#and jgy is very aware of that

[lgbtlunaverse]

In light of this recent reblog and how cathartic (in the most soul-destroying way) 3zun's ending and the accompanying deaths are to me, to the point that "[x] survived" aus often don't actually make me feel good, I've taken another look at my own wips and it is really fucking funny how my canonverse fix-its fics where they don't die manage to include all different kinds of supernatural bullshit so that at least one of the characters still remembers canon. My as of now only published mdzs fic is literally a timeloop fic centered around nieyao dying a whole bunch of times and the rest doesn't get any less blatant.

I mean look at the complete list: - afformentioned timeloop -time travel -reincarnation with memories being restored -different more wonky form of time travel that is more comparable to oracles seeing the future (it's complicated)

(I also have a songxuexiao fix it that includes another different form of time travel to end up with basically this exact concept it's so funny. I am so fucking predictable) The ony exception to this is the fic i'm writing based on that one text post and that one fanart of said text post which is essentially just porn with a ludicrous amount of plot which i'm deliberately taking way less serious because i'm getting my "airplane shooting towards the sky" on and the whole thing is erotica based on a joke post. Other than that I am seemingly allergic to fix-its that do not explicitly in text acknowledge how canon ended.

#mdzs #3zun #it is not just enough for the narrative to be haunted the characters need to be aware of the narrative it seems #You have been allowed to live on after you died. this does not erase the fact that you died. #you are already dead. but stay anyway #< (that last one's a quote read the scholomance trilogy it's pretty good) #if you know just why 3zun and particularly jgy's death is so cathartic to me this makes... perfect sense #like i genuinely laughed out loud because OF COURSE i'm like this #but like i said in my tags on that reblog #those reasons are EXTREMELY personal and hard to explain and contain some discussons of very sensitive stuff

[leatherbookmark]

i had op blocked so ray’s rebloggathon was tragically Absent from my dash but now that i caught up, *hyeju voice* el oh el

#and OF COURSE it's this user lmao #and OF COURSE they have a piss poor grasp on jgy as a character #'jgy setting up a 10+ year scheme that would allow him to reach the highest possible power in the cultivation world' lichrally did not #happen. like of course you think wwx is Morally Better than 90% of the characters if you see them as those villainous caricatures #(also the idea that wwx is the protagonist because he's morally Good and we're supposed to root for him is amazing #because idk op's country nor its curriculum but we read crime and punishment in high school. books where the protagonist has Something #Wrong With Them are not some kinda advanced shit you have to go through an initiation and a blood pact to see. its high school #'well Y is bad because everything they've ever done is bad and evil. meanwhile X is good because everything they've done was either #good or fully justified or forced onto him by the circumstances' is op aware how silly this sounds #jesus the more i scroll down the more bullshit i see. jgy antis are notorious for pulling shit out of their ass and trusting our number one #source of information sect leader yao but this is just. very funny. jgy's decade+ plan of killing people to achieve the highest position in #the jianghu. the way they believe 100% that jgy has killed jrs. the way they clearly got the sect he exterminated for jrs's murder mixed up #with the he sect that was murdered for xy yes but UNDER JGS'S RULE. it's all there! #'i really don’t think i’m reading the same book as some of these people' are you reading the book though #shrimp thoughts #ok i'm gonna go to sleep but gosh #the funniest thing is that people aren't even fully condemning wwx for doing the fucked up shit he did. i've never seen anyone insist that #wwx is actually the villain or that you're supposed to hate him. just that he had his moments of unnecessary cruelty #WHICH IS UNDERSTANDABLE wc and wlj killed everyone in the lotus pier i understand fully why he'd go there. but the same understanding #is not being extended to jgy and his cruelty is being used as a gotcha re: why he's actually the worst evilvillain who doesn't deserve #sympathy. and like bro no they are BOTH exhibiting unnecessary cruelty because they're driven by fury and hatred for people who ruined thei #lives. they're sitting at the same fucking table! but noooooo wwx is an angel. come the fuck on

[rejectedfables]

Lan Xichen is clearly shaken by what WWX and LWJ tell him about NMJ’s death after the discussion conference. He has doubts, he is concerned, and in response to this he decides to USE THE EVIL SPIRIT AFFECTING MUSIC ON HIMSELF to SEE IF IT HARMS HIM. 

(A normal and hinged thing to do)

(it harmed him)

If we use Nie Mingjue’s behavior as a metric for what this selection from the Collection of Spirit Turmoil does to a person, we can reasonably assume it causes or exacerbates at least SOME of the following:

Disrupts spiritual energy such that a person progresses towards qi deviation

Emotional instability

Violent outbursts

Prone to suspicion or paranoia

Nie Mingjue is already prone to literally all of these things, but they ARE also the things the seem notably exacerbated at the end of his life. Whether it was The Song itself or merely the proximity to qi deviation which caused/exacerbated these things, we cannot be sure, but as the latter is caused by the former, there is no functional difference.

In Guanyin Temple, very shortly after Lan Xichen would have used the song on himself, he is notably distressed, his faith in JGY is further shaken, and he’s manipulated by Huaisang into killing Jin Guangyao-- something that is both understandable in context AND clearly horrifies him for the rest of his life.

Given the circumstances (learning what he’s just learned about JGY’s involvement in NMJ’s death, and then learning everything else he does during this scene), he was going to be upset with Jin Guangyao regardless. He was going to have questions, he was going to have doubts. But I do think it’s WORTH REMEMBERING that this man had JUST used the same song ON HIMSELF that Jin Guangyao used to speed up/cause Nie Mingjue’s qi deviation and death. It provides additional context for his reactions, both within the scene and after it.

