#lxc has a hard time of it rip

[jiangwanyinscatmom]

I saw your post about "feel free to vent" and god, I don’t even think that I love that pathetic guyfailure in your way, but I follow you and read your posts, because they bring me joy (although I don’t always agree with everything you say) and you’re one of the few people who’s willing to talk about how unhinged, pathetic and entirely deranged jiang zongzhu is. I’m so fucking tired of jc fandom, the way they turned him into something entirely unrecognisable from his canon self, turned him into weepy little bitch with gaping hole for every single "gege" on the block to fuck.

They make me genuinely hate him. I see that oc!jc committing identity fraud and I hate him. I hate him so much. My only content in this fandom is the novel, it’s the only thing that provides me with content. How fucking delightful he is there? I don’t fucking get. Jc stans say you’re a fucking jc anti or whatever the fuck, but no one actually hates jc more than his fucking stans do. the fucking torture of watching your fave being flandarised. their fucking omegaverse rotten brains yelling and crying about his tiny waist and childbearing thighs. Have you seen the art of him? What kind of caricature they turn him into? Fucking twink that will be blown away by the wind and his "geges" that will catch him midair and fuck everliving fuck out of him because uwu he did nothing wrong, he’s innocent, he’s little precious baby boy meowmeow tsundere. They yell so hard about how misunderstood he is, but they’re the ones misunderstanding his character most. They have no respect for canon material. Most of them haven’t read the fucking novel because they HaTe wAnGxIAn sO mUcH, they pick up disgusting fanon bullshit and run with it claiming it somehow to be canon.

Canon!jc would fucking rip that oc!jc in tiny little shreds, torture him violently and vomit on his corpse.

what have they turned his relationship with jin ling into? what are they fucking doing to that precious golden brat? why no one fucking enjoys their canon relationship that don’t lack complexity and depth. Why do they turn him into weird kid obsessed with his uncle? who has no life outside his uncle, who fights "jiujiu stealers" like it’s his full time job??? Jin ling is his own character, he’s going through so much, his fucking family is insane, he’s dealing with bullying, he’s working his ass off to impress his uncle who put high expectations on him.

what they turn "geges" into? they come and yell how lwj has no personality, that he’s just a "top" but then they do exactly the same shit with other characters? they’re genuinely making me hate lxc. I despise xicheng with burning fucking passion. I’m in a ooc competition, and xicheng stans are my opponents *insert squidward here*

chengxian makes my fucking blood boil because THATS ONE WAY TO ENTIRELY MISUNDERSTAND BOTH OF THEIR CHARACTERS AND TURN COMPELLING "BROTHER" CONFLICT INTO THE MOST BORING FUCKING SHIT THAT THE EARTH HAS WITNESSED. they way they just go OMG WWX LOVED JC SOOOOOO MUCH LWJ HATES JC BECAUSE HE KNOWS WWX LOVES HIM MORE THAN ANYTHING, HIS SACRIFICE IS AN ACT OF LOVE, HE LOVED HIM, HE DID IT OUT OF LOVE. why would they entirely erase wwx’s character development like that? wwx’s entire fucking arc is about learning to see his self worth, learning that the life he had at lotus pier wasn’t it, FUCKING HELL yllz literally was comforting himself with thoughts of never meeting the jiangs. My guy literally was lying there unable to sleep and was thinking about how running away from dogs and being a beggar is infinitely better than the jiangs. It’s literally in the fucking book. I don’t fucking GET IT.

I remember one time mentioning that of fucking COURSE, the manhua would erase the "golden core reveal" as in how jc lost it, because ultimately wangxian is the most important part of the story and jc is some guy wwx finally gets rid of in order to digest his traumas in a safer space and find happiness elsewhere because clearly he wasn’t happy at lotus pier. and they fucking??? came up with an AU???? as a response to me????? where wwx comes back to lotus pier because HE LOVES JC MORE THAN ANYTHING WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO very good argument, very nice talk.

I’m so fucking sick and tired, I muted jc’s name and tag on twitter and here even though I genuinely like the guy. It pains me. It causes me fucking brain damage. I want to enjoy my fandom experience, I want to be able to talk about this dudenobody and have fun. I so hate being here, I want to be free.

I’m so sorry to vent like that. 😭

I will use this as a general jump start of fandom griping regarding this entire debacle since this, this right here, should not be a normal thing that fandom has to send anonymously due to being scared of the vitriolic backlash received.

I have been nice, I have been sarcastic, I have been a troll, and despite my initial kindness and patience when I first started interacting with this fandom, I was met with consistent death threats and homophobia about a fictional male character and why I am less then patient now for Jiang Cheng stans. Other people should not HAVE to apologize for not enjoying a completely made up fandom persona and getting bit at for this. By all means go ahead and enjoy a fanon persona, by all means ask for supporting evidence when someone is arguing they do not like a character.

I interact with other Jiang Cheng fans just fine outside of this, they are not the ones I speak of in this. The ones I am addressing are the vitriolic ones that are angry about anything close to being taken as "anti" regarding an in story antagonist that does exhibit antagonistic behavior time and again with leading text and citations. It doesn't matter if he is someone that is enjoyed, somehow it's "wrong".

And hey. I DO disagree on several different interpretations in this fandom, but NONE of them have ever garnered the hate I have gotten in my 3 years in this fandom the way I chose to discuss Jiang Cheng. When told to use another tag, it was done, but again it was done incorrectly, when I stopped using anti at the behest of other fans, I did because hey, it was able to reach a wider audience, that did enjoy the character himself and wanted deeper understanding outside of fanon only that pervaded the tag meant for "Jiang Cheng".

I certainly do not deny his instances of kindness, but how dare I ascertain that all if this in context is not a reflection of positivity for him within the plot he is meant for, no matter time and again saying he has an opening for himself to do better in the future for others that have yet to be hurt by him, or are willing to salvage what they still have.

I should not have to be told I just want to fuck a dude as a "joke" and a comeback because of how I go and point out what he's like in the work. That is casual homophobia and shockingly sexual harassment. Or be told to think of it as a sibling who uses drugs and it's therefore alright to demean said character, or deny the blatant abuse this character exhibits or uses because he also had been abused by an adult.

I do not need to be tolerant of a side of fandom due to all the above treatment and others deal with.

#mdzs #mo dao zu shi #lol fandom #oh fandom

[wangxianficfinder]

Fic Finder

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1. Hello, I was hoping that you lovely people can help me find an ao3 fic that I’ve been searching for. WWX is brought back the same way as canon but it wasn’t MXY who summoned him but an original character. WWX ends up in Cloud Recesses because he interacts with LXC AND LWJ a lot in the story. The twist is that the person who brought WWX back hated him so much that he wanted WWX to suffer really badly. WWX figures it out/knows. It does end up with a happy ending. Thank you!~

Hello, beautiful people. Im the anon who submitted #1 from the latest fic finder post. Unfortunately the fic I’m looking for is not Beauty and the Boot. The original character who summoned WWX was male and hated the Yiling Patriarch. The fic had a lot of angst as well if that helps🥲

NOT FOUND! ❤️Beauty and the Boot by PTchan (T, 44k, wangxian, summoned by f!oc, Canon Divergence, Romantic Comedy, Genderbending, Denial, Fem!WWX, WangXian kids, Crack-ish, WIP)

FOUND! A Storm of Laughter in the Stillness of the Jingshi by OnlyMeAndMyBones (T, 73k, WangXian, Angst with a Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Recovery, Pain, Mental Illness, Depression, PTSD, Rehabilitation, slow burn but significantly less so than canon, miscommunication is still a thing tho, Empathy, Guilt, Forgiveness, it's not THAT dark actually)

