#and i had a jgy piece in the works for a bit

[truly-morgan]

[The way of the househusband AU]

XiCheng | Mo Dao Zu Shi Modern AU 28-12-2021

[the way of the househusband, but make it #xicheng >:3]

Where Lan Xichen was high in the Lan triads, powerful and feared, gaining the name of Zewu-jun. The last story about Zewu-jun was how he beat up many people from rival groups before just... disappearing!

stories of him being killed, sent to jail or moving to another country are travelling around while no one in the Lan group will confirm anything.

But lxc isn't dead, far from it.

He is playing house husband for a hard-working salaryman He fell head over heels for the beautiful Jiang Cheng the very moment he saw him, taking his nephew out as a reward for being a good boy.

Cue a scary, but polite, man trying to seduce the tired uncle.

Jc is a bit unsure at first, but quickly finds the man intriguing and nice.

Wanting to be with jc without pulling him into a world he doesn't belong in is what caused him to want to get out of it.

Some wouldn't believe that the great Zewu-jun was now a house husband, cooking diligently for his husband, taking care of the house, loving two little boys after another one joined the weird family.

jc and the boys even got used to how weirdly lxc could speak sometimes as if he was talking about criminal activities. but this makes him endearing to jc, who finds it funnier than anything when he knows what he's talking about. The boys sure seem to be amused too.

lxc: then you cut it into little pieces, stuff it into the little bag and dump it into hot what, then the job is nearly done

oyz parent: *looks concerned*

oyz: mister lan xiao long bao are the best!!

ljy: of course, my baba's cooking is the best😤

teacher 1: Who is this scary-looking guy? Should we call the cops?

teacher 2: I don't know, I think we-

ljy: baba!!😮☺️

jl: shushu came to get us?

lxc: the boss is doing overtime 😔 but like this, we can surprise him with a good dinner, will you help me 🤭🤫

kids: yay!!

yes, I've finally started reading the 6 volume of the way of the house husband I bought this semester, and I just thought lxc could work well too 🤭 although we just gotta imagine that himbo looking scary to other people smh

also OF COURSE lxc has a cute apron with a bunny on it that the big boss (aka a-cheng) gifted him soon after they moved in together, he takes great care of it and always uses it

oh and of course all the older ladies on the street also love lxc because they find him funny and love seeing a good husband working so hard for his family. also, they love sharing tips with someone who needs it and gossiping around 🤭

I really wanna draw this now 🤭 maybe if my hands don't hurt too much once I get back from work I'll try drawing this little family adding some more for 3zun: jgy was in the triad because of jgs, taking his step-brother (jzx) path of quitting, especially after lxc just decided to quit they meet again when jgy comes by to see how jl is doing with jc, having heard that he had found someone to live with (and want to make sure that person would be safe for little a-ling).

what a surprise than to find back an old friend because of a-cheng ☺️

nmj is either still in the triads or the nie clan got disbanded after his father died and some other gang used that to attack. maybe NHS saw how it affected his family too much and left it happen (they are much happier now anyway)

maybe they meet again by "accident" when nmj "happens to be passing by the neighbourhood" (totally not jgy telling him where Zewu-jun was and him wanting to make sure he was alive and well)

nmj 100% approves of jc after seeing how he treats lxc with all the love and cares in the world.

Original

#tweet archive #mdzs #mo dao zu shi #xicheng #lan xichen #jiang cheng #way of the househusband au #modern au #ex mobster lan xichen

[xiyao-feels]

which is your favourite sword or spiritual weapon?

The obvious answer is Hensheng and, yep, it's Hensheng!

Back then, when Jin GuangYao worked undercover at Wen RuoHan’s side, he had often hidden the sword at his waist, wreathed the sword around his arm to use during critical moments. Although the blade of Hensheng seemed to be soft to the extremity, attacking with lingering motions, it was in reality both sharp and haunting. Once the blade had wrapped around the opposition, Jin GuangYao would apply it with a bizarre spiritual power, and one would quickly be severed into pieces by the sword, despite its tender appearance. Quite a few famous swords had been battered into piles of scrap iron just like this.

(Exiled Rebels translation, ch 50)

Some random free-association thoughts:

- Walking around with this sword is among other things a reminder that he spied on and killed WRH! I think this can sometimes be viewed with suspicion by fandom but it actually seems to be viewed very positively by the cultivation world in the novel. It's part of the legend of Lianfang-zun—in a sense, the first part. Consider the description of LFZ's history WWX gives when he's watching the kids playing:

In these types of games, the head of all cultivators, LianFang-Zun, who was currently the most successful of all, was of course the most popular character. Although his family background was a bit disgraceful, the fact that he later climbed to such a rank was precisely why people respected him. During the Sunshot Campaign, he skillfully worked undercover for the QishanWen Sect, deceiving all of the Wen Sect’s people to a point that a tremendous amount of information were disclosed, yet they knew nothing. After the Sunshot Campaign, with flattery, wit, and countless other methods, he finally became the Chief Cultivator, fully deserving of the title. Such a life could even be considered a legend. If he was playing, he’d also want to try being Jin GuangYao. Choosing this boy to be the leader would very reasonable choice!

(ER, ch 32)

The background's embarassing, and avoided; but the spying is central, and described in positive terms. The next item on the list is becoming Chief Cultivator! There's really no sense here that the spying is shameful. (Though I'm amused WWX doesn't also mention killing WRH, lol.)

Similarly in the four panels about JGY, the first is about him spying on WRH, and the second is him killing him:

Out of all of them the four most famous sections about the current sect leader—Jin GuangYao—were respectively “disclosure”, “assassination”, “oath”, and “kind austerity”. Of course, the scenes showed how during the Sunshot Campaign Jin GuangYao hid in the QishanWen Sect and reported important information, assassinated the Wen Sect’s leader Wen RuoHan, became sworn brothers with the rest of the Venerated Triad, and rose to the position of Chief Cultivator.

(ER, ch 47)

It's very well-regarded!

- It's interesting that we get the description of Henjun breaking apart other swords where we do, because like five paragraphs later we have this:

Suibian flew out of its sheath and began to battle against Hensheng’s eerie sword glare. Seeing this, shock flashed across Jin GuangYao’s face. He regained his composure at once and nimbly twisted his right wrist. Like a vine, Hensheng wrapped itself around Suibian’s white, straight blade. He immediately let go of it, letting the two swords fight alone.

(ER, ch 50)

And yet he doesn't shatter Suibian. I suspect that although he clearly wasn't expecting WWX like this (shock flashes across his face!) he immediately realizes that he can use Suibian as evidence that WWX is WWX, and therefore Suibian intact is more useful than Suibian shattered. He's so smart 😍

- While there's no doubt that JGY kills people with it, I do think it's interesting that the signature, most famous move is destroying not the person but the sword—that is, destroying the thing that's the sign of the cultivator, this important signal it's necessary to carry, but does not actually hurt the person. Again, I'm sure he's had occasion to shatter someone's sword and then stab them, but it's interesting to me from a narrative perspective!

#also now soft swords make me think of roquen's excellent fic 'still today we hear them' #which is set (very) post-canon from an au where the novel endgame went down differently #and JGY continued as famous chief cultivator and everything #and now cultivating with soft swords is common for central Jin family members 😭😭😭 #anyway it's an excellent and interesting fic #and I weep every time we see JGY's legacy viewed positively #and everyone should read it

[fincalinde]

What if Meng Yao had died taking down WRH? Plus points if his last words were something heartbreaking for Lan Xichen and Nie Minjue. Outwardly, it looks like everything is great if you hate JGY! He's dead, but he hasn't done any of JGS' dirty work and the shitshow that led to, he's now a martyr hero etc. But obviously things are going to not be great as JGY wasn't the root of all evil and JGS is still up and running.

The Nie and the Jin would have ended up at war, that's what would have happened.

Like, this is not even ambiguous. If JGY kills WRH and dies in the act, presumably because WRH gets in a retaliatory blow as he goes down, there is another war in the jianghu within a few years.

I don't think I'm going to win the plus points for heartbreaking last words, since LXC isn't present when JGY kills WRH and NMJ is unconscious/so out of it he doesn't witness the moment either, but maybe I can make up for that by pointing out that if JGY dies in the act of killing WRH then NMJ is going to come to and see them both dead and still think JGY is a traitor. Then LXC is going to arrive and have to explain things through his own grief.

But anyway. No JGY means no recruitment of XY to the Jin. It means less expert handling of the Jiang to undermine the JC-WWX relationship while WWX is in exile, and it also means JZX doesn't end up at Qiongqi Path. There's a sliver of opportunity here for the Twin Heroes to limp along for a while longer. Hurrah!

Except there's also no mitigating influence on the Jin-Nie conflict. JGS is going to press on with his thick-faced attempts to become Chief Cultivator. He's going to press on with his experiments in demonic cultivation and he's going to keep undermining JC and demonising (ha!) WWX. And it's all going to be done with a hell of a lot less finesse. Which is going to enrage NMJ further. NMJ thinks the Wenmants need to be taken down and he's not hugely interested in the internal politics of the Jiang, but he sees the Jin power grab and he hates it. And because he's NMJ he doesn't think about the most productive way to deal with that. He goes straight to yelling and waving his sabre around.

