and catching a fever, showing to all his future enemies how vulnerable a target he would be without Nie Mingjue to protect him. At the same time, that Nie Huaisang was ready to run away showed that he took it to heart every time he was scolded for not doing more, and now Nie Mingjue doesn’t know how to handle him anymore.

After Nie Mingjue confided in him this way, Lan Xichen promised he would look after Nie Huaisang, no matter what. It is part of the deal, as far as he’s concerned, because spouses must support one another, but also…

Lan Xichen is quickly becoming quite fond of this pair of brothers. Having been lonely for so long, he finds joy in the closeness they share, no matter how strained it might be at times. It is clear to him that Nie Mingjue loves his brother, though he struggles to show it when he has so much on his mind, and Nie Huaisang feels the same, to the point it was inconceivable for him to marry someone who wouldn’t be friendly with Nie Mingjue.

“Nie gongzi, you’ve done all you could for that statue,” Lan Xichen says, grabbing Nie Huaisang by the waist and pulling him down from the pedestal.

Nie Huaisang squeaks in surprise, fighting for a second before going rigid with fear as Lan Xichen puts him down. His face is a bright crimson when he looks up at Lan Xichen, who wonders whether that’s anger at being manhandled this way, but the other Nie just start laughing at his expression.

“Don’t seduce my brother like that, Xichen,” Nie Mingjue scolds, more of a joke than a real warning. “Look at him, he’s two heartbeat from asking for your hand now.”

Amazingly, Nie Huaisang manages to blush an even brighter colour, and leaps away from Lan Xichen. Nie Mingjue laughs again, apparently content with his brother’s perceived crush. Perceived, or real. Lan Xichen isn’t really sure what goes on in Nie Huaisang’s mind. He can feel is never ending flood of belief, the undercurrent of fear, but no particular affection so far. Then again, with fear that strong, it would be hard for any other emotion to flourish. Lan Xichen hasn’t wanted to talk directly about their situation yet, assuming that Nie Huaisang might want the illusion that this is all perfectly normal, but he’s rethinking that strategy. It is clear that Nie Huaisang, for whatever reason, is immune to the narrative that Lan Xichen created for his sake, so why not talk about it openly? If it can make Nie Huaisang any less afraid…

That is a problem for later. Right now, the temple is as clean as can be achieved with what little time they have available, so Nie Mingjue conducts the ceremonies necessary to consecrate the temple again, and invites Lan Xichen to inhabit again this place dedicated to him. Incense is put to burn for him, offerings are left on the altar, thanks and prayers are presented to him. Even Nie Mingjue, so openly reluctant to believe that there was any divine intervention to help his brother survive in the mountain, does provide a small stream of belief, hinting at a mind just as strong as his brother’s. Lan Xichen hopes that they can truly become friends over time, though he is unsure that’s possible with the lies he’s had to weave so he could fulfill Nie Huaisang’s request.

Still, there’s no harm in trying. If Lan Xichen is to spend one lifetime as a mortal, he wants to make the best of it, not only as a god in need of believers, but also as a person left alone far too long.

#xisang #nie huaisang #lan xichen #mo dao zu shi #mdzs #jau writes #that's not the tag I've used before but it'll do until I can find the right one again #Anonymous #xisang wishes au

[untamedunrestrained]

Moral of the Story

I was scrolling through the WangXian tag on Tumblr when I came across a post that I eventually scrolled past but it seems to have planted a germ of an idea that I just can’t shake loose and I tried and I tried and then I procrastinated some more for good measure but it didn’t work. So, here I am trying to present my thoughts with some degree of coherency.

The post that was the impetus for this post, talks about LWJ’s punishment after the events at Nightless City just before WWX’s death. That post raises the question of how LWJ could forgive his uncle and brother for a punishment that would have killed a lesser cultivator.

The moment I read the post I disagreed with it but I couldn’t quite put my finger on why but since I have been thinking about it for the past few days, I now know exactly why I disagreed with the post in the first place.

Before we proceed, I would like to make it clear that while what I’m about to say tracks across every canon of MDZS, I’m going to pick the details from the novel verse because it’s more detailed with regards to this particular aspect of the story, and also if you have only watched The Untamed/CQL and not read the novel (albeit only in its translated form) it might be easier to fall into the type of thinking that lead to the previous post in the first place.

Ideally, I should just link to the original post but since I found the post while I was scrolling through Tumblr’s tag for WangXian and initially tried to ignore it completely because I didn’t quite understand why that particular idea was troubling me, I don’t think it would be easy to find it again and since I’m disagreeing with the post I don’t want the author of the post to find this because even when we try to be rational our first response to being disagreed with is hurt or anger and I don’t want anyone to feel that way. These are just my thoughts and you might agree or disagree with them but I feel like I should put them out there since the idea will not leave me alone.

So, let’s get into it.

LWJ is given thirty-three discipline whips for each of the thirty-three GusuLan elders he gravely injured to protect WWX.

When WWX sees LWJ scars in the novel these are his thoughts-

Usually, with only one or two strikes of the discipline whip, it would already be enough of a punishment for the bearer to remember it for their whole life, never to make the same mistake ever again. The amount of scars on this person’s back accumulated thirty at the least. Just what sort of monstrous crime did he commit for him to be whipped so many times? If it really was a monstrous crime, why didn’t they kill him?

As we will later learn LWJ’s punishment is a little more detailed than just whipping he was also made to kneel in front of the “Wall of Discipline” following the whipping.

It’s a barbaric punishment and of course, the ones ordering it are his uncle and his brother who have both been established as characters who truly do love LWJ. So, why? Why is LWJ’s punishment so severe, well there are two reasons for that and I will discuss the lamer one first.