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2. Hey. I've been looking for a fic that I read I while ago for so long. WWX accidentally sets off a talisman and gets deaged.? I remember that he is stuck in that form for a while and takes zidian from JC. Later when he finds out about LWJs scars on his back he threatens the lan elders with it and says something like this isn't even hia weapon and imagine if he dad one of his own.. thanks bye 

FOUND? Silver & Gold by beeswaxing  (E, 162k, wangxian, Mojo’s post)

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3. Hi! I'm trying to find a wangxian fanfic I read long ago. It's where LWJ is engaged to JYL and WWX is engaged to JZX. I remember a specific part where JZX got jealous when he saw WWX and LWJ hanging out a lot and told WWX that he is his and not LWJs. WWX took offense to this and punched JZX telling him he cant control him. Endgame is ofc wangxian but yeah. I cant find it 😭 @journalsofagoddess

FOUND? Neatly Arranged by thunderwear (T, 45k, WangXian, Arranged Marriage, Angst with a Happy Ending, lwj’s mother is here but only briefly, RIP, Shenanigans, Fix-It, of sorts, Canonical Character Death, but not all, did i forget to tag pining, because this fic is like 90 percent pining, Hurt/Comfort)

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4. Hello! Thank you for your hard work! I'm trying to find a fic there LWJ is a youtuber, and he does these 'day in the life of a college student' where he's just perfect at everything- meticulous, on top of his life and studies, and ultra competent. WWX, at the same college, then posts a response video where he shows what's it really like as a student and its just a troll/spoof of LWJ's vids where he cries like three times a day and eats junk food, etc. This goes on for months, with many videos and WWX accidentally becomes popular. Then wangxian meet and fall in love about it. NHS and JC help WWX with the vids, and i think the summary said something like 'three idiots make a youtube channel'. Anyway, hope someone can put together better search parameters than me. Thank you! @somevariationofgay

FOUND! like, comment, share & subscribe by detectorist (T, 22k, WangXian, Modern AU, College/University, YouTube, Social Media, Flirting, Humour, Banter, Getting Together, First Kiss, Texting, so much texting, Youtubers For Social Justice, The Gang Gets Political, Competitive Flirting Via The Medium Of Youtube, it's about the yearning, YouTube Rivals To Lovers)

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5. Hi! I recently found this page and it looks amazing. I’ve been looking for the AO3 au fic. The premise is that in this world, people are able to essentially enter their minds kind of like a vr situation and create worlds. This has become a very lucrative business. Wei ying entered a simulation that was MDZS and as a result he entered a 13 month coma. Everyone thought he was dead. But he retired from the business. But then the juniors call him in for “one last mission” which is basically the yi city arc. and he and lan zhan work through some unspoken tension and then they get together. @awkwardly-cry-ing-in-the-corner

FOUND! some lovely, perilous thing by varnes (E, 24k, WangXian, Inception Fusion, Criminal Associates To Lovers, Heist Case Fic)

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6. Hey, it's me again haha so I read this ff long time ago and it was soo good unfortunately i cant remember the title

So like, the cultivation world needs yiling laozu's help and they tried to summon him using mo xuanyu but they failed since yl lz appeared in his own original body and not in mxy. Anyway so history repeats itself, wwx knows everybody especially lan zhan cuz he his "friend" that time. They became curious about wwx, they found his journal and he kept talking about this certain friend eventually they found out the friend's name is lan zhan lan wangji. Time skip they found out that lwj reincarnated, he looks exactly the same as wwx's friend. Lxc said it was impossible cuz all their ancestors died because of an explosion that was caused by wwx bavk in the day.

There is this spefic scene, wwx kept blaming himself because he was the reasom why lz died, ok so lz married a woman (arranged marriage) and had child with her, wy was heartbroken and told lz that he has feelings for him, lz also has feelings for him, so when lz heard that the sects will have a siege in burial mounds he went there and protected wy then something happened and the surroundings explode.

Anyway, they have come to a conclusion that wy is an immortal, he took care of lz's child, lz reincarnated he fought really hard to keep his body and appearance the same

Thank you thank youuuuuuuu for all your hard work @hellothere9597

FOUND? Old Foreshadows by protos_metazu_ison (M, 15k, WangXian, YL WWX, BAMF WWX, War, Universe Alteration, Sunshot Campaign, Rated For Violence, Timeline What Timeline)

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7. Hi hi, I hope y'all are doing well ^^ Ive recently been thinking about a fic i read in late 2019/early 2020 and I was hoping to get some help finding it? What I remember about it is that after Mo Manor, wwx doesnt go to Dafan mountain and instead travels until he finds a village and starts working there as a farmer. wn is also there after a while and he helps wwx. lwj visits the village but doesnt recognize wwx at first. If anyone knows what fic this is id be vv grateful! @storming-raumo

FOUND? focal, filler, and line by bosbie (T, 26k, wangxian, canon divergence, flower shop au, fluff, hurt/comfort, pining, falling in love, WWX is not recognized in Dafan mountain, slice of life, WIP) wwx is not a farmer but the rest checks out

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8. Fic finder! I binged All Of The Yiling Wei Sect AUs recently and they all kind of blurred together in my brain, so I THINK all of this happens in the same fic but I could be wrong and if I am I'm so, so sorry. In the fic Wei Wuxian very briefly worked with the talisman scammer to sell actual Yiling Laozu talismans for a decent penny, then one of the Wen uncles convinced him they should set up their own stall. They made talisman paper out of the burial mounds bamboo and it was red. There was a scene when the Wen went on trial and Wen Ning was able to speak to the people in the room, proving that he's cognizant and not a mindless puppet. The Jiang ended up taking the Wei as a subordinate sect I believe? And WWX started to make friends with Jin Guangyao. @lewiscarrolatemybrain

FOUND! Grave dirt by esama (T, 92k, wangxian, canon divergence, necromancy, demonic cultivation, farming, found family, pre-slash, politics, Fix-it of sorts, yilingwei sect au)

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9. I am looking for a fic, maybe it is part of the Amnesia rec list, or if not it should be! Wwx has lost about 2 months of memory. Turns out that in that time he and LZ got engaged. He tries to work out if this is a real engagement or not. There is also a discussion conference at CR and Jiang Cheng is there. I particularly remember the scene where Wwx finds out the engagement wasn't real, goes to JC and cries about it. Then JC storms to the Jingshi to shout at LZ for making WY cry. I love that scene, but who wrote it again? Thanks for helping me out! @kesterling

FOUND! put your heart where your mouth is by protos_metazu_ison (T, 20k, wangxian, JC & WWX, post-canon, misunderstanding, memory loss, pining & insecure WWX, happy ending, twin prides of yunmeng feels, fluff & angst, protective JC)

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10. Hi, I'm looking for a fic where the sword goes through both JYL and JC at Nightless City. WWX takes them both back to Lotus Pier and essentially locks the place behind a barrier, but the sect itself doesn't really mind. I think it was one chapter in a collection but I can't be sure.

