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robininthelabyrinth · 2 years

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wwx and lwj get invited to a yunmeng remembrance festival for the lives that they lost during the destruction of lotus pier!!

ao3

“I was not aware that this was a tradition of Yunmeng Jiang,” Lan Wangji said, trying to be both diplomatic and polite and not entirely sure he was succeeding.

“Me either,” Wei Wuxian said with a shrug. “Which means it’s either something I didn’t hear about, or a tradition that only popped up during the war…which makes sense, I guess? It wasn’t as if there were much need for a special ‘remembrance festival’ before – there wasn’t a massacre before. So it’s reasonable.”

It was, Lan Wangji admitted, entirely reasonable.

“I would’ve thought you’d know more about it than me, though,” Wei Wuxian said, and elbowed him with a smile. “Lan Zhan, you were here for all those years when I wasn’t, weren’t you? Why don’t you know about their annual remembrance festival?”

“I did not come to the Lotus Pier,” Lan Wangji said.

It had been unthinkable for him. To go to the Lotus Pier, where Wei Wuxian had so enthusiastically invited him – where he had spent so much of his youth dreaming for a chance to go – only for Wei Wuxian not to be there…how could he do such a thing? Even when he had been nearby on a night-hunt, he had refused to venture close, and Jiang Cheng had just as pointedly ignored him, even when he should by all rights have come out to greet him.

“Oh, right, I guess that makes sense,” Wei Wuxian said, belatedly sensitive to the issue. “Right. Uh. Yeah, I don’t know. Let’s go find Jin Ling, he’ll be able to explain what’s going on – he’s been here plenty of times.”

Lan Wangji nodded. An explanation certainly seemed necessary.

After all, he’d been to plenty of remembrance events in the past. The Sunshot Campaign had called for many of them, after all; there were virtually no sects wholly untouched by the ravages of that war. There had been collected mourning events, single-sect mourning events, private events limited only to the main clan and disallowing even guest disciples, public events inviting everyone and their neighbor to come watch from a respectful distance…they had, by and large, been very solemn affairs, usually featuring long, ponderous speeches by well-respected old men who regretted having to live to see a thing and young men who wanted to eventually become well-respected old men. Some had been genuinely sincere, others grandstanding, but none were anything like…this.

The entire place was stuffed to the brim with liveliness: merchant stalls stuffed into every available corner, hawkers shouting loud enough to deafen, small children darting through the crowds with trays of goods to be offered up to attract potential purchasers…it was like every market-day had happened all at once, rolled up all together with New Years’, and there were plenty of visitors of all sorts – not just Jiang guest disciples or carefully invited cultivators from other sects, but random rogue cultivators and even curious mortals from near and far, clearly drawn in by the hubbub.

People were wearing costumes.

Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji exchanged a glance, neither understanding and each one thinking the same thing – Jin Ling would be able to explain this, surely.

“What are you doing here?” Jin Ling demanded instead when he saw them.

Wei Wuxian arched his eyebrows. “I would think that’d be obvious,” he said. “This is – I mean, I’d heard that this was a remembrance ceremony for all the lives lost in the attack on the Lotus Pier. That seemed like something I’d be interested in attending.”

“Oh,” Jin Ling said, and looked abashed. “Yes, of course…sorry, I forgot.”

“You forgot,” Lan Wangji said, keeping his voice as neutral as he could, but some censure leaked through regardless.

“Not about Senior Wei!” Jin Ling said hastily. “I know about – I mean – obviously – no, it’s about this dratted thing. I forgot it started out as a remembrance ceremony.”

That…sounded a bit more likely, actually.

“You forgot?” Wei Wuxian asked, sounding fascinated. “How can you forget it’s a remembrance ceremony? Aren’t there – I don’t know – speeches or something?”

“You think jiujiu would give speeches?”

This did seem, admittedly, rather unlikely.

Even extremely unlikely.

Which was why Lan Wangji had been surprised to hear about there being an annual remembrance ceremony to begin with, actually…

“He doesn’t show up at all, actually,” Jin Ling said, and shrugged when they both looked at him in surprise. “It’s his day for mourning! He’ll sometimes venture out on the second day, but definitely not the first - that’s why I was so concerned when I saw you, you know? I was worried you’d come with a crisis or something. It’s one thing to be standing in for jiujiu when I’m just his nephew, but it’s actually a bit awkward now that I’m Sect Leader Jin, you know…”

Lan Wangji held up a hand. “Second day?” he asked, focusing on the part he cared about the most. “This event goes on longer than a single day?”

“Oh yes,” Jin Ling said. “Between three and five days, usually. It started with one, but then, well, you know, as the whole thing got larger people were travelling from further and further away, and it’s a bit of a hard sell to tell them that it was a one-day event…”

“How did this even start?” Wei Wuxian asked. “If Jiang Cheng doesn’t attend, why did he set it up?”

“Oh, it wasn’t his idea at all! It was actually the opposite – a very enterprising, and very wealthy, merchant family figured out that he always disappeared on the anniversary of the day and asked if they could set up an event to commemorate the survivors…I think they wanted to sell one of their products.”

“And Jiang Cheng agreed?”

“It was early days, okay, give him a break. The merchant family promised to pay for the whole thing, plus a fee for the right to use the Lotus Pier at all, and the Jiang sect gets one tenth of all the purchases made during the event – jiujiu said that it paid for about half of the rebuilding efforts by itself.”

Wei Wuxian looked conflicted, but Lan Wangji nodded in approval. However horrifying he found the thought of someone turning the burning of the Cloud Recesses into some sort of carnival for disinterested outsiders, he would have still preferred something like that over what had actually happened, with his brother borrowing money from the Jin sect and putting them all into Jin Guangyao’s hands for so many years. And Jiang Cheng, whatever his other faults, could be quite practical about such things, provided he didn’t have to be personally involved – and with a built-in excuse like this, he didn’t have to be. It was all quite neat.

“It grew since then?” he asked, and Jin Ling nodded. “And now it is too late to stop it.”

“That’s exactly it.” Jin Ling shrugged again. “No one in the Jiang sect really thinks of it as a remembrance for the massacre, not really – jiujiu only allowed it in the first place as a remembrance for the lives lost. A celebration they would have enjoyed in life, not a reminder of their deaths, you know what I mean?”

Lan Wangji noted that Wei Wuxian had gone misty-eyed, presumably thinking of all those shidi and shimei, shixiongs and shijies, that would have loved a party like this; he’d clearly understood perfectly.

“Well, since you’re here and it’s not a crisis, would you like to try some of the desserts?” Jin Ling asked, perking up considerably. “They’re really good, you know! And I’m not just saying that because they’re paying for this whole thing – I mean, I would just for that, but they’re actually extremely tasty.”

“Desserts?” Lan Wangji asked. “Is that what that merchant family was trying to sell?”

“Yeah!” Jin Ling pointed to one of the busiest stalls in on the street. “Go on, Hanguang-jun – try a Cornetto!”

#mdzs #lan wangji #wei wuxian #jinl ing #my fic #my fics #listen I was suddenly possessed by the desire to make a bad joke #it happens sometimes #okay let's be real #it happens often

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knivescharade · 3 years

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时尚芭莎 Harper’s Bazaar | Xiao Zhan Wang Yibo: Ask not of whence we came, but where we will go

Xiao Zhan

White t-shirt, brown knit turtleneck, black wool sweater with zipper – Prada

Black trousers – Lanvin

Wang Yibo

Floral short-sleeved shirt – All Saints

White cowboy jacket – JTKZHENG

<The Untamed> is Xiao Zhan’s first time filming at “Heng Country” (i.e. Hengdian World Studios), and it is also Wang Yibo’s first time filming an ancient drama. Just how much charm does the <The Untamed> have to earn both young actors’ first times? #Harper’sBazaar# #XiaoZhanWangYibospecialedition, let’s talk about their first times, and their stories of youths in the jianghu~

Xiao Zhan

Black open shirt – Uma Wang

Black agate gourd necklace – Qeelin

Wang Yibo

Black shirt – Heaven Gaia

Black long-sleeved shirt – Yohji Yamamoto

Black leather belt – model’s own

Xiao Zhan - A smiling journey between worlds

Xiao Zhan somewhat “dislikes” Wei Wuxian’s propensity for crying, and he spent the entire filming period with constantly reddened eyes. Those few months of filming, from Hengdian to Guizhou. Xiao Zhan has finally said goodbye to Wei Wuxian, and advises him, “Wei Wuxian, don’t pretend to be strong anymore, take good care of yourself.”

The image of Wei Wuxian, in Xiao Zhan’s mind, is that of a “very naughty teenager.” Despite experiencing so much hardship, Wei Wuxian is still able to maintain his cheerful demeanour. There are lots of times where we have to face something we do not want to face – and that is the only way we can become stronger. “That is growth,” Xiao Zhan says.

In the show, Wei Wuxian chose to face life with his emotions bared, smiling and scolding as he goes. Xiao Zhan has discussed this with the screenwriters – how can a person who has undergone so much misfortune still be able to smile? And finally, Xiao Zhan found the character’s foundation: “Wei Wuxian’s temperament is a kind one, an optimistic one. A temperament like that would not change, no matter how the story progressed.”

Black jacket – Sean Suen

Black wide-legged trousers – Yohji Yamamoto

Xiao Zhan’s favourite scenes were during Wei Wuxian’s growing years in Lotus Pier – he feels that it is a warm and caring place. The motto of Lotus Pier’s Jiang Clan is “To attempt the impossible.” “So, within that broad expanse of what is morally right, you are free to grow in however way you want.” Xiao Zhan explains.

It was love, and its support, that allowed Wei Wuxian to experience the drastic changes in his life without turning evil. Xiao Zhan says, “Wei Wuxian’s upbringing at Lotus Pier instilled a correct set of values in him.”

To Xiao Zhan, Lan Wangji is “principled and calm, a person who talks little but burns with feelings inside.” As for his first time working with Wang Yibo, Xiao Zhan is full of praises, “It was quite easy to get into character, acting with him. When I first met Wang Yibo, I felt like this person has a sort of cold aura to him, a sense of distance. That sense of strangers, do not interact – Lan Wangji is like that.”

The “reunion” between Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji, sixteen years later, is the climax of the entire show. They filmed that scene from 8pm at night to 4am the next morning, Xiao Zhan remembers. The scene had very high requirements of the actors’ emotions, and the camera angle, blocking, and aesthetic of the scenes had to be coordinated perfectly. “It took quite a while.” Xiao Zhan says.

<The Untamed> is Xiao Zhan’s first time filming at “Heng Country”. “It lives up to its name – it has everything. I can take two steps and bump into a friend!” Xiao Zhan comments with surprise.

During break times between scenes, the young adults of the cast would gather round to play games. Wang Yibo, the gaming aficionado, often scorns Xiao Zhan’s not-so-good gaming skills. “I just feel that, is there a need to be so serious about entertaining fun.” He is of the opinion that everyone having a good time is enough for him.

“I would like to try acting as a charming, black-hearted villain.” Xiao Zhan replies earnestly, when asked what other kind of role he would like to try. He hopes to portray a character who has a personality completely opposite of his, in the future.

Black high-collared shirt – Calvin Klein Jeans

Black wool sweater – Acne Studios

BAZAAR X Xiao Zhan

Q: What is something you most want to say to Wei Wuxian?

A: Stop pretending to be so strong, take good care of yourself and your loved ones.

Q: Of the whole filming period, what is something unforgettable that you may, perhaps, remember for the rest of your life?

A: There was one scene that required filming in the water, a manmade lake, made by the crewmembers. The initial plan was to film that scene right after shooting commenced. During then, the weather still wasn’t very cold, and the water was very clean, but we ended up dragging it out for about one or two months before we finally shot it. By then, the weather had gotten cold, and the water had gotten not-so-clean, and I had to submerge my whole body into it, including my head. It was truly unforgettable.

Q: Looking back at the entire drama shoot, which scene are you most satisfied with? And why?

A: I’m pretty satisfied with the emotional scenes I did. But I have the impression that, filming this show, I basically kept filming crying scenes, crying and sobbing my way through. I’m also not sure why Wei Wuxian likes to cry so much?

Wang Yibo - The passion within an aloof teenager

His first time acting in an ancient drama, Wang Yibo had not expected it to be so difficult. The sweltering World Studios, the unnatural headpiece. He is much like Lan Wangji, a cold, wordless exterior hiding a burning, passionate heart. Wang Yibo’s comment on his portrayal of Lan Wangji, after filming ended, “You’re rather handsome.”

<The Untamed> is Wang Yibo’s first time filming an ancient drama. Under the sweltering heat of Hengdian, he experienced his first headpiece. During the performance, the headpiece pulls forcefully on the actors’ scalps, making the facial muscles rather tight. As a result, actors require a lot more control of their facial muscles to portray the required movements and expressions. “That’s why they say ancient dramas are more tiring,” Wang Yibo concludes.

Wang Yibo had to perform with layers and layers of costumes on him, despite the heat of the Hengdian summer. Though the robes he wore in the show appear elegant, they are still long draping robes, no matter how light and breathable the fabric is. Luckily, Lan Wangji doesn’t have a lot of lines. “No lines, so I didn’t need to memorize anything. But I had a lot of fight scenes.”

Grey high-necked shirt – Undercover

Grey half-skirt – 上下

Lan Wangji experienced three stages of his life in the drama. In Wang Yibo’s opinion, interpreting the older Lan Wangji was indeed difficult. But teenage Lan Wangji was what Wang Yibo anticipated the most.

It took Wang Yibo many tries before he grasped the real Lan Wangji, at the start of filming. “He has a deadpan face, but his mind is confident and planned out. His gaze had to be very firm. I didn’t grasp that at the very beginning, so it felt a bit like he’s sleepy.” Wang Yibo describes how he appeared at the start of filming. After some guidance from the director, Wang Yibo immediately altered his portrayal, and his gaze livened up.

In the show, Lan Wangji grew up in a strict, stern household. Solemn and dignified for his young age, he felt that “some things should be done properly,” until he met Wei Wuxian. It was this “mischievous but earnest” person who opened the doors to a new world for Lan Wangji. “It was Wei Wuxian’s appearance that changed Lan Wangji’s views.”

Wang Yibo, like Lan Wangji, is not a person who likes to talk. Despite his speechlessness, Lan Wangji is very confident in the things he is skilled at, and Wang Yibo is similar as well. In order to approach Lan Wangji’s body appearance, Wang Yibo lost a lot of weight, and his gaze grew calm and cold.

Once he puts on the robes of Lan Wangji, sunny, cheerful Wang Yibo turns into that silent and reserved youth, who has a mind and logic of his own.

White high-collared shirt – Allen Xie

White knit wool sweater – Short Sentence

BAZAAR X Wang Yibo

Q: What is something you most want to say to Lan Wangji?

A: You’re rather handsome.

Q: Of the whole filming period, what is something unforgettable that you may, perhaps, remember for the rest of your life?

A: Something unforgettable that I may remember for the rest of my life… I guess it’s that smoke cake. Once we set it off, it feels like you can’t see anyone more than one metre away from you, that kind of scene.

Q: Looking back at the entire drama shoot, which scene are you most satisfied with? And why?

A: The fight scenes were quite alright. As for a particular scene, let me think… When I first appeared, when Wei Wuxian first went to the Cloud Recesses. I think Lan Wangji’s coldness there was quite alright.