His punishment was severe because by this point we know that LWJ is probably one of the best cultivators of his generation if not the best (I could definitely argue for the latter, I mean this guy can fight Xue Yang wielding his sword with one hand and keep an entire horde of zombies at bay while playing his guqin with the other. And, did I mention this is happening at the same time, he literally managed to fight a horde of zombies and Xue Yang with two different cultivation methods being practised simultaneously and of course, he won but not only that there wasn’t a moment during this entire fight when that wasn’t the expected outcome). So, of course, if you want to really punish this guy the punishment has to be on par with his own physical and spiritual strength, it wouldn’t be much of a punishment he was able to do it without even breaking a sweat. I told you it was a bit lame.

Secondly and more importantly, the punishment should fit the crime. If the crime is particularly grievous, the punishment must be as well, it must be severe and in this particular story, depending on the individual’s spiritual strength a severe enough punishment might be different for different levels of cultivation. So, the real question is did LWJ deserve the punishment and the answer is an unequivocal YES.

LWJ grievously injured thirty-three GusuLan elders who were looking for him specifically so that they could find him before the other clans did because if the other clans did find him first they would kill him. After all, he saved WWX and kept him alive. The same WWX who at the Nightless City declared war on the combined might of the Cultivation World and then proceeded to kill thousands of Cultivators and then when they died he resurrected them to fight their very own comrades, that WWX.

Now, we might all argue he only fought the Cultivators because they killed all the Wen remnants and that only happened because he killed Jin ZiXuan who he technically didn’t kill but he definitely provided the opportunity and the weapon for his death because his ego couldn’t let Jin ZiXun go. At this point, we don’t know that there is another player in the mix but both these fights that ultimately take the lives of Jin ZiXuan and Jiang Yanli respectively were both started by WWX and even if we forget about the inciting event (Jin ZiXuan’s death), WWX still killed thousands of people from all clans. But, we only know these intricacies because the story is told from WWX’s perspective. LWJ doesn’t know this and neither do most of the people in the Cultivation World.

What they do know is that LWJ took WWX after he had killed thousands of cultivators and depleted the remaining Cultivators of their spiritual energy so thoroughly it took them three months to recover enough to mount a second attack. No matter how you spin it WWX is responsible for those deaths and LWJ is responsible for saving an outright murderer and then he further cemented his crimes by fighting thirty-three of his own elders and grievously injuring them in defence of said murderer when it seems like they largely made the journey to protect LWJ's life and his reputation and not with the primary purpose of killing WWX.

So, yes he deserves his punishment and as he himself believes this -

But he (LWJ) said… that he could not say with certainty whether what you (WWX) did was right or wrong, but no matter what, he was willing to be responsible for all of the consequences alongside you.

The reason LWJ could forgive LXC and LQR for his punishment is because he didn’t need to. He understood exactly why he was being punished. At the end of the day, LWJ didn’t actually protect WWX thinking that he might be right, he protected WWX because he was intensely and irrevocably in love with him and he is ready to stand by his love right or wrong.

While these are all very valid points the real reason that post caused this disquiet to appear in me was because it was trying to paint LXC and LQR’s actions in a bad light with the power of hindsight completely forgetting that their actions were relevant in the context they happened in which brought me spiralling back to the story as a whole.

The story firmly tries to tell you that what you see and what you observe might paint a very clear narrative in your eyes but there is always a possibility that the narrative we feel is so immutable can completely change its structure if we were just able to see it in a different light as is beautifully illuminated by this story.

The other thing that we don’t realise is that in this story we aren’t depicted by LWJ or WWX or JC or JL or LSZ or even NHS and JGY for the matter. We are the mob, we are Sect Leader Yao, we are the people who are told stories that paint people in a certain light and then we can’t see them in any other light. In our very upbringing, some prejudices are a staple and we still harbour them and these influence how we interact with the world and more specifically how we judge people and their actions. This story urges us to remember that while things might seem black and white maybe unearthing the reasons behind them might make the story more grey, so the next time you decide to paint a group of people or even a particular person as wholly bad no matter how egregious their actions may seem remember the moral of Mo Dao Zu Shi, remember that there might be more to the story than meets the eye and more importantly remember that something in the future might make a success of today look like a blight on history.

If I have to be more precise, I would say the moral of this story is to be open to the possibility that we might not know the whole story and we might be wrong even when we are a 100% convinced we aren’t.

#mo dao zu shi #wei wuxian #lan wangji #lan xichen #lan qiren #wangxian #myposts

[eyeslikefoxglove]

Episode 21 - The PTSD is strong with this one & we need more braincells

Hello hello! Welcome to the commentary. How’s everyone? I’m frozen solid because it’s mid-June in Spain and yet we had 11°C yesterday. Fucking awesome!

I AM NOT WEARING MASCARA SO I CAN CRY ALL I WANT. I DONT KNOW IF THATS GOOD OR BAD THO.

Can I just take a second to appreciate how much this big strong powerful men emote? I mean, I know this isn’t western media where the tough guy can’t show emotions, and I don’t know that eastern media has the same hangups about men emoting but just... it’s so refreshing.

Huaisang bb you’re so sweet.

Oh, oh the PTSD is strong with this one.

Also, bless both JC and NHS, they absolutely noticed WWX flinch and, in their own ways, went and steamrolled over it so WWX wouldn’t feel scrutinised.

WE INTERRUPT THIS BROADCAST TO INFORM YALL THAT I GOT A KITTEN ON MY LAP. (She’s kneading my boob, which, ow, but...)

*BICHEN GRIIIIIIIP*

How do y’all think the guards go deliver bad news to WRH? Like do they paper-rock-scissor it? Draw straws?

NMJ did you have to?

And once again I wonder what would’ve happened if JFM had let sect leader Yao kick it.

Ughvhfnevus it’s this clown. Same as with Su She, if you see a bunch of screaming it’s just me not wanting to listen to Jin ZiXun.

The Nies: let’s throw a banquet to honour WWX’s return

Every asshole there: *gossips about WWX while in the room with him*

Once again I wish I could transmigrate (and speak mandarin lol) and just start delivering tongue lashings.