FOUND? Chapter 2 of Cosmic by apathyinreverie (T, 10k, wangxian, JC & WWX & JYL, everyone lives au, yunmeng sibling dynamics, protective yunmeng Jiang sect, romance, smitten LWJ, oblivious WWX, powerful WWX, possessive LWJ, soft WWX, streetkid WWX, time travel fix-it, modern setting)

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11. Hi! Love the work you all do. Keep the good work. So for a fic finder... I've been looking for this fic I started reading a while ago but then had to stop. I'm pretty sure I bookmarked it but alas I haven't had any luck finding it. That's why I'm putting my faith in you guys and the readers. So this is what I remember: it was a WIP, it was post canon, wangxian, JC and JL are in CR, JC want a fight, WWX said a few truth and JL goes to WWX, it is said that JYL went to the battle to die on purpose. @multitudeofmes

FOUND! What Happens When The Self-Sacrifing Idiot Snaps by WiFi_Stalker (Not rated, 1k, wangxian, post-canon, not Jiang friendly, not YZY friendly, not JC friendly, not JYL friendly, WWX snaps, WIP)

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12. I'm looking for a fic from 1-2 years ago, in English, was a WIP, where LWJ is Chief Cultivator and WWX is wandering on his own. WWX meets a nobleman who invites WWX to stay with him and encourages him to use his cultivation, to the benefit of the common people. The fic was from LWJ's perspective (I think?) and mostly took place in letters exchanged, with some exposition before or after a letter. Wangxian implied, not confirmed; fic author debating confirmation. Does the fic still exist? @acasualgeek

FOUND? To Start A Bridge From A Single Log by ChilianXianzi (T, 4k, wangxian, WWX & OMC, post-canon, chief cultivator LWJ, inventor WWX, politics, epistolary, pining, jealous LWJ, sugar baby WWX, WIP)

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13. Hi! I need help finding this fic. It's a special agent (James bond style) Lan Wangji and Q Wei Wuxian. I tried looking everywhere and with every tag I could think of on AO3 but I could only find the one where Wei Wuxian is a 007. I remember it starts out with Lan Wangji in the car watching a house or something and then Wei Wuxian talks to him over an ear com. He had to take MianMian's place as she was busy/ on pregnancy leave? I can't remember. Also, Wei Wuxian gets shocked when he realizes Lan Wangji always brings back his kit in perfect condition. Thank you!!

FOUND? 💖 some life yet unspent by Fahye (E, 28k, wangxian, spies & secret agents au)

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14. Is the one fic, where Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji dual cultivate a Yin core in Wei Wuxian still up on AO3? Wei Wuxian, before he knows he’s going to dual cultivate with Lan Wangji, has nightmares that he’s going to have to dial cultivate with Wen Qing. Lan Wangji has to rail him five times in a night.

FOUND! i had to abandon myself (you took all of me) by justdoityoufucker (E, 27k, WIP, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Burial Mounds Settlement Days, Novel Characterizations, Philosophy, Illnesses, Chronic Pain, Cultivation Sect Politics, Dual Cultivation, LWJ fucks a core into WWX, On Hiatus) might be this? Unfortunately it's on hiatus right now :[

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15. Hello! I don’t know if this fic is still up. I couldn’t find it so… I can remember some details of this fic, but it’s basically a shameless Lan Wangji time-travel fanfic where he changes the whole story by saving Wei Wuxian from the beginning in Cloud Recesses. I forgot the name… I remember that part of the summary was the line; “If you give me a kiss, I’ll let you go.” Or something like that…

FOUND! could be the deleted "OOC!" by A_flower_in_the_snow. It was reuploaded on Wattpad

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16. i read a fic a while ago where WWX survived the seige but lost most of his memory and ended up finding a shrine and moving in there. He stayed there with a-yuan for years taking care of the shrine. Eventually LWJ found him. thats really all i remember but if you could help me find it that would be amazing!! thank you!!! :)

FOUND? #16 was This House is Loved by Ribena but has been deleted

SIMILAR! And They Have Escaped The Weight of Darkness by cosmicmilktea (T, 10k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Amnesia, Memory Loss, Grief/Mourning, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, Screw the Cultivation world tbh, The Lan precepts deserves better, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Falling In Love, domestic life, Social justice boyfriends wangxian, Happy Ending) is a deleted fic, however this fic is similar to it (no ayuan tho)

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17. Hi first of all thank you for your womderful work i always find good fics to read because of this blog next please help me find this fic ive been serching all over. This fic is a role reversal instead of wwx its lwj who died. I remember that he died before the 33rd whip and a lan member got guilty and brought him back. His ribbon was also missing in the beginning of the story. wwx is a sec leader now yiling wei sect at wei sizhui brought lwj to get help because lwj is looking for something and he hides is face. Thank you for the help and good job @ladyxyraine

FOUND? Restart from the End by EmBlu (IcyDeath) (G, 71k, wangxian, resurrection, canon divergence, temporary major character death (LWJ), JYL & JZX & NMJ live, yilingwei sect au, sect leader WWX, angst, hurt/comfort, angry WWX, grief, slow burn, wei sizhui, WIP)

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18. i'm sure i'll find it before this is answered, but just in case, i remembered a line from a fic but i don't remember what it's called. it's something like "wwx imagined sizhui's face on a series of progressively younger children. this is what he may have looked like at 13; at 9; at 6. this is how your child grew without you." thank you!!!!! @kisskissgotohell

FOUND! your name, safe in their mouth by astrolesbian (G, 10k, LSZ & WWX & LWJ, WangXian, Father-Son Relationship, Injury, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Canon, More aligned with CQL than novel canon, Miscommunication, Eventual Positive Communication, Trying to be a family, how to tell your dad you want him to be your dad in 6 easy steps!)

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19. Hello! Thank you so much to all of the mods for what you do! I’m hoping to find this post-canon mpreg fic that I read from a while back. WWX didn’t immediately tell LWJ about the pregnancy out of fear that it won’t push through or something. Some people were alive (like Wen Qing who secretly did WWX’s checkup and told him about the pregnancy) but not JYL. WWX also stopped drinking wine and started eating healthier to ensure the baby’s growth? Which kinda made LWJ suspicious? There was also a part where WWX visited JC in Lotus Pier, and JC was able to guess at WWX’s pregnancy and they had a really nice conversation and reconciliation. I’m sorry if some of these details might have been from other mpreg fics that I unknowingly confused with the one I’m looking for, but I hope the others are accurate enough to help! Thank you so much again! Y’all are a blessing!

FOUND? Unexpected Lullaby by SilverStark (T, 30k, WangXian, JC & WWX, Minor Original Character(s), Unplanned Pregnancy, Post-Canon, Mpreg, Non-ABO, Fluff, Established Relationship, Reconciliation, Family, Dual Cultivation Baby)

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20. I'm looking for a fanfic that the modern Wei Wuxian ends up traveling to the past because of a book he found. I also remember that it turns out that all the characters that are dead come back to life

FOUND? Could be the deleted series by yareyarejojosan. Someone uploaded the author's works to Google Drive

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#wangxian #mdzs #wangxian fic finder #wangxian fic search #the untamed #wangxianficfinder #long post

[stiltonbasket]

In Flowers in the Palace, how are Nie Mingjue and Lan Xichen viewed by the country as a whole?

Nie Mingjue publicly overthrew (aka murdered) Wen Ruohan with no warning whatsoever, so he has a reputation as a pretty bloodthirsty emperor. However, things began to change when he started making reparations to WRH's various victims and married Lan Xichen, since taking a respected scholar for his Empress was viewed as an act of sympathy for the common people. But at the same time, he outlawed political executions and acts of physical discipline towards servants, so most wealthier households either love or hate him, while the middle/laboring classes think favorably of him. However, the military/trade aspects of the country are all going strong, so none of his opponents have been brave and/or foolish enough to complain about him.