[Source: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/Lb7qRH5DIp47ICFLV17AXg]

- translated by knivescharade -

#bjyx #yizhan #the untamed #xiao zhan #wang yibo #harper's bazaar #陈情令 #all translation mistakes are my own #thanks rainbowsky and whitelilyx for replying to my post

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franniebanana · 3 years

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CQL Rewatch - Ep 30

I really appreciate these quieter moments in this series, these kind of comedic moments that kind of get swallowed up by the epic, dramatic events. And seeing the Yiling Laozu hawking turnips by the side of the road is just such a good contrast from what we've seen earlier from his fake disciples. It's a very funny comparison to how people view him. It's a very good example of reputation preceding the person. And not only Wei Wuxian, but you also have Wen Ning, the Ghost General, most often one of the meekest people you'll ever meet.

This is just hysterical: the fake disciple shows up right next to them, trying to sell "spiritual tools!" And, of course, Wei Wuxian can't resist the urge to check it out. I so would have loved to see the look on that guy's face if he'd found out who Wei Wuxian actually was, especially since he later calls him a "dirty turnip seller."

Jiang Cheng looks so offended when he hears that Wei Wuxian already knew Jiang Yanli was getting married. He asks from whom he found out, but isn't it obvious? Who else would have told Wei Wuxian but Lan Wangji? And I feel like Wei Wuxian's answer of "none of your business" makes it even more obvious. Just another moment to make Jiang Cheng feel inferior.

She is so gorgeous here, though. I really wish we had gotten to see some of the wedding, even if it wasn't part of the book. It would have been interesting just from a cultural perspective (not that I can't just go look this stuff up, but I'm lazy and also very busy IRL). I really love the red and gold, and those earrings are so pretty! Just another example of the excellent costuming department. They did such a great job on this series--it's honestly one of the best parts for me, outside of Wang Yibo and Xiao Zhan.

Oh my gosh, Jiang Cheng looks so pleased here hahaha! "My incoming nephew!" Hahaha! What if she had a girl, though, huh? That actually would have been interesting. I was confused reading this part in MDZS, because I thought Jiang Yanli was getting married, but then they were talking about her baby, and I'm like ????

But this part is super cute, how she wants Wei Wuxian to help pick the courtesy name, and how he manages to add "Lan" into it. So sweet. And of course Jiang Cheng looks so annoyed. Love it.

I feel that the central message of this series up to this point is that soup can solve all problems. But really, they all have an unhealthy obsession with soup. I get it, I get it, it reminds them of old times, it's comforting, it's something they've done as a family for years and years....I just need some stupid side character to pop up every once in a while to say, "If you like soup so much, why don't you marry it?" Am I the only one who feels like they're really trying to shove the soup down our throats? The message is heard loud and clear the first several times. And I think even seeing it at a pivotal moment, paired with Wei Wuxian's "I'm hungry" line is enough. We get that he's not hungry for soup and that his hunger is a metaphor--he's not craving food, he's craving comfort and love.

It's pretty clear here that Jiang Cheng wants Wei Wuxian to come back. He gives him another chance to give up the Wens and return to Lotus Pier. Again, I think he cares about Wei Wuxian, but I also think he wants Wei Wuxian on his terms. He wants someone he can control and someone who'll be obedient and subservient to him. In other words, he doesn't want Wei Wuxian, the rebel, the outcast, the Yiling Laozu. He doesn't understand until Wei Wuxian says it (and even then, I'm not sure he gets it) that Wei Wuxian is close to the Wens, and possibly even considers them family as well. He was willing--and did--give up his whole life for them.

I think Jiang Yanli is more understanding of what Wei Wuxian has done, but she still wants him to come back. She cares about his wellbeing more than anything, so her concerns are different than her brother's. But I think, ultimately, it's a selfish wish that she desires him to come back into the fold. I can't really fault her for that. Because of the situation and the politics, she loses someone who she considers a younger brother. Saying goodbye here is potentially saying goodbye forever, and it's not fair. Were she a man, even, things may be different, but marrying into the Jin Clan almost certainly denies her the right to visit Wei Wuxian on her own. I do like how she never asks Wei Wuxian to come back, but she asks Wen Ning how he is doing among the Wen remnants. I wish we had gotten to see that conversation, because I'm actually curious what Wen Ning said.

This is heartbreaking here: the music, her steps forwards and backwards. The hesitation makes me anxious and tense and sad. Wen Qing knows Wei Wuxian gave up everything, she sees how despondent he gets, how depressed he gets: his drunk ramblings about Emperor's Smile and Lan Wangji, his sudden urge to grow lotus flowers. And now she finds out that he's seen Jiang Cheng and Jiang Yanli. She knows that he's saved them all at the cost of his own happiness and his own life and ambitions. She wants him to go back, but at the same time, she doesn't want to lose him. I noticed in the prior scene how they were all sitting at a table together: Granny Wen, A-Yuan, Wen Ning, Wen Qing, and Wei Wuxian. It's like they were a little family. And I think that's what Wen Qing feels for Wei Wuxian--he's like a younger brother, someone she feels like she needs to take care of. He's nothing like her own brother: he's rash and wild and irresponsible, but I think she feels familial love towards him all the same. And I think they connected on an intellectual level as well--it seems that he is one of the only people she can really talk to and be honest with, at least from what's shown to us. It's the old adage: if you love something, let it go. She knows in her heart that she'll eventually have to let him go--not just him, but all of them. She says this later, but she knows they're living on borrowed time. They were never supposed to have survived this long, and they only did because Wei Wuxian gave up his life. It's so sad.

And then we have this great scene, where Wei Wuxian is at war with himself. Is he Wei Wuxian, the man who would be the other Twin Pride of Yunmeng, Clan Leader Jiang Cheng's subordinate? Or is he the Yiling Laozu, the man who sacrificed everything for his own principals? He wants to exist in both worlds--he wants to be true to himself and his values, while also supporting those he loves. But the choices that he's made up to this point have landed him squarely on one side, and he can't cross over now. The politics, the demonic cultivation--everything in the world being what it is, it's impossible for him to change now. He can't be the Yiling Laozu and be part of the Twin Prides of Yunmeng. Again, it's quite sad, but ultimately he still doesn't know if he made the right choices or not.

Just Wei Wuxian taking credit for something that he had barely anything to do with! But seriously, talking about gardening, especially with what little they have, the only thing that was a factor in whether or not the lotus would take root was the soil quality and the amount of water. It's silly to me that Wei Wuxian made it all about destiny. Really, it's not hard to grow a plant. What's hard is getting that plant to flower and produce fruit (if it's that kind of a plant). So, honestly, it's a bigger achievement that they were able to grow those turnips.

Wow, this episode really wants to hammer home how much Wei Wuxian misses Jiang Yanli and being apart of the Yunmeng Jiang Sect. I was going to say it's about how he regrets his choices, but I still think it's unclear if he regrets them or not. I think he's very torn on what he would have done if he'd had the chance to do it again. I'd say he's leaning heavily towards regret, but that he's also very invested in his principals and the oath that he made on the mountain that day. But in the same episode, we have Jiang Yanli getting married, which he is unable to attend, and now she has given birth to a baby, who Wei Wuxian won't be able to see (or so he thinks right now). He's realizing that his rash decisions that made sense in the moment now seem very shortsighted. Life in Yunmeng and the world beyond has gone on without him, and it will continue to go on, and that's a very sobering thought.

What a dick. Just let him hold the damn baby!

Okay, first of all, FINALLY, Lan Wangji is here. I couldn't remember if he was in this episode of not. Secondly, of course he's fighting for Wei Wuxian's rights again. Gotta love the guy for not giving up. And also, you have to love Lan Xichen for agreeing with him. Wei Wuxian hasn't stirred up any trouble, he's been hiding away in the Burial Mounds. He should be able to come see his shijie's son. But man, even Lan Xichen is taking the heat here. Jin Zixun says, "even you, Zewu Jun, are defending a traitor" (paraphrasing), as if Lan Xichen should be above that. Jin Zixun is used to Lan Wangji defending Wei Wuxian at this point, but this is a bit of a first for Lan Xichen. Even though I'm a sucker for "us vs the world" tropes, I like how Lan Wangji's brother is on his side and does come to his aid here.

I love how the conversation quickly devolves into trash-talking Wei Wuxian and, by extension, Lan Wangji. Why does he have a friend like Wei Wuxian? Does that also mean that he is like him? Jin Zixun is really out of line here and essentially saying Lan Wangji is fraternizing with the enemy--basically, he may not be worthy of the title of Hanguang Jun. Personally, I eat this shit up. I love that Lan Wangji is being put on the spot here by that asshole, and how both Jin Guangshan and Jin Guangyao are about to side with Jin Zixun.

And God forbid the father of the actual baby should have anything to say about this, right? I get how things are there culturally, but I would think that the future clan leader, Jin Zixuan, should get some say in who's invited to his child's first month celebration. Wei Wuxian is someone who remains close to his wife, despite the physical distance between them. He should be allowed to attend. It's great to have seen Jin Zixuan grow up, you know? He was such a tool at the beginning, but he comes to love Jiang Yanli, and through that, accept Wei Wuxian. That doesn't mean they are friends, but he respects that Wei Wuxian is a part of the family, regardless of the situation. Jiang Yanli loves him, so Jin Zixuan accepts him as well.

I feel like half the room is willing to support Wei Wuxian coming, but none of them can deny that Wen Ning is a problem. Even Lan Wangji knows how dangerous he can be, having seen it firsthand when he lost control.

Jin Guangyao: How's that Hundred Holes curse treating you, Zixun? ;)

Other episodes: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | Or just check out the #CQL Rewatch hashtag

#wei wuxian #wen qing #wen ning #cql #the untamed #jiang cheng #jiang yanli #lan wangji #mdzs #mo dao zu shi #lan xichen #jin guangyao #jin zixuan #ep 30 #cql rewatch

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canary3d-obsessed · 3 years

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Restless Rewatch: The Untamed Episode 12 second part

(Masterpost) (Other Canary Funsies)

Warning: Spoilers for All 50 Episodes!

After locking Wei Wuxian into some comically large chains, Wen Chao has him thrown into the dungeon, with an unpleasant surprise.

This Fucking Dog

Being a fan of The Untamed involves occasional second-hand embarrassment, like when they fly on their swords, or the zombies all have the same wig, or a fight sequence moves slower than everybody’s granny. It's ok because each of these things is offset by excellence in acting, story, costumes, weapons, sets, etc.

Then there's this fucking dog.

The department of questionable practical effects really outdid themselves with this thing. Just seeing this awful creation on screen gives me so much cringe squick I can barely look at it. But for you, dear readers, I FORCED MY EYEBALLS to watch the entire dog sequence OVER AND OVER. Then I applied some brightness adjustments and looked at it EVEN MORE.

Let's get desensitized! I’m going all in on this monstrosity.

First, this dog does not ever move its body or its feet. Its legs are totally immobile. It appears to be made of a big sawhorse with a stick for the neck. The head swings up and down and side to side. That’s it.

“Animatronic” is too generous of a term for this thing. The animatronics at Chucky Cheese learned to play musical instruments and host birthday parties decades ago. This dog cannot play an instrument and it has to wait for Wei Wuxian to walk over to it before it can attack him.

When it falls over after Wen Ning K.O’s it, it’s like a chair falling over. It just topples to the side, legs sticking straight out.

(more after the cut)

Next, It has a mouth full of teeth, which opens and closes. And it has drool the texture of Astroglide Extra-Thick Gel. But...no tongue.

Seriously you guys, it literally does not have a tongue. They just sculpted a little bump at the at the bottom of its mouth, despite dogs being known for, like, lolling their tongues out of their mouths at every opportunity.

Moving along, it has dull, lifeless eyes, and its eyelids are visibly disconnected from the rest of its head, like a doll that mechanically shuts its eyes when you lay it down to sleep.

Finally, its fur looks like a fucking muppet, and it has random shiny spots all around its eyes and lips. These are probably supposed to be body fluids of some kind, but they just look like someone was careless with the cra-z-glue.

Xiao Zhan gamely tries to act opposite this ridiculous fail prop, but there is nothing remotely scary about it.

Here is Wei Wuxian being scared. I replaced the animatronic dog with a reversed clip of my dog Pepper asking for a piece of cheese, and I think it looks more convincing this way.

Ok, let's be done with this stupid fucking dog. Wen Ning knocks it out, Wen Chao criticizes it in the morning, and nobody ever speaks of it again.

Wei Wuxian is so mortified to have endured this farce that when Lan Wangji asks him, much later, “why are you afraid of dogs?” he does not say “don’t you remember that time I got chewed on by a giant animatronic dog at Wen Chao’s place?” but instead pretends that this never fucking happened.

Wen Ning to the Rescue

For contrast, the next dungeon scene is a really touching and important encounter between Wen Ning and Wei Wuxian.

Wen Ning comes and knocks out the creature, and gives Wei Wuxian medicine.

Wen Ning is doing this in defiance of his clan and his sister, simply because Wei Wuxian is his friend. Yes, he feels indebted, but Wen Qing saved WWX’s life once, so the tally is already even. Wen Ning is just super attached to Wei Wuxian, and vice versa; WWX calls him Wen-Xiong in this scene.

When Wen Ning explains how to use the medicine, Wei Wuxian changes the subject to ask how WN and his sister are doing. He is bleeding, chained up, high on adrenaline and fear, and what he really wants is to hear how his friends are doing. When Wen Ning talks about Wen Qing’s troubles, Wei Wuxian wishes she would accept help, instead of always going it alone.

Wei Wuxian thanks Wen Ning formally, and tells him no words can express his gratitude. Whether this is a literally correct translation, the gratitude both of these young men feel toward each other transcends words. It will become a driving force in both of their lives as they save each other from increasingly awful situations.

Wen Ning tells Wei Wuxian about the burning of Cloud Recesses....the burning of the half we never visit. It would suck to damage that exquisite set, so I’m ok with that production choice, but creates some cognitive dissonance when characters get upset about the fire.

Wei Wuxian reacts to the news of Lan Wangji’s injury by punching the concrete floor of the dungeon, which is dumb but also highly relatable.

After Wen Ning leaves, Wei Wuxian decides to save the medicine for Lan Wangji, who might not even need it, while WWX is bleeding right now and definitely needs it. No matter how bad things are for him personally, Wei Wuxian is always thinking about ways to help the people he loves, and constantly seeing his own needs as less important than everybody else’s.

Breakfast Time

After his night of terror and maiming, Wei Wuxian emerges as chipper as ever. Almost like he is already an expert at hiding his trauma from the people close to him.

Lan Wangji gives him a careful look, taking in the sight of his ripped clothes and bloody neck and hands.

Jiang Cheng is angry at Wei Wuxian for joking about his injuries, so he shoves him, potentially causing more injuries.

Wei Wuxian laughs off the signs of torture and attempted murder and everyone goes along with it. Nobody knows what happened to him other than "dungeon" and what he looks like right now, and they’re all just like, okey dokey, I guess you’re fine.

He’ll carefully laugh off his months in the burial mounds in the same way, later, and Jiang Cheng will accept it nearly as readily as he accepts this. But by that time Lan Wangji will see right through him.

Nie Huaisang mentions the Lan Clan in the course of discussing breakfast, and then everyone pauses awkwardly because they know that mentioning this will make Lan Wangji think about the recent attack on his home and the deaths of many of his fellow disciples. Whereas if nobody had mentioned it, he totally wouldn't think about it. That's how grief works, right?

Insult to Injury

Wen Chao decides to spend some time gloating about battles and insulting people's families, which he does with Wen Qing standing behind his eyeline so that she can warn Wei Wuxian not to let his brother go off.

Jiang Cheng is not going to let anybody who isn't his mother insult his father like that, but in a reversal of their normal roles, Wei Wuxian restrains him and helps keep him from doing something rash.

Monster Hunting

Wen Chao makes everyone read out loud until Nie Huaisang wisely faints and gets carried off. Then he gathers everyone for a monster hunt. It's unclear why he wants to go monster hunting but he sure does, and bringing the hostages along might make them all die, which would be a nice bonus.