Listen, I have no idea how to play Guqin, but I did play the guitar for years and even from here I can see how much YiBo’s hands don’t match the melody. Nothing against him but why does this always happen? I know they got classes, so was the music not written by that time or something? Because one thing is not hitting the correct notes, another is plucking slow notes when the tempo is much faster.

JC: Since yours and LWJ’s unhappy separation...

My dumbass: do you mean breakup? *eyebrow waggle*

You will pry my “JC knows his brother is pinning after LWJ, he probably doesn’t want to know anything else” hc out of my cold dead hands thankyouverymuch.

WWX: *spouts a bunch of misdirection to avoid giving JC a straight answer*

JC: Bull-fucking-shit.

Should I count how many times WWX PTSDs all over the place or would you like me to leave your hearts intact? That’s two so far.

Ok ok, I feel that, if someone with a bit less trauma and a bit of insight (NHS maybe?) had seen the bit where ChenQing fucking hurts Shijie thing would’ve gone differently. I mean, yes, LWJ keeps warning WWX that this shit is gonna fuck him up, but as I said in my previous commentary LWJ also has the communication skills of a hermit crab so that wouldn’t work, and JC would be too wound up and WWX too busy trying to conceal his lack of golden core for that conversation to go anywhere. But if someone who WWX knows is a good egg (I’m not gonna say trusts bc paranoia) had sat him down and told him “your new instrument that you use for your new form of cultivation just hurt the person you love most please be careful when you use it.” I think it would’ve worked wonders towards his health overall.

I know Shijie says it’s like Zidian, but she’s not working with the fact that this thing is made for and by the Dark Side of the Force and I’m sorry but I can’t help but see ChenQing as a bit of a horrocrux almost. Or like, if you like me think the Burial Mounds is an Entity, something that’s a bit more sentient that it lets on.

Speaking of reputations and NHS being a good egg, I have oh-so-many ideas (I won’t say plot bunnies because I can’t write for shit) in which NHS for Reasons (time-travel? Letter from the future? His massive brain?) realises just how much damage WWX is doing to his public image. And he might be a sheltered dandy, but he saw what being the son of a sex worker did to Meng Yao despite how hard he worked (I’m assuming he doesn’t know about the whole betrayal business). This is way fucking worse, like hell is he going to let one of his best friends paint a target on his back. So he pulls back his sleeves, engages his slytherin brain and proceeds to lay down a plan to throughly destroy WWX’s reputation as a powerful genius.

I’m guessing LWJ and JC protest, and maybe WWX, and NHS just hits them with “do you want him respected or alive?” And they shut tf up. He glues himself to WWX, and brings up as many instances in which their behaviour can be compared as he can (we got drunk and punished at cloud recesses, we slept in class, we skipped to go fishing, I don’t carry my sword either). And, because assholes be assholes, people like Sect Leader Yao or Clown Cousin are quick to start spouting their own derogatory bullshit and thus WWX the untamed powerful prodigy dies a fiery death. Now he’s just a mouthy kid with a quick mind that “does tricks instead of battle” (I’ll never get bored of using that Thor quote). I also like to think that people who personally know WWX and are not pieces of shit go give NHS a tongue lashing for messing with what they thought was his friend, NHS takes that as a test of good eggness and bring them into the plan. Soon the whole Cloud Recesses class is swearing up, down, left, right and centre that all the shit WWX has ever successfully pulled is just an insane amount of luck and quick thinking.

I don’t know how would they work him into the battlefield (disguise? Mask?) to unleash his demonic cultivation but that’s Plot and I don’t do that.

Also, because I’m a terrible human being I want to say that people assume LWJ is on “pretty but useless” WWX like white on rice because *insert derogatory comment about being good in bed and sexual favours*. Because y’all know the assholes here are Like That. And WWX is horrified because holy fucking shit he’s gonna drag LWJ’s reputation down, he can’t have people thinking HGJ is ok with having him as a concubine pretty much. But before he can act LWJ politely all but confirms that yeah, he’s tapping that, y’all wish you were but he doesn’t share and none of y’all are good enough for his Wei Ying anyway. CUE FAKE/PRETEND RELATIONSHIP BECAUSE I AM INDEED TRASH FOR THAT TROPE.

Muahahahaha y’all thought I was gonna devolve into my personal hcs and not include my fave trope? Shouldn’t y’all know me better by now?

(Btw I like this bit ^ so I might polish it a little and post it separately as well, just a warning if you find yourself reading an eerily similar post by me)

WuJi is playing and LWJ is pining so much. Also, if LWJ did not just realise that, just like Yu the Great, WWX had no other option but tame resentful energy I’ll eat my blanket.

I refuse to believe Jiang Yanli didn’t become the unofficial war camp therapist/sounding board/only sane person/everyone’s mum/I just need a hug and a corner to cry in peace. There are not enough fics about Shijie being her gentle BAMF self while in the camp and it’s a pity. My crops are dying y’all!

Also, I will fight anyone who scoffs at Shijie being the epitome of the “gentle woman who cooks and waits for the men to come back from war”. Look at her mum, do you think it is easy for a kid (she was a kid in the flashback when WWX ran away) to see that day in and day out, to have that as a “role model” and decide that she was not going to be like her mum? That she didn’t like what she saw in her so she was going to be kind and gentle? And do you think it is easy for a person barely in their twenties to deal with years of verbal and psychological abuse for again, being gentle and kind, and not grow a hard shell of bitterness to protect themselves? And to keep being gentle and kind while at war, with your parents dead and your siblings unraveling before your very eyes? Shijie is so fucking strong and I love her.

Hey look, the White Walkers!

“Resentful energy is just energy” ok, valid. But my dude, you’ve got black ghost smoke coming out of you and can hear people screaming in your head. I’m not saying it is evil, like someone’s uptight set in his ways arrogant uncle; but it sure as shit ain’t healthy.