There's a key line (EXR translation, Chapter 106): "To this father of mine, I once had hopes as well. In the past, as long as it was his command, whether it be to betray Sect Leader Wen or protect Xue Yang or remove anyone who disagreed, no matter how foolish it was, how hated I'd be, I'd obey regardlessly."

NMJ is a massive thorn in JGS' side. NMJ is toast. But because JGS lacks JGY, he lacks the means to take out NMJ effectively and the result is that sooner or later tensions between the two sects are going to boil over. NMJ, almost incapable of nuance at the best of times, is degenerating further thanks to the exacerbation of the sabre spirit by several years of intense warfare. Cleansing can only do so much and buy him so much time—remember, the vast majority of his violent outbursts in canon are prior to being exposed to the piece blended with an extract from the Collection of Turmoil. This is a recipe for open conflict.

As for who wins that war, my money is on JGS. He can easily paint NMJ as the aggressor since he just has to hold his ground until NMJ makes the first move. JC is busy rebuilding the Jiang, and in this scenario while LXC is NMJ's friend he is not his sworn brother as the sworn brotherhood was proposed by LXC for JGY's sake. LXC also has a lot on his plate and would likely attempt to mediate rather than join any fighting. Remember, in this divergence the Lan are rebuilding without rivers of Jin gold!

For the majority of the other clans, while they won't be huge fans of JGS they are also trying to recover from a devastating war and won't be too enthusiastic about NMJ disturbing the peace. There's a bit of NPC discussion about this where they observe the same few people are competing to be CC and NMJ is the main obstacle for JGS to lock down the position. Even if it's a cold war rather than one with actual battles, the Jin even without JGY just have too much momentum and the fact is that NMJ is going to die in the near future and NHS is in no way equipped to continue his vendetta.

Of course JZX is still alive, but even if JGS pops his clogs within ten years or so, his son will pretty obviously make a terrible clan leader. JZX means well, but he has no idea what's going on around him. He is simply not up to the task, even though he's obviously preferable to JGS. But by the time JGS dies of dissipation or old age or whathaveyou, the task of straightening out the Jin is going to be even more gargantuan. And, as JGY himself rightly points out, WWX is still running around as a loose cannon about to go off at any moment. And when that situation blows up in everyone's faces, JZX might well still end up dead.

So that's what I think we'd end up with: the Nie led by an unprepared NHS, the Lan without financial backing for their rebuilding efforts, and the Jiang still mired in their own rebuilding and the WWX PR nightmare. JGS is going to end up as Chief Cultivator, just by far less elegant means, and there will be no one to take him down and extirpate corruption in the Jin and instate a watchtower programme to benefit remote and dangerous areas. The outlook is pretty bleak.

#ask #weepingrebelshark-reactivated #jin guangyao #roquen meta #thank you to xiyao-feels for pulling a bunch of quotes for me #i haven't included them #but just know i have them in my back pocket #and they were very helpful in helping coalesce my thoughts

[llycaons]

ep49 (3/3): lwj dismembering a man and looking so so cool diverts attention away from the true man of the hour (👀👀👀)

and he's also calling out in concern for wwx now, not just jl! man, this is great. a lot of postres meta relies on them having this horrible twisted relationship after the temple, and they ABSOLUTELY need to work on shit, but jc trusting wwx and being openly concerned for him is huge compared to their previous dynamic

they love him!!!! his uncles!!! give him open affection and physical comfort!!!

this panning up was done SO well god he is so fucking cool 😍

ik wen ning isn't in control of his body but there's something a bit delicious about him stepping on the arm of the man who helped murder his entire family

ohhh another juicy scene! jc trying to protect jl from wn, and in front of both their eyes they see 1. wwx try to stop him and 2. wn grsab a blade with his bare hands to try to stop himself. he wants so much not to hurt this boy after killing his father 🥺 I'm sure he remembered jyl giving him soup too. I'm sure he did

lwj's eyes are so pretty...dark brown forever

and here! lxc warns wwx off about using the STA, but lwj intervenes. convinces him to step back, then gives the green light to wwx. lwj trusts him, and supports him, and will back him up 🥺

and here!!! jc returning chenqing! wwx's old friend and strongest weapon. it's about trust!! wwx can do what he needs to do and his closest friends and family won't turn on him for it

pied pipering this sword over here

uh oh. get some cleansing on ya bud

it's so funny that ss accuses nhs of doing this to himself because he's literally right, but he looks like a maniac for it

this is so dramatic and romantic...WAIT THIS IS HOW THE JIANG PARENTS DIED WTF!!!!!

these scene always reminded me (tonally) of the one in iasip where liam was about to fall off the roof and ryan grabbed his wrist like "i've got you, brother" and then frank comes behind him and goes 'no you don't!' and pushes him off the roof with a piece of plywood and ryan screams 'NOOOOOO', obviously it mirrors the cluff scene very closely but the absurd tone is so different I never associated them. this though. this is a kind of pathetic guy dying and his employer using his courtesy name for the first time in like. 30 episodes. a bit silly

ooof. ough. wwx rubbing his thumb slowly over this powerful tool that saved him and cost him so much. another goodbye, to another part of his former life

I love you sooo much nhs ♥♥♥♥♥♥

NHS HORSE MOMENTS god I love saying that. what a great shot

aww jc patting jl's neck

nhs tearfully: I'm just a little guy I can't fight I'm just a little birthday boy GOD he's such a good character I love him he's so funny

oh right significant Look At wwx time

aw man this fucks

THE HALF FACE SHOTS!!!!! I go crazy every time I love then so much. they've never been used wrong in this show

oh god help that is so fucking funny. why was jgy behind them and not tied up at all anyway. also lxc immediately turning and stabbing without realizing jgy was completely motionless and no threat??? a high-level cultivator like lxc didn't even register he had no sword to parry? and why was he working with his back to jgy anyway!!! I mean ik it's all for plot and that's fine but stil. lmao

personal highlights:

all of jgy's excuses are so insane and absurd and infuriating but they contrast wwx's actions and behavior SO nicely. if there was a way to prove wwx is The Good Guy to the gathered sect leaders, this is it. not that he has many people to convince who are here

various asides about lxc's relationship with jgy

"I don't deny it'/"You can't deny it!'

the creepy wedding scene was really well done

jgy making a fake tell for jzx to pick up on is truly a masterstroke

yayyy physical affection and comfort for jl from wwx (and jc)

jgy mockingly bowing after being kicked down the steps really did fuck severely

"I've done so many bad things, yet I still hope for pity' *half face shot 'PSYCH!" *takes jin ling hostage by ripping a string out of his body* what a scene

jc calling on wwx for guidance, trusting him, seeing him protect jl, returning him chenqing. nature is healing. they'll never be exactly what they were before, but that's okay. it's a start

'clan leader, abandon me' 'sure thing lmao'

slow shot panning up from jgy's severed arm to lwj standing tall with bichen fucked SO hard god lwj looks so good esp postres they nailed him

wn stepping on jgy's arm

lwj beautiful dark brown eyes <3

jgy and su she's absurdly dramatic reaching-to-each-other deaths. yes kind of jiang parents of them

wwx bidding farewell to the STA. I love closure and acceptance

all of nhs's shenanigans including eating like a horse from lxc's hand and then the half-face shots

everyone turning around like that meme of the girls at the party but it's because lxc just STABBED jgy

#cql re-rewatch #whew!

[imissdeath]

Let me take you on path my brain just walked.

I'm supposed to be applying for jobs right now but Twitter dinged so I got on Twitter and found this:

Now my brain has been programmed to now associate anything goose with @guqin-and-flute 's The Untamed Goose Game au so I had to send it to her (them?).

BUT my brain couldn't remember if it was her or another person or what the goose's name was because my bad memory is a pain so I looked it up.

WHICH sent me through her tags of The Untamed Goose Game and I found/refound certain things.

1) I had forgotten that Moyu was JGYs murder swan.

2) Moyu and Hundan where together and had Swooshes.

3) Swooshes exist at ALL.

4) In one of her tags her brother gave Wen Ning a duck.

My brain then decided no, Wen Ning doesn't get a duck, he gets a swoosh. Here's the headcannon (sorry for any misspellings, I'm an American with barely an associates degree):

(gender of the swoosh undetermined just running with the shorter one to type)

The swoosh finds his way into the "murder lab" in Jinlintai. After he runs from XY and JGY he finds his way into a cell/storage space where he finds this...thing. It looks like a human but it smells weird and isn't breathing. It's not scary per se just...sad? Lonely?

Well the rats are keeping away from it (rats are mean to the swoosh) and the humans aren't able to find it. The swoosh decides to sleep here after his little adventure. After a bit and some sibling rivalry (sister/brother should NOT have stolen the shiny head thing from him! He worked hard to take that from the mean golden lady that always yelled at Mom's human!) the Swoosh decides to make a new treasure trove in the room with the not-exactly-human human. Maybe he'll like it too.

Mom's human found it eventually but after Mom helped him protect his trove the human stopped taking stuff from his trove. JGY saw his mom in Moyus protection of the swoosh's treasure and it's not like a few trinkets really matter...even if they were mostly Madam Jin's favorite pieces...

One day the not-exactly-human woke up and start moving. Swoosh thought the chains where ugly and mean anyway so he helped pick at the moorings so his not-exactly-human friend could break out. When the not-exactly-human left the swoosh decides to follow him and after loosing him a few times he finally finds him again (after the temple) and keeps following him around.

The swoosh also likes one of the smaller white and blue humans that his not-exactly-human friend is traveling with. His voice is sweet and he gives the best pets.