The cultivators wander around en masse in a small section of forest, thoroughly covering every inch of it. This is a great way to hunt for a dead body but not so good for living prey.

Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng stand around like bitchy queens at a dance club, talking smack about Wen Chao and his girlfriend.

Wei Wuxian brings out a salty phrase and Jiang Cheng wonders what websites he's been going to.

Dude. Lighten up.

Leave that Boy Alone

Wei Wuxian notices Lan Wangji struggling, and now that he knows the backstory, he's determined to help. Jiang Cheng is determined to stop him.

This is, once again, the fundamental disagreement between the brothers, and it's never going to be solvable. Jiang Cheng's specific dislike of Lan Wangji may be rooted in jealousy, but his belief in not helping outsiders runs a lot deeper than that.

For Wei Wuxian, there is no such thing as having helped enough. If someone is his friend, he will never stop helping them, and he has a lot of friends, and makes new ones wherever he goes. He's always going to be giving something of himself, to the detriment of any conflicting obligations.

Jiang Cheng tells him that Lan Wangji won't accept his help, and Wei Wuxian says that's not the point.

What other people think, want, say, or do, is not going to have any effect on whether Wei Wuxian does what he feels is right. This is a bit of a problem where a person's right to self-determination conflicts with Wei Wuxian's need to help them, as Jiang Cheng will eventually discover.

Jiang Cheng's least effective argument is the one he relies on most often when they disagree: other people's problems are not our responsibility. He's saying this to an orphan who was eating trash and stealing scraps from dogs before Jiang Fengmian came into his life.

Jiang Cheng doesn’t seem to realize the underlying logic of this argument. If it's wrong for Wei Wuxian to help the people he cares about, it was also wrong for Jiang Fengmian to help Wei Wuxian. Jiang Cheng loves Wei Wuxian and would willingly die for him, but he, like his mother, rejects the philosophy that brought them together in the first place.

Wei Wuxian walks away from an upset and shocked Jiang Cheng to offer a piggyback ride to Lan Wangji.

...who won't accept it, but who will remember the offer forever.

Writing prompt: Thoughts of an animatronic dog

Soundtrack: Five Nights at Freddy’s by The Living Tombstone

#fytheuntamed #the untamed #wangxian #chen qing ling #wei wuxian #giant animatronic dog #lan wangji #jiang cheng #restless rewatch the untamed #my gifs #canary3d-original #the untamed spoilers #embarrassment #this dog is why I started writing these #this goddamn dog

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tangledinmdzs · 3 years

Note

Hiya! I'm not sure if your taking requests, but can I request the LXC or poly WangXian (whichever you want^^) with a cosplayer s/o? Like one day they need something and walk in to them in full costume making tiktoks, then find out their job is a social media influencer? Thank you sm!!

Your blog is so addictive ngl💕💕

hehe, i’m so glad you’re enjoying my little posts, thank you for reading! the funny thing is i just watched a movie yesterday with a plot that’s kind of like this; it was hilarious and i loved it a lot. let me give a go at writing, (☆▽☆)

here’s to your request~

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

it sounds like a song, maybe even a vocal exercise of some sort

honestly, Wei Ying doesn’t know

behind him, Lan Zhan closes the door, steps in

they both share a look

your small apartment was quiet except for the muffled sounds coming from your closed bedroom a little bit farther away

“you think y/n’s okay?” Wei Ying asks his companion and Lan Zhan does a funny little shoulder shrug as they both take off their shoes and walk deeper into your apartment

they get to your bedroom and open the door without knocking

honestly,

Wei Ying doesn’t know what he was expecting

maybe you playing on your keyboard or something

Lan Zhan peeks in over his shorter partner’s head

and they both,

well,

they’re both kinda shooked

you’re in a full costume of sorts, with hair that’s a completely different color from your natural color, bright blue color contact eyes

and also

your voice

“oooh kayyy; and that’s how you do it! let me know if you need me to go through the parts again”

Wei Ying and Lan Zhan both stand at the door way, gaping at you as you lean closer to your phone screen to read the comments popping up

“who’s the two people by your doorway...” you mumble as your read the comment out loud and turn around just to yelp at the intruders watching you work

Wei Ying has the audacity to send an awkward wave at you

you want to yell, or say something else

but you’re quick to get back in character,

cause you’ve been doing this for a while now

it’s just your first time being interrupted like this

“wellll, my lovely friends, i think it’s time to end our little session for today! but tune in next week for another dance tutorial and a q&a with me to know all about my new costume!! sweet dreams angels!”

you quickly end your livestream and turn around to the two people still gaping at you from the door way

“don’t you guys ever knock!”

and well, at least your voice was normal again

“what are you doing??” Wei Ying asks curiously, the questions tumbling out of his mouth as he comes into your room and sees your whole set up

the tripod stand, the lights

god, they were bright

“well, i run a small channel and people wanted to know how i made this,” you explain, incredibly brief, and the two boys in front of you look down at your frilly dress

“you made that?” both Wei Ying and Lan Zhan question, cutely, at the same time

“yeah, the stores don’t have it the way that i like, so i thought it’d be easier to just make it myself...”

you’re suddenly bombarded by Wei Ying’s gushing and oohs

“wowowow, i never thought that i’d have such a talented girlfriend!”

you laugh as Wei Ying touches the fabric of your dress, playing around with the frills

and your smile grows wider when Lan Zhan comes up to you and places a gentle hand on your head

“your eyes are cool when they’re opal, but i miss your (e/c) eyes.” Lan Zhan tells you when you look up to him

you smile, huffing out a little breath of air

“it’s just for the internet persona,” you reassure him, and he smiles down at you

your attention is back on the other person when you feel your dress being pressed

“alright, stop touching it you’re going to wrinkle the little ruffles,”

“but they’re so soft!”

“Wei Ying!”

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lilyinthesnow · 3 years

Text

Fic Idea #273 WangXian

Am I assigning them random numbers for shits and giggles? Yes, yes I am. Also is there a way on the app to do the read more thingy?

-----

What if, Modern AU-ish where WWX gets reincarnated into Mo Xuanyu, not brought back in his body and doesn't have his memories, but he has wicked messed up "dreams" that he Stephen Kings into a series of books about the Yiling Patriarch and his possibly husband Lan Zhan, Lan Wangji. They haven't gotten together yet, but he's almost certain they will. As soon as he figures out what happens after the whole Nightless City death of Wei Wuxian's sister thing. His dreams haven't given him that information yet, but the last one was pretty harsh; what with Yanli dying and WWX going batshit crazy and possibly flinging himself off a cliff and/or getting ripped apart by his zombies. He's hedging toward the zombie thing. Both ways of dying definitely put a damper on the whole marrying LWJ thing though. He'll figure something out. He's still got time to finish this last novel before his deadline. He's only got a couple months, but he feels like it's almost finished.

And LWJ had cultivated immortality so he's been living this whole time, thousands of years without his Wei Ying but he's got Xichen and Sizhui and Jingyi and their adopted children. He even, sometimes, meets with Jiang Cheng and Jin Rulan and they only fight occasionally.

Mostly they get together every couple of decades to drink and not drink and miss Wei Ying.

Jingyi, a sucker for supernatural romances, finds the first book by accident in a used bookstore and reads part of it there, just long enough to see the familiar names, buys it and takes it to Sizhui. They read it together and then order the rest of the series and read those too. They have to find a way to tell Lan Wangji.

They end up just handing him the books, Sizhui with a much too serious look on his face and a quiet "here baba, read these."

LWJ reads them and cries because that's his life. That's his Wei Ying. Mo Xuanyu has to be his Wei Ying. No one else would know all of that. Not even the ones that were there for most of it.

He tries to hunt down Mo Xuanyu, but other than the books and a social media presence that’s obviously run by someone else, there's nothing. He gives in and contacts Nie Huaisang to help him. Huaisang finds the coffee/tea shop Mo Xuanyu likes to write in and LWJ starts going. Ordering various teas that taste nothing like the blend he likes most. Nothing comes close to the tea they had in Cloud Recesses. He wonders which of the writers could be his Wei Ying. The lanky one with makeup on a laptop that looks at least a decade old? The short stocky one on an expensive monstrosity that he imagines would buckle a lesser table? The pretty one also wearing makeup that's tapping away on a tablet in the corner, lounging in a graceless sprawl while downing shots of espresso and leaving the cups smeared with lipstick?

Why do so many writers love coffee shops?

In the end Mo Xuanyu notices him first, comes over to say hi and that he loves the modern au Lan Wangji cosplay thing he's got going on what with the forehead ribbon and such.

LWJ tells him it's not a costume. And then there's the awkward laugh Mo Xuanyu gives him and the conversation that shouldn't happen in a coffee shop. Xuanyu gets flashes as they talk, things he had dreamt and not put in the books. Not something this LWJ cosplayer should know.

He hightails it out of the shop, away from the most perfectly beautiful man he's ever seen and goes home, making sure he's not followed. Plastic surgery would explain the complete likeness to Lan Wangji's character in the book. Someone obsessed with it, with him, might do it.

He drinks himself to sleep and dreams. Dreams of telling Lan Zhan to get lost after he tells him he loves him. Dreams of being in a cave and losing control and being torn apart. It's the end for him. For Wei Wuxian. For Lan Zhan's Wei Ying.

He wakes up and Lan Zhan's name is on his lips. In his heart. He wants to find him. Wants to find out if his brother lived. His nephew. Wen Ning. Lan Jingyi. Wen Yuan. Little Wen Yuan that he planted in the radishes. The child he claimed as his. Likely gone forever.

He grabs his laptop, spends days lost in a haze as he completes the book. Sends it for editing. Goes to the coffee shop to find Lan Zhan. Two men are sitting with him at a table. All three of them eerily silent, clutching tiny tea cups.

He can't help but smile when his Lan Zhan looks up and sees him standing just inside the door. Wei Ying’s wearing a red ribbon in his hair and eyeshadow to match, lips painted crimson and looking like slick vinyl.

Wei Ying runs across the shop when Lan Zhan stands and throws himself in his arms. Presses wild kisses to his entire face, leaving behind traces of his lipstick that look obscene on Lan Zhan's face.

They kiss again, both mouths stained crimson afterward and Jingyi squeals and wishes Zizhen was there to see it, but he was too busy to come on short notice and was living vicariously through the wonders of text messaging and video calling. Wei Ying gives Jingyi a hug and introduces himself to Sizhui and cries with the boy when he admits he's Wen Yuan and that Uncle Ning will be happy to see him now that they know he's alive.

They get married the day the book releases and Wei Ying posts their wedding photo on his twitter. He and Lan Zhan are both dressed in red and gold, traditional outfits they would have worn if things had happened this way before he had died.

He leaves the publishing world for a while before bringing the series back with a modern twist, reincarnation, cultivation, night hunts, and maybe a little bit of their everyday.

#mine #fic ideas #wangxian #reincarnation #long post #sorta #lan wangji #wei wuxian #cql #mdzs

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unforth · 2 years

Text

Alright it's a stretch to say I got anything of value accomplished but I did do SOME stuff, so. ON TO PART 2 of my Wangxian modern figure skating thing.

Part 1 is here

When the idea first comes to Wei Ying, they know it's fucking stupid. Like, yeah, there's their usual tongue-in-cheek on-ice style, playing with gender and costume and music to see just how far they can push the boundaries. Their "Shake it Off" routine inspired by that pig from Sing might not have gone over well with judges, but it's a perennial fan favorite.

(source: https://acegif.com/gifs-of-dancing-pigs/)

At this point, they have a reputation for treating the world stage as an opportunity to put crack (in multiple senses of the word) routines on mocking display, and now that they're doing basically all of their own choreography, that goes, like...at least quintuple. They'd already only barely eked out qualifying for worlds, and putting it all on the line - wasting what could be their last opportunity, as close to the edge as they were, every opportunity could be their last opportunity - for something stupid would be...

...well...

...stupid.

Which, unsurprisingly, is exactly what Jiang Cheng calls them when Wei Ying messages his brother with a link to the music video of Genghis Khan by Miike Snow.

Wei Ying answers him with a single gif.

(source: https://tenor.com/view/genghis-khan-no-miike-snow-gif-14624612)

Jiang Cheng sends back a selfie of himself flipping off the camera.

Real mature.

Wei Ying resists to reply with any of the first four dick jokes that spring to mind.

(He answers with a Peewee Herman gif instead, "I know you are but what am I?")

Wen Ning, on the other hand, responds exactly the wrong right way: he reacts as if Wei Ying's suggestion is serious and has merit. It's almost like he's never met Wei Ying or anything. Except, then he says,

"This is about your...thing...for Lan Zhan, right?"

And amply demonstrates with a single sentence that he knows Wei Ying only too well.

Which still doesn't explain why he actually thinks that it's a good idea for Wei Ying to do a routine set to Genghis Khan.

Their conversation rapidly devolves into Wei Ying pointing out all the reasons it's a terrible idea, and Wen Ning refuting them one by one.

"The ISU is still pretending gay people don't exist and queers definitely don't figure skate."

"No one from the International Skating Union will be familiar with the source material - they'll never know it's about a gay couple."

"That's a good point, actually. It'd make more sense as a couples routine."

"Not it wouldn't, the whole song is a single first person narrative of longing..."

"It's too short."

"As if the singer wouldn't be willing to do a remix, especially considering how much exposure it would get them! I've already grabbed their e-mail address..."

"How efficient of you. Why don't you just take care of all the details, then?"

"Yeah, sure!"

"..."

What could Wei Ying even say to that?

Fucking Wen Ning, like...taking them seriously, believing them, supporting them...the Actual Worst.

Especially since Wei Ying could never escape the niggling feeling that Wen Ning only did it because Wei Ying had helped Wen Qing by throwing themself on the massive grenade that was the newborn A Yuan.

No, that's not true. Wen Ning and Wei Ying were close well before that. Wei Ying knows that Wen Ning is for real. Which doesn't actually make him feel much better.

There must be a way to convince Wen Ning this idea was sheer idiocy...oh! They have it!

"OMG I could, like, pretend I'm singing the whole song to one of those ridiculous ribbons the Lan brothers always wear..."

"That would be very poignant."

"...that was a joke, Wen Ning."

"No it wasn't? I didn't intend it that way, apologies if my tone didn't communicate over WhatsApp. Should I use an emoji next time?"

"Damn it. I meant that what I said was a joke. What you said in reply was just bonkers."

"What you said was a splendid idea, and I think having a target for the unrequited feels suggested by the song lyrics would give a lot of cohesion to a routine."

"You're serious."

"You're not?"

Which, really, is an excellent question. Wei Ying plays it off like they're not, of course they were joking, why would they be serious, when are they ever serious?

For a hot minute they might have even believed they weren't serious, but.

It niggles at them.

It eats at them.

They think of it at the oddest times, like when they're trying to choreograph their "actual" routine. Or when they're chin-bobbing and eyelid-sinking their way through a third shift. Or when they suffer through their weekly call to Jiang Yanli, trying to sound upbeat and like their life isn't completely off the rails, while she laughs like everything is fine and A Yuan babbles adorably in the background. Or when Wen Ning brings it up, which he does annoyingly often.