Lan Xichen has spent over a decade on the same page with Jin Guangyao about JGY’s motivations, goals, and often even the unfortunate but necessary methods he needed to use to achieve said goals. LXC is not NMJ; he absolutely understood that JGY going undercover during Sunshot involved killing some of their own people, and he understands that that was unfortunate but necessary. He understood JGY’s situation with his father, understood that JGY was not in a position to do anything about JGS’s decisions wrt Xue Yang, supported JGY through everything it took to make the watchtowers a reality. NMJ told LXC about JGY killing his superior officer, and LXC went “I’m sure he had a good reason” and just MOVED ON. He’s not under the impression that JGY has never hurt anyone, broken the rules, or committed a crime-- he just does not care, because he truly believes that JGY is a smart, capable, and well intentioned person and therefore those are things to be understood and compassionate about, rather than condemn and scorn him for. He may not have been aware of the extent of JGY’s crimes, but he didn’t feel like he NEEDED to be. He knew JGY, and that was enough.

Under normal circumstances, Lan Xichen’s wish when finding out something that upsets him (especially with regards to his friends), is clearly to talk about it. The greatest example is when Nie Mingjue loudly and repeatedly threatened Jin Guangyao’s life-- Lan Xichen wanted to talk it out. FOREVER, if need be. This is a man who understands that mitigating circumstances exist (especially when it comes to JGY) but solves problems with people he KNOWS with words.

So he finds out JGY killed NMJ, and his response is horror. And his solution to that horror is that he wants answers. He wants to talk about it. Why didn’t you tell me? If you felt you were backed into a corner, why didn’t you tell me that either?? Why didn’t you come to me??? TALK to me???? It could have all been delayed even longer solved if only--!!!

And yet, despite more than a decade of defending JGY in the face of an entire society blaming JGY for everything they could, in Guanyin Temple he’s swept up in the mood of the scene and condemns JGY with the rest. He knows JGY better than anyone else, but is made to doubt this. He’s left wondering if he ever knew the man at all, simply because he’s shown a new side of him.

And he responds to that feeling with violence.

He lives in a world and holds a position in said world that necessitates and normalizes violence, but he himself is not prone to it, especially with loved ones. Yet he doesn’t threaten to tie JGY up, magically mute him, have him tried for his crimes, nor does he SIMPLY react instinctively in perceived self defense-- it’s notable that he threatens death. While the circumstances are different, he does the same thing Nie Mingjue did (threaten JGY’s life), and I don’t think it’s irrelevant that he must be not entirely himself to get to that point.

In the Untamed, during the Guanyin Temple scene, he even slaps Jin Guangyao. And while I believe this is not canon to the book, I don’t personally think it’s out of character BECAUSE I think it’s a further nod to there being something wrong with him in this scene. 

And his actions in that temple is, again, something he struggles to grapple with and regrets for, as far as we know, the REST OF HIS LIFE. 

Right until the last moment, Guanyin Temple is a scene in which Lan Xichen is made to suspect that he’s never known Jin Guangyao at all, and Jin Guangyao is made to believe that he’s never mattered to Lan Xichen like Lan Xichen does to him. And in the very VERY end, when Lan Xichen chooses to die with him and Jin Guangyao doesn’t let him, they’re both shown that that doubt was unfounded. Jin Guangyao may be many things Lan Xichen was never willing or permitted to see, but he is also, fundamentally, everything Lan Xichen has known him to be. 

And Lan Xichen never, ever, wanted to harm Jin Guangyao

#mo dao zu shi #chen qing ling #mdzs #Mdzs meta #the untamed #cql #lan xichen #jin guangyao #somebody suggested I write about the Lan Brothers and I didn't have any meta about them BOTH brewing in my brain but I sure had this #so here you are #xiyao #lan huan #jgy #lxc

[whetstonefires]

Very fun thing actually about Jin Guangyao is he spent so much time and energy passing himself off as normal. The Normalest Guy, Look How Normal I Am. The Very Best And Most Skilled At Normal Things, Like Being Normal And Having Normal Opinions.

Which is great because on the one hand it reflects how he was kind of aware he absolutely was not. (And that by default this isolated him and this was Very Unsafe.) But on the other you see, with all the times he falls into the typical mind fallacy under stress and projects weird shit onto people, he also on some level believed everyone was doing this.

That being a Normal Person who had Normal Reactions to things, like being appalled by brutal violence, was an elaborate social lie everyone had to maintain to keep up the facade of civil society, and actually everyone was basically the same as him deep down. He was just better at it, and also the smartest.

Which is a very long way to say his character arc is heavily tied up with his evolving relationship with and skills at masking. I'm not gonna armchair diagnose him because that's beside the point, the point is that he is trying so fucking hard to be normal, but without a particularly well-developed definition of what's abnormal about him to begin with, resulting in some misfires.

And then you contrast him to some other characters and it gets more fun. One of his direct foils is Nie Mingjue, who literally does not know how to mask at all, not the slightest bit, but is fortunate enough to have been born the exact kind of weirdo his position in life demands, with special interests in 'saber training' and 'destroying evil.'

(He explicitly, per narration from wwx being inside his head, has no other interests and doesn't really understand the idea of having more than one activity you care about, do not tell me Nie Mingjue is walking around with a normal brain.)

So he is (jgy has a point about this, although he actually makes it about the luxury of having moral compunctions) free to totally embrace the conviction that everyone should basically be their authentic selves at all times, and just not do evil things about it.