Similarly, LXC is a mixed bag with opinions about her differing between genders instead of between social classes. Virtually all of her male subjects have issues with a woman being so deeply involved with the government, and after she passed her first set of new laws about girls’ education and legal marriage ages for teens, there were no remaining political factions that didn’t have a problem with her. But unlike with NMJ, Lan Xichen is also widely feared. Lan Xichen has her own network of spies that report directly to her, and the entire country knows that these spies exist, though no one knows who they are--and furthermore, getting on her bad side is worse than directly aggravating the Emperor, so there have been multiple assassination attempts during her reign as Empress, though no one has tried to kill NMJ. 

#asks #flowers in the palace #reference #meta #nielan #lxc has a hard time of it rip #and there are plenty of women who don't approve of her either #but all the girls and young women in the empire are in love and simply have to stan #the thing is that nmj and lxc were both the ideals for young men and women respectively before nmj took the throne #nmj was the perfect son re: wealth and education and martial ability and filial responsibility #and lxc was seen as the perfect woman i.e. beautiful and accomplished #everyone in the upper-middle class and above *knew* them #so their flaws in the eyes of the older generation are strong points to their peers #and their rule gets more secure as they get older and the previous generation starts retiring #things are kind of politically shaky now but nielan have a solid game plan lol

[pocketfulofrecs]

Admiranda is definitely a wonderful writer. Every fic of hers hits the right points, has excellent characterization, and great descriptions. Some fics are funny, some address serious matters, some are angsty, and some are fluffy. There’s no limit to what this writer can write, and write well. We definitely recommend exploring her works.

She has written 65k+ on 17 different works, and you can find her on tumblr at @ladypfenix

Her fics:

The Ghost of Lotus Pier - [not rated | 217 words | poetry]

“It’s Heating Up in the Cold Springs of Gusu Lan! You Won’t Believe This Artwork Really Exists!” (our post) - [mature | 5.5k | cultivated to immortality]

Songs of Swords (our post) - [teen | 5.8k | sentient swords]

To Take a Wife-Or Perhaps a Husband - [teen | 2.1k | JC tries to find a wife or a husband]

A Brother’s Choice - [mature | 8.5k | Wen Ning travels to the past and changes things for the better]

Of Reflections and Repentance - [teen | 3.1k | LXC apologises to WWX]

Stolen Peaches (our post) - [explicit | 2.8k | rule 63 pwp]

The Magic in the Weaving - [explicit | 3.2k | LWJ weaves a robe to be able to rip it off his husband]

I’ll Take the Path of Thorns (our post) - [general | 8.9k | WWX is hit with a curse to feel pain when around people who hate him]

An Evening Well Spent (our post) - [general | 2.6k | wangxian and jin ling bonding]

Take Me Like The Wind, Take Me With The Sky - [explicit | 8k | phoenix WWX and cultivator LWJ - rule 63]

The Young, the Horny, the Jaded and the Jade: Partners in Time - [teen | 6.1k | wip | mdzs and cql crossover]

Going Up While Going Down - [explicit | 1.2k | pwp]

And This Fire Will Guide You Home - [general | 1.1k | WWX gets home to his husband and babies]

Beneath the Magnolia Blossoms - [general | 897 words | An older WWX reflects on his life.]

By Fire and Starlight - [teen | 1.5k | burial mounds settlement days]

Dee’s favourite: Ok, it is unfair to ask me this. Sangsang wrote three - THREE fics for me. My favorite is Of Reflections and Repentance because it offers some soothing resolution to me. I love A Brother’s Choice as well. Honestly, I’d say all of their fics are something I go back and read multiple times.

Ju’s favourite: why is this question so hard? Song of Swords made me fall in love with her writing (and I am still waiting for the sequel). It’s so beautiful the way Suibian describes her relationship with WWX, and the love she has for him. Take Me Like The Wind, Take Me With The Sky was so gorgeous! An all powerful phoenix WWX falling in love with LWJ? And they are women? Just really amazing!

The interview:

Q. When did you start writing fics? Did you have fandoms before this one?

A. I posted my first fic at the tender age of thirteen. I wrote my first fic at the age of eight, though that one is wisely lost to time. I have had many, many fandoms in my lifetime, I started in Naruto and Inuyasha, lingered for a long time in Clamp and Fire Emblem and found my passion reignited by MDZS.

Q. What made you start writing for MDZS?

A. I had an idea for what if instead of it just being a certain level of cultivation, that Suibian actively decided to seal herself rather than be used by someone else. And once I started, I couldn’t stop.

Q. What’s your favourite fic you’ve written?

A. Posted, it would probably be Song of Swords, honestly. It’s from an unusual perspective and a different style than I usually write in, plus I got to lean into all my preferred imagery style really hard. There’s one in progress that will likely by my favorite when it is done, but we’re not there yet.

Q. What’s your favourite type of fics to read?

A. I really like epic fantasy romance long stories. Now for some reason in MDZS those don’t seem to be very common and most of them have...bugbears in them that taint the experience, but Vrishchika’s Fell By You is an example of what I really like to read.

Q. What’s your favourite comment? Or type of comment?

A. I adore comments that quote back their favorite parts to me, it makes it really easy to see what’s working for people and what everyone enjoyed the most. It doesn’t have to be a direct quote, but knowing which spots people liked the most makes me really happy.

Q. What motivates you to write?

A. As long as I can remember I have wanted to create things. Writing for fun has been something I’ve done since I was able to hold a pen, and I love being able to create whole worlds for people to marvel at and show them how I see the world.

Q. Who’s your favorite author?

A. That is a three way tie between Tamora Pierce, who has shown me that authors can continue to grow and change their perspectives and are open to that growth, Ursula K. Le Guin who once not only saw a shy little girl holding four beloved children’s books to be autographed by her, but helped her hold them open so that the ink wouldn’t smudge on the pages, and Robin McKinley, who let me continue to love fairy tales and most influenced my writing style.

Q. What is your favorite trope to read and/or write?

A. Established relationships. I’ve seen how they get together in canon, I love that. Now show me them being together.

Q. Do you have any advice for new authors?

A. Don’t delete your old works just because you’re better than you were when you started. Even if you look at something you finished and think “this is garbage, no one will like it,” it’s good to remember where you came from. I cannot reread any of my fics from before I was eighteen, and even most of those still make me cringe. But I can look back and see my journey along the way, the things I learned and the things I’m still learning, and I can be proud of it all.

Q. What do you think is the most important element in writing? Plot, characterization, relationship?

A. Characterization always comes first. If you have your characterization down, your plot will follow, and your relationships will build. But without good characterization, the others will fall flat. I have read books with nonsense for plots but I loved the characters and still enjoy them now, but I can tell when someone has a plot but no idea why the characters are doing what they do.

~

Check out their stories on ao3 and remember…

Comments and kudos feed the author’s soul.

#author spotlight #mdzs #admiranda

[angstymdzsthoughts]

In the lwj married wwx for yuan au ( keeping face marriage?) The lsz prefers lwj part, wwx moves w WQ and WN. He's old and it's pathetic, but he goes back to his studies, digs himself into them so ge doesn't have to think. Finishes early, gets into a niche thing and gets an award. ( did he publish a kid's book? Won a physics award? It doesn't matter)

Wwx bites the bullet and invites JC LWJ and LSZ

Now, growing up, LSZ has been loved, but he won't deny that wwx was the stricter parent, the one who, while fair, put all the effort into it ( wwx grew up wild and got pregnant, lwj grew up surrounded by rules and looked to spoil his kid. LSZ felt coddled)

After the divorce, LSZ feels conflicted. Did his parents ever love each other? Was wwx just a leech using him for Lan money? Or were they miserable because of him?( he doesn't like the second so he goes for the first) he's mad at wwx because he lasted so long when he was obviously never loved ( he'd never felt unloved, but bow he's wondering if his father can pove in other ways but quiet and he just never shows them). So he spends time w lwj, tries to see if things are different, if he's still loved. He is. He is loved in quiet, in calm, and he visits his home rarely enough that the silence doesn't bother him.