Or when Jin Zixuan posts another fucking picture. Which he does...no, "annoyingly often" doesn't begin to cover how incredibly frequently that douche posts pictures of himself canoodling with Lan Zhan. The most recent has Jiang Yanli in the background looking like she's about to cry. The only saving grace is that A Yuan is in the shot, too, and Wei Ying can see enough of a wide smile and chubby cheeks and glimmering eyes to know that the sacrifices they made were at least worth it. Everything Wei Ying sacrificed to protect that child, and they're not even allowed to raise it themself...okay, no, forget it, A Yuan being in the picture is definitely not better. Everything about the picture is awful, egregious, repulsive, made worse by how utterly oblivious Jin Zixuan appears to be to all of it. Wei Ying's positive they're not telepathic cause if they were, that one shot would have been a punch to the face heard, felt, and seen 'round the world. Heck, even Lan Zhan looks on the indifferent side, and Wei Ying would blame him, too, except Wei Ying knows objectively that Lan Zhan always looks like that, and they've never been able to hold anything against Lan Zhan for more than a handful of seconds. Wei Ying blames that on their ADHD attention span, and definitely not on how goddamn sexy Lan Zhan looks literally all the time. Even with the decal on his ribbon looking more like the gloomy storm cloud hovering over his glowering expression.

(Why does Wei Ying have to be the sort to fall for people based on their looks, anyway? Why couldn't they be demi? Lan Zhan's gotta have a crappy personality, right? No...no, Wei Ying knows he doesn't, knows he's kinda shy and awkward but actually sweet, and he and his brother helped with the A Yuan situation, and, and, and...)

And Wei Ying is starting to realize why they're obsessing over the routine: because the alternative is obsessing over Lan Zhan, and they're so damn tired of obsessing over Lan Zhan.

Maybe, if they actually do this routine, they can get this crush thing out of their system.

(NOT THAT THEY'RE GOING TO DO THE ROUTINE! THEY'RE NOT!)

In their idle moments, they find themselves doodling elements: a costume, then a spin sequence (they've finally memorized the best order for point optimization, oh yay...), then a footwork interlude...

(NOT GOING TO DO IT!)

...and then of course they just have to try it out, right? See how it feels? Would it actually fit the music?

So they just...run through that run of steps...a time or two...it feels pretty good...maybe six times...okay it feels amazing...twenty or fifty times...and finally they take a video and send it to Wen Ning.

There's no actual music - Wei Ying can almost never get access to the rink's sound system, they do most of their syncing after the fact with video at home. Thank god they've got a good ear.

Thank absolutely no one that Wen Ning has also got a good ear, and a damn perfect sense of rhythm and sequence, because he watches the 20-or-so second video exactly once - Wei Ying knows it's only once because the upload has a damn view counter - before he messages Wei Ying,

"Oh, you're working on the Genghis Khan routine! That's great!"

Wei Ying kinda wishes Wen Ning was about ten times worse at skating.

Wei Ying wishes they were about ten times worse at well-timed choreography.

With a sigh that, of course, Wen Ning can't hear because they're like 7,000 miles apart and communicate mostly by text chat (video would give away that Wen Ning was - gasp - talking to someone, can't have that, seriously fuck Wen Ning's family) Wei Ying replies.

"Yeah, I'm working on it. I guess. Or something."

"Have you got any costume ideas yet?"

Pfft. Like Wen Ning even has to ask!

They spend the next hour planning out exactly what Wei Ying will make. Better to do it that way, since they'll have to sew most of it themselves, do all the easy parts solo, send the detail work to a professional and pay the premium.

"No, no, you have to let me pay the premium!"

"As if! Fuck no. I can take of myself, you know that."

"I do...really I do...but you realize you don't have to, right? Jiejie and I have been talking...you wouldn't be in your position if not for us...please let us help."

Wei Ying would have interrupted him about three words in if he'd actually been talking. Fuck typed out communication, they actually have to read that entire horking pile of drivel. Wei Ying didn't need the Wens to be a fuck up. If they hadn't fucked up by doing...that...they'd have fucked up some other way. It had only been a matter of time. So, maybe A Yuan hadn't actually been Wei Ying's mistake - he'd been Wen Qing's mistake - but the Wen family would have murdered her, probably literally, or at minimum disappeared her, if word had got out that she was pregnant, that she'd given birth. Claiming the kid as their own? Refusing to say who the mother was? Had been easy, and had kept everyone safe. Jiang Yanli and Jiang Cheng had stepped up to help care for the baby, and Madam Yu had (also literally) whipped them around the family manor before locking them out with only the clothes their back. Whatever. She'd just been waiting for an excuse. If it hadn't been A Yuan, it would have been something else. Probably the next time Wei Ying outranked Jiang Cheng at a competition.

It all worked out for the best.

Basically.

Sort of.

Regardless, Wei Ying doesn't say any of that to Wen Ning; instead, they proceed as if Wen Ning never made the offer, trusting Wen Ning's self-effacing nature to keep him from bringing it up again.

It seems to work.

And if Wen Ning tries to bring it up again, maybe Wei Ying will just mute him for an hour or two, until he gets that Wei Ying does not want to talk about money, as if what they did was with the expectation of recompense, as if any amount of money could pay back what they lost.

Oh, but this is the last thing Wei Ying wants to think about.

Even thinking about Lan Zhan is better than this.

By comparison, planning out potential outfits that fit with what they have in mind for Genghis Khan is a huge relief.

It's not until they've picked out a gorgeous hot pink spandex and Wei Ying has taken some in-seam measurements that it hits them...they really are going to do this.

They're going to put together a routine entirely about how pissed they get that Lan Zhan and Jin Zixuan are (apparently) dating. Not that the two can say it explicitly, something something homophobia, but. It's obvious to anyone with eyes.

Wei Ying is going to make the costume of their dreams - they're still slightly torn over the hot pink, hm - and pick out a dazzling, Swarovski crystal bedazzled ribbon wire thing that in absolutely no way resembles the Lan ribbon (obviously not, just a coinkidink), and rage and punch and spin and axel and toe pick their fucking way across the ice while Miike Snow falsetto's out, "Iiiii go a little bit Genghis Khan, don't want you to get it on with nobody else but me..." and Wei Ying flirts and winks and smirks at the audience as if it's a love letter to every person out there except the exactly one person they actually mean it for.

Lan Zhan won't see anyway, surely he'll be preparing for his own skate.

They may not have even a single healthy coping mechanism, but they're damn good at spilling their guts on the ice for the judges who'll never appreciate them.

At least the audience is gonna eat this shit up.

Just awesome.

There's absolutely no way this can end badly, right?

(to be continued)

#unforth writes #think I'll cross post this to ao3 now

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rosethornewrites · 2 years

Text

Wednesday T & G reading

The usual

Finished

Teen:

Birthday Bunny, by adrihoshi

Wei Ying pretends not to notice and changes the topic. He points to the mirror in front of them and says "Lan Zhan look at us! We’re matching! What were the chances we’d both dress up as bunnies?"

The chances weren’t actually that low. Bunny is a fairly popular costume idea, but Wei Ying chooses to overlook this fact.

Lan Zhan looks into their reflection in the mirror and answers "Mn. Wei Ying looks cute"

"Aw really Lan Zhan?" Wei Ying pretends to pout with dissatisfaction "My goal was to look sexy, not cute"

"Then… Wei Ying has not failed."

What?

Did- DID Lan Zhan JUST CALL HIM SEXY???

Tell Sincerely, Half So Clearly, by Sweet_William (2 chapters)

Lan Wangji was in love with his roommate, Wei Wuxian. Which was fine. It was fine. He was handling it. Or he was handling it, until they started to get closer, and Wei Wuxian picked up a little habit that seemed tailor-made to push him to his limit until he either confessed or was set on fire by his own blush. Lan Xichen was probably taking bets on which it would end up being.

General:

A moment of warmth, by Serpens_Caput

Wei Wuxian paced around him, laughing in delight, shocked that the talisman was working. Surely Wei Wuxian knew that Lan Wangji could break free if he wanted to, but he didn’t say anything about it. Wei Wuxian let him pretend. For that, Lan Wangji was grateful.

Lan Wangji is used to being alone. The Twin Jades of Gusu are essentially peerless, but his brother has a natural friendliness and easy way with people that he lacks. His loneliness is so constant that he can't even imagine it could be different. When Wei Wuxian uses a mind-control talisman on him to force him to stay and drink with him, it's just what he needs to allow himself a moment of connection.

The scene in which Wei Wuxian uses the mind-control talisman on Lan Zhan always creeped me out because of the consent issues, but also it makes no sense that such a powerful talisman exists and is just never used again. But what if it only worked because Lan Zhan wanted it to?

a thousand words paints a picture, by super_novatuna

Jiang Cheng's life is a twisted, miserable picture.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words.

But is it really possible to tell his story in a mere thousand words?

(Yes)

Finish Your Plate, by jadztone

Chef Wei Wuxian has an appreciation for the role that restaurant critics play in the culinary world, but that doesn't mean he will accept criticism that is not earned. He is informed that the legendary Hanguang-Jun did not enjoy his dish. He goes to set the man straight, and sees that it is none other than his old high school friend, Lan Zhan. He gives up on being straight after that, but he does fight for his culinary integrity.

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A New Way To Announce an Engagement, by @featherfur

Silence at Lotus Pier is never a good thing. Neither is a suddenly very nervous nephew. Putting them together means Jiang Cheng is in for a hell of a surprise.

Gender-bending NHS short, by @ibijau

Titanic AU, by @angstymdzsthoughts

Jiangs go on the biggest ship of their age for fun. Madam Yu insists on leaving WWX behind because that luxurious tour is not for a son of mere servant.

Unfinished

Teen:

Duet, by ChalionKat

"Who is it they want me to duet with?”

“No,” Lan Wangji said.

Unsurprisingly, this did not close the conversation. Xichen followed him into the rehearsal room.

“Wangji, you need to do something. Your sales have been solid until now, but never spectacular, and now they’re declining. The label is concerned. They’re threatening to pull funding unless you do something to bring in new audiences.”

“To ‘sex myself up’, you mean,” Lan Wangji said, not even attempting to hide his distaste.

General:

Time Stops for No One, by JC_Cathrine

What starts out as a good day for Wei Ying becomes an excellent day with the surprise arrival of his three favorite Lans! However, when they begin to investigate into a mysterious illness affecting young people in town, things take a turn for the strange when Wei Ying wakes up the day before.

Again.

And again.

Desperate to break the loop, Wei Ying might just have to do something drastic.

But it's probably not what you think.

Fluff December Challenge, by Ibijau

unrelated fluff ficlets to combat winter gloom

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

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smiting-finger · 4 years

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Bin AU Headcanons

Part II of the (〃ω〃) 500 followers! unwritten-headcanon amnesty (some given in response to AO3 comment questions, and others given unsolicited, lol), this time for Out of the Bin and Into Your Heart and from me to you, my heart to yours

Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian

Pre-Wei Wuxian’s first arrest, Lan Wangji was quietly volunteering as general legal aid (helping old migrants with their internet/other service contracts, helping women with their domestic violence paperwork), and then Wei Wuxian gets arrested at a protest and Lan Wangji is not there and he doesn’t know this area of law so he signs up to get involved with Activist Legal Support the next day.

Relatedly: Lan Wangji’s approach to helping Wei Wuxian has always been to turn up, do what needs to be done for Wei Wuxian to achieve his goals and then silently leave again. So when the two goobers eventually move in together (and are finally fully in each other’s space, and fully across each other’s movements), Wei Wuxian goes through a period of constant realisations like “Oh, Lan Zhan, you’re the one who’s been doing this? This as well?! THAT, TOO???”

Pre-fake dating, Lan Wangji knows that Wei Wuxian won’t keep any gifts given by secret admirers, but will shamelessly accept anything that Lan Wangji gives him outright as a friend (”friend”). He derives a petty satisfaction from that, and so has responded more than once to a gift-incident by giving Wei Wuxian a corresponding gift of his own:

So if he heard about the gift socks, he’d go out and get Wei Wuxian a pair of novelty There’s No Planet B! socks, which Wei Wuxian would naturally wear both immediately and proudly with his shortest pair of 4/5ths pants. (And Lan Wangji would stand next to him and somehow radiate smugness without making any change to his expression.)

Needless to say, Wei Wuxian has received a lot of Lan Wangji chocolate (chilli, fairtrade), lunches (homemade, nutritious) and other small items.

Wei Wuxian never even considers the possibility of not putting all his fake-dating eggs into the Lan Zhan basket. And also never stops to think about why that iss.

In re kungfu practice: when sparring against normal people, Lan Wangji does annoyed-leg-sweeps because of “I’ll bring you down every peg to the floor” reasons he’s too well-bred to voice.

Past recipients of this treatment have included:

Wen Chao,

Xue Yang at his most obnoxious

Jin Zixuan when gossip about his comments in re Jiang Yanli not being pretty or successful enough to date him (”I can’t believe my mum set me up with someone so mediocre”) is at its height.

This is pre-Wei Wuxian onstage-punch. That comes during the second round of gossip.

With Wei Wuxian (and only Wei Wuxian), however, it’s always leg sweeps and pinning, which is because of ... “irritation”.

The Phoenix Mountain Reserve photo has been Lan Wangji’s favourite shot of Wei Wuxian since it was made publicly available, but he couldn’t use it as a wallpaper for obvious reasons.

Then he agrees to the fake-dating, sees how far Wei Wuxian was going to take it and realised: chansu!

At some point during the fake-dating, Wei Wuxian escalates from the phone entry of Oppa to calling Lan Wangji “Oppa~!” in real life, and then from there to a full “Oppa! Saranghaeyo~!” with the arms-on-head love heart.

After n iterations of this, Lan Zhan responds with a mirror arms-on-head love heart and a deadpan “Saranghaeyo.” with his face still like (• _ •) and it’s an instant, supereffective K.O. for Wei Wuxian.

Every so often, when another one of his romantic overtures has soared right over Wei Wuxian’s head, Lan Wangji considers Jin Zixuan’s over-the-top demonstrations of affection and thinks (bleakly) “...Jin Zixuan got a singing telegram. Must I also resort to a singing telegram? ; _ ; “

In re: the concert hip-hop number, shirtlessness is the goal all along:

A-Qing (who is also a troublemaker on Lan Qiren’s radar - as soon as he receives the form that says that she and Wei Wuxian will be working together, his spidey senses start tingling) has been constantly referencing it throughout all their practices like:

“Well, because you’ll be shirtless, you’ll have to make sure to-”

“Yeah, that’s a great idea, totally do that, but remember that you’ll be shirtless too, so-”

Even Song Zichen and Xue Yang know about it and have been visibly bracing themselves for the dress (or undress, lul) rehearsal

Wei Wuxian has missed all of this because of his amazing tunnel vision.

Speaking of Song Zichen and Xue Yang, while they’re having their Moments:

Xiao Xingchen is swanning around like “But do you think the performance had artistic integrity? A-Qing, I’m a little worried that the choreography didn’t do full justice to the abilities of all our members! I hope they don’t think I’m hogging the limelight!”, taunting them with his half-nakedness while he earnestly tries to make sure that all the other dancers are comfortable and happy with the final arrangement

A-Qing fully notices the heart-eye beams shooting over from the wings (and fully notices the same heart-eye beams shooting over during various practices), briefly thinks about saying something to put the two losers out of their misery (because Xiao Xingchen is not the special level of oblivious that Wei Wuxian is), but then thinks ... nah.

During practice back-painting, Wei Wuxian is so focused on Not Looking that his mistimes his ~sexy stretch~ and gets it in precisely when Lan Wangji has turned his back to get the towel, so it really is all for nothing, RIP.

In the reprise back-painting session (and there definitely is one, what with Lan Wangji’s love for marking and the fact that Chinese calligraphers usually sign their name on their work), the levels of both shamelessness and trolling shoot through the roof on both sides:

Wei Wuxian suddenly feels the need to do a lot more whimpering and moaning, and his flinches of “surprise” and wriggling to “get comfortable” suddenly happen a lot more in the hip area than they did before.

Lan Wangji does a lot more touching of the skin he’s about to paint to “warn” Wei Wuxian that the brush is coming (do warnings have to be quite so ... lingering? Only Lan Wangji knows), discovers a sudden need for wrist-pinning to “hold Wei Wuxian still while he works” and his blowing on ink to get it dry suddenly gets a lot more ... sensual ...