On the other hand, and this really illuminates their relationship for me, Lan Xichen is absolutely trying to be normal. Like, he does try to excel, he wants to be best and he knows he's good, but as a person he is also trying to be as normal as circumstances allow.

He understands 'being normal about things' as a goal not in jgy's terms as an elaborate social fiction but as aspirational shaping of the self; if everyone is normal about everything then there won't be needless conflict. Living as normally as possible will optimize your mental health and your respect for others, and it's just a good baseline from which to be good.

Which is fine as far as it goes, but means harmless eccentricity (including gay) is to be tolerated and swept under the rug rather than really supported, and prejudices him to instinctively side with Jin Guangyao and anyone else who is pushing for Let's Be Normal About This, even when the people being weird are in the right.

(This is also to a non-zero degree a trauma response behavior; what Lan Xichen experienced as the largest existential threat to him growing up was something along the lines of being perceived as a selfish disruptor of norms, like his father.)

And then contrast that to Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji, who are both very concerned at least initially with how things and people and they themselves are supposed to be, and feel some responsibility for ensuring this supposed-to is reflected in reality.

But neither of them makes any particular attempt to be normal about it.

And then ofc Wei Wuxian, another jgy narrative foil, never attempts to pass himself off as normal. He will sell 'I'm better than everyone ever' and 'I'm scum of the earth' in the same breath before he will try for normal.

Except that he genuinely seems to think his most virtuous traits, his throw-himself-between-victim-and-weapon impulses, are basically normal. If not everyone (who isn't a total shithead) does it, it's because not everyone has his insane confidence they can pull it off.

Which in a good mood he would say is fair, because he is in fact awesome and really good at winning. (In a worse state of mind he would definitely hate on all the selfish cowards.)

Nie Huaisang is probably the most genuinely normal human being in the main cast, probably even more normal than Jiang Yanli, and he's very happy to play that up and present himself as actually even more normal and average than he is, in order to keep expectations down.

Up until his whole life gets fucked and this little pretense turns into the most elaborate and successful mask in the entire book.

#hoc est meum #characterization #meta #masking #mdzs #everyone makes my posts about jgy anyway so i'm just starting with him out the gate #he's such a fun characterization study ngl #jin zixuan is more normal than nhs but i can't honestly call him a main character

[poorlittleyaoyao]

I do think it’s very funny that—at least in CQL—both WWX and JGY seem aware that they’re foils to each other, that they’re both highly talented young men whose position within cultivator gentry society is precarious and their power makes others uncomfortable… and yet they have NOTHING to say to each other. Their only one-on-one interactions that I can remember are at the Unclean Realm at the end of the Yin Iron side quest and at Nightless City during the Sunshot victory banquet—brief, awkward exchanges where JGY’s boss is throwing a party, WWX isn’t currently at the party, and they go “haha shouldn’t you be at the party?” at each other. Even WWX asking JGY about his weapon at Nightless City has this vibe of two people taking a very slow elevator who know each other juuuust enough that silence feels impolite but not well enough to chat so they’re floundering at small talk. They will facilitate each other’s downfall and it will be fully impersonal both times. Incredible.

#I have sundry scenarios in my head for both Chengyao and Yaoli #so as a thought experiment I was like ‘can I get a Lotus Pier hat trick here? is there a way to set JGY up with WWX?’ #citizens: there is not #not that passes muster for me anyway #WWX’s nonsense isn’t the type of nonsense JGY can quietly appreciate #and JGY’s type of tightly-wound isn’t the type of tightly-wound that WWX would be able to playfully antagonize

[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!! 🕊️

[fincalinde]

random question friday: what sport do you think lxc would play?

Random question Friday I answer several Tuesdays later! This fox cannot be tamed.

So lucky for you this happens to be a subject near to my heart and those closest to me are at dire risk of having it outlined to them at any given moment that LXC is without a doubt a tennis player. Here are my reasons three:

Tennis is a sport associated with wealth and social status. It has traditionally been a sport of the middle classes and above, which I have been informed is also true in China and is one of the reasons for the tennis boom there in recent years. As the leader of a prestigious clan, LXC is at the pinnacle of his society and in a modern AU would therefore participate in such sports.

Tennis requires extraordinary mental discipline. When you're on the singles court you have to solve your own problems and your own mental strength is vital because there's no team playing around you and every single point counts. That mental discipline is not a million miles from the kind of discipline required to become a truly powerful cultivator making maximum use of their talent.

Sexy Wimbledon whites.

I happen to love tennis so I'm aware I have a shocking bias, but I think it's just two keen interests I have happening to fit together surprisingly well.

As a bonus, this is my opinion on professional playing styles for the tennis AU I will never write but have bored on about privately for the past three years:

LXC - your classic elegant all court player, the most powerful one-handed backhand on the tour, as much as he enjoys singles in his heart of hearts he never has more fun than when he's playing doubles with a good partner

JGY - counterpuncher, scrambles like you would not believe, literally never knows when he is beaten and has pulled out more wins from match point down than any other player, has a completely undeserved reputation for gamesmanship via taking bathroom breaks and medical timeouts as a strategy (EVERYONE DOES IT)

LWJ - technically an all court player but drifts into pusher territory a little too often because he likes to hit perfect shots until his opponent makes a mistake - however when he does step up to play offensively, beware

WWX - loses points he should win because he's hitting tweeners for the lolz, gets seriously injured playing doubles with JC and changes his playing style drastically to shorten points, becomes serve and volley king and still hits tweeners and underarm serves whenever he wants, literally the worst doubles player known to man