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH (that’s a Clown Cousin scream btw)

Ok ok, just one little thing: IF SOMEONE ELSE CALLS WWX WEI YING AS A SHOW OF DISRESPECT IMMA SCALP THEM.

...are those crows eating that man alive? Yikes on bikes.

(Assume my comment about YiBo’s Guqin playing also goes for Xiao Zhan and his flute. I can’t play the flute but the tempo doesn’t match his fingers)

I’m just gonna say it, I think 3zun (well, 2zun as of now) suspect shit went down badly for WWX, that’s two questions by both of them in a very soft conciliatory tone. They are genuinely interested/worried about the topic, and don’t seem to come off as chiding or judgemental. I mean WWX is a weirdo irreverent kid and they’re sect leaders, they outrank him so much it’s ridiculous. I’m also counting the fact that both their baby brothers like him towards them being so kind. But I also think WWX just triggers all their big brother instincts the second he walks in.

Oh there’s a thought, Shijie, Wen Qing, NMJ and LXC take a look at everyone’s shitty parents and just decide to adopt everyone.

What happened at Yiling was a traumatised teenager (is WWX even 20?) PTSDing all over the place with the Dark Side of the Force whispering in his ear and an all powerful trinket at his disposal. Not saying I approve of all the torture and murder but he clearly isn’t revelling in them.

That is some outstanding bit of big-brothering on LXC’s side and I love it. Also, my dumbass just realised LWJ probably wasn’t quoting WWX when he was being punished (what is white what is black?) I think he was quoting his big brother. Which is magnitudes deep too, but in a different direction and I might love that scene even more.

Ok fuck it, I’m gonna tangent. So I had a terrible boyfriend when I was 15-18. He alienated me from my friends, sunk my self-esteem to the molten core of the earth, tried to convince me my parents were abusive and encouraged (aka threatened manipulated and cajoled) the slow tanking of my high school marks. I have A Problem when I see media where someone latches onto their significant other and everything they are shifts towards that person. Now, love, true genuine love, is powerful, and I believe it can be the catalyst for shifting your world-view for the better. I don’t have a problem with that. I don’t have a problem with people sticking with their romantic partner if it is clear their previous “family” is so much shit. I don’t have a problem with LWJ coming out of his shell and defying corrupt precepts because his love for WWX made them see they were wrong, or getting sassy and unrepentant during his punishment (I have a problem with the punishment bc that’s abuse but...). But I do side-eye WangXian being the only thing in their orbit. People need people, and WangXian have other good people around them. So I kind of love that yes, WWX showed him the system was corrupt, but it is the words of his brother he is sticking by to the defy said system.

Let’s go back to our scheduled slew of held pinning glances shall we?

LXC after That awkward run-in: WangJi I wasn’t gone that long, what the fuck did you two oblivious pining idiots do?

(LXC has “bitching” tea sessions with Shijie and you can’t convince me otherwise)

LWJ: *is being dramatic and not knocking on WWX’s door*

Me: oh my god you fucking idiot

Shijie: *walks in*

Me: oh thank god someone with a braincell.

Ah yes, there we go triggering WWX’s paranoia again. Why would he get a break.

OH MY GOD YOU PAIR OF FUCKING IDIOTS. THATS IT, FUCK THIS SHIT IM OUT.

@ LWJ: bitch wtf was that? I know you’re shit at talking but have you thought about writing it down? Letters anyone? It worked for mr. Darcy.

(Yes LWJ is mr darcy and now I want an au where LWJ writes WWX letters and just pours everything in them, WWX finds them, any everything is sunshine and rainbows)

While this bullshit fight/misunderstanding is all on LWJ’s shoulders, I’m also going to scream at WWX. Because yes, he is in PTSD hell, but he trusted LWJ before, and yet he can’t get past his perceived notion of LWJ’s character (and his own inadequacies) to trust him again and ask for help. Plus, you know, he thinks he doesn’t deserve he’ll bc *waves hand at WWX’s trauma conga line*

These episodes can’t be good for my BP.

Thanks for reading!

#the untamed #cql #mdzs live action #mdzs #foxglove watches cql #foxglove watches the untamed #lan wangji #wei wuxian #wangxian #jiang yanli #jiang cheng #yunmeng trio #yunmeng siblings #commentary

[somepinkthing]

I read a fic where NHS decided to abolish the single chief cultivator system and have 3 people being in charge of the position instead, including himself. Thoughts?

My thoughts are pretty much the same though? Like there are only maybe 5 people alive qualified to take one of those seats. One of them is in seclusion indefinitely. One of them is a teenager. I think if he ABSOLUTELY HAS TO then nie huaisang can eventually be convinced to step in and take responsibility. But I will never be convinced that the 20-something year old who wanted to run away and paint fans suddenly decided he wanted to head the whole cultivation world when he didn't even want sect leader. His entire ploy rested on him still not wanting to be a sect leader and I don't think that was all faked. And while keeping his family's birthright running might have grown on him if for nothing else than the connection to his family, I doubt a lofty position will. Not to mention, he's still got his own life to start piecing together now that everything is said and done.

My thoughts are he'll do it if he's pushed to by the other sect leaders and probably be good at it even, but he's gonna resign at the first better option. I think that the responsibility is split between three people might make huaisang more willing to consider taking part in the council, but that also depends on who the other 2 people are.

The fic sounds cute though! I haven't read that one!

#listen this boy needs a nap not more responsibility #let him sleep #nhs #mdzs #mdzs ask #ask

[ibijau]

Worst engagement AU // on AO3 (though I’ll likely only post this chapter there tomorrow)

Set not very long after lwj and nhs silently bonding over bunnies. gonna blame @denira whose tags on the aforementioned chapter inspired me :D

Lan Qiren is busy today, so it is Lan Xichen who supervises Lan Wangji's guqin practice. It is what Lan Wangji prefers, although he knows better than to say it. Lan Qiren is more experienced, more skilled, and this is the superior teacher. But Lan Xichen is kinder when his brother makes a mistake, preferring to encourage rather than scold, so Lan Wangji is weak and prefers him.