He only realises he misses wwx when he sees him on campus, jeans ripped wearing aj old T shirt he'd never have worn in public with bagd under his eyes and cheap coffe in a plastic bottle ( Finals be mad and WQ hoped that horrible coffee will make wwx stop)

LZS knows that he should say hi, but some part of him would be ashamed to ve seen in public with someone who looks like e beggar.

He has time, he tells himself. It's never too late to make amends, and it doesn't matter that LSZ feels cruel and unfiliar, his father had always forgiven him anything, he'll forgive him this.

He gets the invite to the event. It's not lwj who shows up but LXC to offer some empty platitudes. Lsz looks for WWX and finds him and JC fighting, so he knows he can't. He'll talk later; when this is over, when he can pull his father into a corner and apologise for the silence ( his parents were never good at communicating- never had to, never fought until the last big one that ended in divorce. LSZ ignored the problem and it didn't go away)

WWX goes on the stage later, eyes rimmed w red but a smile to big and proud, and JC in the rows glaring at anyone who doesn't clap hard enough. Wwx is praised and he's happy and lsz is happy..... but he's never seen his father smile like that at home. ( wwx always gave praise but never got it and lsz starts to wonder is WWX had ever been loved. - no, he hadn't been, lwj had made it loud and legal.) LSZ wants to mend things, he knows he should, but he feels ashamed. He's scared, he doesn't want his father's smile to vanish because of him.

(" why would i ve invited if he didn't want me here?" Part of him asks b4 he remembers his father had never wanted good things for himself.)

So he leaves.

Wwx spends another hour after the crowd disperses looking for him and JC does him the favour of not mentioning it. They go to JCs place where wwx drinks for little and cries fot lot and JC deletes any and all messages of those surnamed Lan

Ouch. LSZ is going to have to have a serious talk with LWJ about why the divorce happened and then feel even worse for abandoning the dad who needed him more.

Also, I'm loving the image of WWX going to college and sort of adopting all the fresh faced kids who are in need of a chaotic dad friend/father figure.

#reply #mdzs #lan sizhui #wei wuxian #lan wangji #jiang cheng #divorce

[featherfur]

Meng Yao should have been around when Jiang Cheng was running around with his head cut off trying to make disciples out of rogues and convince everyone to get started on the war. I just think he’d see this, probably manic, idiot who needs help and is 100% willing to be bossed around and who really doesn’t care about Meng Yao station in life because he’s just fucking desperate and wants to die but can’t because Yanli and just go “actually I’m interested”. Because Jiang Cheng would riot if he knew Meng Yao wanted to go back to his dad, and well Jiang Cheng is very pathetic when he thinks he’s being left behind (“You’re leaving me for the Jin just like Shijie? Tears and loud words for you! Tears and loud words dor a thousand years!”)

And Meng Yao would have a spot in Lotus Pier where he is VERY clearly wanted, he probably doesn’t become sworn brothers with anyone (or LXC and NMJ realize that no one needs to give the Jin any more influence and become sworn brothers with Jiang Cheng) unless it’s Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian (unfortunately WWX will still probably be killed or hunted at the very least but atleast Qin Su is alive? Maybe having MY around will help calm JC into the fact that LWJ wants to bang his brother and help him so JC can convince WWX to let LWJ atleast play for him, then maybe WWX can accidentally let slip about him already destroying one half and LWJ can help destroy the other half… Dunno if the Wen Remnants survive either sorry, honestly I don’t know if anyone can stop JGS in the long run)

So there’s two ways this goes: (under read more I have Thoughts)

Meng Yao DOES go to the Jin Sect still because JC gets wanting your Dad’s Approval even when he’s a dick AND he protects Yanli who immediately adopted him when JC showed up to the war with him. Without being stuck between a Rock and a Hard place (sorry NMJ not everyone is a annoyingly stubborn with their morals as you and MY is being hurt :( leave him alone :(( ) MY is able to continue being pressured without breaking and even though JGS keeps trying to get him to manipulate JC, MY won’t and won’t manipulate NMJ either and every time he goes to Lotus Pier to ‘look into’ the Jiang Sect he actually just spends the week being plied with children and listening to Jiang Cheng explain the fashion industry Again and talk about silks vs cashmeres vs wool so he just gets a vacay and is more prepared to stand up against his dad.

Also JC and Yanli catch on pretty quick to Madam Jin abusing MY because they were there after Madam Yu would hurt WWX and they know the signs of trying to hide the pain and Yanli suddenly starts Show Up whenever Madam Jin tries anything because that is her Didi now and she will protect him and if anyone ELSE tries to mess with him she will rip them apart like when Jin Zixun tries to bother WWX.

JGS does eventually manage to frame something on WWX but MY intervenes immediately by telling JC the truth and without the ‘did my kinda insane PTSD ridden brother so this?” Panic thoughts JC gets his people and is waiting for the force of Jin and smaller sects, with his two sworn brothers on either side. Because yeah NMJ absolutely hates the Wen but can he really ignore LXC and JC? Plus NHS on the side? He’s only there to protect WWX, anyone else can get fucked and even then he’s only protecting WWX because JC asked him too because NMJ thinks WWX sucks for choosing the wens because he’s very much of the one track ‘the wens suck’ mind. MY pretends he has no idea what’s going on but he does summon Jin Zixuan on ‘accident’ who shows up, annoyed he had to leave his kid, and is like “are we really going to accuse Nie Mingjue, known Wen hater, of protecting Wei Wuxian and lying about his innocence? Because his sword is the same size as my body and I’d rather Not”

(okay he’s more polite and subtle but that’s the gist) somehow Jin Guangshan dies, I’m voting Yanli poisoned him because I think Meng Yao is 100% willing at this point to simply take the abuse because Jiang Cheng and Lan Xichen aren’t essentially telling him to murder his father and that he’s stupid for not holding harder to his morals (sorry NMJ,,, you just,, I love you but MY is hurting and he’s not as stabby as you) NMJ is still very much crankily telling him his dad sucks whenever they meet but Jiang Cheng gets all sparkly whenever MY is around because MY will say he’s Doing Good, so there’s only so much room before JC start just biting anyone who even looks at MY wrong. (NMJ says he’s proud of JC once and JC just starts crying and NMJ UnderstandsTM why MY won’t leave him alone)

But Yanli has to be the one to kill him because MY wouldn’t because he’s a filial son and probably hasn’t lost his hope he will be Loved, Jin Zixuan wouldn’t because he’s like the only one in the entire show not down with murder, Madam Jin is not about to give up the power and money that comes from being the wife of Jin Guangshan even if JZX would take care of her because Yanli clearly is willing to rip everyone apart who fucks with her family and unlike Jiang Cheng is willing to change the status quo, and if JGS dies on a hunt they’ll blame WWX so Yanli just poisons him slowly and he dies from ‘illness’. JZX takes power, Meng Yao is told he’s amazing twelve times a day because JZX can do busy work and argue against anyone but he cannot have a small talk conversation to save his life. Life continues peacefully, Jiang Cheng keeps kidnapping JZX’s advisor because he misses him. Meng Yao knows how to control literally every single great sect but he’s busy chasing down his nephews and helping Jiang Cheng avoid marriage offers to do anything.