JC - offensive baseliner constantly being berated by his mother (coach) to COME TO THE NET and can never volley as well as WWX does, hugely outstrips WWX in ranking after the Incident and is constantly paranoid that without said injury WWX would always have beaten/outranked him

NMJ - servebot, breaks rackets on court, has been defaulted from matches for rage hitting balls, is the toughest prospect out there on grass and hugely respected for it, retires early due to health and becomes his brother's very ineffective coach

NHS - defensive baseliner bc that's the farthest position from the balls shooting at him at 200kmph, hasn't even cracked the top 200 and all his tour-related costs are covered by NMJ, has won a couple of doubles titles where NMJ did all the work, still somehow makes more in endorsement deals than most of the rest of the cast put together

#ask #testblog-54 #you don't know how deep this goes #when i say i have an entire tennis au i mean it #and i am not a casual fan #i am a super mega nerd fan #zewu-jun en super dude #han vinner opens her og opens der å herregud! #(deep cut joke entertaining only to me) #if anyone does want me to expound on tennis au i will do so #just know that you ask at your peril #roquen's xiyao tennis au

[hannigramislife]

why do you think jgy is so despicable compared to other characters?

Thanks for asking in such a polite way. I appreciate it!

Now, I just finished reading the second book yesterday, so I'm a little shook from what was happening. I know we can list Jin Guangyao's crimes in order – A-Su's death, Nie Mingjue's death, his own son's death, the cultivators he killed, Jin Zixuan, Jin Guangshian, and that's just the murders – but the cause of my negative feelings towards goes deeper than that.

My main issues with Jin Guangyao as I was reading started because of one thing and one thing only: man terrified me. Man is absolutely fucking terrifying, because he has no boundaries, no limits, no attachments, no love, no nothing. There is nothing he wouldn't do for his goals, for his ambitions. Which, in itself, is admirable, and he goes about it in a very smart way.

But reading the books had a chill running down my spine every time he justified his actions and worded things in such a way that seemed to absolve him of all guilt and make it seem like he was trying his best to do the good thing—

He was not. Everyone and everything was a pawn to him. He had a way with words that sucks you right in, that makes you feel empathetic towards him, that makes you feel for him, but it's not real.

It. Is. Not. Real.

So I could write an essay about how repulsive his murders are, or how nauseating his actions towards his wife and son are, or how sick his manipulation of Lan Xichen is, but if I had to pick a specific reason my admiration of his abilities turned to hatred, and I might even be a little biased, but it would most definitely be Nie Mingjue.

Nie Mingjue, who rose to defend him when he was nothing. Nie Mingjue, acknowledged his abilities and praised his character. Nie Mingjue, who let him go with a fucking letter of recommendation when he heard that Meng Yao still harbored a dream of being accepted by the Jin.

Nie Mingjue was not a perfect, flawless man. However, he saw through Jin Guangyao's schemes, and yet no one believed his doubts (looking at poor Lan Xichen). He was pushed to the brink of insanity, and it was so hard to read, because every time he would bring up JGY's actions, he had Jin Guangyao excuse them on one hand, then Lan Xichen defending him on another.

And Jin Guangyao pretended to help, to be the good guy, the patient loving friend, even as he was slowly killing Nie Mingjue. And he did. And if that weren't enough, he dismembered him, and scattered the pieces like they were nothing.

I don't know if people picked up on this while reading, seeing as he is defended by many, but Jin Guangyao was cruel. He was a cruel, unfeeling, narcissistic man, who can't be taken at his word, ever.

This might not be a very coherent post, and I could probably write a better introspection on hi character (with citations, istg), but I would just like to finish it by saying this: I am aware of this man's upbringing and difficulties in life. I am aware he was discriminated against for faults that were not his own. I am aware he was disadvantaged in a society were political ties are everything.

I am not blind to the writing of his character. I simply do not find it valid to defend a man so ruthless, just because his life was not fair.

Was it fair for Wei Wuxian to be blamed for things he never did? Was it fair for Jin Ling to grow up an orphan? Was it fair for Nie Mingjue to qi-deviate? Was it fair for Lan Xichen to go into seclusion because he couldn't mentally deal with what Jin Guangyao did?

Fairness is not an excuse.

#mdzs #the untamed #mo dao zu shi #character introspection #nie mingjue #lan xichen #jin zixuan #nie huaisang #jin ling #wei wuxian #cql p #cql

[evilhasnever]

Back in uhh May, @wishthefish sent a drabble prompt which was: “xiyao with children, and they’re obsessed with slime. That stuff that is so hard to clean off things. Both LXC and JGY are against it (but jgy tends to indulge children…)” (I went a bit off track, but today I got inspired for this because I thought of who exactly bought them the slime! Anyway here are 1000 words of rather self indulgent xiyao parenting! Bit of struggle, bit of flirting.)

Since Jin Guangyao returned to work full time, he’s been doing as well as he ever did on the professional side of things - but the anxiety never fully left him. He's handling it, but merely “handling it” is not the standard of excellence he aspires to. 

He’s doing his very best not to be a helicopter parent, not to text every hour, not to install several cameras in the house and connect them straight to his work monitors—actually, that idea is still on the table. Wei Wuxian has already sent him a few links to purchase the equipment at a discount. 

In short, Jin Guangyao is all too aware of the innumerable bad things that can happen to a child. Two children. Adventurous ones. His husband thinks everything will be just fine, but his husband has a remarkably optimistic outlook on life that Jin Guangyao doesn’t share. 