When the lesson is over, Lan Xichen praises his brother for how well he did while Lan Wangji goes to carefully put away his guqin. When he comes back, he finds Lan Xichen looking at something on his desk. He was supposed to tidy it earlier, but got distracted. It is irresponsible of him, and if Lan Qiren were here, he would scold his nephew.

Lan Wangji is really glad it was his brother with him today.

“Wanji, this painting is very good,” Lan Xichen remarks, picking up something from the desk. “When did you make it?”

Considering he has not painted in a while, the question takes Lan Wangji by surprise. He cannot think of any recent work he might not have yet shown his brother. The mystery is quickly lifted when he comes closer and finds his brother holding the painting that Nie Huaisang gave him. Lan Xichen is right to call it good, of course, and Lan Wangji knows he should immediately disperse the misunderstanding that it is his own work.

Lan Wangji knows, also, that his brother is not very impressed by Nie Huaisang's skills. He cannot be blamed. Nie Huaisang is a very poor cultivator who doesn't even have a golden core yet, and Lan Wangji understands that in the world they live in, that is unforgivable for someone from such a prestigious sect as Qinghe Nie. Until recently, Lan Wangji simply agreed with his brother's disappointment, mostly due to never interacting with the other boy himself.

But since then there's been that afternoon with the rabbits, and Lan Wangji feels a little more positively toward his future brother-in-law. After all, Nie Huaisang didn't try to force him into tedious conversation as most people do, didn't tease him for his enjoyment of rabbits as other children did when he was younger. And, of course, Nie Huaisang gave him that beautiful painting where the rabbits look as if they might just hop from the page and started frolicking around.

Nie Huaisang doesn't look like much, but there might be more to him than can be seen on the surface.

“Brother thinks it's good?” Lan Wangji asks.

Lying by omission or implication is wrong. He'll have to be punished for it later. Handstands perhaps. But since Nie Huaisang gave him a gift, Lan Wangji feels like giving one in return.

“It's excellent,” Lan Xichen assures him, unable to take his eyes off the painting and smiling with open admiration. “I didn't know you had progressed so much! The lines flow beautifully, you're making them look relaxed and yet still ready to stir at the first noise... and the shading is simple but very good, it really brings them to life. Their shape is good too, very true to life, I particularly like their eyes and noses. Wangji, I think this is better than most of what I've done recently.”

Since Lan Wangji has little taste for pictorial arts, he doesn't care too much that this praise is not directed at his actual work. He only paints because it's what a man of good education must do. But he has seen how Nie Huaisang looked when he was painting, and knows his future brother-in-law must feel differently.

Usually Nie Huaisang always looks like he's about to cry if someone so much as looks his way, but that afternoon he was so focused that nothing seemed to touch him. Lan Wangji is half sure that if he hadn't been there to be the reasonable one, Nie Huaisang would have stayed painting until the very last ray of sunlight, perhaps even after night fell if the moon was bright enough. Everyone says he's lazy, but clearly that's not what's the problem with him.

“Nie Huaisang gifted me this painting,” Lan Wangji announces. “He made it himself.”

The silence that follows is to be expected. Since Lan Xichen has a low opinion of Nie Huaisang, it is normal for him to be surprised by the skill his fiancé hides under all that shyness. But after seeing what Nie Huaisang is capable of, it is obvious that Lan Xichen will have to rethink his position. There is no shame in being wrong, only in refusing to learn from it, the rules say.

“He lied to you,” Lan Xichen says without hesitation.

“He did not,” Lan Wangji calmly protests. “I saw him paint it.”

“I did not know you ever spent time with him,” Lan Xichen remarks, now inspecting the painting more critically, as if trying to find faults in it. “I suppose he might have painted it. The composition isn't very good, and the proportions of those poor rabbits is laughable. If they really looked this fat, they'd have ended up as a fox's dinner already.”

Lan Wangji stares at his brother, shocked by the sudden change.

“Brother said the painting was excellent. Was that a lie?”

“It is better than what you usually do,” Lan Xichen concedes, though it seems to pain him to say even this. “I was trying to encourage you. I know this is not an art you favour.”

“Brother said this was better than his own work.”

For some reason, Lan Xichen's entire face turns red at having his own words thrown back at him. He looks.

He looks angry.

Lan Wangji feels baffled.

If it were him in his brother's place, he'd be relieved to find that his fiancé isn't completely useless. In fact, his biggest hope for the future is that whoever his uncle and father pick for him to marry will be someone musically inclined, like him, so that they can at least have one thing in common. Since Lan Xichen enjoys painting a great deal, he should be glad to discover that it is a passion that Nie Huaisang shares, and that he shares it well.

“He must have copied it from somewhere,” Lan Xichen announces. “From memory perhaps, but there is no way Nie Huaisang made something like that on his own. Mingjue has told me that his brother and him have had little training in non martial arts, and it is simply impossible for someone self-taught to make something like this without help. I'm afraid he fooled you, Wangji.”

This conversation is starting to be upsetting, Lan Wangji decides.

Not because he thinks he was fooled. He was there, he saw the rabbits in that exact position, with the exact markings that Nie Huaisang depicted. There is no doubt that the work is entirely due to Nie Huaisang's skill.

What is upsetting, then, is to see his brother so unbending in his dislike of his fiancé. Coming from someone else, it would be understandable. Most people are petty, Lan Wangji has found out. But his brother has always been a model of virtue to him, always patient and kind and willing to give everyone a chance. In all of Lan Wangji's life, he has never seen his brother dislike someone so strongly. Even with Jin Zixun, who Lan Wangji wants to silence every time he opens his mouth, Lan Xichen manages to stay patient and polite.