Once Jin Guangshan died, LXC and MY both swooped in to have the Wen Remnants moved somewhere else to ‘civilize’ them (using LXC’s own words here) and WWX is very much caught between Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji arguing over who he’s going home with and he’s honestly never felt more Loved TM. WWX spends six months to break the rest of the tiger rally under the grumpy/watchful eye of NMJ who still isn’t happy anyone from the Wen’s is still alive but he’s weak to puppy eyes and also when he’s being strong armed by his sworn brothers, MY, and NHS (though he still keeps an eye on the actual cultivators, he’s pretty much forgotten the rest of the Wen Remnants exist he just cares about the ones who know how to use a sword). Wangxian happens, idk how I’m voting for a wild Jingyi another orphan decides that he wants to meet the Purple Angry Man and body slams into WWX’s legs trying to get to the Purple man and LWJ catches him and it’s a full on romantic moment of staring into each other’s eyes while Jiang Cheng makes disgusted noises and Meng Yao pats his hand and just tells him to accept it.

Or Meng Yao stays in Lotus Pier because Jiang Cheng has problems and Meng Yao loves a messy loudmouth aggressive bitch with a secret heart of gold. Also Jiang Cheng is the exact kind of Demi-aroace dummy to not realize Meng Yao has a crush on LXC and keeps sending him over to Cloud Recesses to help with trade or something and MY gets to hang out with his crush constantly.

MY is Jiang Cheng’s personal advisor since WWX is currently refusing to process his trauma and staying in a very traumatic place. MY does try to help but WWX doesn’t trust him and probably only half trusts him around JC, BUT MY is very good with kids and helps work with JC on how to slip WWX supplies while negotiating directly with Nie and Lan without Jin glaring over him this time, and Jin Zixuan is more than happy to help when he can because again he’s just like the only one with modern morals and wants Lotus Pier to be strong since if all the sects fall then well the fucking demons/ghosts they hunt will eat them. So WWX is slowly atleast not ready to kill him, Meng Yao finds out WWX already destroyed half the Tiger Tally and tries to get him to let NMJ and LXC help him destroy it further (because that ties the three sects closer and so WWX won’t just stab someone if someone isn’t happy about the Wen’s existing)

Yanli poisons Jin Guangshan again because I think that’s the best way for him to go, Meng Yao does grieve but also that lasts for three minutes before Jiang Cheng shows up with some children he found in Yunmeng and Meng Yao needs to explain to him again that just because the kid latches on doesn’t mean you can take them home. But with JGS out of the way it’s a lot easier to strong arm NMJ into letting the Lan take the remnants (JC and NMJ still aren’t happy about it but NMJ can’t fight the three other sects and JC is getting his brother back and he’ll take the Wen living if that means WWX is too) and WWX returns to Lotus Pier. The truth of the golden core comes out probably via WWX having a flashback or panic attack or something (or that one theory of Yanli knowing,,,) words happen, WWX storms off to find LWJ.

Meng Yao wonders why he likes messy cry babies but still helps out Jiang Cheng because they’re technically brother in laws and also because he really does care about him. Wangxian happens and now Jiang Cheng is really pissed but WWX also said he wasn’t going to just up and leave so they’re on a rotating system but honestly everyone’s just waiting for them to move permanently to Lotus Pier because Lan Wangji has this giant hole in his heart for kids who love Wei Wuxian and Lotus Pier is filled with kids who are Jiang and therefore are insane ans love WWX.

Personally I think this one is the least likely but it sounds very nice right?

#the untamed #mdzs #Jiang Cheng #Meng Yao #Jin Guangyao #fix it #sorta #Lan Xichen #Nie Mingjue #Jiang Yanl #Wei Wuxian #read more #don’t take any of this seriously lmao pls I’m just fucking around

[a-cutebird]

i feel like as a fandom we do not spend enough time dissecting how fucked up the scene described here is.

"Young Master Wei, that night, you took the two halves of the Stygian Tiger Seal and pieced them together. After you were satisfied with the killing, you were a spent arrow as well. WangJi was injured on your rampage. He was in no better shape than you, barely supporting himself by leaning on Bichen. In spite of this, as he saw you stumble away, he immediately followed.

“Right then, not many people were still conscious. I, too, was almost unable to move, and I could only watch as WangJi, whose spiritual powers were clearly about to be drained, staggered towards you. He brought you onto Bichen as soon as he grabbed you, and you two left."

just. the mental image of lxc being so injured and so drained of spiritual energy that he can only watch helplessly as his brother continues to aid the man who did this to him - to all of them - is fucking breaking me.

lxc just spent an entire night fighting wave after wave of fierce corpses, saw them tear his sect members apart, watched as wwx's demonic cultivation reanimated those same members and forced them to turn on their own brothers and sisters, who could only watch in horror as the men and women they know and love, maybe their own wives, their own husbands, came lurching towards them.

and lxc, he wasn’t spared this; he had to face those familiar looking corpses, too.

they were his family.

but he had to swallow his grief and shout orders at everyone to focus, we will collect and properly bury the dead afterwards, but for now, you must think of them as the enemy --

hours. and hours, of this.

... and then, it ended. all the fierce corpses slumped over. that's the moment when, he assumes (probably correctly??) that wwx became "satisfied with the killing". lxc doesn't even have the energy to do a once-over of the battlefield to check how many of his sect members are left; he stays standing just long enough to make certain that he doesn't have to keep fighting, then his body gives out all at once, and he's on the blood-soaked ground, surrounded by dead bodies and injured cultivators.

but then!!!

he sees white robes pass by him! and it's wangji! and at first he thinks, oh thank god wangji is okay. and then wangji walks past him. and he goes, wait. hold on. wangji where are you --

and lxc has just enough energy to prop his body up enough to see wangji stagger towards wwx, grab him, put him on bichen, and... leave.

first of all, the fucking betrayal of lwj helping a mass murderer - a mass murderer who, i will remind you, used the bodies of the people he killed against their own family/sect members.

second of all, the betrayal of the fact that lwj has enough spiritual energy to do all that in the first place??? when lxc - and everyone else on the battlefield - is basically paralyzed, may as well be at the brink of death himself, because he spent everything he had trying to keep as many people alive in a battle where the enemy's only goal was to kill as many of them as possible?? like? wwx did not have any sort of noble goal here; he was literally just trying to kill.

look, i get that lwj is strong and he was being powered by love or whatever but you cannot tell me that lwj has more spiritual energy than lxc - so much more that he's able to, in this scene, 1. move, 2. haul wwx - an entire human adult male who weighs at least 150 lbs - onto his sword, 3. be able to use his sword (since we know that spiritual swords drain spiritual energy), 4. be able to FLY ON HIS SWORD, 5. be able to fly on his sword long enough to whisk wwx (whom he is carrying) (who, again, is a FULLY GROWN ADULT MALE) away to a location quite far away (the distance between nightless city & burial mounds is pretty substantial, i think?)

the ONLY way lwj could have done all this is if he hadn't fought as hard as lxc did and THAT knowledge. that, i think, would have hurt the most.

because again, lxc spent an entire fucking evening desperately trying to save lives

if lwj hadn't been doing that, then what the fuck was he doing??