Fortunately, technology is wonderful - and the next best thing to ubiquity. Jin Guangyao works from home three days a week and hires the best babysitter money can buy the other two. He interviewed over thirty of them, and dug criminally deep into their records before confirming his choice. 

On the weekends, he and Lan Xichen are obviously dead to the world, since it’s the only time they are both home. Sometimes Lan Wangji will offer to babysit, perhaps in return for the many times Xichen had done so for him - but  it happens rarely and, out of unbecoming possessiveness, Jin Guangyao almost prefers it that way. Jingyi won’t shut up about uncle Wangji already. 

Lan Xichen takes over in the afternoons most days - it’s easier for him to take the evening off because he works in the family business; Lans, all of them, schedule their meetings at ungodly AM in the morning and often leave the rest of the day for personal pursuits, be it the gym, research or whatever else. 

It was working, it really was, until one day Jin Guangyao gets home to three pairs of big, apologetic cow eyes welcoming him in the lobby as he enters, guilt written all over three beloved faces. 

“What are you doing?” he asks, eyeing his twins and Xichen sitting on the floor in a line. His husband is in the lotus position, and he can tell the twins have tried and failed to copy him - mostly from the way they’re sitting all crab-legged and red-faced, but thankfully not crying. 

“We are meditating,” Lan Xichen says, in a transparent attempt to sound serene, “on some things we should not do again, and why we shouldn’t.” 

“I see,” Jin Guangyao carefully replies, putting down his satchel. “And what are some of these things, out of curiosity?” 

Without saying a word, Rusong points to the living room, ever the little tattletale. 

Jin Guangyao hears Lan Xichen sigh before he takes in the sight of his living room - his pride and joy - now looking like a crime scene. A quick prod with his foot tells him it is neither blood nor strawberry jam that is splattered on the white couch. On the carpet. On the tv. And somehow, up in the air conditioner filters. 

“What is it?” 

Lan Xichen replies from the corridor. “Slime, I am told. It’s not harmful, just… hard to clean.”

Jin Guangyao sighs. “Well, let’s clean up. Take them to their room, I’m sure they’ve learned the lesson.” Still in his suit, he starts googling how to clean up slime while Lan Xichen ushers the kids to bed. 

He does, however, take off his tailored pants to kneel and scrub the carpet. He is still working on it - vinegar, water and elbow grease - when Lan Xichen returns, looking so, so remorseful. And like he absolutely wasn’t caught peeking at his bum - because he’s currently feeling remorseful, of course.

“I’m sorry, A-Yao. Let me take over the scrubbing.” 

Jin Guangyao lets him, if just to appreciatively consider the sliver of skin revealed above his waistband when he bends. 

 “Who bought them this? I know you didn’t, gege. Fess up.” If he knows his husband, he knows Lan Xichen would never do anything so unwise. He may indulge the kids, but he is a very convincing person, certainly capable of diverting them towards a more palatable, preferably harmless toy if the need arises. 

“Huaisang brought it and I didn’t get to intercept before he handed it to them,” Lan Xichen admits, sitting up on his haunches with a browbeaten expression. 

“So that’s why you were in timeout, too?” Jin Guangyao chuckles, giving him a teasing side glance. 

“I should have acted faster,” Lan Xichen says, with disproportionate gravity. Done with the carpet, he stands up and wipes his hands thoroughly before pulling Jin Guangyao into a half hug. He props his head on top of Jin Guangyao’s, heaves a sigh that echoes through his skull. “I’m sorry, A-Yao.” 

Jin Guangyao frowns but doesn’t move. “It’s just a couch, gege. We can replace the upholstery.” 

“Yes. But I meant… I’m sorry I dismissed your worries so carelessly, when we talked about babysitting. Acting like parenting is easy or-or fun at all times, was really presumptuous of me.”

Well. If it took only a couch to get Lan Xichen to accept Jin Guangyao’s concerns as legitimate (and let him install some cameras), it was all worth it. 

“Apology accepted,” he murmurs, pulling back from the hug just to lean up on his tiptoes and tease Lan Xichen’s lower lip. “This A-Yao really needs a shower now, but perhaps my husband could give me a hand with that?” 

Xichen blushes happily, then seems to catch himself. “Ah, yes. But before that, there’s one more tub of that unfortunate substance to deal with in the kitchen. They… they tried to make a smoothie with it.” 

Jin Guangyao’s eyebrow twitches, which is as much distress as he is willing to display when he’s angling for *at least* a handjob. 

“Alright. You do that. I’m going to call Nie Huaisang to thank him for the gift.” 

#xiyao #Xiyao drabbles #I don’t usually write pure domesticity so I hope you like it? #ask box #Lan xichen #jin Guangyao #baby cameos

[mostlikelytofangirl]

What do you think Jin Guangyao needs the most in a romantic partner?

Hi there! Sorry for the late reply ^^;

Honestly? Given canon, I think this little guy needs first and foremost to feel respected by his partner, the assurance that he is seen as an equal despite his background and baggage.

I'll also say that he'd need to trust them, and while trust is a staple of any relationship, in JGY's case, the fact that he is aware of the things he had to do throughout his life, feeling like he is not going to be accepted by his partner would already nulify the first requirement of respect.

Can't feel respected when he is convinced that his partner is going to think less of him, or even stop loving him if they were to know everything about him. So even subconsciously he is working on the assumption that he isn't an equal to his partner if he feels like he cannot share this part of him with them.