The red and black normal sized human one is allowed because he gives him treats.

He really likes the smaller loud blue and white one because he's loud. No other reason.

He (as he always has done) still picks fights with the smaller gold one although his bites aren't as hard because Mom's human doesn't like the smaller gold ones cries.

The dog is afraid of him because he bit his tail when he was a pup. The swoosh still bullies the dog (new incentive to do so because he'll get pets and treats from the red and black one...and the tall blue and white one who is...ok I guess? He's just there in the swoosh's eyes).

But yeah that's what my brain did! Enjoy I guess? I should be getting back to job applications now...

#wwx of course finds it completely fitting wen ning would unintentionally and unknowingly adopt a creature #thats just wen ning #he also takes to the habit of while traveling with wen ning to nest in the nmj fist size whole in his chest #this is my brain yall #it also went on a rant about how the birds would interact with all of the characters if everyone lived #the untamed goose au #the untamed #mdzs

[qinghe-s]

wip game

i got tagged by @bimingjue and am doing this instead of working on a fic i’m writing for them ♥ (and myself but)

Rules: Posting a list of current writing works in progress. Feel free to  ask me for info on any of them, whether snippets of writing, plot details, main characters, etc. Send me a work listed below and I’ll share something related to it.

chapter two of my nielan casefic. it’s a bench to write but i’m going to finish it if it kills me. also the only fic where i’ll write nmj as cis probably bc as long-time followers know, trans man nie mingjue is IT for me

nielan modern fake dating au because i saw a post where mirf mentioned it and i was done for. i never intended to write a modern au but i’m never weaker than when it comes to nielan unforch

nhs character study, i have four chapters and a possible epilogue planned out already, i just need to write it. starts the day his brother dies so you know it’s going to be a bad time ♥

lwj!yiling laozu au thanks to rino’s edits. also a bad time (: i love pain

jiang cheng and the cats of lotus pier. just vibes where a bunch of cats like hanging out with jiang-zongzhu because jc deserves to feel special, and being chosen by a cat is like... magical. (i also find the image of a number of cats spread out on/around the lotus throne gorgeous, not to mention the satisfaction jc would feel if wangxian stopped by and the cats just refused to acquaint themselves with lwj. i think it’d be funny. i KNOW babies wlw and animals all love lwj and feel safe with him but we can have some exceptions. for the comedy factor.)

companion piece to this cql wangxian fic (this one’s a maybe but i was asked for it so i shall make the attempt)

very vague wip of a night-hunt with the juniors, jc, and wangxian wherein a spirit has lost their sibling and is full of rage and feeling very lonely and the only person in the group who ~gets~ the loneliness is jc. i was Dealing with some stuff when i wrote it and am also always on my ‘jc deserves to feel special’ agenda so! that idea happened

canon-aligned nielan where they meet properly when nmj comes for his lectures (though they’ve been in the same place before so they’re aware of each other) just after his father has died and he’s maybe not doing so great. furthering my agenda that the lan and nie sects have a positive relationship beyond nmj & lxc being besties!! also ten-year-old lwj and nhs............

one or two hualian pieces? undecided if i’ll combine them (or write them at all tbh!) but one that explores hc’s drive and devotion because wow, dude! and potentially explores how their relationship progresses after hc comes back because after eight hundred years of dedicated virginity i don’t think xl would just jump into it? and i just think that the trust they have in each other would be really comforting to work with.

also a big ol’ maybe but. shuangxuan wherein hx lets sqx drag him along because obviously, and the mortifying realisation that you might actually like a person you thought you’d hate. that little flutter of your heart when he calls your name from the other side of the room or when she leans in to whisper something, warm air hitting your ear. the way he’ll grab your arm to make you sit with him even though you never sit anywhere else because you’re here for a Reason and it requires you to be close... ah

uh i haven’t been around tumblr much lately so the only people i KNOW are writing stuff are @evakant & @melodious-tear but maybe also @lanzhanshands? and @jingyismom? yes? ♥

#tag games #my writing #there are more wips but. they're shelved for the moment #i'm cursed with constantly getting ideas!! #i entertained the notion of writing about sms once. it passed but it still happened #and i had a jgy piece in the works for a bit #the notes for it are still interesting but i'm not going to write it #might use some of it for other stuff though. who knows

[thedoubteriswise]

okay so. I am a smart adult with many important responsibilities. I have good taste and care about things that matter. for this reason, I’ve been trying to identify where in cql canon wangxian manage to fuck.

because they definitely do; I like a good post-canon getting together fic as much as the next guy, but it’s just not realistic.

allow them. it’s already been so long.

(just like this goddamn post turned out to be, let’s do a cut)

right. so initially it looks like you could place this right after the time skip in episode 33, because it shows us that wwx is with lwj in cloud recesses. we know that he spent the night in the jingshi because he wakes up there the next morning before he goes for a nostalgic tour of his old school.

and also visits the cold spring, where lwj is mostly naked. nice.

but wait! wwx is surprised by the scars on his back and chest. that seems like something he would have known about if they’d already been naked together the night before, so I’m going to say they did not fuck immediately upon wwx’s return to cloud recesses. okay, fine, they’re taking things slow, that’s cool.

maybe they could work it into the next night, then. oh wait, lqr is injured and... staying in the jingshi? for reasons?

I don’t know why. he must have his own house in cloud recesses, and it’s probably at least as comfortable as lwj’s, but here he is. he lives to stop his nephew from getting laid, I guess.

the next day they do some Q&A with the kids and determine that they need to head to qinghe to figure out what’s going on with this sword thing. great! we love a romantic road trip, plenty of alone time. but they also have to do their jobs, and then jin ling needs to get rescued from a wall of dirt, and jc is unfortunately there being himself, and then they have to grill nhs about his tomb full of angry sabers, etc. etc.

with all that going on, their next obvious chance is at the inn immediately after interviewing nhs. this evening has already included:

wwx gazing lovingly at lwj from afar

lwj carrying wwx on his back

lwj pawing at wwx’s robes trying to deal with his cursed leg

lwj helping wwx up the stairs, serving him wine, fixing his flute, and generally being at his beck and call

a very sexy and homoerotic duet

and now they’re alone and drooling over each other as usual. this seems like a plausible spot, right?

it does! but no. after they go back to the nie basement o’ swords and hear the backstory on nmj’s death, we see them walking in yueyang and lwj asks wwx how the curse mark on his leg is doing. wwx says it’s almost healed, which may or may not be a lie, but his inner monologue says:

he’s more concerned about the wound on his arm from the sacrificing curse, which lwj doesn’t know about, because wwx won’t tell him and they still haven’t been naked together.

also, this silly teenage shit doesn’t make much sense unless they’re still dancing around each other.

you guys love the sound of opportunities as they go flying past, don’t you?

right after this, lwj gets drunk. I’m aware that Stuff Happens in the novel scene that inspired this bit, and they do incorporate some of that into the show by having lwj commit petty larceny and admit that he “likes rabbits” as part of the softest and most loving conversation in human history oh my god

but lwj goes to sleep right on time, and the next morning, wwx is laughing and reassuring him that nothing happened.

after this, it’s time to go on a fucked up field trip with the kids in yi city, so they don’t really have any time alone for a few episodes until they’ve finished that and everyone is back at yet another inn. I wonder if they learned something about wasted chances and poor communication from this miserable songxiao story?

maybe! look, they’re being cute and domestic. there are currently no material barriers preventing them from having sex, nor will there be any specific evidence later on proving that they didn’t.

but they’re still firmly in mystery-solving mode and the juniors and lxc are floating around. the vibe isn’t quite there. if I were to pick the most solid reason why I think they’re saving room for jesus at this point, it would be the tension that happens when wwx again asks how lwj recognized him. lwj asks why his memory is so bad, and wwx replies that he wishes he had a bad memory. even though they’re comfortable and happy being together, there’s still some fundamental distance remaining. there’s no sense of romantic resolution. that was actually a point against all their previous opportunities as well; they’re all very sweet, but none of these feel like the place in a story where the romantic leads Officially Get Together.

okay, off to koi tower! shit is getting extremely real. everyone’s busy insinuating that they recognize wwx, but no one is saying it explicitly. wwx isn’t supposed to be here. the guy he’s pretending to be also isn’t supposed to be here. he and his boyfriend and his boyfriend’s brother are trying to figure out if his boyfriend’s brother’s boyfriend is a murderer. no one is comfortable and the political intrigue leaves no time for fucking in front of anyone’s salad.