Everyone has to dislike someone, it is only human, but out of every person they have met, Lan Wangji can't fathom why his brother has decided to dislike Nie Huaisang. It's like disliking a shrub or a rabbit. One can do it, and it is easy to take one's anger on it, but what good does it do anyone to hate something that can't defend itself?

It is odd for Lan Xichen to be so unreasonable.

“Did Nie Huaisang offend brother?” Lan Wangji careful asks.

That too sounds odd, if only because Nie Huaisang is so meek and shy that it seems unlikely he'd talk enough to ever insult anyone. And still, Lan Xichen frowns at the question, his expression turning darker.

“Why are you so interested in Nie Huaisang all of a sudden? You've never seemed to notice him before when he visited.”

“I like the painting,” Lan Wangji replies which wasn't exactly untrue, even if it isn't the entire truth. It was nice, that afternoon. Most guest disciples are too rowdy for his tastes, or them move in large groups that he doesn't want to deal with. As for Lan disciples, of course they are quiet, but most of them are a little scared of him for his connection to Lan Qiren and the sect leader. Besides, whenever he's tried to mention his interest in anything but cultivation, and especially in rabbits, they always look at him as if he's grown a second head.

But Nie Huaisang was quiet, and he  liked the rabbits enough to paint them.

“Nie Huaisang seems nice,” Lan Wangji says, feeling very daring for going against his brother's opinion. Maybe this is the start of that rebellious phase that Lan Qiren always seems to worry about.

Lan Xichen shoots him a surprised look.

“Is one mediocre painting really all it takes to buy your friendship, Wangji?”

“It's a good painting,” Lan Wangji points out. Then, after some consideration and for the sake of honesty, he adds: “We are not friends. But he is nice. I do not mind that he will join the family.”

This time, there's definitely a hint of wilful rebellion to his words. Lan Wangji knows it's wrong, that he must respect his elders, and Lan Xichen does count as an elder even if there's just a few years between them.

But really, it's not his fault that Lan Xichen is so unreasonable.

“I see you've decided to be difficult today,” Lan Xichen has the galls to say. “If you want to pity Nie Huaisang, go ahead I suppose. Good luck with getting him to say more than two words at once.”

Lan Wangji nods. Nie Huaisang is quiet. That is the nice thing about him. He also doesn't seem to have any expectations about Lan Wangji, never once bothering him since that afternoon with the rabbits, never seeking him out.

Lan Wangji likes it when people are quiet and don't bother him.

“I'll see you at dinner,” Lan Xichen announces, dropping the painting as if it is a particularly disgusting thing. “I hope you're less contradictory by then.”

Lan Wangji watches him go, still a little baffled that his brother somehow found something to hate in a person as bland and innocuous as Nie Huaisang. Then, when he is alone, he picks up the painting and carefully puts it away.

After all, as Lan Xichen himself said, it's an excellent painting, and must be treated accordingly.

#xisang #lan wangji #lan xichen #mo dao zu shi #yes lxc is very bitchy but listen have you ever found out that someone you don't like is better than you at somehting you love? #that's what he's going through #we've all been through that right? #or am I really just a bitter envious bitch??XD #jau writes #worst engagement AU

[ibijau]

Worst engagement AU // on AO3

set early-ish during nhs’s first year in the Cloud Recesses

It takes a while to get used to life in the Cloud Recesses, but it's not so bad. Nie Huaisang kinds of like it. Sure the lessons are hell, the food is atrocious, he still hasn't made a single friend, the other Nie disciples are all two or three years older than him so they don't care much about him, and Lan Xichen makes special efforts to show he ignores him, but… 

But at least the scenery is nice. 

Not that Nie Huaisang is really supposed to enjoy the scenery of course. Lan Qiren always gave a lot of extra materials for his students to work with as a rule. And then, once he noticed that Nie Huaisang struggled in class, he gave him extra extra materials. It's a nightmare, especially since Nie Huaisang kind of fails to understand those as well, even though they're supposed to help him.

It is so tempting to give up. Nie Huaisang knows whether he tries to study or not, the result is always going to be roughly the same. He could slip poetry books inside his courtesy rules, he could practice calligraphy instead of copying talismans, he could skip sword practice and go out in the mountains and be alone and paint. He doesn’t. He tries hard to be as good as everyone wants him to be, and all he gets in return is scolding because, apparently, his best just isn’t enough.

Two months into his stay in the Cloud Recesses, Nie Huaisang gives in to temptation.

It’s been an awful morning, after an awful week. He’s failed his latest test, so badly that Lan Qiren had a one-on-one talk with him saying he has to do better because he’s shaming his sect. And then he crossed path with Lan Xichen who couldn’t avoid saying hello to him and looked at him as if his very existence were a personal insult.

They’re supposed to have sword practice that afternoon, but Nie Huaisang decides he’s not going. Instead after lunch he grabs an inkstone, some paper, his favourite brush, and heads away into the wild.

It feels like forever since the last time he did this. It's been impossible in the Cloud Recesses, and before that there was his father's long illness of course. It's so good to be free and just wander on a mostly unused path. After walking for a while, Nie Huaisang notices a barely visible trail going to the side of the path and into the woods, so he decides to follow that on a whim. It feels like a trail created by someone not infrequently going that way, so there might be something worth checking out.

The trail leads him up to a small clearing which feels a little underwhelming for how much he's had to walk. But that sentiment only until he sees them. 

Rabbits. 

A whole little family of them, coming out of their burrow in the late afternoon light. Nie Huaisang nearly squeals at the sight, barely stopping himself in time. The last thing he wants is to scare them when he's clearly intruding in their home. 

Instead, Nie Huaisang carefully sits down at a respectful distance, lays some paper in front of him, prepares some ink and gets painting. 

He doesn't get very far (there's only one rabbit on the page when he's planning four) before a presence makes him look up. 