... the fact that even after all of this, AND!!!!!! even after lwj severely injured 33 elders!!! which is, a goddamn HIGH CRIME - even after all! of! that! lxc loved lwj so much that he diligently, patiently, dutifully visited him while he was recovering from the discipline whip punishment - which, i cannot stress enough and i will never change my mind, lwj 100% deserved.

imagine how much lxc must have struggled to forgive lwj.

imagine all the sleepless nights lxc must have had after that bloody night, all the nightmares that plagued him over and over again - horrible visions of reanimated corpses of his family ripping other members of his family apart. of having to chop them into pieces because a fierce corpse won’t stop if you simply pierce its body; you have to completely disable it - decapitate it, cut off its limbs so it can no longer move.

imagine all the funerals he must have attended, doing his best to comfort the loved ones of the fallen, especially those who did not get even a single remain of their relatives because their corpses had been so torn apart during the carnage.

imagine how, even after all that, lxc loved lwj. still sought to understand why he did it all - and, even after being given such an unsatisfactory answer (”no matter what, i am willing to be responsible for everything wwx did” - that’s not a reason; that’s just... blindly following someone), still found it in himself to forgive him. because they’re brothers. because he grew up with lwj; he knows him; he knows him better than anyone else in the world knows him, better than wwx knew him in his first life, and better than wwx knows him in his second. 

in the end, lxc knows that lwj’s biggest crime was loving someone else too much, and lxc can’t find it in himself to hate his little brother for that, so he forgives him.

but he’ll never forget, that image of lwj flying away.

#mdzs #lan xichen #lan wangji #wei wuxian #lxc #lwj #wwx #twin jades #meta #i said that i wanted to draw this but now that i think about it #i want to write this scene #and the scenes proceeding it #where lxc has to tell lqr that lwj flew away with wwx #then helps him gather 33 of their least injured elders #then goes with them to confront lwj #the entire time #struggling with his emotions #and trying not to remember #the horrible things he saw that night #because right now they need to find wangji #right now he cannot fall into despair #pushing past the urge to scream and scream and scream is a skill he learned during sunshot #bitterly he thanks the war for preparing him for this terrible night #ugh #lxc...... #the more i think about all the shit he had to endure #the angrier i get that there are significant portions of the fandom #that do not give him nearly enough credit #that actively do him a disservice #by portraying him as an idiot or airheaded or whatever

[xiyao-feels]

do you have any stories about a-yao takes that are so off mark it shoots the moon into funny? like it's so divorced from canon or literally any interpretation floating around you cant even get offended by it?

anyways today i saw someone say that the big theme of MDZS is Choosing Love Not Evil (like a hallmark movie) and i laughed so hard i had a concussion

Unfortunately at this point my sense of humour on JGY takes has been pretty thoroughly worn out.... That take, for example, I've seen enough variations on it that it just makes me sigh.

Hmmmm.... This is kind of mean but,

I do laugh every time I read a passage with LXC and JC in MDZS because it's just like—the sheer goddamn lack of Xi//cheng. There's nothing. There's less than nothing! Like, there's nothing for Nie//lan as a romantic relationship but at least they're /friends/, you know?

In particular this passage from ch 102 just makes me laugh every time I read it:

Jiang Cheng’s voice harshened, “What do you mean, enough? It’s enough as long as you say so? You know everything! You’re better than me at everything! Whether it be talent or cultivation or spirituality or personality, you guys knew everything while I was much lower—then what am I?!?!”

He suddenly reached out, as if to seize Wei WuXian’s collar. Lan WangJi grabbed Wei WuXian’s shoulder with one hand, letting Wei WuXian stand behind him, and with his other hand he forcefully pushed away Jiang Cheng’s hand. Rage could be seen hidden within his eyes. Although his push held no spiritual energy, it was quite powerful in terms of strength. The wound at Jiang Cheng’s chest ripped apart again. Blood surged.

Jin Ling cried, “Uncle, your wound! HanGuang-Jun, spare some mercy!”

However, Lan WangJi’s voice was cold, “Jiang WanYin, spare some virtue!”

Lan XiChen took off his outer robe and lay it over the shivering Nie HuaiSang, “Sect Leader Jiang, please do not be so agitated. Your injury will worsen.”

Ah yes. The Xi//cheng (TM).

#I've seen takes you people have never seen #sigh #I've seen some really absurd takes but I worry most of them are too specific to people for me to want to list them #but basically any bad take about jgy you can imagine does unfortunately exist #—lol that first tag waa supposed to be in quotes but I forgot that tumblr eats them

[eleanorfenyxwrites]

All Dreams Were Worth Keeping

Part 14 - NSFW

[Masterpost][Ao3]

(Quick note: This part was originally going to follow the same format as the others with it being both MY's and LXC's perspectives but it was getting really long so I'm going to be splitting it up! This is MY's section and LXC's bit will be up soon after, probably later today or sometime tomorrow.)

-//-

Meng Yao’s racing heart and too-frantic breathing both calm and slow back down to more manageable levels as he puts some distance between himself and the banquet hall, as he becomes a stranger again without the weight of knowing eyes on him. It’s easier like this, to be nothing and nobody but another well-dressed stranger, one of many. It’s easier to handle being ignored like this, when he chooses it rather than when it’s used to demean and demoralize, as is his family’s specialty.

In hindsight, he recognizes that it shouldn’t have come as a surprise that the Jins are here. While he hasn’t found any concrete evidence of it just yet in his own personal research he doesn’t doubt that his father is firmly in Wen Ruohan’s pocket – it would be extreme foolishness on Wen Ruohan’s part not to schmooze with the man who is singlehandedly responsible for an alarming amount of wealth, both legal and not. And despite still secretly, desperately yearning for his father’s approval, he’s not so naïve as to not be aware that Jin Guangshan is…slimy. His desire to still find his approval adds a delicious layer of self-loathing to his usual cocktail of it, though most of the time he just tries not to think too hard about it.

If Meng Yao believed in a kind universe, he might have felt inclined to thank some sort of higher power that his eavesdropping at least is – finally - proving useful. He’s more inclined to think with a wry, dark sort of humor that devils come when summoned, and that that is why he’s able to follow the threads of gossip swirling around him about the Jins to hunt down Wen Ruohan. Who is, of course, currently ensconced in some private meeting with Jin Guangshan because, as already established, the universe is not kind. Not to Meng Yao.

They’re not even bothering to be discreet. He follows the murmurs and glances and the conspicuous flashes of too much gold and too many sun insignias up to a sort of balcony overlooking the party. It’s not secluded, it’s not secret, and Meng Yao is able to get close enough under the cover of the glittering crowd to overhear their conversation with ease. It’s painfully clear that they’re well-assured of their reputations to protect them, and it makes acid churn in Meng Yao’s stomach that they’re right. Who would dare to harm Wen Ruohan and Jin Guangshan? They’re untouchable, sprawling in their metaphorical thrones and looking down on the rest of the world unless they deign to descend into it for their own gain, their own pleasure.

Meng Yao is going to rip it all down around their ears and stand on the rubble of it and laugh.

It’s easy enough for a nobody like him to park himself safely out of the way of the general bustle and sip at another flute of champagne as he listens, affecting a bored attitude that easily hides the way he’s eavesdropping. Not that these two seem to care much one way or the other, really, but if he’s spotted he has no doubt that he’ll be made another example of, and he’d really prefer to listen to whatever slime comes oozing out of their mouths than find himself at the base of another painful staircase.

“ -an probably get you another five or six properties within the next year.”

“That won’t be necessary. Too many more from your banks and people will start to get suspicious. Should I want more I’ll tell the boys to make another game of it, see who can win without any outside intervention at all. Let’s talk more long-term.”

“Long-term?”

“The boys have this little toy project of theirs and it’ll be up to them to impress me with the results – or not. I have no part in it. My attention is going to be on my newest acquisition. He seems promising.”