I guess there’s plenty of time to make dozens of armed guards and like half the people they know wait while they have a romantic moment, though.

could they be more in love? And that sure feels like a romantic resolution that might be followed by narratively-earned sex.

ah. no, unfortunately wwx gets stabbed again. this certainly sucks, but it does have the helpful consequence of making lwj take him back to cloud recesses, where they are mostly alone and as safe as they can be in the circumstances. now there’s even more tenderness and also some plot-justified touching and skin exposure. plus, lwj just made a very public declaration of love.

too bad wwx has probably been unconscious since he started coughing up blood in the forest near lanling. he’s also still visibly in pain. fresh abdominal wounds tend to kill the mood.

but hey, the injuries on this show are only as serious as they need to be to move the plot forward and facilitate gentle h/c scenes, so by evening he’s looking perfectly healthy and walking around under his own steam like nothing’s wrong. I guess that problem can be ignored moving forward.

lxc then offers the the most devastating highlights of lwj’s backstory, like, all at once. it’s nice that he includes a flute solo to give wwx a second to process this mountain of terrible information. what the fuck.

there he is! the most devoted man in the whole world! turns out they can actually be more in love after all.

and then the following scene... look, I’m lazy and I don’t know how to make gifs, but screenshots cannot properly convey how good it is. you all know. the hesitant way wwx approaches, the slow and gentle piano version of wangxian, the two of them watching the snow together, it’s. ugh.

remember how I was talking about how the last scene with no material barriers was an unlikely candidate because of the lack of romantic resolution?

well, here’s wwx still being cagey at the beginning of this conversation.

and here they are in the middle of this conversation, having some epiphanies about the course of wwx’s life - I love this shot for a lot of reasons, but I extra love it because it shows wwx out in the snow, with lwj as the safety and warmth waiting behind him, god this show goes hard, holy shit

they both recall their vow to live with a clean conscience and internally say some very corny things about each other because they are both So Much, and then,

ah, what the hell. he can say it out loud after all. romantic resolution accomplished.

and then the camera slowly pulls away as wuji plays.

a slow zoom out? swelling music? listen, I am a connoisseur, I know a tasteful fade-to-black indicating a sex scene that won’t happen on camera when I see one. at last, we have a winner!

now you may think this post is finally over, but I actually have one more piece of evidence for you - the next scene shows the two of them the morning after, meditating behind a screen in the hanshi while lxc is waiting for jgy to show up.

before wwx got de-cored, he was a pretty powerful cultivator, right? the chances that he’s just bad at meditating or that he can’t stay focused on this task seem slim to me. so why does he keep falling asleep?

well. he had kind of a late night.

#yes I do have a lot of time on my hands #the untamed #cql #wangxian #meta #my meta

[plan-d-to-i]

You know, lately, there have been debates about moral gray, and as I've thought about it, there's one character that I think is morally gray. Nie Huaisang... What do you think about this opinion?

Honestly this is something I've turned over in my mind. Because I do agree that he's probably the closest but I also do truly hate the term "morally gray". In this fandom especially where it's been misapplied to everyone from WWX to LWJ to jc to JGY etc, but also in general because it's ambiguous by its very nature and also interpreted differently by everyone both in who is morally gray and what it means for a character to be morally gray so its pretty imprecise. Plus, it's dependent on the moral ideals of the particular work the character features in. When it comes to NHS we also don't really get any insight into his thinking. With other characters we're offered hints of their thoughts but NHS is usually just presented how he's perceived by others (which is obvs needed to keep the mystery going).

WWX himself summarizes his deductions on NHS's actions at the Guanyin temple in the end :

Perhaps Nie HuaiSang really was a ‘headshaker’ before the death of Nie MingJue. But after Nie MingJue’s death, he learned everything—including the fact that Nie MingJue’s corpse had been swapped, and what kind of person that the San-ge he used to trust really was.

He tried to find his Da-ge’s corpse to the best of his ability. Yet, after many years of expense, effort, and hard work, he only found a single left arm.

And then he was stuck and lost on where to go from there. Not to mention that the left arm was unusually fierce and aggressive. It was difficult to suppress and would only attract endless calamities the longer he kept it. Thus, he thought of someone—someone who was an expert at dealing with matters such as this.

The Yiling Patriarch.

But the Yiling Patriarch had already died without leaving even a full corpse behind. What was he supposed to do?

And so he thought of someone else, someone who had been chased out of the Koi Tower—Mo XuanYu.

Perhaps Nie HuaiSang had approached Mo XuanYu for the purpose of fishing information from him, and, from Mo XuanYu’s depressed recounting, learned that he had once seen bits and pieces from a worn out scroll of Jin GuangYao’s which detailed an ancient, wicked ritual. He then encouraged Mo XuanYu, who had suffered enough oppression and humiliation from his own family, to sacrifice himself and use the forbidden ritual for revenge.

And which sinister abomination should he summon?

The Yiling Patriarch, of course.

Unable to withstand his current life, Mo XuanYu finally set up the blood array. All the while, Nie HuaiSang took the opportunity to toss the hot potato that he couldn’t hold onto any longer—and unleashed ChiFeng-Zun’s left arm on the Mo family.

Since then, the plan had successfully kicked off in motion, and Nie HuaiSang no longer had to waste energy or effort to find the remaining pieces of Nie MingJue’s corpse. Just leave all the dangerous, difficult parts for Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi to handle. He only needed to observe their every move from the shadows.

When Jin Ling, Lan SiZhui, Lan JingYi and the other youths had encountered the incident with the dead cats, someone had obviously been creating strange events on purpose. Together with the nonexistent “hunter” from the nearby village who had pointed them the way, no doubt the whole point had been to lure the group of naïve and guileless young cultivators into Yi City. It wouldn’t be too far of a stretch to think that, had Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi failed to protect them and kept them out of harm’s way, if anything had happened to them in the Yi City, this crime would no doubt also be pinned onto Jin GuangYao as well.

Either way, anything that could add onto Jin GuangYao’s pillar of crimes, anything that could lure this careful, meticulous sinner into making more mistakes, anything that could possibly be leveraged would be used. The more the better. He wanted to make sure Jin GuangYao suffered the worse fate possible.

NHS in his desperation to get his brother's body pieces back and avenge him drifted away from the moral ideal of the story. But remember what JGY had done to NMJ:

Wei Wuxian was secretly apprehensive. It should’ve been impossible for their “Soul Evocation” duet to fail to summon the deceased’s spirit…unless…unless it had been severed into pieces with his corpse!

It looked like his dear brother here had died a slightly worse death than him. Though Wei Wuxian’s body had been ripped into smaller pieces, at least his soul had remained intact and whole.

We also have:

Wei WuXian continued, “What do you think the person did with GuangYao’s mother’s corpse after digging it out?”

Nie HuaiSang replied, “Wei-xiong, why are you always asking me? No matter how much you ask me, how would I know?”

After a pause, he continued, “But hm……”

Slowly, Nie HuaiSang gathered up his rain-drenched hair and said, “I’m guessing, since this person hates Jin GuangYao so much, he’s probably going to be particularly cruel towards something which Jin GuangYao held so dear.”

Wei WuXian suggested, “For example, tearing the corpse into pieces and scatter it across the land, just like what had happened to ChiFeng-Zun?”

Shocked and startled, Nie HuaiSang staggered backwards, “That that that…… that would be too cruel…….”

Wei WuXian studied him for a while but ultimately moved his gaze away.

After all, speculations were just speculations. No one had any evidence.

The expression on Nie HuaiSang’s face appeared lost and exasperated. Perhaps he was faking it. Maybe he didn’t want to admit to using people like pawns, treating them as if their lives were nothing; or maybe his plan didn’t end here. Maybe he needed to disguise the truth to accomplish greater, higher goals. Or, maybe it wasn’t so complicated after all. Maybe the one who had delivered the letter, killed the cats, and pieced Nie MingJue’s head back to his body had been someone else, and that Nie HuaiSang was truly as useless as he looked.

Do we buy NHS's denial of what's going to happen to the body of JGY's mom? NHS is not WWX... he's acted in a way WWX doesn't fully approve of and has gone to great lengths to be able to take JGY down, lengths that at times pulled innocent people into his plans. Of course none of the juniors died. WangXian were not irevocably harmed. MXY & Qin Su were already in bad places in different ways. LXC was enabled to do what he should have done and ultimately NHS's cause was a righteous one. How does that offset the things he did to achieve it?

( x ) Maybe a compromise would be to say pre NMJ's death NHS was not morally gray, in his pursuit of justice for his brother he dabbled with it, and in the future it remains to be seen. If this was an isolated thing where he was driven by desperation, and no other recourse, or if he will "use people like pawns, treating them as if their lives were nothing" now that his ambitions have grown.

#mdzs #answers #Nie Huaisang

[robininthelabyrinth]

JGY and NMJ post-canon, as fierce corpses sealed up together in that coffin (as per novel), get freed from the coffin and go to Cloud Recesses on Baxia because NMJ is fed with having that little snake around all the time.

ao3

“I can’t believe you actually managed to get us out of there,” Jin Guangyao said when they reached air again.

“I can’t believe you’re still talking,” Nie Mingjue growled, his voice still raspy from the whole decapitated head business, which he was still taking far too personally in Jin Guangyao’s opinion. He’d already been dead at the time! It wasn’t like Jin Guangyao had caused him any additional pain by the dismemberment!

Anyway, Nie Mingjue had unexpectedly turned into a terrifyingly powerful fierce corpse – contrary to everything that should have happened, did he just skip the whole soul-calming rituals that all children of the gentry were supposedly getting? – and there had simply been no other alternative that would keep him from murdering Jin Guangyao right then and there.

Possibly, Jin Guangyao allowed, that was the problem Nie Mingjue had with it.

“Aren’t you tired? You’ve done nothing but talk since we got stuck in there!”

“It’s my finest talent –”

“Lying and deceit are your finest talents.”

“And those require talking!”

Nie Mingjue shoved Jin Guangyao as he tried to climb out of the coffin. He tried to catch himself with one hand, forgot that he didn’t have that arm anymore, and tumbled to the ground.