Nie Huaisang gasps, so startled to find Lan Xichen looking down at him that he drops his brush, ruining his work. He braces himself for a scolding, or at least a cutting remark, but none comes even though Lan Xichen looks impossibly upset.

Too upset, in fact. It’s odd to see his fiancé without that annoying polite smile of his, but that’s because it’s not actually Lan Xichen at all.

In all the time of his engagement to Lan Xichen, Nie Huaisang has never really had much reason to interact with Lan Wangji. He’s not particularly tried to, if he’s honest. It’s bad enough to be engaged to someone everyone agrees is the most attractive boy in their entire generation, and the most accomplished, with the best cultivation, and is the most perfect in every aspect. No, there has to be a second one, who is at least as accomplished as the first, a little less charmingly polite but apparently promising to have even better cultivation. 

It’s not that Nie Huaisang hates his fiancé’s little brother, he has no reason to when they’ve never really even talked but… well, maybe he does hate him a bit, and envies him a lot. Everything seems to come so easily to these Lan brothers, it’s so unfair.

What’s unfair as well is being found by Lan Wangji in this place that’s so far from everything. For once Nie Huaisang was finally having some fun after all. And sure, he knew all along that his little escapade would end up in him getting punished for skipping sword practice, but it would have been nice to get a little more free time before that. Only, Lan Wangji is well known among all guest disciples for being, to put it bluntly, a snitch, so that’s it for Nie Huaisang’s little adventure.

Or at least, it should be.

To Nie Huaisang’s surprise, Lan Wangji doesn’t order him back into the Cloud Recesses, doesn’t tell him he’s going to get punished. Instead he steps closer, and inspects Nie Huaisang’s ruined painting with a critical expression. He doesn’t seem particularly impressed, though in all fairness, it might just be that his face is naturally like that.

Then, still without a word, Lan Wangji walks past Nie Huaisang and goes to sit on the ground a little further. His posture is as proper as if he were having tea with his uncle. His attention, Nie Huaisang quickly realises, is entirely on the family of rabbits. After a moment, one of the kits hops over another, a little clumsily, and Nie Huaisang swears a faint smile appears on Lan Wangji’s lips, just barely visible.

It’s kind of cute, really. Nie Huaisang wouldn’t have expected the cold brother of his frigid fiancé to have that sort of a sweet side to him. Discovering that Lan Wangji, perfect Lan Wangji who keeps being given as an example of what a second master of a major sect should be, amazing Lan Wangji who is everything that every Gusu Lan disciple strives to be, can still have that sort of secret… it gives Nie Huaisang hope.

The Cloud Recesses are going to take so much from him someday. He’s going to love his home, the places he knows around the Unclean Realm, the knowledge of which Qinghe streets have the best candies and sweets, the birds he loves so much, and he’s not going to get anything in exchange except the misery of being looked down upon by Lan Xichen for the rest of his life. Nie Huaisang is going to lose everything when he marries and in the last two months he’s started crying about that again.

But Lan Wangji is here, watching rabbits.

Nie Huaisang can’t say for sure, but it’s pretty likely that his future brother-in-law, just like him, isn’t supposed to be here. Even a person like Lan Wangji can bend the rules. And come to think of it, perfect Lan Xichen too isn’t always absolutely perfect. After all, he’s pretty mean, and Nie Huaisang, who has copied the rules of Gusu Lan until his wrist ached, knows that his fiancé should strive for kindness, especially with his inferiors, which Nie Huaisang is. There’s also Lan Qiren who never even looked for a cultivation partner, even though he should have, to secure an alliance for his sect, so that’s selfish. And that’s without getting into the situation with Sect Leader Lan.

The Cloud Recesses are going to take a lot from him, but they won’t take everything. If he tries hard, if he’s discreet enough, if he hides properly like Lan Wangji seems to do, he can keep a little spark of himself alive.

The thought is almost enough to make Nie Huaisang cry, but for once it’s from happiness.

Ultimately, he manages to stop the tears before they can start falling. He is not, as a rule, a quiet crier, and he doesn’t want to risk startling the rabbits, or being noticed by Lan Wangji. Instead, he picks up his brush, grabs a new sheet of paper, and gets back to work. A long while passes, and it starts getting dark around them. Lan Wangji is the one to get up first. Nie Huaisang half expects him to leave alone, but instead the younger boy comes to stand at his side and just waits for him to put a finishing touch to his last painting.

They go down the mountain together, without saying a word. It’s hard to say for sure, but they've probably missed the bell for dinner, and they’re going to be scolded for sure. Nie Huaisang feels awful anxious about that, but seeing Lan Wangji so calm and collected helps. Punishment is the price to pay to keep a little it of who they are, he figures.

Just as they are about to enter the dining halls, Nie Huaisang grabs all the courage he has, and pulls on Lan Wangji’s sleeve to stop him. The younger boy throws him a puzzled look, but still doesn’t say anything.

He does gasp lightly when Nie Huaisang hands him one of the paintings he did that afternoon. It has the whole rabbit family on it, as they were when they laid down a moment in the last rays of sun, lazily munching on grass.

“For… for days when you can’t go up there,” Nie Huaisang mumbles.

For letting me know I don’t have to give up on everything, he doesn’t add, because he’s not sure Lan Wangji would understand what he means. Even if he escapes to go see rabbits, Lan Wangji has never seemed unhappy with his life, so it’s unlikely he’d get how Nie Huaisang feels.

“Thank you,” Lan Wangji says, as formal as if he’d received a gift from the emperor himself. “I will take care of it.”

It’s too polite, really, and Nie Huaisang grins nervously. It’s not even that good of a painting, if he’s honest. It’s the best one he’s done in a while, sure, but Nie Huaisang knows that the Lan Jades excel at all arts too, so his little doodles just don’t compare.