Lan Wangji is the teacher that all his babies are always proposing to. They lOvE him with every inch of their tiny baby hearts, and after they get together, Wei Wuxian watches on with a knowing nod, like “My fam, I getcha. Gege will support you in expressing your feelings and we can ALL win!”

Wei Wuxian doesn’t know it, but he has a group of grannies and grandpas wringing their hands over his happiness, too: It’s all well and good that he’s seeing the Lan boy now, but when are they gonna get married, huh? HUH?! WHAT’S THE POINT OF SAVING THE PLANET IF YOU’RE NOT GONNA FILL IT WITH BABIES, WEI WUXIAN???

So once they officially start dating, Wei Wuxian steps into the Cultural Centre like “Ah, our fresh new romance! Even after all this time of fake-dating, I’d better give people some transition time to get used to this new state of affairs!”

And in the background, 73 aunties and grannies are thinking “Look how behind schedule you are, Wei Wuxian!” (because it’s definitely his fault, and not Lan Wangji’s). “Where are the babies? WHERE ARE THE BABIES??”

The wedding advice Wei Wuxian got from the grannies during Mianmian’s wedding prep is liberally flavoured with real life anecdotes like:

“Don’t be like XX’s son. He made the mistake of trying to skimp on the dowry - so disrespectful to people who’ve poured so much love and energy into raising a daughter - and it poisoned the entire relationship.”

“That venue is no good - YY’s daughter had her reception there, and we all had diarrhoea after eating the prawns.”

(And Wei Wuxian is like: “How can you retain all of this bullshit detail about every wedding the Cultural Society has ever witnessed, but still not know how to say the phrase ‘Excuse me, what time is the bus coming’ in English?!”)

Mianmian definitely also gets strong-armed by her excited mother into some glorious(ly terrible) Chinese-style studio wedding photos (with industrial-strength airbrushing and wedding costume changes that span many cultures and many Chinese time periods).

Mianmian swears to never let Wei Wuxian get his grubby hands on that album, on pain of death.

But then her parents host something, and Wei Wuxian goes, and right there, hanging in their living room, is a floor-to-ceiling calendar, featuring Mianmian and Mian-man dressed as Chinese emperor and empress (because Mianmian certainly didn’t want it in her house, but it came with the package.)

Wei Wuxian makes a noise that Mianmian previously thought only dolphins could produce, and proceeds to take SO MANY photos with his phone.

At some point after Mianmian’s wedding, Lan Wangji comes out of the shower to find:

1 pair of pyjama bottoms waiting for him on the bed; and

Wei Wuxian in the corresponding top (which doesn’t cover his butt after all, but whatever, he’s committed), shooting him a double-thumbs up and wearing an expression like 8D!

(And Lan Wangji decides it’s not worth fighting and just goes with it.)

Lan Qiren

Lan Qiren is totally the kind of parent who never boasts about his children directly, but will listen politely to you telling him about how your son scored 86 in his maths examination, and wait for you to obligation-ask about his kids before casually saying, “Oh, Wangji? He scored full marks” and smiling thinly.

He’ll add “Sounds like your son worked really hard” for extra fuck you value if you were being particularly obnoxious.

The greatest tragedy in his parenting life is realising that if your children are The Best, it’s only possible for them to marry down.

His initial feelings regarding Wei Wuxian dating his nephew can probably be summed up as: “Wei Wuxian, I did not lovingly raise my precious Lan Wangji just to give him to you!!!”

(The problem is that his nephew (inexplicably) likes Wei Wuxian so much, mumblegrumble.)

For weeks after The Resentment of Lan Qiren, every time Lan Qiren sees Wen Ning, he shakes his head sadly to himself and mutters “What a shame, what a shame.”

When Wen Ning responds with a slightly panicked “?!”, Lan Qiren just pats him on the shoulder, like, “No, no, it’s not you. We can’t choose our relatives. And isn’t that the greatest shame in the world?” - and then DOESN’T EXPLAIN ANYTHING.

And after many bouts of thinking and rethinking still lead him to the conclusion that Wei Wuxian is the best choice in comparison to all the other available options, Lan Qiren may or may not visit Cangse Sanren’s grave to burn some incense for an excuse to stand there and offer a sullen, “You fukken got me again, you bastard. I can’t believe you.”

He doesn’t know who he hates more:

Wei Wuxian for being himself and yet still the best choice

Cangse Sanren for not letting being dead stop her from continuing to be a thorn in Lan Qiren’s side

Wen Ruohan for being undesirable enough to disqualify the only valid competitor

The other parents for failing to produce children who are better than Wei Wuxian

(Like: Surely it can’t be that hard if he (+ his brother + his sister-in law) managed to produce two)

So he settles for hating everyone.

For his next birthday, Lan Xichen sends him a box of blood-pressure-lowering supplements.

Lan Qiren is like “!!!” but he still takes them because just because his nephew is being impudent does not mean there is not also a Need.

In re 3zun:

Lan Qiren goes around determinedly Not Thinking about Nie Mingjue and Jin Guangyao. Every time his eyes approach something he doesn’t want to see, he just turns his head like NOPE.

He eventually realises that he and Wei Wuxian have this in common and that Wei Wuxian is therefore his most valuable ally - both in terms of having someone to pivot to and have very loud, very enthusiastic conversations about anything else whenever the 3zun do something they don’t want to see, and also having someone to commiserate with about Not Wanting to Know. (But because they’re them, they alternate between teaming up for self-preservation and using their mutual weakness to take petty jabs at each other.)

"-If two of them are dating, then where does that leave the third one?!"

"RIGHT? Imagine finding out that they were silently pining away, forced to third-wheel for their unrequited love and best friend - unrequited LOVES AND BEST FRIENDS? What would you say to that?!"

"That's not even considering which one the third wheel would be - I honestly don't know which option would be the worst, they're all terrible."

"I'm almost ready to say that I'd rather they all be dating each other, except then I'd have to think about how that would work, dynamic-wise, like - who calls the shots? Do you think Nie Mingjue is domineering all the time, or do you think it’s a public front, and he then goes home to be dominated by-"

“STOP.”

Even before 3zun get together (both Lan Qiren and Wei Wuxian have chosen to Never Know when this is), Jin Guangyao is throwing out suggestive comments left and right and then immediately whipping out his (◔◡◔✿) face for anyone’s double-take:

50% to test the waters of public sentiment before he makes a move and it actually becomes his problem

50% because he’s a troll who likes dominance displays

Knowing this factoid, one of Wei Wuxian’s mental 3zun Dynamics possibilities features Superdom!Jin Guangyao, but he does his best to avoid thinking about that.

After Lan Qiren mentally accepts Wei Wuxian into the fold:

He still internally responds to at least 50% of the things that Wei Wuxian does with “Why, that little shit”, but it’s also implied that Wei Wuxian is their little shit now.

And for Lan Family! Qiren, this means: If you shit on him, WE shit on you.

“Shufu”

Lan Qiren definitely Notices when Wei Wuxian calls him that, but it Doesn’t Do to make a fuss.

He probably has a conversation with Lan Xichen sometime around the first family dinner that goes:

LQR: You've noticed that he's still calling me 'Uncle Qiren' like we're nothing to each other.

LXC: ...If you want him to call you Shufu, should you perhaps not mention that to him?

LQR: What? No, he should already know these things!

And then after the wedding:

LQR: Your brother's boyfriend is finally acting like one of the family. LXC: Haha, oh my.

Jiang Yanli and Jin Zixuan

Although their mothers have been friends for ages, Jin Zixuan grows up in a different city, so they don't see each other growing up. The Jins later move for Jin Zixuan's high-flying corporate job, Madam Jin joins the Culture Society at her friend's behest and immediately falls in love with Jiang Yanli as a daughter-in-law.

After a lot of cajoling (in both directions), she gets them to agree to one date, which is a disaster (I have more headcanons about this but they won't fit in here)

Jin Zixuan has a lot of money and zero sense of proportion, which does not generally result in tasteful things. (Where Jiang Yanli is concerned, his desire to keep up a "cool" image is completely overpowered by his desire to please, so that doesn't help either. Like a golden retriever who wants people to think he's a cat.)

After they get married, Wei Wuxian sometimes thinks about the peacock's peacocking rituals, like: "It's good that he's gotten more reasonable now that they're married - no, wait, what if he hasn't gotten more reasonable, but there's just no one around to see it because they're married?!" and never gets brave enough to ask his sister about it.

After Jin Ling's birth, Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng (and maybe even Jin Zixuan) get locked in an ongoing battle for Jin Ling's affections. Jiang Yanli is the clear favourite, as she should be, but they all want to be #2, and their constant jostling is how he ends up with no chill despite being raised by one calm mum and one aloof (but secretly disaster) dad

But because Jiang Yanli is around, he's very polite about it: the kind of kid who barrels in screaming blue murder, skids to a halt and says "Auntie", and then tears out screaming blue murder again

Wei Wuxian tones it down a lot after he and Lan Wangji adopt A-Yuan because he’s got better things to do, but it’s still A Thing (during visits, A-Yuan spends a lot of time in Auntie Yanli’s lap being gently fed things while his dad and shushu yell at each other over the top of his cousin��s head)

Lan Xichen and Jiang Yanli

Initially brought together by their brothers, they now meet up for regular, peaceful, wholesome tea-dates where they discuss the lives of their mutuals and gently exchange advice (and strategies on how to keep their angry-angry parent/proxy-parent's blood pressure down.

Whereas Jiang Cheng gets closer to coughing up blood with every year that passes by without Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji getting their shit together, Lan Xichen and Jiang Yanli take the more optimistic view of "Look at how well-prepared we are, we've just run another year ahead of schedule!"

Dinner Crew

Jiang Cheng has been the unwilling audience to years of Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji’s bullshit.

If asked, he would say: “And you wonder why I’m so angry?! What do you mean ‘dating’, you’ve been fucking married for the last five years!” but no one ever does :’D

Every so often, he thinks about how happy their sister is about the dating situation because she doesn’t know that it’s fake, and he grinds his teeth because why can’t he also not-know!?

To this, Nie Huaisang says, “If we didn’t know we couldn’t help!”

And Jiang Cheng replies, “WE’RE NOT HELPING ANYWAY, LOOK AT HIM!!!”

Meanwhile, Jiang Yanli continues to gush about how happy she is for Wei Wuxian and all Jiang Cheng can do is laugh really unnaturally because he has to “Be strong, Jiang Cheng! Be strong for A-jie! ╥﹏╥”

He goes to read the comments on the Society Facebook after the fujoshi conversation, and gets so angry at all these people who are like “Ah, their love is so beautiful!” that he has to uninstall his Facebook app, and go and shout into a cupboard somewhere.

The non-Wei-Wuxian members of the dinner group have set up a separate chat to act as a support group, where they all go to:

Wail and gnash their teeth after Wei Wuxian does something particularly dumb

Scheme ways into getting Wei Wuxian to get a clue

Console one another when someone’s brave attempt at getting Wei Wuxian to face the truth fails miserably (because while they play by the rules of ‘what a normal human would do’, Wei Wuxian lives by the principle of ‘lol norms are for losers’.)

Relatedly: for every resigned Nie Huaisang face or enraged Jiang Cheng face that Wei Wuxian notices, there are at least three desperate-yet-silent exchanges that he doesn’t.

Wen Ning is always really optimistic about it, nodding encouragingly like “He’s gonna get it - he’s gonna get it! - oh no, he’s not gonna get it. Oh. Oh no. Ó╭╮Ò”

Wen Ning always has at least one small child hanging off him at all times when he’s at the Cultural Centre because they know he can always be bullied into playing with them and they think he’s great.

Past bullshit dinner group projects have included Getting Jiang Cheng a Date and Making a Picture out of Jin Guangyao’s Forehead Dot While He’s Sleeping

(In re the forehead dot, they end up settling for making it bigger every time he nods off during a movie night at Nie Huaisang’s house, and Nie Mingjue comes home to what’s basically a Japanese flag on Jin Guangyao’s forehead and is like ಠ_ಠ)

Future dinner group projects include providing Wei Wuxian with support for Grand Plans like Getting Along with Uncle Qiren and providing Jiang Cheng with unwanted support for things like Workshopping Jiang Cheng’s List of Partner Requirements

A-Yuan

After A-Yuan’s adoption, Wei Wuxian and Lan Qiren redouble their efforts in Can we divorce an in-law?! because although they couldn’t save themselves from being related to Jin Guangyao, for their PRECIOUS BOY--

Therefore, when A-Yuan is five or six and starts to sound out how he’s related to people and why:

A-Yuan: So if Jin-yeye is Uncle Guangyao’s dad, then that makes him my-

Wei Wuxian: NOTHING!

Lan Qiren (springing up from the other side of the room): NOTHING!

Lan Xichen: lol

At around about this same time, Wei Wuxian, who is never gonna stop trolling Lan Qiren about ruzhui until the day he dies, runs A-Yuan through the “You see, my son, my family is not so well-to-do, and since your Uncle married into the Nie family-” talk, and then proceeds to reference it at every opportunity:

1: Despite A-Yuan almost certainly not asking, and

2: despite (/especially because of) Lan Qiren shouting “DON’T TEACH HIM WEIRD THINGS!” in the background.

(Lan Wangji probably lets it happen or encourages it because he thinks it’s funny)

#CQL #The Untamed #Wangxian #陈情令 #魔道祖师 #mo dao zu shi #not-fic

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somuchnonsense · 3 years

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October Drabbles

Previous drabbles

26. Garden (post-canon Wangxian featuring bunnies)

Wei Wuxian doesn’t have a farm yet, but he does have a garden on the back hill in Cloud Recesses. “Why here?” Lan Wangji asked him when he started planting. “The rabbits will eat everything.”

“I don’t mind if my hard work goes to feeding the rabbits,” Wei Wuxian responded, grinning. “Besides, I’m not here consistently enough to tend to it and harvest things when they’re ready. At least this way, someone will enjoy the fruits—or vegetables, I suppose—of my labor. And maybe then they’ll love me like they love you.”

Lan Wangji smiled, petting one of the rabbits as they both curiously watched Wei Wuxian work. “I’m sure they will.”

It’s debatable, a few months later, whether the rabbits love Wei Wuxian any more than before, but they do love Wei Wuxian’s garden, and Lan Wangji loves watching him kneeling in the dirt, celebrating the first shoots of a new plant or complaining when the rabbits ate one before it even had a chance to grow. He looks so happy, so comfortable, so relaxed, not the fearsome Yiling Laozu or the brilliant cultivator Wei Wuxian with his ever-active mind, but just an ordinary young man, content with his simple life, with no fears and no painful memories weighing on him.

“What’s that look for?” Wei Wuxian asks, eyeing Lan Wangji with a freshly pulled carrot in his hand. There’s dirt on his cheek and a sparkle in his eyes.

Lan Wangji says nothing, keeping his thoughts to himself, but Wei Wuxian smiles like perhaps he knows anyway, and cheerfully turns back to his garden.

27. Serendipity (Wei Wuxian canon gen/character study)

It would be easy to think that Wei Wuxian has bad luck. He lost his parents young, and then the people who took him in when he was alone. He lost his adopted sister, and the people who lived with him like family for a year. He lost his golden core and the trust and respect of his peers, and the love of his adopted brother. He lost his home, and the one he found to replace it. And after all of that, he lost his life too soon.

But if you ask Wei Wuxian, he’ll tell you he’s lucky. He lost his parents, but then he was taken in by a new family. Sure, they weren’t perfect, but they saved him from a lonely life on the streets and they loved him, mostly. He lost them too, though not all at once, but then he had the Wens to care about him. That didn’t last, but he got Wen Ning and Sizhui back, at least, and he has the other junior disciples who are ready to fight for him, and Lan Wangji, of course. As much as he’s lost, he’s also been loved by many people, and isn’t that lucky?