If it wasn’t for the fact that they’d realized some time ago that their sentience depended on regularly interacting with each other, and that without regular conversation they would both begin to lose their minds and revert to ravening beasts, Jin Guangyao swore that he would have murdered Nie Mingjue and torn apart his body a second time over.

“I should’ve ripped off your tongue instead of your arm,” Nie Mingjue complained. “I’d have had a happier afterlife if I did.”

“Too late now,” Jin Guangyao grumbled, getting up. It was very strange, being a fierce corpse. “I liked you better when you were wholly consumed with rage – oh, wait, that’s what you’ve been like the entire time I’ve known you.”

“Fuck you.”

“Fuck you, too.”

The prohibition on the coffin had been broken, but there was still one around the ruined temple to keep people out and evil creatures, a category currently including the two of them, although Jin Guangyao suspected that Nie Mingjue would argue that Jin Guangyao had always been included in that category. He might even be right, who knew? 

At any rate, they needed to break the prohibition to get out. Jin Guangyao tossed himself down on the ground to wait while Nie Mingjue examined it.

“Why did you start talking?” he asked idly. “I’ve always wondered. When I died, you were completely mindless.”

“Who knows?” Nie Mingjue said distractedly. “Maybe all you need for sentience is to marinate in rage for long enough.”

“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Why? Works for the sabers.”

Jin Guangyao opened his mouth, then found he had nothing to say. He supposed that it did.

“Why did you always have so much rage, anyway?” he complained. “I understand the bit about your father being murdered, and of course your stupid cultivation style encourages it, but you always seemed especially irritated about everything.”

Nie Mingjue huffed. “You remember that I’m misaligned, right?”

“So what? Being misaligned makes you more of a shithead?”

“No, dealing with your father made me more of a shithead.”

Jin Guangyao considered the practicalities of having to deal with his father while possessing a physically female body and shuddered. It really wasn’t worth considering, especially since Lanling Jin did not believe in or especially respect Qinghe Nie’s tradition of misaligned souls. “Wait,” he said a moment later. “He knew? Why did he know?! I didn’t know, and I worked for you for years!”

“You worked for me as an adult, you dolt. He met me when I was still young.”

Jin Guangyao thought about it, then grimaced. “I can’t even imagine you as a little girl.”

“That’s because I wasn’t.”

“…I wish you’d have told me,” Jin Guangyao picked at the fraying hem of his robes.

“Why? Would you be less likely to murder me if you knew? Or was it just to spare yourself the unpleasant shock you received when you were dismembering my corpse?”

Jin Guangyao considered it. “Mostly the latter.”

“Good. If you’d said it was the former, I’d take my chances with insanity.”

Jin Guangyao rolled his eyes, then frowned. “Did he ever…?”

“Ever..? Wait, what? No!” Nie Mingjue turned to stare at him, looking scandalized – which was not an expression one really expected to see on a fierce corpse. “Why would you even ask that?”

Jin Guangyao shrugged. “Seemed reasonable, given everything else he did.”

“No,” Nie Mingjue grimaced. “He just thought I was a freak, and it seemed to especially irritate him when I didn’t just submit to whatever he wanted, that’s all. Nothing over the top...still, you clearly know what he was like. This was the man you were so desperate for the approval for?”

“I figured it out eventually,” Jin Guangyao grumbled. “Anyway, who are you to talk about father issues? You, with the whole you-killed-my-father obsession?”

“He did kill my father.”

“Big deal! So did I!” He paused. “Kill my father, that is. Not yours.”

“Did you?” Nie Mingjue snorted. “My desire to kill you went down one notch.”

“It did?”

“From several tens of thousands, but yes.”

Jin Guangyao drummed his fingers on his knee thoughtfully. “Can I kill other people to make it keep going down?”

“The fact that you even asked that made it go back up.”

Useless. Nie Mingjue was just completely useless.

“How long will it take you to get out of this one?” he asked instead, changing the subject. “I’d like to get to the Cloud Recesses to see Lan Xichen before, you know, he dies of old age.”

“Would you like to break through this array?” Nie Mingjue growled.

Lan Xichen had always been very fond of communication. He sincerely believed that almost all the problems in the world were due to miscommunication, that the vast majority of the time people just needed to meet in the middle and talk things over and that they would be able to solve almost everything to their mutual satisfaction.

Communication, Jin Guangyao decided, had not helped things one bit.

“Have you figured out what you’re going to say?” Nie Mingjue asked, poking at one part of the array and not looking at Jin Guangyao in a way that had to be deliberate.

“Say?” Jin Guangyao asked. “When?”

“When we get to the Cloud Recesses. What you’ll say to Xichen.”

Jin Guangyao had thought a lot about that. “It depends,” he hedged. “I mean, what I say to him, there’s a lot of factors – for instance, will you be there?”

“Would you prefer to talk to him as mindless fierce corpse slavering for his blood?”

Jin Guangyao grimaced. “I’m still thinking about it, then.”

“Well, think fast, then. I found a gap.”

“Good!” Jin Guangyao scrambled to his feet. “That was fast. How do we break it?”

“It’s impossible to break from the inside.”

“…you couldn’t have told me that before I got up?!”

“You don’t even have muscles anymore,” Nie Mingjue complained. “Your entire body is powered by resentful energy. Why are you still whining?”

Jin Guangyao wished he had a second arm so that he could cross them over his chest and glare. Or put them on his hips and glare. Or even just use them to make a rude gesture more easily done with two hands. “Are we trapped here forever or not?”

“It can be broken from the outside,” Nie Mingjue clarified, rolling his eyes. “I’ll summon Baxia to break it, and then we can use her to fly to the Cloud Recesses.”

“Fine.” Jin Guangyao frowned. “Wait, won’t that alert Huaisang that we’re back?”

“Probably.”

“He’ll boil me alive!”

“Only pieces of you, probably,” Nie Mingjue said, sounding far too smug about the idea. “As long as he knows that I need some of you alive. Maybe I should be the one to keep your head in my closet, this time?”

“It was a treasure room. I didn’t keep you in a closet.”

“It was a fucking closet.”

“It wasn’t. It was in a mirror and everything, it’s much more sophisticated.”

“You’re the guy that had a murder closet. Accept it.”

“I refuse to be the guy with the murder closet. Anyway, you can’t let him boil me alive, you don’t know what’ll happen if you let him do that.” He thought about it, and specifically about Nie Mingjue’s prioritization between risk and reward. “Please don’t let Huaisang boil me alive.”

“I’ll consider speaking in your favor if you stop being so annoying.”

“On second thought, I don’t have nerves anymore and can’t feel pain. Bring on the boil.”

“Are we really going to have to do this for the rest of our lives?” Nie Mingjue wondered, sounding depressed.

“For the rest of eternity,” Jin Guangyao said, equally grim. “That’s why we have to get to er-ge in time to convince him to cultivate to immortality. If I had to wait alone with you until he reincarnates, I’ll go insane.”

“You’re already insane.”

“I’ll lose the ability to stop talking.”

“…Xichen cultivating to immortality it is.” Nie Mingjue thought about it. “Do you think we could convince Huaisang to…?”

“No,” Jin Guangyao said. “You couldn’t get him to cultivate to competent; who could get him to cultivate to immortality?”

The answer to that, as they discovered when they arrived at the Cloud Recesses, was apparently Lan Xichen.

“Did I need to know this?” Jin Guangyao complained, unable to believe that he’d returned from the dead as a fierce corpse and managed to regain his sanity and even work with Nie Mingjue to get to the Cloud Recesses in order to apologize to his sworn brother for all the wrongs he’d done to him, only to be stuck waiting outside in the rain while said sworn brother finished banging his other sworn brother’s little brother. “I didn’t need to know this.”

“Shut up,” Nie Mingjue said. “I’m practicing meditation in order to block out sound from my ears. Maybe I should remove my head again? Do you think that would help?”

“Nothing will help,” Jin Guangyao said as another set of enthusiastic shouting emerged through the too-thing walls. “Ever. My mind is scarred permanently.”

“Maybe that’ll improve it.”

“Fuck you.”

“Fuck you, too.”

They stood in silence for a little while, the only sounds the howling of the wind and also the howling from inside the room.

“…how long do you think it’ll take for them to finish and notice we’re here?” Jin Guangyao considered. “Maybe we could throw rocks?”

“It took five years for us to get out of that coffin,” Nie Mingjue said. “You can wait five minutes for them to finish.”

“It’d be funny if we threw rocks and then appeared in the window, dark figures silhouetted by lightning. Like in those scary puppet plays. They might never have sex again.”

“I value my brother’s happiness over your petty desire to ruin his sex life,” Nie Mingjue said, then grimaced at a particularly loud yowl. “As tempting as the thought might be.”

“We’ll wait, then,” Jin Guangyao said. “And then we’re all going to have some words.”

“Of course we are. Because you don’t shut up.”

#mdzs #jin guangyao #nie mingjue #xisang #my fic #my fics #get together box #omgpurplefattie

[ibijau]

#2 FOR XISANGYAO?? WITH JGY AS THE SPEAKER AAAHHH

"It's not my fault," Nie Huaisang exclaimed while wringing his fan, a sure sign that it was, in fact, his fault. That brat had heard his brother say that an honourable man had nothing to fear from false accusations, and developed a habit of only protesting his innocence when he was guilty.

Jin Guangyao wished he didn't find that endearing.