Still, it’s nice that for once, something of his is appreciated. It’s just too bad that it’s the wrong brother making the effort of being this kind to him.

#xisang #nie huaisang #lan wangji #mo dao zu shi #I live for nhs and lwj getting along in a way that's specific to them and that maybe others don't get #their friendship is my second mdzs agenda #jau writes #worst engagement au

[ibijau]

30 day otp - day four: Dance

4. D - Dance. Do a little dance! Make a little love! Get down tonight! Whoo~!

note: doesn’t really matter much, but takes place before nhs discovers the truth about his brother’s death (we’ll see how it goes, but for now I’m trying to treat all the ficlets as part of the same timeline)

Although it was getting close to curfew, making silence required, the relative isolation of the Hanshi allowed Lan Xichen to play the xiao later than reasonable. If questioned he would argue that he did not have time during the rest of the day, but of course being sect leader meant no one but his uncle would dare say anything. 

People, especially the Elders, might have more readily protested against the presence of Nie Huiasang in his home at such a late hour. Thankfully, here too Lan Xichen had an excuse ready: the other sect leader needed urgent help with some problems they had not solved yet during the day. 

Sect business was far from the only thing on Lan Xichen's mind. Once he was done with his daily practice, he knew Nie Huaisang would pull him into bed and… 

Distracted by that thought, Lan Xichen played two notes wrong. Immediately Nie Huaisang’s head snapped up from his book to look at him with mild concern. He said nothing when Lan Xichen resumed playing, but did not return to his book either and watched him indeed. It always surprised Lan Xichen how patient his friend, now his lover, could be.

Although he had promised himself he would practice until the bell for curfew, Lan Xichen decided to reward that patience that night. Rather than to continue with his sect's melodies, he switched to something lighter which he had heard sometimes at festivals.

After his initial surprise at the change of tune, Nie Huaisang soon grinned, his eyes shining with mirth as they had started doing again lately. Then, on an impulse, he jumped to his feet, fan in hand, and started dancing along the music. 

Although obviously improvised and a little clumsy, Nie Huaisang’s dance was better than Lan Xichen might have expected if he had ever considered that possibility. His lover's movements were fluid but controlled, the postures elegant and similar to those of trained dancers. Coming from Nie Huaisang, who he had seen so often fail during drilling exercises, it was shocking to see him have such command of his body. 

Shocking, but definitely not unpleasant. The sight was so agreeable that Lan Xichen botched even further the song he was already only playing by ear. It did not matter. Unlike everything else in his life, this was not about achieving perfection. Instead they were just having fun for the sake of it, a scandalous concept forbidden by half a dozen Lan rules. Lan Xichen should have cared. He couldn't. Not when Nie Huaisang was dancing for him, his face red from the effort but a large smile plastered on his face. 

Lan Xichen wished the moment could have lasted forever. 

All too soon, he reached the end of the song. Nie Huaisang collapsed to his knees almost instantly, trembling from exhaustion but still smiling so brightly. Lan Xichen carefully put away Liebing before crossing the distance between them to kiss his lover's sweaty forehead. 

"You are full of surprises," Lan Xichen noted fondly. "How many more secrets are you keeping from me?" 

Nie Huaisang laughed, looking the happiest Lan Xichen had seen him since his brother's death some months prior. 

"I don't keep secrets, I'm too boring," he chuckled, still panting from the effort. "But this was fun. I hadn't done this in years."

"Really? You are quite good at it." 

That compliment earned Lan Xichen a small tap on the shoulder from Nie Huaisang who used his fan for it.

"Lying is prohibited in Cloud Recesses," the younger man scolded, still grinning. "I know I'm awful. You should have seen my mother, now that was a sight to behold! When she danced, the world fell silent save for the music that accompanied her and the rustling of her robes. Even birds and beasts would watch her in awe." 

"Your mother was a dancer?" 

Nie Huaisang nodded, his smile turning a little more subdued. Just like Nie Mingjue before, he rarely spoke of his parents, something that Lan Xichen respected. He understood how complicated families could be. All he knew of his lover's family was that Nie Mingjue had been born from their father's wife, while Nie Huaisang's mother had been a concubine. He knew also that both women must have died early, since they were no longer around when his friendship with Nie Mingjue had begun. 

"She was the most beautiful woman in the world," Nie Huaisang proclaimed with childish delight. "She was part of a troupe that performed for the emperor himself sometimes. He saw her dance and wanted her for his harem… but he asked too late. She had already met my father and fallen madly in love with him, just as he adored her the instant he saw her. "

"Is she the one who taught you to dance?" 

Nie Huaisang nodded. 

"It was a game for us when I was little. Father did not fully approve, but she argued it was training of another sort, that it would develop my body, and… I think she just thought it fun. She was a very cheerful woman, in all my memories she's smiling or laughing, and she brought joy in others as well. I think the only times I ever saw my father smile was around her."

"Beautiful and making those around her happy," Lan Xichen said thoughtfully. "I see you take after her, then."

Nie Huaisang laughed, and tapped him again with his fan. 

"Don't tease!" he complained. "You wouldn't compare us if you'd met her. She really was a beauty beyond compare. Father had her portrait painted, I'll show you next time you come to the Unclean Realm. It's a beautiful painting, even if it doesn't capture the sheer joy we all felt just being near her."

"I think I can easily imagine that part," Lan Xichen assured him, leaning forward to kiss him the way he'd wanted to do all day. 

The conversation stopped after that as they gave in to passion. 

Later though, as they laid in bed and he started drifting to sleep, Lan Xichen thought he understood Nie Huaisang’s father. If the mother had been even half as charming and sweet as the son, it would have taken a heart of stone to avoid falling for her. 

#nie huaisang #lan xichen #xisang #mo dao zu shi #the untamed #look look! there's no angst in this one! #I WROTE SOMETHING HAPPY FOR THEM AT FRICKING LAST #jau writes #30 days challenge