As for the rest, well, the loss of his golden core was a fair trade for Jiang Cheng’s life, and it led him to abilities that helped avenge the Jiang Sect and defeat Wen Ruohan and later Jin Guangyao. He’s not the strong cultivator he was as a teenager, but he’s found new ways to be strong and fight the battles he needs to fight. He’s also blazed a new path and invented new things and made a name for himself, in his own way. Isn’t that lucky?

And yes, he died once, painfully, but that’s over and done with and he got a second chance at life. In his second life, he’s fallen in love, made new friends, done some good in the world, and at least done a little to make up for his past mistakes. So few people get a chance like that, including many who are much more deserving than him, so in the final sum, isn’t he lucky?

28. Drunk Confessions (junior quartet gen)

It started with a few bottles of wine and Zizhen declaring that true friends share their secrets with each other, but nobody could have imagined that it would end like this.

"You're what?" Jin Ling asks, his voice low and strained.

"You're what?!" Jingyi echoes in a loud squawk.

"I'm a Wen," Sizhui repeats, his nervous expression belying his calm voice.

"You never told me!" Jingyi's voice is still far too loud, his expression almost comically betrayed. "How could I not know that?"

"You knew Hanguang-Jun took me in," Sizhui points out.

"Yes, but I thought your parents were Lan cultivators who died back then, or at least non-cultivators from Gusu. Not...Wens." Jingyi grimaces, but wipes the expression of his face when he sees Sizhui's face fall.

“Sizhui is still the same person, right?" Zizhen puts in. "And we know Wen Ning's a nice guy. It's not like all Wens are bad."

"Right," Jingyi firmly agrees. "But I can't believe you didn’t tell me sooner!”

"I didn't know until recently. After meeting Wei-qianbei and Wen Ning, some memories came back." Sizhui finishes the drink in front of him, getting some liquid courage before he looks at the conspicuously silent Jin Ling. "I'm sorry," he says quietly. "I hope this doesn't change anything between us."

Jin Ling clenches his fist on the table, brow furrowed, and for a long, tense moment, the whole group is silent. Finally, he sighs exasperatedly and says, "Well, it's far from the worst secret I've heard about someone I knew. Do you two at least not have any dark secrets?" He waves his cup and Jingyi and Zizhen.

"None, I promise," Zizhen declares.

"If I do, I don't know them myself," Jingyi says.

"I've met his parents," Sizhui interjects. "They're nice, normal Lan cultivators for several generations back."

"Good," Jin Ling says. To Sizhui, he adds, "For this, you can at least buy us another bottle or two of wine."

Sizhui smiles brightly, getting to his feet. "Right away."

29. Cars (modern AU Wangxian featuring the Jiang sibs)

Jiang Cheng says Wei Ying drives like a maniac. Wei Ying says Jiang Cheng is a wimp and also boring and besides, he doesn’t go any faster than he can safely drive, but he does always slow down when he sees Jiang Cheng’s knuckles turning white.

“You’d better drive more carefully on your date with Lan Zhan,” Jiang Cheng tells him. “He probably drives perfectly the speed limit and obeys every traffic law to the letter. He won’t be able to deal with you.”

“I’ll be fine,” Wei Ying insists. “And it’s not a date!”

“Just don’t rush,” Yanli says. “You’ll have more time with Lan Zhan that way. And I’m pretty sure it is a date.”

“Not you too,” Wei Ying whines.

Later, though, when he picks Lan Zhan up and sees him looking very dashing even though he’s in what passes for casual clothes with him, Wei Ying has to admit that okay, yes, he wants it to be a date, and sure, okay, he wants to impress Lan Zhan, or at least not scare him away by driving too wildly. He forces himself to go only a little above the speed limit as he drives to the cafe where they’re going to study together, and Lan Zhan doesn’t complain or grab the panic handle like Jiang Cheng does.

On the way home, though, after endless hours of Lan Zhan sitting across from him looking casually hot but looking at his textbook or talking about economics instead of kissing Wei Ying, he forgets himself and drives as usual. Lan Zhan doesn’t say anything, so Wei Ying doesn’t realize what he’s doing until he stops in front of Lan Zhan’s building and sees him looking suspiciously paler than usual, his hand still gripping the door handle. “Oh, uh, Lan Zhan…you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Lan Zhan says tightly.

“Say, um…” Wei Ying feels bad and all, but he’s spent hours not kissing Lan Zhan and wishing this was a date and he just has to know if maybe it was, or at least could be. He unbuckles his seatbelt, turns in his seat and presses his lips to Lan Zhan’s. He’s not expecting to promptly get pulled into Lan Zhan’s lap, but he’s definitely not complaining, especially when it’s followed up with a whole lot more kissing.

They only stop when someone honks and Wei Ying realizes he didn’t pick the best parking spot for making out. “So,” he says, grinning shamelessly as he moves back into the driver’s seat, “let’s go out on another date some time soon?”

“All right,” Lan Zhan agrees without hesitation. He’s not smiling, but he is eyeing Wei Ying in a way that he really likes. “But next time, I’ll drive.”

30. Dessert (modern AU Wangxian, just a tiny bit NSFW)

The first time Wei Ying sees Lan Zhan in a cafe daintily eating whipped cream off the top of a parfait, he can’t believe his eyes. There’s something so unexpected about strong, serious, stoic, ever-responsible Lan Zhan enjoying any kind of dessert, let alone the same kind Wei Ying’s sister and her friends love—unexpected and adorable.

“Wow, Lan Zhan! I had you pegged for the health food 24/7 type,” Wei Ying says, sneaking up on him from behind. He’s obviously trying to surprise Lan Zhan, but he doesn’t expect it to actually work, so he’s thrilled when it makes Lan Zhan jump and then turn a glare on him. “Hey, no judgment. There’s nothing wrong with enjoying something sweet.” The temptation to stick his finger in the whipped cream and dab some onto Lan Zhan’s nose is so strong, but Wei Ying doesn’t want to die today, so he restrains himself.

It takes nearly a year after that encounter for them to start dating, though Wei Ying does manage to put whipped cream on Lan Zhan’s face twice before that. (Maybe he should have guessed that Lan Zhan liked him, despite never mentioning it, by how he didn’t murder Wei Ying for doing that.) It takes another five months after they get together for Wei Ying to convince Lan Zhan that whipped cream will also be delicious when licked off his body, but oh, is it worth it.

31. Trick or Treat (modern cultivation AU, A-Yuan and Wangxian)

“I want to go as Uncle Wen!” A-Yuan declares. Wei Wuxian blinks at him, turns and blinks at Lan Wangji, and then starts to laugh. “I mean, I think a ghost or a vampire or a cat or something is more typical, but sure, you can go as a fierce corpse.” “Not a fierce corpse!” A-Yuan protests. “Uncle Wen!” Lan Wangji gives Wei Wuxian his patented You are not treating this child as he should be treated look. “Yes, of course,” Wei Wuxian amends. “We’ll find you the best Wen Ning costume anyone has ever had.” “Can Uncle Wen come with me?” A-Yuan asks. Wen Ning won’t do well with crowds or a sugar high A-Yuan, but on the other hand, he’ll blend in on Halloween in a way he usually can’t. “We’ll all come with you,” Lan Wangji tells him. “Yay!” A-Yuan jumps up and down in excitement. “What will you be? Ooh, I know! You should be a bunny.” He gestures at Lan Wangji, and then to Wei Wuxian, “And you should be a carrot.” “A carrot?” Wei Wuxian grimaces. “Come on, between the two of us, don’t I look more like a bunny?” “At least he didn’t say a donkey.” Lan Wangji keeps his voice low, and before A-Yuan can demand that he repeat it, says, “Those are excellent choices.” “You’re so mean to me,” Wei Wuxian whines, but that doesn’t stop him from going out on Halloween evening in a big carrot costume, hand in hand with rabbit Lan Wangji, with mini Wen Ning skipping on ahead of them and actual Wen Ning looking fondly on.

#mo dao zu shi #mdzs #cql #the untamed #mdzs fic #cql fanfic #the untamed fic #wangxian #wangxian fic #wei wuxian #lan wangji #lan sizhui #jin ling #lan jingyi #jiang cheng #jiang yanli #mine #fic #flufftober

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ghost-echeveria · 4 years

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@mdzsnet One Year of CQL Event - Day Seven: One Year with CQL!

A collection of my other favourite aspects of CQL which all contributed toward it becoming my favourite show.

I wanted to make a collection of all the moments that first hooked me on the show, enthralled me to keep watching, and then solidified my opinion of it as my favourite show. The first episode sank its hooks into me with a fascinating premise: sad dark lord dies and is reincarnated into the body of someone he must take revenge for (please tell me more, how does this unfold?). And in that first episode I fell in love/adoration immediately with Wei Wuxian’s character - after he snaps his fingers and steals those peanuts, I thought to myself, it doesn’t even matter how the plot unfolds, I would absolutely watch 50 episodes of this man roaming around causing small chaos.

But CQL gave so much more than that. At first when it returned to the past, the tone was all fun and light-hearted (which was both sweet and entertaining) and every so often I would think back to the grim opening minutes of the first episode, and my brain would struggle to reconcile the idea that one could lead to the other (haha, how could this turn into that, surely not, haha). And even though I’d been blatantly told what was coming, I somehow still didn’t see that plot progression coming?? The turn towards a more serious tone was so well executed, and so enjoyable. And interwoven into that inextricably was Wei Wuxian’s character arc - WEI WUXIAN’S CHARACTER ARC, ahhh! How did he go from that cheerful, mischievous creature into the Yiling Patriarch? And yet the development of his character is done so believably! When he first returns after (his little sojourn to) the Burial Mounds, he’s like a visibly different person (how did Xiao Zhan do this?? I’m amazing at his acting skill, seriously. I don’t ever once feel that I’m looking at an actor acting and not Wei Wuxian). There’s something about his expressions, the way he still smiles because he used to smile a lot, but nonono that’s not a smile anymore!! That’s not a smile anymore!! For Performance I put the scene of the Yiling Patriarch completely cracking up on the rooftop, because I can’t get that image of his laughing-crying out of my head, and there are like sixteen different emotions going across his face at once.

Wei Wuxian’s character arc of course keeps progressing across the series, from his downfall to his redemption, and by that last smile in episode 50, you really goddamn feel it. I’m personally terrible for not watching shows through the end, and if I do, I often feel that the endings never really live up to the expectations set by their premises. But The Untamed does, it does it does! It exceeds its premise, completely knocks that premise out of the park. And the ending works - it’s satisfying and heart-wrenching, and worth all the time invested in reaching the end. The way he turns around and smiles, and you know who he’s smiling at even though you don’t see that person !!!

There are a myriad of other fantastic aspects of the show. The Huisang plot twist was phenomenal. Often plot twists fall flat because the just seem to be put in for the sake of a shock reveal, but in The Untamed the final plot twist just adds that final layer of depth to everything, because it ties everything together that has happened since episode 1. Lan Wangji’s forehead ribbon is so much more than a prop - it’s like a whole thematic statement. The bittersweet Yi City side-story/side-arc was just, ugh, so well done. My favourite shot from CQL is Jiang Cheng’s sword trembling as he walks forward towards WWX on the edge of the cliff. And of course an episode after the opening we have his grand dramatic entrance, where you realise - oh! It’s the angry sword man again! The bittersweet Yi City side-story/side-arc was just, ugh, so well done. If I could add more categories, I would mention the soundtrack, scenery, set design, costume design and much more.

This... was meant to be a short explanation...

#mdzsnet #the untamed #gifset #you bet I'll stay up past midnight every night to finish my contributions for this event #I've really enjoyed this #I've learned so many new things #and enjoyed seeing everyone's creations #this has been the best week of the year #aaah tags out of order #wei wuxian #mine #gilly

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missholland · 4 years

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Wei Wuxian

Something I realise from rewatching The Untamed (like, right after the first watch), the drama gives us 3 versions of Wei Wuxian over the 3 vital points of his life: the young and carefree disciple from Yunmeng Jiang Clan with a sunflower smile, the gloomy and resentful Yiling Patriarch whose soul almost completely consumed by the dark Yin Iron, and the calm and confident Wei Ying finally free from trust issues and emotionally secured from having his soulmate by his side.

I always think that Wei Wuxian has the similar personality with Linghu Chong in The Smiling, Proud Wanderer, and shares the tragic fate filled with misunderstandings as of Qiao Feng in Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils. Wuxian and Linghu are free-spirited extroverts with a massive love for their liquor. Both are adopted and educated in highly respected sect/clan, but end up picking up unorthodox methods and go against the mainstream clans. While Qiao Feng was framed to crimes he did not commit and had a proper confrontation showdown with everyone on Shaolin Monastery, Wei Wuxian was deem Yiling Patriarch for pursuing demonic path and waited 16 years to finally clear his name in front of all main clans at Burial Mounds and later Guanyin Temple. This makes me personally invested in the character/drama in general, as the inspiration was briefly taken from 2 of the best protagonists in Jin Yong wuxia universe.

Jiang Clan’s Wei Wuxian obeys to no regulation, and pretty much does things as he may. He’s enthusiastically sworn to protect the weak with a clear conscience, not fully aware how much it cost him later on in life. That brings us to the PTSD Wei Wuxian who defected from his own clan, went against the cultivator world, as well as broke his own promise of sticking by his adopt brother and sister forever - all for protecting (and partly returning the favor of) the defenceless members of the evil Wen clan. The whole journey of him getting there from mastering dark methods to being an absolute loose canon in Jiang clan, causing huge headache for the young clan leader Jiang Cheng. I’m not Jiang Cheng’s biggest fan, but honestly, I would probably lose my shits too if I had to tolerate a not-so-great team player like this version of Wei Wuxian. The downfall of their relationship comes from both of their insane pride - one who is not willing to share his hardship and seek help, and one who prioritises his can’s reputation over his brother. Destructive Wei Wuxian’s pride also creates issue with his lifelong soulmate Lan Wangji. This is why I find the middle episodes of the series - 20 to 32 - so flipping hard to watch, considering how Wei Wuxian was indirectly hurting his loved ones (especially Wangji) and how it would eventually lead to his death.

Then again, that’s what makes episode 32-33 so fucking awesome. It gave me SO MANY FEELINGS - anger, sorrow, frustration, pain, HUGE PAIN - possibly what Wei Wuxian went through himself the whole time standing against 3000 cultivators at Nightless City. His loneliness without having a single person believing in him while defending himself through the whole crying laugh was heartbreaking. This stuck with me until episode 44-45 where Wei Wuxian, in the exact same position of speaking up for himself, does not lose his shit and can talk senses with the judgy cultivators in Burial Mounds until his name is clear. How? Because at that time, Lan Wangji was by his side and he literally had NO fear - he said it himself before the two departed Gusu for Yiling. The feeling of knowing someone wholeheartedly believe in you, sticking by your side no matter what is the greatest power that Wei Wuxian was given with his second chance. This reflects Lan Wangji’s greatest regret, as he could have helped Wei Wuxian clear his name since 16 years ago if he stood by him on that fateful night in Nightless City.

I LOVE the resurrected Wei Wuxian, now no longer has a poor temperament under Yin Iron’s influence. That Wei Wuxian has been through A FUCKING LOT. But unlike PTSD Wei Wuxian who made a series of bad decisions and lived on edge every single day, he is even able to take some of his wit back and crack jokes again. Sure, the first few days were a bit rough with the nightmares and the hiding. But as soon as he’s back with Lan Wangji, everything feels RIGHT again. No, he can’t go back to how he used to be, but it makes my heart dance seeing the reflection of the young and fun Wei Wuxian again. Wei Wuxian is a true extrovert in the sense of feeding energy from other people. He sees a lot of good in others, even in the members of the evil Wen clan, and trusts them. In return, he’s the most empowered and confident when he has the love and trust from the others, especially from Lan Wangji.