And as to Lan Xichen's guilt, it was even more obvious. The man had many qualities, and could hide anything behind a warm smile in public, but in private…

"It might be a little bit my fault," Lan Xichen pitifully whispered, anguished guilt displayed on his handsome face.

And it was a very handsome face. How could anyone be that beautiful? A masterpiece of humanity, with a face to make gods weep with envy, and a body…

Jin Guangyao shook his head, and pinched the bridge of his nose.

Salivating about Lan Xichen later, political disaster now.

"I'm not mad," Jin Guangyao said in the softest tone he could muster at the moment. "I just want to understand. Why were you even there?"

"Well, Wen-xiong is an old friend," Nie Huaisang explained. "We used to hang out together a lot when my dad and his uncle met up to… chat."

Jin Guangyao nodded. He'd heard about Wen Ruohan and Nie zongzhu's chatting. Wen Ruohan was a nostalgic drunk, and tended to ramble about his love life in greater detail than Jin Guangyao would have preferred. He could probably paint certain parts of Nie zongzhu with great precision.

The man's face would not have been one of those parts.

"So, Wen Ning was my friend," Nie Huaisang resumed. "And I thought I'd drop by to see how the Wen were treating him, right? I figured we could have a chat. A real chat, mind you!" he quickly added when Jin Guangyao glared at him. "A talking chat, not a…"

He made a vague hand gesture that made Lan Xichen blush, even though it was far from explicit.

And what a handsome blush that was. Worthy of being painted and adored and…

Focus.

"You wanted to talk, fine," Jin Guangyao said. "And then what?"

"Well, I couldn't go alone!” Nie Huaisang exclaimed, crossing his arms on his chest in the manner of a contradicted child, charming little actor that he was. “They were under Jin Zixun's power, and he hates me!"

"He probably does,” Jin Guangyao conceded. “It's nothing personal, he hates everyone."

"The first year I was studying in the Cloud Recesses, I punched him in the face, broke his jaw, and told everyone that Jin zongzhu was his real father."

That was new. Not the rumours about Jin Zixun, he'd heard those before, and also suspected them of being true, but he'd never heard of a feud between his cousin and Nie Huaisang.

Jin Guangyao blinked a few times at that sudden influx of information, then looked at Lan Xichen who nodded and smiled at Nie Huaisang, so completely unbothered that it not only confirmed the story, but hinted that maybe Lan Xichen too would have liked a chance to punch Jin Zixun. He couldn't be blamed. Jin Zixun was very punchable.

"Then I guess it's a little personal," Jin Guangyao admitted.

"Exactly!” Nie Huaisang cried out, one hand on his heart. “So I asked Er-ge to come, for safety. But we get there, and everything is awful! Lots of dead people! And they thought I'd like to see that, on account of da-ge's whole feud thing, so they took me to see where they were torturing people, and they had a little boy doing work, and they wanted to hurt him to amuse me, and Wen Ning objected, and they said this time they were gonna kill him, and I said no!"

Nie Huaisang paused, ostensibly for breath, but actually mostly for the drama of it.

"So, that's when it got a little out of hand," he admitted.

"A little?" Jin Guangyao repeated.

"It wasn't my fault!" Nie Huaisang cried out. "But they got upset when I said I'd tell my brother about this and he'd killed them all for hurting my friend, and they thought maybe they could deal with us…"

"They did attack us first," Lan Xichen sheepishly confirmed. "And I tried my best to de-escalate, but they were convinced they could kill us and blame the Wens. And there was so much crying…"

"Mostly me," Nie Huaisang remarked. "But also the little boy, and some of the Wens. I was definitely the loudest though."

"Yes, you were," Lan Xichen fondly confirmed.

Well, at least that made sense, Jin Guangyao thought, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose once more. Lan Xichen, bless him, his handsome face, and his godlike body, was very weak to sad people. Jin Guangyao wouldn't be surprised to learn that Nie Huaisang's tears had been fake, but couldn't have blamed him for it when he also cried on command sometimes to get something out of Lan Xichen.

Lan Xichen who probably knew his two lovers were horrible, manipulative people who could cry on a whim, and who just enjoyed playing at consoling them.

Probably.

Either way, the death of those Jin guards no longer bothered Jin Guangyao. Anyone attacking Lan Xichen with killing intent deserved to perish. First, because the great Zewu-jun hadn't gotten such a flawless reputation without reason, and men stupid enough to go after an opponent so out of their league had it coming.

Secondly, because Lan Xichen was too perfect to be harmed, and Jin Guangyao was going to personally slaughter any survivor among those men who'd dared to think they could deface a living piece of art.

Better yet, he'd get Nie Mingjue to kill them. It'd be much easier.

“Most people just have to deal with one idiot," Jin Guangyao sighed. "You both will someday be the death of me.”

Lan Xichen, bless him, look mortified to hear this. Jin Guangyao was going to be able to milk this for favours for years. Nie Huaisang looked rather more unconcerned, but that didn't mean he wouldn't be very demonstrative if Jin Guangyao managed to help them handle this without starting another war.

These two were trouble, but they were so worth the hassle.

#nie huaisang #lan xichen #jin guangyao #xisangyao #xisang #xiyao #sangyao #mo dao zu shi #mdzs #jau writes #I was keeping that one for a rainy day and welp I am once again so anxious my shoulders hurt from being tense #so have so ridiculous nonsense

[canary3d-obsessed]

Restless Rewatch: The Untamed, Episode 25 part two

(Masterpost) (Other Canary Stuff)

Warning! Spoilers for All 50 Episodes!

Jin Jerks Continued

Jin Furen is all judgy about Wei Wuxian, so it's hard to like her, since WWX is our protagonist and whatnot. But! Jin Furen is actually totally awesome. She adores Jiang Yanli and takes sides with her against her own son. She knows he likes Yanli and works her ass off to do all the courting for him, since he sucks at it, rather than picking a random wife for him and sticking him with her choice. She's always gentle with Yanli in her tone and body language. And Jin Zixuan had to get his good side from somebody.

Wei Wuxian politely tells Jin Furen that it's all over (again/still) between Jiang Yanli and Jin Zixuan, and cousin Jin Zixun rushes up to argue with him, saying he's being too proud and that he shouldn't talk to Jin Furen that way, since she is his senior. Wei Wuxian, still politely, explains the clan politics that underlie every one of these Zixuan-Yanli interactions. As a matter of clan pride, the Jiang Clan can't allow Yanli to be insulted.

Cousin Jin Zixun immediately goes all in on the clan rivalry, beefing with Wei Wuxian about how much prey he caught. Everybody forgets all about Yanli's situation while they talk about the hunt results instead.

The Jin cultivators--parroting what they heard from Jin Guangyao--say that Wei Wuxian has flute-walked 30 percent of the prey into nets by himself. Lan Wangji actually decides to react to something, saying "30 percent? and giving Wei Wuxian such a series of LOOKS, oh my god. 

This Wangxian moment is an important one, I think, because it shows where Lan Wangji's priorities are, and they're...wrong. He's continually telling Wei Wuxian "be good," in one way or another; trying to help him back to the correct way of being a cultivator.  Meanwhile the Lans are totally fine with the Jins being murderous shits who feel entitled to insult high-ranking ladies.

CJZX continues to snipe at Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji continues to judge WWX for being unsportsmanlike.

(more after the cut!)

Wei Wuxian says that he's just showing his capability, and CJZX tries to tell him both that 1. he's practicing evil cultivation and 2. he's just playing the flute. WWX offers him Chenqing and says "show me your capability" which I think is cultivator speak for "fight me, bitch." 

Cousin Jin Zixun moves the goalposts, saying that Wei Wuxian broke the rules, and starts in with class-based dogwhistling, saying "it's understandable that you don't know the rules," and citing examples of Wei Wuxian’s previous bad manners at cultivation events. 

Things escalate and pretty soon Wei Wuxian is yelling at everybody, threatening to tell them why he doesn't carry his sword, (which would actually clear up SO much) and saying he's going to beat them all using necromancy whatever is just this side of necromancy. 

Cousin Jin Zixun tosses his birth status at him, and then it's ON. Scary music, shaking fist, Chenqing booting up...

Lan Wangji, who has been singularly unhelpful since CJZX started talking, suddenly forgets his judginess as he's swept into motion by his constant fear of whatever is going to happen next time Wei Wuxian loses his temper. 

He rushes to Wei Wuxian’s side, grabs his wrist, says his name, and wills him to chill the fuck out. Jiang Yanli joins him, grabbing Wei Wuxian's other arm, and Wei Wuxian manages to get control of himself.

Queen Yanli

Yanli has had it, and she has Wei Wuxian stand behind her while she goes to politely reduce Cousin Jin Zixun to a heap of smoldering cinders.

First she recaps CJZX's accusations against Wei Wuxian; says she doesn't know a lot about the hunt, and apologizes formally on her brother’s behalf. WWX says "Shijie!" but she shakes her head at him and he shuts up.  

CJZX laughs and tells her, in a tone designed to infuriate Wei Wuxian even further, that Wei Wuxian doesn’t rate her apologizing on his behalf, and says that their clans are like family; reinforcing WWX's outsider status. I don't think CJZX is taking orders from Jin Guangyao, because he's way too big of a snob for that, but he's definitely helping JGY to move his agenda forward.

Even Lan Wangji is having trouble staying cool during this exchange; he is focused on keeping Wei Wuxian in check but he’s also angry himself, judging from what his neck is doing here, anyway. *Stares at his neck for way too long*

Wei Wuxian is super upset about Jiang Yanli apologizing, and he’s unable to hold back tears, even with Lan Wangji using the power of extreme staring to help him. 