So the perfect romantic partner for him, in my opinion, would have to be a person that not only treats him like he isn't either inferior or superior, but that can also show enough open-mindness and... let's call it grayness of morality for him to feel like he is going to be understood if/when he opens up about the less flattering side of him.

Also validation. It's very important that he is told that he is, in fact, a good boy on a regular basis :')

#replies #mdzs #jin guangyao #this is coming from as an objective pov as I can offer #bc my allyao agenda means I can see value in all the different flavors #but working on this assumption I'd say maybe chengyao and ruoyao?? #mostly chengyao tho bc it's impossible to ignore the power dynamic in ruoyao #nieyao is not really working here and funnily enough neither is xiyao imo #the entire guanyin temple made it clear that jgy never fully trusted lxc in this way #and the despite treating him like an equal he didn't really consider himself an equal to lxc #suyao is the other side of it with sms being too devoted and holding him in a pedestal that didn't make them equals either #maybe qinyao could work too but we'll sadly never know what qs' real position would have been to jgy's whole deal #... honest to god didn't expect chengyao to win here XD #anyways feel free to completely ignore me this is just my delulu rambly opinion lol

[lgbtlunaverse]

One underdiscussed aspect of the bone-deep lack of mutual understanding during the nieyao stairs scene is that Nie Mingjue doesn't know - and can't know - what he's actually asking of Jin Guangyao. Not because he doesn't understand how his father treats him, or how tenuous his position is. But because he has no clue Xue Yang is a demonic cultivator.

Remember: Nie Mingjue is still alive, which means the position of chief cultivator doesn't exist yet and Jin Guangshan is facing heavy pushback for suggesting it. Most of that is coming from a fear that the Jin will try to become the next Wen. So having an outer disciple murder an entire clan and then not even punish him properly? This is a collosally bad move politically! You might as well be waving a red flag around yelling "I want to kill other sects with impunity!" There's a reason that years in the future, the moment Jin Guangyao becomes acting sect leader, he will immediately order Xue Yang's death (He doesn't actually die, either by accident or on purpose on jgy's part. But the point is that as far as the public is concerned he had Xue Yang executed.)

From Nie Mingjue's perspective, Jin Guangshan just shot himself in the foot politically for some random outer disciple. It's morally wrong, but it's also incredibly fucking stupid. In his eyes, he is asking Jin Guangyao to do the glaringly obvious right thing, even when exclusively looking at the Jins' self-interest. The thing that surely everyone else in the Jin also wants Jin Guangshan to do! Jin Guangyao can say that he has no influence on his father all he wants, but it is obvious how much work he does and so, as much as his father may not respect him, he clearly at least trusts Jin Guangyao's competence. Nie Mingjue has already tried shouting directly at Jin Guangshan during the trial and it seemed to work, but then Jin Guangshan went back on his decision like a complete idiot. So now Nie Mingjue is asking the guy who is famous for being good at rhetoric and convincing people to convince his donkey of a father to do the obviously correct thing with minimal downsides because again, to Nie Mingjue, this is all about some random outer disciple. It makes sense to ask this! It's a pretty reasonable request! Jin Guangshan can't possibly care that much.

Except of course he does. Because Xue Yang isn't some random outer disciple. He's the only good shot Jin Guangshan has at recreating the yin tiger tally. And Jin Guangshan reaaaaaally wants the yin tiger tally. So bad that he is fully willing to tank an ungodly amount of political goodwill to get it. Jin Guangyao is fully aware that not only will Jin Guangshan never kill Xue Yang, he isn't planning on keeping him locked up either. In fact, after Nie Mingjue is dead, he'll free Xue Yang and strongarm Chang Ping into denying the guilt of his family's murderer. Jin Guangshan cares a lot about keeping Xue Yang in his employ.

And Jin Guangyao knows this. But he can't tell Nie Mingjue that! Because then he'd have to admit they've been doing demonic cultivation. That the fucking ghost geneal is in their basement. That, oopsie, they actually also killed a whole other entire clan just a while ago after framing their sect leader for an assasination attempt and then used their bodies as fodder to make more fierce corpses. You know, in case one mass murder wasn't enough!

So obviously he's not gonna say that. Which means Nie Mingjue has no idea what he's demanding from Jin Guangyao, and therefore no idea why he absolutely can't fullfill that request.

I get why it's not mentioned very often because there are a lot of other problems which are both more obvious and more fun to talk about. (Who doesn't love a little overcomplicated trolley problem?) But I think it adds just another layer to the chasm between them in this scene. They're not just disagreeing, they're having completely different conversations.

#mdzs #mdzs meta #obviously there are like 50 other issues plus saber disease packed on top of this #which is what makes it go so catastrophically wrong #but this is one aspect of that i don't see mentioned very often #nie mingjue #jin guangyao #meng yao #i call nmj calling for xy's head 'reasonable' here. obviously it only is if you believe in the death penalty which i don't #but everyone in mdzs does so... yeah if xue yang really was just a random disciple this'd be a petty reasonable thing to ask #but he isn't except jgy can't EXPLAIN that so they're stuck

[robininthelabyrinth]

Nie Mingjue the musical prodigy. Honestly anything with this idea, 3zun the cultivation world's 1st ever boy band? Secretly has mastered every instrument ever? (in canon you could have it play out where he knew at first that JGY was trying to kill him and kept hinting at it to LXC subtly but when LXC continued on blissfully oblivious NMJ assumed it was on purpose and that everyone was trying to kill him, and at that point since he was so close to qi deviation anyway better to die quick and fast then have NHS live through the long, drawn-out death their father had.)