I enjoy watching the conflict inside Wei Wuxian, and am so happy he’s a pretty gray character rather than being just another righteous moral compass. Although I don’t name his as my favourite character in The Untamed (he sort of was during my first watch, but no longer the case after my 4th watch LOL), he’s the heart of the show and has such an incredibly compelling arc that makes you care SO MUCH. You find yourself fully rooting for him and wish all the sufferings would stop so he can take an actual break. Man, thinking of all the shits this guy has gone through in TWO LIVES.

I’ve always been pretty public with how obsessed I am with Wei Wuxian’s beauty. Of course, this is mostly because of Xiao Zhan’s natural glamour but hats off to the make-up and costume design team. They turn Xiao Zhan’s conventional good look into an exceptionally gorgeous Wei Wuxian that pretty much outshine Lan Xichen - who supposed to be like the hottest guy in The Untamed universe. Xiao Zhan’s Wei Wuxian, with his signature smiling eyes, is so captivating in every damn angle. This guy even manages to look cuter than a bunny when being put in the same frame. His delicate and feminine features are absolutely perfect for portraying a historical fictional character. But his charisma is truly second to none, and considering how many Chinese dramas I’ve seen since I can remember, no other character has even come close to his level. Xiao Zhan’s Wei Wuxian makes me properly SWOON just by seeing him on TV, and puts my heart on a treadmill because I cannot possibly handle his out-of-this-world beauty, the kind that comes out from a painting or you can actually call a real life masterpiece.

#wei wuxain #lan wangji #wei ying #lan zhan #the untamed #mo dao zu shi #xiao zhan #wang yibo #chen qing ling #character analysis #thoughts #yiling patriarch #yiling laozu #yunmeng jiang #gusu lan

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franniebanana · 3 years

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CQL Rewatch - Episode 3

I just love their outfits here, and since I didn’t comment on that in the last episode, I wanted to say it here. I love the whole color palette they used for Lotus Pier. The donghua goes heavy on the purple and black, but I really love how they incorporate lavender and teal and other blues. It’s just very pretty and soft and relaxing. Such a nice place. I keep having a debate with myself about where I’d rather live. I think I’d be more comfortable in the Cloud Recesses, but I’d never be able to deal with all those rules!

Ah, yes, everyone’s favorite peacock. He played this part so perfectly: just this pillar of grace and poise, except when he’s around Jiang Yanli, and he just becomes butter hahaha. I like his son a lot better than him, but he and Wei Wuxian have some great scenes together, and it’s fun to see him grow alongside everyone else. He’s not just a mindless clan member who does everything he’s supposed to. He’ll stand up and fight for justice too.

It’s easy to forget (myself included in this) that Jiang Yanli is the oldest of the three of them, especially in this show. She’s so much smaller, so soft-spoken; she isn’t going to be the next leader, because that’s Jiang Cheng, being the male heir. But this is one of those scenes where she really is the big sister. Wei Wuxian is fighting with her fiancé’s retinue, Jiang Cheng is just trying to stay out of it and be polite, so she has to step in and put an end to it. I love when Jiang Yanli gets some screen time and lines, and isn’t serving soup. Don’t get me wrong—I like seeing her take care of them, but it’s more mothering than being a big sister. I think the moments when she’s standing up for her brothers and for herself are really special. You can’t blame Jiang Cheng or Wei Wuxian for loving their shijie so much.

Gotta love Wei Wuxian taking every opportunity to throw some shade at Jin Zixuan. I love all of it, and I eat it up—I am the target audience for snarky Wei Wuxian. And at this point, Jin Zixuan just ignores him—good on him. He keeps that up for all of a few days.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO

YOU FORGOT THE INVITATION!

Sorry, but the first time I watched this, I wondered why there was this big close-up of something with “Lan Clan of Gusu” written on it. I’m a dummy, okay?

Omg they translated ge-ge as “buddy.”

Okay, but here we go! Shut out of the Cloud Recesses. Also, where did they change? I kept thinking they changed at the tavern, but when they left, they were wearing their same Jiang Clan clothes. So, somewhere along the way, they put on their pretty white robes. I’ve got nothing else to say here, because we’re about to see another great entrance from Lan Wangji.

I love how his entrance is accompanied by the guqin. His presence is so ethereal, so otherworldly, yet he’s so grounded as a character. He turns everyone’s heads, including Wei Wuxian’s. I love that Wang Yibo is in reality shorter than Xiao Zhan, so they gave him platform boots to make them more even. But the height and stature gives the relationship a whole different dynamic.

Anyone who knows me knows I love my yaoi/BL. I could go on and on about my favorites, but I won’t do that here. There’s one thing I don’t like about it, and it’s that you can always tell who the top and bottom is just by how they look (sometimes artists subvert this, which I love!). The donghua for MDZS does this (I haven’t read the manhua, but I have seen some screenshots, and I think it also does)—Lan Wangji is so much bigger than Wei Wuxian. And while it’s aesthetically pleasing, it just bugs me, okay? I like the idea of Wangxian being roughly the same size and height—I don’t really know why, I just do. Also I definitely headcanon them both as switches at this point.

I don’t think Lan Wangji would have given Wei Wuxian the time of day if he hadn’t heard this. He’s already impressed that Wei Wuxian picked up on the weird stuff/wicked sorcery going on—he’s made a mental note of him. I’m sure he’s a little disappointed that Wei Wuxian immediately gets on his nerves, but he still pauses before leaving.

Lan Wangji is never going to be a fast friend—he’s not going to be anyone’s best friend right away. You need to gain his trust and that does not happen overnight. Though the setting is anything but realistic, their relationship and the steps it goes through are incredibly realistic. They grow together—they grow on each other (it’s not as if Wei Wuxian really cares about Lan Wangji at first either—think of how many times he calls him a fuddy-duddy. I think his main goal for quite some time is to get on Lan Wangji’s nerves and tease him. Wei Wuxian is used to charming his way in and out of things, but he can’t do that with Lan Wangji).

Yibo’s piercings! That’s it. That’s why I took this screenshot. But, weirdly, I always look at stuff like that.

He has such a swagger here, going up the steps, but I think it’s really just Xiao Zhan trying to climb the stairs without tripping on his costume. XD

It’s funny how surprised Wei Wuxian is to have the silencing spell used on him, even though he had been put under it earlier that day. Frankly, I don’t blame Lan Wangji. Wei Wuxian hit him with a bit of a sucker punch there, implying that the girls only liked him for how he looks and that they’d be disappointed by his demeanor.

It’s such a popular trope (enemies to lovers), but I don’t think that makes it inherently bad or less effective as a storytelling device. On the contrary, when done well, it can make or break a story. As I said earlier, their relationship is very realistic, yet has enough fiction to make it fun. I watch these early scenes with a big old grin on my face, and I’ve seen this one probably around four times now, maybe more (I keep watching the Special Edition for all that wangxian goodness).

Okay, let’s watch as Wei Wuxian digs his hole deeper and deeper. The look on Lan Qiren’s face this entire time is priceless. Like, who is this miscreant who just barged in here, telling me how he is breaking all the rules and expecting me to feel bad for him? Meanwhile, Lan Xichen, with a smile: I won’t blame you for breaking the rules, but let my brother who hates you decided your punishment, okay? Thanks!

Peak comedy before it gets all serious again.

She’s so gorgeous!

But I’ll be frank with you all, I don’t like that they expanded Wen Qing’s role in this way. She was one of my favorites in the book, but shoehorning her and Wen Ning into the Cloud Recesses kind of drives me nuts. And then the stuff with Jiang Cheng, while kind of cute, just doesn’t really hit right with me, and I don’t think it was executed well at all after a certain point—but I’ll babble about that when the time comes. So, while I appreciate expanding female roles, I didn’t really care for this bit in the Cloud Recesses. I would have been fine with them adding scenes of what she was up to with the Wen Clan—that would have been really cool, actually, because we don’t get to see much of anything other than the Nightless City. And maybe I’m biased because I quite enjoyed the archery contest stuff in the book that they kind of piecemealed in the show.

It sounds like I’m just whining about this show, but I actually really enjoy it.

I like this moment between the twin jades. We don’t get a ton of these and this one is particularly quiet and peaceful. The contrast between them and Jiang Cheng/Wei Wuxian is so stark—the twin jades are so formal and a little stiff, while the twin prides are off the wall, hitting and teasing each other—but this doesn’t make either one less caring than the other. What’s obvious from this scene is how much both of them care about each other: Lan Wangji wants to do what he can to help, because he knows how much pressure is on Xichen, and Xichen is just worried about his younger brother. Even though you don’t find this out until later, you can tell that the two boys had to grow up very fast. Neither one had much of a childhood, and I think Lan Xichen does take on a bit of a father role to Lan Wangji as well.

Other episodes: 1 | 2 |

#cql rewatch #lan wangji #wei wuxian #wangxian #lan xichen #jiang cheng #jiang yanli #jin zixuan #wen qing #cql #the untamed #mdzs #mo dao zu shi

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wangxiangiftexchange · 3 years

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Winter Solstice Gift for journalsofagoddess

Happy Winter Solstice @journalsofagoddess!! <3 I hope you like your gift!! this was so much fun to write! I tried to fit as many of the original prompts/"likes" in as possible, so in here you'll find elements of fluff, h/c, horror, humour, modern au, a sprinkling of family!wangxian...

Title is from a fantastic song by No Resolve that is very wangxian, even if it has nothing at all to do with this fic! concept inspired loosely by fleurmatisse's spooky possession fic, minus some of the spookiness? :D

Warnings: light horror, mentions of injuries.

Read on AO3

*****

dancing with your ghost

The snow is just starting to stick to the pavement by the time Wei Ying makes it home.

The sky outside has been heavy and dark with clouds since the morning, but had only broken open as he left the client’s house. He closes the door on their suddenly white-coated and wet front stoop and takes a minute to shake the melted snow out of his hair.

“Hey,” he calls into the empty hall as he scrapes his boots on the mat, “I’m back!”

He bends down to untie his laces and his wrist gives a sharp twinge. In all of the excitement of the afternoon and the unexpected snowfall, he had almost forgotten that he had crushed it beneath him when he fell. He resigns himself to undoing his boots one-handed to not agitate it any further—it’s probably nothing serious, but between regular injuries and the growing threat of carpal tunnel that comes with age, Wei Ying isn’t sure he needs to take the risk.

Ghosts are always bad, as winter sinks into the city. The short days and cold nights make up the perfect breeding grounds for things that lurk in shadows and feed on melancholy.

Wei Ying doesn’t mind the ghosts, of course: as a self-certified freelance ghost hunter extraordinaire, he has been getting more than enough calls to keep busy. His days are longer, brining him home well after dark, but only ever sweetens the coming home. Lan Zhan disagrees, of course—he would rather Wei Ying be home more often, and not take on so much, but as long as they are still splitting bills half and half, this is the best solution.

The thought of his husband is clearly enough to summon him: Lan Zhan appears at the end of the hall. He’s dressed for a comfortable evening at home. Wei Ying waves, and doesn’t quite manage to hide the wince when his wrist stings again. The small smile that had started to grow at the edges of Lan Zhan’s mouth vanishes beneath a larger frown. His gaze is unerringly focused on Wei Ying’s wrist. Wei Ying doesn’t sigh out loud—he’s fine, really, and it was a stupid injury anyway. Nothing to be fussed over.

Lan Zhan does not get his psychic messaging.

“Wei Ying,” he says. Wei Ying kicks off his boots, giving up on the laces entirely. “You’re hurt.” It’s a question, even if it doesn’t sound like one.

“Messy job,” Wei Ying tells him with a bright grin. “You wouldn’t believe the stuff these people were just letting lie around in their attic.” It hadn’t been the worst job he’s ever done—surprisingly few dead mice, and no asbestos--but also not exactly what had been described in the email. Part of the reason Wei Ying is back so late tonight were the—“piles and piles of masks, Lan Zhan,” he complains, unwinding his scarf one-handedly, “and not the nice kind. They all had bleeding eyes or human teeth.”

The actual email had just described an old costume collection and some thumps in the night. They hadn’t been wrong, exactly, but Wei Ying spent an hour clearing all of the clothing debris to the edges of the room before he could actually get a sense for the space. It had been a waste of time, and with the woman and her son standing there and watching him without lifting a finger, it had taken much longer than necessary. “It wasn’t even the masks that were haunted,” he complains. “They were just freaky and maybe a little bit cursed.”

He looks up just in time to recognize the beginnings of actual worry in Lan Zhan’s expression. It’s the face he makes when he wants to volunteer to come with Wei Ying on ghost hunts, despite his students, or ask him never to put himself in harm’s way again. Wei Ying is sure he’d prefer that he were in any other line of work than freelance exorcism, when it so often involves Wei Ying jumping in, at least a little underprepared, and dealing with everything from bathtub water ghouls to cat fierce corpses.

So, Wei Ying shuts himself up, pressing a quick kiss to Lan Zhan’s cheek. “Nothing dangerous,” he promises his husband. “I just tripped, I’m not hurt-hurt.”

“Your wrist,” Lan Zhan says, still frowning, the faintest crease marring his forehead.

Wei Ying pats his husband’s chest with the hand that doesn’t hurt, and tells him, “I’ll let you put ice on it, if it’ll make you feel better.”

Lan Zhan looks at him with an expression that says clearly that it should also make Wei Ying feel better, but he ignores it. Today’s job hadn’t even been awful—just weird, and unsuccessful for the most part. He’ll have to go back another day, at least. Just another paycheck.

“You look cold,” Lan Zhan adds as they move to the living room. He offers Wei Ying a hoodie from his collection—not that Lan Zhan wears hoodies, but he owns enough alumnus merch that Wei Ying coopts them for nefarious husband purposes such as lounging around on their couch. Between that and the fact that Lan Zhan has always had a possessive streak that liked seeing Wei Ying in his clothes… well, there’s certainly no reason not to pull it on.

“Nah,” he says, “it started snowing on my way home, though. We might have to shovel tomorrow.”

“Mm,” Lan Zhan hums, “our shovels are in the shed.”

Wei Ying still feels icky with the cloying resentful energy that had swamped the attic. It happens often when the ghosts are particularly resentful: the energy soaks deeper into him—partly his own fault, since he essentially makes himself a conduit, but hardly a pleasant sensation. On his walk home, he usually spends time cleansing himself of the dredges as much as he can, but then it had started to snow…

Lan Zhan presses a quick kiss to his nose, there and gone again. “Come warm up,” he says. “There is dinner, if you are hungry.”

Wei Ying takes stock—he’d had a hot dog from the place around the corner of his make-shift office at lunch, plus a couple of stale cookies the owners of the house had offered him before he started work. They were awful, of course, but you never deal with any hauntings on an empty stomach—that’s just asking to be possessed. His stomach is still turning, though. Probably just resentful residue, but he’s not going to chance it turning into nausea.

“Maybe later,” he says. “I’m going to shower. Choose something for us to watch?”

Lan Zhan smiles—just barely, but it’s definitely there—and Wei Ying leans up to kiss him, barely more than press of his lips against his husbands’. He’s so warm, a furnace, and Wei Ying wants to wrap himself in him and never let go. The resentment soaking him doesn’t like that thought at all-- he can feel it like something oily against his skin, slithering down his spine in distaste or maybe anger. Wei Ying isn’t about to find out, though, so instead, he smiles into the kiss so Lan Zhan can feel it, and pulls away.