Jiang Yangli is nowhere near finished, though and she turns around and proceeds to tell everyone that they suck, that it's not Wei Wuxian's fault if he's more talented than everybody else, and that they are just making up rules because they are a bunch of losers. 

Clan Leader Yao has the nerve to say that they know the rules "in their hearts" which is just another class-based dogwhistle. 

Yanli defends Wei Wuxian's cultivation method to everybody, saying it's something he worked at and put effort into--that it's different, not wrong. She's literally the only person who defends his cultivation style, even though they all have benefited from it.

Then she gets right up in Cousin Jin Zixun's face and tells him that it's not ok for him to insult WWX by calling him the son of a servant, and she wants CJZX to apologize. (full gifset here) All of the Jins and Captain Blowhard Clan Leader Yao are SHOCKED at this idea. Jin Furen tries to talk Yanli down but Yanli politely nopes her away, so JFR tells CJZX to apologize.

He's saved from having to actually do it by the arrival of Jin Guangyao and Lan Xichen, who jump down off a box fly over to find out what's wrong.

Jin Furen yells at smiley, blinkey Jin Guangyao, telling him he should be able to figure out what's wrong, saying "aren't you good at judging the situation," i.e. aren't you a conniving little creep? She's bitchy but she's not wrong.

When the "30 percent" thing is explained again, Lan Xichen gives Wei Wuxian the same Lan Glare of Sportsmanship Disappointment that his brother did. 

Lan Xichen: It's fine for my boyfriend's obviously power-hungry family to insult my brother's war-hero best friend in a bid to reduce his social status, but him using magic powers in our magical creature hunt is super wrong.  

Jin Guangyao and Lan Xichen explain that they're going to open up more area for the hunt, but it's too late to make Cousin Jin Zixun happy. He takes his ball and goes home. 

The Breaking of the Fellowship

The remaining group stroll slowly through the woods, Jin Furen and Jiang Yanli together, while Wei Wuxian walks at a bit of a distance and Jin Zixuan follows right behind his mother. His mother offers to beat him to make Jiang Yanli feel better. See? Perfect Mother-in-Law material.

Jiang Yanli tries to leave again, and is stopped again. This time Jin Furen tries to convince her to come back to the stands to sit with her and Jin Zixuan, and not to go with Wei Wuxian. First she tries saying that it's not appropriate for her and Wei Wuxian to be alone together. Yanli shuts that right down, saying that Wei Wuxian is her didi. Then Jin Furen says that Wei Wuxian has "strong wicked energy" and that he may do something evil. Like fighting back when he is ambushed on his way to a party.

Jiang Yanli repeats that Wei Wuxian is her didi, and says that she'll never leave him. JFR keeps trying but Wei Wuxian steps up and takes Yanli by the wrist and goes to lead her away. Jin Zixuan finally, FINALLY admits that he likes Jiang Yanli. 

He is embarrassed, Jiang Yanli is delighted, and Lan Xichen is amused. 

Jin Zixuan runs away and Jiang Yanli agrees to go back to Jinlintai with Jin Furen. Wei Wuxian is super immature unhappy about it....

....but he accepts her decision, in a nearly wordless exchange that we’ll see echoes of much later, between him and Lan Wangji. (Exceptionally cruel gifset here)

Wei Wuxian formally bows to Jin Furen, asking her to take care of his sister. Because he recognizes this for the parting that it is.

Jiang Yanli isn't wrong to make this choice. She deserves to be happy, and married women in this environment can't live with their original family. But she told Wei Wuxian, over and over, that the three of them have to stick together, only to change course and leave him behind with no warning. It’s not even five minutes since she said "I will never leave him."  Wei Wuxian isn’t the only person making impossible promises in these parts.  

Jiang Cheng and some Jiang cultivators show up, and everyone, including Wei Wuxian, tells Jiang Cheng that he missed an important scene, but nobody will tell him what actually happened. 

Wei Wuxian says he's going into town, and he leaves Jiang Cheng behind just as abruptly as Jiang Yanli left him.

Jiang Cheng asks Lan Xichen what happened, and Lan Xichen says "there was an argument but it's mostly smoothed over now; also, Jin Zixuan says he likes your sister."  Ha ha ha ha! Of course he does not say that, he says "You should ask your sister at the banquet" and Jin Guangyao says it wouldn't be appropriate for them, as outsiders, to comment.

I would like to see Jiang Cheng respond to this by beating the crap out of them with Zidian for being a couple of coy bitches, but he just furrows his brow. 

JGY hangs back from the group for a second to tell JC that WWX is sooooo great, before they all head back to Jinlintai.

Insecurest Boi

As everyone is walking Jiang Cheng hears Captain Blowhard saying that Lotus Pier made a strong impression today, and that they'll be able to recruit a whole lot of disciples. The cultivators are of two opinions about whether having Wei Wuxian is a good thing for a clan. 

Then a Jin cultivator says he heard that the Yin tiger amulet is made of the missing piece of Yin iron. He says he overheard it from Jin Guangyao. He says even if it's not for certain, the timing fits. Jiang Cheng reacts to this as if he 100% believes it, because Jiang Cheng is a dumbass sometimes. 

He should just frickin’ ask Wei Wuxian about the amulet. Lan Wangji asked where he got it and Wei Wuxian told him, and Jiang Cheng, while they have their issues, is officially on WWX's side, so there’s no reason for WWX not to tell him.

The Jin cultivator goes on to say that the Jiang Clan ain't shit, that all their deeds belong to Wei Wuxian.  Jiang Cheng takes all of this on board totally unfiltered. Literally everything that any Jin cultivator other than MianMian says is propaganda coming from Jin Guangyao, but Jiang Cheng thinks they're friends and doesn't know how to recognize manipulation. 

Jiang Cheng is hearing the exact same criticism that Jiang Yanli heard, but he's not equipped to handle it, and instead of fighting back he gets angry at Wei Wuxian. Despite all his recent growth, he is still crushingly insecure, and this is hitting him right in his tenderest spot. Jiang Fengmian has a lot to answer for.

Instant Replacement Sister

Wei Wuxian is off working through his own feelings; he's wandering the street in Lanling with a bottle of wine in hand. Wen Qing, in her red Wen robe and her hooded cloak, is wandering the street in the opposite direction. They pass each other without seeing, in a moment that's excruciating to watch the first time. 

But then some Jin cultivators obligingly push her to the ground, and Wei Wuxian, with his beautiful heart of fucking gold, hears someone who needs help and turns around.

For a moment he smiles in recognition, before the smile clouds over. Wen Qing, for her part, looks horrified; perhaps it’s everything she’s going through, but perhaps she can see that he, in his own way, is struggling nearly as much as she is. Meeting with her will galvanize him and give him the life direction he desperately needs.

A Day Late and a Tael Short

Lan Wangji wants to solve Wei Wuxian's problem, but he lacks imagination, so his best idea is to hide him in Cloud Recesses. 

Lan Xichen points out that Wei Wuxian might not be on board with that. This conversation is short, but it has some layers, once you know about their parents' relationship. Lan Wangji frowns but doesn't have a second idea.

#the untamed #the untamed gifs #wangxian #jiang cheng #jiang yanli #clan leader yao #canary3d-original #my gifs #restless rewatch the untamed

[fixielixie]

thoughts on xichen?

i... actually really like his character. i like the role he plays and i like how understandable all of his flaws are. hes a great example of an older sibling who had to grow up too fast because of circumstances, learnt a lot about caring for other people through his relationship with his younger people, and that his major flaw is being too trusting.

lan xichen strikes me as someone who believed so thoroughly in the way of life that the lans live, that he cant imagine people out there would be cruel enough to lie and hurt people for their own gain, i dont think his brain works like that. but, hes also not dumb like the fandom seems to think he is, when lwj comes to him about jgy he doesnt try to brush it off and b like "a-yao :ooo he could Never", he reacts very reasonably and asks for evidence, while also saying he'll be cautious because he trusts lwj enough to value his opinion. i think its clear that he loves lwj a lot, and played a very vital role in lwjs life being someone who always understood him when no one else really tried to dive deeper.

i also love the character comparison of lxc saying wwx was the only mistake lwj ever made, to then have it be revealed that jgy, the person lxc put his own trust into, was the person planning wwxs downfall for the most part. its such a good piece of storytelling, and i cant imagine how awful that realisation was for lxc at the moment.

but yeah,,, i like him. i like that hes nice and that his flaw is being blinded by trying to see the good in everyone. from the tiny little bit we know about the jades parents, i think lxc takes after his dad in a way.

and i genuinely think hes just a good, kind person, at his core.

#ask #i know a lot of people dont really care about lxc #or dislike him #but idk #i like just like him lol

[fincalinde]

5, 6, 9, and 14 👀

5. do you listen to music while writing or no? if yes, what’s your favorite kind of music to listen to?

Music is a really important part of my process but more often than not I don't have music on if I'm actively writing. Sometimes I might have music playing, but what that means in practice is I'm so in the zone I'm not noticing the music at all—so it might as well not be on! I use my playlists to help me get in the mood and help me think, but I prefer not to have ambient noise when I'm in the act of writing.