“All right, I give in,” Nie Mingjue said after the third time Jin Guangyao played him the Song of Turmoil. “What does it do?”

“What do you mean, da-ge?” Jin Guangyao asked, though his heart rate subtly increased – he was pretty sure he’d covered his tracks with the combined song well enough that Nie Mingjue wouldn’t notice it, but there was always a possibility that something might have gone wrong. He had a plan for that, too: a whole list of excuses, explanations. He didn’t really understand what Lan Xichen had taught him, it was all his incompetence, etc.

“The song,” Nie Mingjue clarified, and there it was – he knew. Somehow or another, he knew. “It’s obviously different from the one Lan Xichen plays. What does your version do?”

“Da-ge, I’m sorry,” Jin Guangyao said. “If I’ve somehow gotten something wrong –”

“No, no, don’t, don’t start with that,” Nie Mingjue interrupted. “Do you think I’m an idiot? My sect doesn’t cultivate with music, and the only musical education I’ve ever received was during the one season I spent with the Lan sect, but I did learn something. Actually, Teacher Lan even said I was something of a prodigy…but either way, I’m very well aware that you don’t accidentally achieve effects with musical cultivation. If you get something wrong in error, it simply doesn’t work at all. It doesn’t create a new effect.”

Jin Guangyao was starting to feel a cold sweat on his back. Damnit, Lan Xichen had told him about Nie Mingjue’s summer at the Lan sect, and Nie Mingjue had mentioned it here and there, too – he’d just assumed that Nie Mingjue had been a prodigy at learning cultivation or rules or whatever, not music.

“Well?” Nie Mingjue prompted. “Don’t make me have to ask Xichen.”

That would be worse.

No, better to get ahead of the accusations now.

Jin Guangyao summoned tears into his eyes. “Da-ge, I’m sorry,” he said, trying for his best facsimile of sincerity. “If I’d had any choice in the matter, I wouldn’t have done it…”

“Oh, is it offensive? Really?” Nie Mingjue didn’t look as angry as Jin Guangyao thought he’d be. “Does it work slow or fast?”

Jin Guangyao hesitated. “…are you not angry?”

“That you were trying to kill me despite swearing brotherhood to me? I’m furious.” Nie Mingjue smiled, and it was as cold as anything Jin Guangyao had ever seen on Wen Ruohan’s face. “The only reason I haven’t pulled out Baxia and dismembered you this very second is because I, too, swore an oath of brotherhood to you, and I don’t break those oaths lightly…though if you kept poisoning me, I assume I’d eventually go mad enough to think that it was a valid option. Your plan was that it would look like a qi deviation, I assume?”

Jin Guangyao hesitated. Nie Mingjue took that as confirmation. “You’re not the first one to think of that,” he remarked. “But you’re going to be the last, my brother. Now tell me: does it work slow or fast? Or, perhaps more relevantly: how long would it take for this lovely little poison of yours to work if you poured it into your father’s ear instead of mine..?”

#mdzs #nie mingjue #jin guangyao #my fic #my fics #alt headcanons

[letteredlettered]

I'm conflicted about whether to encourage you to read the MDZS novel or not. On the one hand, it's revolutionary for danmei in many ways (to the hatred and love of many), and reading it would be akin to reading Jin Yong one day. On the other hand, if you love Wei Wuxian and find some actions in the show "unforgivable," you will be severely disappointed with him. For the sake of censorship, many of the "crimes/sins" he committed were passed onto Jin Guangyao so that the idea of "good" and "evil" are more clearly distinguished. In recent years, China has even censored some of its most popular works like Empresses in the Palace, Story of Yanxi Palace, for having heroines that were too morally grey. And of course, there were some actions too heinous to even be passed onto another character. Plus, consent is a little grey in the novel, and first times were simultaneously great and awful, prompting a sudden confession in dramatic areas.

But, I think even a bit more laden with the evils of this world... I still really loved Wei Wuxian of the novel. He tried. And failed. And maybe made things a lot worse. But as Lan Wangji said, his heart was in the right place. And... I think you'll feel a lot more for the Wen in the novel. They-- just the idea of continuous sacrifice and gratitude. I cried so much for them.

Sorry, you might regret it a bit, but I think it'll also make you feel fulfilled to read the novel.

Anyway, I hope your day is going well!

I'm already reading it! So you don't have to feel conflicted about whether to recommend it. :)

I don't think that liking it or not liking it will affect my interest in CQL or the fandom. I've been in many fandoms with multiple versions of canon; I find it's best to pick the versions that work for me and stick to them. Sometimes it can be frustrating when you love one version and hate the other version and it feels like everyone is disparaging the one you think is good in favor of the one that gives you moral hives, but I haven't really seen those kinds of comparisons going around, and this isn't Star Trek, so I'll probably be fine.

I'm a little flummoxed by this word "unforgivable." First of all, I find most things forgivable; I'm a forgiving person. Second of all, these are fictional characters; if someone does something unforgivable it doesn't make them uninteresting or unrelatable.

I don't dislike JGY because he does bad things. I am uninterested in JGY because his personality is boring to me and not something I find relatable.

I'm also a little flummoxed by the idea of not liking something because it is morally gray. I know I stomp around on tumblr.com a lot yelling about morality, but my basic moral philosophy boils down to "try your very best to cause no harm," which is something that is extremely gray, because there are no absolutes. There is no good and evil. There is only the effort to be kind and help each other, and it is shocking how fuzzy and unclear that can be.