Lan Zhan keeps holding his hand, their fingers intertwined. “Not too long,” he says.

“I would never,” Wei Ying jokes, and kisses him again. It’s always a little intoxicating, being in Lan Zhan’s presence, and his love of long showers won’t keep him away.

The resentment starts to slide off in the shower, pretending it was never there. The hot water pounds down on Wei Ying’s skin turning it rosy and wiping away the last bits of lingering fear and anger along with the last of the chill. He can feel his frozen toes again, wiggles them against the porcelain and watches them turn pink. He should probably buy winter boots, he thinks, if his steel-toed ones aren’t going to be warm enough to last through the rest of the winter hunts.

The last of the energy, the cloying bit that hooked its greedy fingers under his skin, swirls away down the drain. It’s invisible to the naked eye at such low concentrations, but Wei Ying can sense it. He can feel the gluiness of these residues, non-Newtonian and sticky, in ways that even most cultivators couldn’t pick out. He’s spent years, after all, figuring out how to manipulate resentful energy as best he can to help other people, and he’s good at what he does, takes pride in it. He knows Lan Zhan is proud of him, too, no matter how worried he gets.

There is a moment after he has toweled off, when he’s pulling on clean boxers and Lan Zhan’s hoodie that he thinks he sees someone in the mirror. It’s the same feeling as when the lights are turned on in a previously dark room, the moment before all the shadows are banished, when eyes can be tricked into believing that there is someone, a figure, standing there and watching you from the corner—

Wei Ying stares at himself carefully, but it doesn’t happen again. His day has been stressful and longer than it should have been-- all that staring into all of those eyeless masks--he’s probably just haunted by the contorted porcelain faces. Besides getting home late, that’s the only other problem that working in the ghost industry brings: a teensy bit of justified paranoia. He towels off his hair and leaves the towel behind.

Lan Zhan is already sitting on the couch, curled comfortably in his corner, though his eyes find Wei Ying as soon has he enters the room. On the TV, the screen is paused on the opening credits of a C-drama that neither of them watch for the plot but is perfect for the kind of night Wei Ying needs. There’s an open box of crackers and some hummus on the table; their massive first aid kit in Lan Zhan’s lap.

Wei Ying isn’t sure he’ll ever stop being struck by just how well Lan Zhan knows him. His husband, his zhiji, has proven time and time again to be the very best thing that has ever happened to Wei Ying, and he will spend the rest of his life thanking him for it. He slides onto the couch next to Lan Zhan, curling into his side, and rests head on Lan Zhan’s shoulder.

Lan Zhan turns the TV on, volume down low, and the opening theme begins to play. Wei Ying lets himself relax.

“Let me wrap your wrist,” Lan Zhan says quietly, pulling a tensor bandage out of the kit.

“Lan Zhan, it’s really not necessary—” Wei Ying starts, even as Lan Zhan lifts his hand onto his lap. He quells his token protests at the look on Lan Zhan’s face. He still looks worried and tense. Wei Ying wonders if they’ll have to talk about it after all. Lan Zhan begins wrapping his wrist.

“You should be more careful,” his husband says.

Wei Ying could protest, as he has many times, that he’s exactly as careful as he can afford to be—that sometimes, sure, he puts his safety to the side, but it’s always for a good reason. They’ve had the argument before, though, and it’s not—they don’t need to have it again, not tonight. Lan Zhan is efficient, wrapping his wrist firmly but not too tightly. He presses a kiss to the bandage afterwards, his eyes warm. Wei Ying can feel his cheeks heat.

“I feel better already,” he says, mostly joking, and gets a kiss to the lips as reward.

Like this, and in many other ways, they fit perfectly together. Lan Zhan’s hand falls on his thigh, a wide swath of warmth against Wei Ying’s bare skin. He pushes up into the kiss, not urgent, just chasing closeness. He laces their fingers together, pulls back momentarily and Lan Zhan sways toward him. In the low light, Lan Zhan’s eyes are almost golden. Wei Ying traces his features with his eyes, and kisses him again.

“Ah, Lan Zhan,” he breathes, moments later. Lan Zhan has dared to bite his lip, albeit gently. “Don’t tease me now. Your husband is too tired.”

Lan Zhan looks skeptical but hums an agreement all the same, pressing one last kiss to his pouting mouth before settling back into the couch. It’s nearing late—Lan Zhan has gotten more flexible, with his sleep schedule, since they got together and since he left his old home behind, but he still starts flagging much earlier in the evening than Wei Ying does. He will probably be asleep by the time two episodes are over. Keeping that in mind, Wei Ying settles more firmly into Lan Zhan’s side, relishing the warmth.

He doesn’t focus on the screen, not really—instead, he spends his time mapping out the well-known lines of Lan Zhan’s palm with his fingertip. Lan Zhan bears this, as he always does, with patience. There is no small amount of fondness in his gaze when Wei Ying looks up at him. There don’t need to be words between them, right now, but Wei Ying asks anyway, “how was your day?”

Lan Zhan hums, glances down at their intertwined fingers, their matching rings. There is a fond look on his face.

“Good,” he answers after a minute. The love theme of the show is playing on screen, but Wei Ying doesn’t look away from Lan Zhan’s face. “Productive.”

“Good,” Wei Ying repeats. It’s been years since they worked together as cultivators—somewhere along the line, maybe when Lan Zhan discovered a passion for teaching only rivalled by his passion for music, or when Wei Ying’s business finally took off, the places where their work lives intersected disappeared. It’s been a long time since work and obligation were the only things they lived for. That’s why he doesn’t press, now, lets the comfort of the end of day settle between them. He presses a quick kiss to Lan Zhan’s cheek, and then his lips, lingering and sweet. Lan Zhan is warm, so warm.

Wei Ying eats a couple of crackers. The characters on the screen reunite, long lingering gazes exchanged as the orchestral version of the love theme soars. Lan Zhan slumps a little against his shoulder, breaths evening out into the first stages of sleep. Outside, snow is still falling. Wei Ying gets distracted from whatever dramatic goings-on happen next—a sibling reunion, maybe? A lost identity, being rediscovered?--watching the flakes fall in the light of the streetlamp out their window. It looks like it’s gearing up to be a proper snowstorm. He might have to postpone his appointments, tomorrow, if it keeps up.

Lan Zhan’s breath puffs out against his shoulder. Wei Ying can see their reflection in the glass: Lan Zhan’s relaxed figure, his own, curling into him. Like this, no time has passed at all—Lan Zhan in sleep is timeless, the two of them could still be undergrads. He spends time tracing the sleep softened lines of Lan Zhan’s face, which is why it takes him a minute to realize that something is wrong with the picture. It’s only when he finally looks at himself that he realizes—

While he is looking at his own reflection, it is still staring down at Lan Zhan.

Wei Ying stills his thumb where it was rubbing gentle circles into Lan Zhan’s arm. In the reflection on the glass, his hand keeps moving, gently swiping across his husband’s bicep. His reflection—though there’s something wrong with it, now, something distorted, something in the eyes that is looking less and less like himself—cocks its head slightly and looks back at him. There is a smile, though not one that Wei Ying has ever worn, on its face.

Masks, Wei Ying thinks. False faces. The mirror in the bathroom earlier, the sense that had dogged him all the way home of being watched, the oily slick resentment that he brought home with him--

Wei Ying’s work bag is across the room. He doesn’t dare take his eyes off of the reflection to go get it. There is adrenaline, sudden and shocking, spurring itself through his veins.

When all else fails, get it talking.

“Good to finally meet you,” he tells it. He can’t be sure it’s actually in his reflection at all—it could be anywhere in the room, choosing only to manifest like this strange echo.

The person in the reflection smiles, but it doesn’t reach their eyes. They’re as hollow as the masks now, just empty void—completely black, not even the snowstorm outside visible behind them. The face is no longer Wei Ying’s at all, rounder and paler with soulless eyes and a bleeding mouth. In the reflection, the blood drips Lan Zhan’s forehead, marring lines on his smooth skin. Wei Ying doesn’t dare look down to check.

The voice is more like a rasp than anything, like the sound of a body being dragged on a hardwood floor. “Give it back,” it says. “It’s not yours.”

Wei Ying casts his memory back desperately. Had he taken anything from the house? Had he left anything behind? He knows better than to do that, he thinks.

“I really don’t think so,” he says, fighting down a sudden eerie chill as the room’s temperature drops, “sorry.”

The shadows in the room are growing, spilling out from everywhere the ceiling light in the hall can’t reach, playing like smoke across the ground. On the screen, in his peripheral vision, the figures are frozen in a loop, jerking like marionettes pulled back and forth. The figure hisses. Wei Ying’s eyes are burning trying to focus—he blinks, and his reflection is his own again. The dread doesn’t leave and none of the shadows recede. They grow darker.

He shakes Lan Zhan awake, gently.

“Sweetheart,” he says, trying not to let his panic run his words together, “we have a—situation.”

“Wei Ying?” Lan Zhan says, a little bit sleep dulled. He blinks his eyes open, slowly focusing. Wei Ying only has a second’s warning when Lan Zhan’s eyes go wide at something behind him before Lan Zhan is pushing him off the couch and onto the floor. “Wei Ying!”

“Sorry!” Wei Ying yelps, scrambling to his feet, “looks like work came home with me!”

There’s no time for regrets, now. He’s not sure what Lan Zhan saw behind him, but he can see and feel the way the shadows in the room are coalescing, turning into something solid, building itself from the ground up. Wei Ying pushes the coffee table away—the crackers go tumbling, but that’s a problem for later, because the two of them need to be standing somewhere without shadows. Whatever this thing is, it’s powerful enough to manifest inside their wards. He thinks bitterly of the lies the woman and her son had told in the emails, how much they minimized the issue, and can only reassure himself that he can charge appropriately. This is more, much more than the measly sounds in the night he went to deal with, and it is growing.

Lan Zhan clearly has the same thought. He is no longer half-asleep, his face stony and serious in a way that makes Wei Ying shiver. He and Wei Ying stand, back to back, in the now clear floor of the living room. Only the hall light and the ghostly jitters of the TV illuminate their positions.

“Give it back,” the faceless shadows hiss. “It’s not yours!”

Wei Ying sees it out of the corner of his eye—a movement on the screen. He drops to the floor just in time for the coalesced fog of dense, dark mist to sweep over him. Its edges are too sharp to truly be vapour, its weight in the air too solid. It disperses like gas, though, sinks back into the shadows around them.

Between one second and the next, the hallway light flickers and turns off with a quiet pop, leaving them with only the flickers from the television. Lan Zhan summons his spiritual guqin—not the one he uses for teaching traditional music, but the one he uses when he night hunts. The chord he strums echoes in the small space and splinters another burst of the coalesced shade before it can attack. Whatever it is building, the shape looks more human now, albeit longer, and still faceless. Probably once an adult male, if Wei Ying had to guess, purely based on the size of all the costumes he had to move out of its room.

Whatever it is—he’s looking forward to the research, once they survive this—its hands are wicked sharp and it has too many elbows. It swipes at them, and it comes from the wrong direction, so Lan Zhan’s next chord goes wide. Wei Ying almost manages to dodge. The sleeve of the sweater is shredded.

Lan Zhan looks grim. He plays a succession of three quick chords which are quickly overtaken as the noise, just a murmur until now, grows into a roar of sound. It sounds like a thousand whispers all layered on top of each other, and it takes Wei Ying a second to figure out what, exactly, it is saying—

“Give it back,” it groans, “give it back, give it back, give it back.”

Wei Ying knows he didn’t take anything from the creepy attic, much less the house. There was nothing there to take, for one—stale cookies and awful tea, moth-eaten robes and rancid makeup, a hundred masks without eyes--but that’s not what this ghost is after. Wei Ying’s heart is pounding. He needs his exorcism stuff—at the very least his flute, or some chalk for an array.

First, liberate, second, suppress, third, eliminate, he thinks and almost wants to laugh. Too late for liberation, since it’s clearly already as free as can be-- he’d make the joke if the situation weren’t so dire. Ideally, this would be the time to offer it what it wants, but since he has no clue, suppression is the best option. He doesn’t even have talisman paper on him, since he’s still wearing Lan Zhan’s sweater.

He’s wearing Lan Zhan’s sweater.

Costumes. All of the masks. Faces beneath faces, bodies under clothes, the makeup chest and the mirrors.

Wei Ying wonders how he didn’t see it before. He should have burned all of his clothes the minute he stepped in the door because if he brought this with him, wearing him like a second skin—

He rips off the sweater, ignoring how it catches on his earring sending it tumbling to the floor—he throws it at the memory of the person, now just a mass of resentment and terror—and the sweater bursts into flames.

It’s a brief fire, but enough to light every corner of the room. As one, the shadows disperse, melting away and sinking into the floor, flying out the window. The figure, at the centre of the bright light, vanishes completely, leaving only an afterimage on Wei Ying’s eyelids. The smoke alarm wails.

Wei Ying’s heart is still beating too fast in his chest, adrenaline still racing through his veins. There is a burn mark on the carpet, to the left of the couch, a large black charred piece, that smells vaguely of burnt plastic. It’s the only sign, besides the burnt-out hall light, that anything strange happened at all. Even the reflections in the windows are normal again.

Wei Ying jumps when the C-drama starts playing behind him.

Lan Zhan doesn’t. He banishes his spiritual weapon with a wave of his hand and moves to the kitchen where he disables the alarm. The apartment is silent, and still.

“What the fuck,” Wei Ying manages. He drags his hands over his face, digging the heels of his palms into his eyes. He’s standing in the middle of their living room, wearing only boxers, because the ghost that followed him home didn’t, what, like him dressing in someone else’s clothes? This has to make top twenty, no, top ten weirdest ghost revenge plots he has ever had to deal with. He looks at Lan Zhan, who is staring back at him across the small expanse of their living-slash-dining room, face blank. “I’m so sorry,” he tells Lan Zhan, “I can’t believe—it followed me home—I should have known—”

“Wei Ying,” Lan Zhan interrupts. Wei Ying stops talking immediately, looks up at his husband. “There is no need for sorry, between us.”

“I mean,” Wei Ying says, staring at the mark in the rug, “usually I’d agree, but I think this kind of warrants an apology.” He digs at the mark with his toe. It’s not even warm anymore, just charred. “I destroyed the rug, Lan Zhan.”

Lan Zhan shakes his head and flips on the electric kettle. “I disagree,” he says calmly, as though Wei Ying hadn’t just accidentally invited in a clothing-obsessed ghost and also destroyed one of Lan Zhan’s hoodies. Sure, he has never worn them, but the point stands.

He gapes at his husband. “You were worried, before,” he blusters, “Why-- how aren’t you more freaked out about the ghost in our house?”

Lan Zhan takes two mugs out of the cupboard, and the marshmallows-in hot chocolate tin, too. There is the edge of a smile playing on his lips when he looks at Wei Ying again, made soft under the light.

He says, “this is an opportune time to rearrange the living room.”

Wei Ying laughs. It’s the last of the adrenaline—he’ll be crashing quickly after this—but suddenly it’s hysterical. He laughs until he can’t breathe, and keeps laughing.

“Lan Zhan,” he manages, still laughing, and stumbles into his husband’s waiting arms. They will definitely be having a conversation about the wards on their house, and possibly about Wei Ying’s safety—but that can happen tomorrow. Wei Ying muffles his giggles in Lan Zhan’s shoulder, waits until they subside. He looks up at his husband, keeping his arms hooked loosely around the back of his neck. Lan Zhan’s warm hands are on his waist.

“I love you so much,” Wei Ying admits.

“Mn,” Lan Zhan hums, “and I, you.”

#journalsofagoddess #wangxiansolstice20 #*fics20 #*gifts20

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