In terms of favourite kind of music, I have a Xiyao playlist that falls into two general categories of 'apt lyrics' or 'inapt lyrics but I somehow imprinted on it anyway'. If I had to pick a single artist for Xiyao and fanfic writing it would be PHILDEL who is amazing. Her lyrics crop up quite a bit in my fic titles.

6. write 3 sentences of any wip you’d like, post it in the answer.

How about Grandmaster JGY, which is the oldest one on the official WIP list. (For the record my WIP list in the sense of 'things I guarantee will be finished and posted' is pinned on this blog, but I do have some other WIPs that I cannot guarantee will ever appear.)

Grandmaster JGY:

Lan Xichen makes sure to explain what he's doing as he works, delighting in the way Meng Yao watches his every move. Every so often he holds out the piece of bamboo so Meng Yao can trace its contours with his fingertips and familiarise himself with each stage of the process. At first Meng Yao only asks the occasional question, but it's not long before they're both lost in the depths of a discussion on embouchure as the flute takes shape between them.

9. what are you struggling with the most in finishing your current wip(s)?

The casefic giftfic is why I haven't posted too much for a while. Casefic is not my forte, and while I planned and outlined it properly, it's been a nightmare to execute. I've scratched out a first draft and it's now in the editing stages so we will see how the final product turns out! It's just a perfect storm of elements that are particularly challenging for me personally (mystery element) and for fanfic generally (there's OCs). I do hope once it's off my back I can clear through the others more speedily! Other than that the real challenge is the fact that I have a life and no one is paying me to do this, so my time is limited.

14. what’s your favorite thing about writing?

I'm going to answer all these more generic questions on a strictly fanfic basis, so I think my answer here is probably that I absolutely love making sure what I produce is consistent with canon. I'm sure at times I accidentally include details or make decisions that contradict canon because no one is perfect, but my primary goal is to produce canon consistent work and I find attempting that an immensely satisfying hobby. I particularly enjoy reframing canon without contradicting it, and Xiyao are certainly excellent candidates for that type of thing.

#ask #xiyao-feels

[pbaintthetb]

Deadset- Jiang Cheng

This is just because this man has so much complicated shit going on in his mind that is hard to get to even in his own pov because this man is king of repression, self denial and avoidance.

First things first, Deadset is not a JC redemption fic, if you don’t like him in canon you won’t like him here. He might come across as a bit nicer, because he likes NHS- he’s the closest thing he has to a friend left, and tbh it’s more JC thinks they could be friends and wants that than they actually are friends, but it means JC tries and reaches out and stuff.

JC still deffo tortured at least one or two cultivators, how long and to what extent he kept this up is down to you to decide. BUT I will say, he does only go after people who are said to be pieces of shit. That being said, GG/NHS is rumoured ot be a kid killer, so eh.

He’s very wary of being like his mother and yet his unhealthy coping mechanism is anger, so he tries to put it outwards but it still reflects onto his family. This kinda sounds like an excuse- it’s not meant to be BUT I want to say he would never hurt NHS (pre-reveal) or JL regardless of how angry he was.

JC worries about NHS and this is why he is angry at him. H’es both bitter that NHS is allowed to be lazy and soft, angry that the man doesn’t seem to care and angry at LXC & JGY for letting him be- because JC (correctly) fears it’s going to get him into trouble one day.

He’s too emotionally repressed to ever ask/tell NHS he wants to be friends and NHS both misses his outreaches or deliberately ignores them because NHS doesn’t/can’t form close attachments anymore. But this is things like JC not buying the dogs and tellign JL to keep Fairy away from NHS when NHS is at Lanling, inviting ihim on walks, trying to keep MXY away from him, understanding that Lanling is stressful for him etc.

JC thinks the golden ghost was WWX. Because only NHS or WWX would want to save him in his mind, and NHS is too weak. Also it makes sense with the slightly complex reputation the GG has (saving lan jrs etc., known connections to WWX) he’s not quite sure what to make of it, therefore when WWX crops up in MXY’s body. But he assumes it’s not WWX cos zidian doesn’t work and also he thinkgs GG is WWX

The bit you’ve been watiing for- NHS GG reveal

JC doesn’t know how to rationalise that the person who saved him and killed all those cultivators was NHS. Firstly because NHS hasn’t been weak all those years? But secondly because it was a pretty fucked up way to kill people and it confirms his biases that ghosts are inherently evil whereas he’s always thought of NSH as slightly untouched and safe and good.

Secondly gulit, for never noticing the man was dead. For not being there, for not protecting him etc.

really JC is having to very quickly reassess his opinion on ghosts, the Golden Ghost, and NHS all at once.

BUT as much as he respects and feels bad for NHS, there are things that the GG did he cannot accept- using JL as bait multiple times, manipulating MXY into committing suicide, and really just the sheer delight/fuckedupness of the way that NHS has killed people. Also there are rumours which influence his opoinon which aren’t exactly true.

He knows NHS is talking to him about that speech about demonic things not being evil, NHS had actually tried to talk to him about this when they were younger. BUT all this does is make JC shift his anger at the GG directly onto NHS because if it is not ghostliness making him evil, then it is NHS making himself evil-a nd to JC that is far worse.

Look, I don’t think JC burnt NHS’ body, originally I think he probably did, but possibly didn’t. Now I think it’s the other way around, but he certainly thinks about it. I have an extra planned where JC repeatedly goes to check on NHS’ body and consider burning it but not be able to bring himself to do it.

This shows up when NHS tells people he moved his body and JC calls him out on it and NHS is like..... wait- you mean you repeatedly choose not to burn my body????

#jiang cheng #fic #worldbuilding #au #mdzs #mdzs au #deadset #deadset meta

[sugarbabywenkexing]

nie huaisang for the ask meme? 💜✨

Thanks!

How I feel about this character: Love him! I love him as silly flirty fan boy and I love him as chessmaster extroardinaire. He contains multitudes!

All the people I ship romantically with this character: I actually lean towards aro Nie Huaisang, so I don't have many ships with him. I like sangcheng and sangxian (and sangchengxian) FWBs, and sangyao can be really fun.

My non-romantic OTP for this character: I just talked about this on the NMJ ask, but I genuinely think NHS's relationship with his brother is the most important relationship in his life. He was practically raised by NMJ and then his death and the revenge plot was essentially the driving force of his life. I wonder in a way what there is left for him post canon after taking JGY down.

My unpopular opinion about this character: I think aro!Nie Huaisang is probably not common?

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: There's no way you could structurally do this and keep the surprise, but I would have loved to see some clever, manipulative, scheming NHS working on his revenge plot. The head shaker facade is fun, and we see odd bits and pieces (that final shot in Fatal Journey? *chefs kiss*) but I honestly just want another movie of NHS manoeuvring JGY into his traps.

Send me a character and I'll break their ass down

#asks #waterandsilver #mdzs #nie huaisang

[naughtynanzhu]

@martinmynster listen this got so weirdly intricate in my brain bc I got obsessed with it but generally thinking, the timeline works out so it's a few years after zhao jing dies and maybe a year or so after jgy dies... it's important that all of the drama from each universe is pretty separate like maybe theyve caught a whisper of what happened but no real understanding (anygays)

after zhao jing dies, xie wang is like "fuck this" and just leaves he's like so done with the bullshit and he doesn't want to do it anymore and after some time, he wanders into gusu and their meeting is fun, I think, but I'm really considering writing this all out so I don't wanna spoil it but xichens good nature and curiosity gets the better of him and he's like "hey wanderer come stay at cloud recesses for a bit before u continue on"

and xie wangs like super suspicious bc... obviously... but also intrigued bc who just brings a stranger home??? so he decides to agree and he hangs out there for a bit and they bond over music and the whole time u know lwj is like.... where did he find another weird ass evil bastard but wwx is all for it and they become friends

but like the whole time theyre like... SO worried and insecure. like xie wang realizes that lxc is actually a really good person and he doesn't want him to find out about... you know... all the murder... bc he'll abandon him!!!! also he kinda wants to be better and lxc is a great role model (perfectly fills the spot of obsession that he had with zhao jing but like... not the worst person in the world)

and lxc is worried he'll find out about him killing jiggy, but he's obviously more worried that he might BE jiggy 2.0

there is a specific scene I've thought of where xie wangs past very dramatically comes out and OFC lxc is like "well he's been good lately so :^) maybe we're fine :^) he should have another chance :^)" which.... ofc. OFC he does and ofc he's too understanding which xie wang actually kind of hates. anygays that's the same time du pusa shows up bc she's been looking for his stupid ass and u KNOW that adds even more fuel to the drama fire

and there's this whole clash between a neighboring clan and xie wang when they find out who he is and lxc stands up for him and it's chaos like every sect get together is like so fucking tense especially with du pusa and her smart mouth which jc HATES like the two of them fight constantly even like physical fights and eventually that turns into its own little fucked up romance

but they're like the perfect replacement for their lost ones bc xie wang needs someone to devote all of their time and attention to him but he deserves actual support and care instead of manipulation and lxc needs a super bestie and he thinks all the time that if he had done something different, jiggy could still be around and all those things wouldn't have happened and he's haunted by it so when he finds and connects with xie wang who's also a piece of shit but WANTS to redeem himself hes like... "i can't let this one down too" and holding onto him and fighting with him pays off for both of them and it's great they're both happy and I love that

#I'm screaming at how long this got djdjsksj #it took awhile bc ive been trying to type and play cards at the same time ddjejek