I have hesitated to read the novels partly because I'm aware of the consent issues. I think it is important to have fiction that has non-con, including fiction that has very sexy unproblematized non-con that allows people to indulge in fantasies that would be unsafe and harmful in the real world. That said, I don't like it. At all. Not for moral reasons but because I find it singularly unsexy.

I'll conclude by saying that it's very true that I tend not to be drawn to villains as characters. It's less because I find them morally repugnant, and more because they are often uninteresting to me. I think possibly the thing that draws me to a character the most is effort, especially an effort to do and be good--but this is a personal preference, not a moral one. I identify with characters who try to be good, and this makes me like them. I enjoy them the most when they fail a lot while trying their absolutely little best. Personally, I've heard mixed reviews about WWX in MDZS canon; some report, as you do, that he tries a lot and fails; others report that he's pretty careless in ways that make me feel a lot less interested in him. Since I'm already reading it, I'll find out, but the main thing I've taken away so far is that these novels are hilarious. I can't believe how funny it is. What a delight.

#mzds #wei wuxian #morality

[thebiscuiteternal]

What is NMJ and JGY's relationship like in this au after the sunshot campaign?

They get along very well! Mingjue is very protective of Meng Yao's reputation, as he already grew up hearing Huaisang constantly badmouthed and isn't having it (which is why he was so keen on going with Huaisang's prestige plan).

Since Huaisang sent Meng Yao to be Mingjue's guard/tutor/whatever necessary instead of sending him directly to the Jin (which is understandable, because a recommendation letter from him would have been even less useful than the one in canon), there were no controversial murders to get between them. Plus Meng Yao being instrumental in saving Huaisang earned him even more points.

Meng Yao, for his part, thinks Mingjue is adorable. A big guard tiger in the making that hasn't quite grown into his stripes yet.

(I have decided that Meng Yao is also aware of Mingjue's puppy crush on the First Jade of Lan, but he's much less direct in teasing him about it than Huaisang is. He makes the kind of comments that get Mingjue nodding along and then going "....Hold up.")

#mdzs #reverse nies #larger age gap nies #nie mingjue #jin guangyao #worldbuilding

[poorlittleyaoyao]

If you’re still doing the ask thing could you please do 12, 20 & 32 for JGY?

12. Crack headcanon

He loves reading out loud to Jin Ling and gets SUPER into it, with dramatic silly voices and all.

20. Scars

I don't think he has very many! Most of the injuries he received before developing a golden core wouldn't be the type to scar. He has one on his palm and a small burn on the outer side of his wrist, both from mishaps helping in the kitchen, and he has a scar that he's not even aware of hidden beneath his hair from when he was thrown down the stairs. Other than that, there's nothing, so the gash left behind on his torso after he stabs himself (in novel canon) or flings himself onto WZL's sword (in drama canon) is EXTRA noticeable.

32. Something guaranteed to make them smile/laugh

"Quality time with er-ge" is a predictable answer, so have a bonus crack headcanon: He adores cats. He doesn't have one as a house pet because the risk of damage to clothing/carpeting/upholstery/anything breakable placed on shelves is too great for his comfort (and a cat would NOT have been an ideal emotional support creature for his volatile young nephew), but he is DELIGHTED when he encounters one. He will pet them to say hello and become that one XKCD comic if nobody's around.

[veliseraptor]

I wish you would write a fic where... JGY accidentally figures out XY is not dead in a ditch fairly early on when everyone’s playing house in Y City, and… fucks with the situation in whatever way.

Not as an active priority per say, but as a ball in the air he can make sure hits the floor whenever it would best suit him to do so. Does he make XY aware There’s A Threat? Does he instigate something that forces them out so they don’t get real comfortable together? Does he make sure there’s the right gossip in the right place for SL to find them sooner? Does he have better ideas than I do? Definitely.

oooh this is interesting. I feel like mostly, though, Jin Guangyao would be happy to just...leave that whole thing alone, because in a lot of ways having somebody else keeping Xue Yang busy is nothing but a good thing for him. I feel like making sure Xue Yang had enough enrichment to not get problematically destructive was probably a pretty significant headache for Jin Guangyao when Xue Yang was at Jinlintai; it's like having an extremely reactive husky.

so, whether Jin Guangyao ordered Xue Yang killed or just shooed him out the back door and told him to keep his distance, I feel like he'd look at Xue Yang in Yi City playing house with Xiao Xingchen and basically go "weird, but okay! that seems like something that doesn't need to become a problem for me at this point and I have a lot of other things to be worried about." he'll keep an eye on it, sure, in case Xue Yang looks like he's becoming a liability somehow (very carefully, because letting Xue Yang know he's being watched is a good way for Xue Yang to become a him problem again), but I don't think he'd make any overt moves as long as the situation doesn't change. I think, if anything, he'd be invested in keeping the situation stable: Jin Guangyao is well-acquainted with the fact that an unstable, off-balance, or threatened Xue Yang is far harder to deal with than a Xue Yang who is relatively content.

and again! I do think Jin Guangyao generally is fond of Xue Yang, even as much as he is a problem for him a lot of the time. so whatever he's up to over there that seems to be keeping him occupied and pretty happy...not interrupting seems for the best.

basically Jin Guangyao doing his level best to manage Yi City like a nature preserve for a particularly dangerous endangered species, is kind of what I'm saying here.

#conversating #anonymous #xue yang #jin guangyao #i don't think he'd be psyched about xue yang's fierce corpse making hobby but i also don't know that he'd feel safe intervening either #aggressively headcanons #fic wish meme #the sad queer cultivators show