“Oh? I wasn’t aware you’d gotten a new toy.”

“I have indeed – Xue Chengmei. I’m not sure how useful he’ll be yet, he’s resisting being brought to heel but I’ll break him soon enough. I’ve let him believe he has something I want and it makes him arrogant and weak, he’ll get careless enough to give me something to use against him within another week or two I’d say.”

“What is it that he’s trying to bribe you of all people with?”

“Unimportant. He is attempting to hold it over my head so that I will allow him the resources he wants to accomplish a personal goal that also happens to serve my purposes well. When he does, it will fall to you to deal with law enforcement and ensure he walks free.”

“Easy enough. Do you want him out right away or should he cool his heels for a while?”

“I’ll leave it to your discretion, I don’t much care either way. So long as he thinks he can pull one over on me he’ll come back, and if he doesn’t once he’s free then I’ll just send Zhuliu to drag him back.”

“Where is he going to be? I need to make sure I’ve got my thumb on the pulse of the law in the jurisdiction or else it will get too much attention. Knowing you this isn’t going to be a small maneuver of his.”

“I’ll send you the details once I let him loose, he needs a bit more time to get impatient enough to go straight for his goal. You’ll be able to take care of things on your end though, I can guarantee that.”

“Fine. How long will it be before your boys can start moving things through these properties of theirs?”

“Perhaps a year or so, it depends on how much they can intimidate or bribe the construction companies into pushing their contracts to the front of the queue. You have products you’d like to get through?”

“Nothing that can’t be done through other channels, but theirs will be the most convenient for me when the time comes.”

“I see. Your assistance with Chengmei for priority use of the trade route once it’s established.”

“Deal.”

“Deal. Enough work, old friend, let’s enjoy the rest of our evening, hm?”

Wen Ruohan’s final pronouncement is followed shortly by feminine giggling and the tinkle of glasses on a tray and Meng Yao decides he has heard enough. Enough to make his champagne sit sour and uncomfortable in his stomach, enough to make his next move, enough to finally begin losing some of the shine on his desire for his father’s recognition. It’s not gone entirely of course, he’s not sure it ever will be, but it’s beginning to tarnish. He wants power, yes. But he wants it because it comes with respect, with recognition for what he can do, not because he bought it or because he bullied his way into it with all the ham-handedness of his father pawing and groping at his latest favorite mistress.

If he can find such power elsewhere, why would he need to find it under the sole of Jin Guangshan’s (disgustingly overpriced) shoe? Nie Mingjue, for all his faults, recognizes and appreciates him. Whatever social niceties he blunders through, whatever cues he bullheadedly ignores, the fact remains that Nie Mingjue knows how hard Meng Yao works for him, and what he can do. Nie Mingjue trusts him, and that trust had been hard-earned well before the first time he’d been allowed into the man’s bed. (Well, technically it had been a very nice hotel bed on a work trip but it’s the spirit of the thing that matters.)

And once again as if merely thinking a name has the ability to summon its owner, Meng Yao’s drifting gaze catches on Nie Mingjue striding through the space as if he owns it, his gaze searching as he uses his towering height to his advantage as he scans the crowd. Meng Yao’s heart jerks uncomfortably in his chest at the sight of him up and wandering rather than safely where he had left him, but at least Meng Yao knows where Wen Ruohan is – and judging by the rather obvious sounds of brazen physical pleasure that had followed Meng Yao’s retreat from his eavesdropping spot, he knows that he’ll be thus occupied for a while.

He’s just about to call out for Nie Mingjue – aware that his own height is a definite disadvantage in a crowd - when his path is suddenly blocked by one of the very last faces he wants to see, tonight or..ever, really.

“Well now,” Jin Zixun sneers, peering down his nose at him. “How did you manage to weasel your way here? I can’t imagine you were wanted, aren’t you worried someone’s going to spot your sorry ass and throw you out again?”

Meng Yao knows that it’s useless but for a split second he can’t help but flit his gaze to the left and right, seeking help. Jin Zixun is stupid and cruel, which Meng Yao can handle, but he’s also relentless. If Jin Guangshan’s style is to drop scathing remarks into the middle of conversations like grenades, and if Jin Zixuan’s style is to simply ignore everything and let his family’s cruelty go unchecked, then Jin Zixun’s style is to bully and bully and bully, bludgeoning his victims until they break. He doesn’t know yet that he’ll never break Meng Yao, but all that means is that he’ll take every opportunity to try.

He catches sight of Jin Zixuan’s handsome face nearby in his searching. It’s just a glimpse before his half-brother slinks off into the crowd, but it’s enough of a moment for their eyes to meet, for recognition to cross his features, and then for him to pull his usual trick of averting his eyes as if he hadn’t seen a thing. It’s almost enough to make Meng Yao scoff, but instead he simply resigns himself to having to face this on his own as always and pastes on his usual brittle smile.

“Thank you for your concern,” he demurs around the bile in the back of his throat. “I promise you I will not be forced to leave, however. I am attending at the request of the Nie brothers, who were both invited.”

“Ohh, is that right? I didn’t realize that pets could be included as a plus-one, how thoughtful of Wen Chao to allow it. That explains a lot about quite a few of the guests this evening actually,” Jin Zixun sniffs. Meng Yao just barely manages to keep a barbed comment about Jin Zixun’s own unfortunately dog-like looks behind his teeth.

“Clever,” he drawls instead, the sarcasm flying right over Jin Zixun’s head. “Was there something I could help you with this evening, Zixun?”

“How long do you think it’ll be before Nie Mingjue gets sick of your bullshit?” Jin Zixun muses as if Meng Yao hadn’t said anything at all. “I mean Uncle is much more patient than that hothead and he still couldn’t stand the sight of you for five minutes before he threw you out on your ass like the vile piece of shit you are. How long do you think it’ll take Nie Mingjue? I’m only asking because I was thinking of starting a betting pool, and I play to win.”

Meng Yao keeps his smile firmly pinned at the corners of his mouth and his eyes downcast as he listens. There’s really nothing else he can do. He’s tried escaping in the past and all it had gotten him was bruises on his arms in the shape of his cousin’s fingers and, once, a kick to the middle of his back that had sent him reeling. His fingers twitch where he’s fighting not to grip at the hem of his jacket and tug it straighter – a nervous habit he has never been able to break despite his best attempts.

“I don’t know what you mean,” he deflects when he feels he can breathe normally again past the angry panic starting to build in his chest.

“Don’t play stupid with me, your fucking big dumb eyes don’t work on me.” The mockingly contemplative tone from mere moments ago is gone, replaced by sneering derision that Meng Yao’s shoulders automatically curve under the weight of. “Everyone in the goddamn world knows you’re worthless if they even know you exist at all. It’s only a matter of time before Nie Mingjue’s pity for you wears off, that’s just a fact of life. You think he really wants you around? You’re nothing but a scheming whore just like your mother, and when Nie Mingjue is done toying with you he’ll throw you aside just like Uncle did to you and that bitch.”

Meng Yao may as well be carved from ice, from marble, for all the outward reaction he shows because he absolutely will not give Jin Zixun the satisfaction of knowing that his heavy-handed blundering has, in fact, struck horribly true. The only thing that could make this experience more miserable would be to let Jin Zixun know that he’s won, and so Meng Yao bears it with a smile and downcast eyes to hide how close he is to fracturing apart.

“If I ever hear you speak to him like that again, I won’t hesitate for even a second to wring your neck until I feel your spine snap like a goddamn toothpick,” a voice suddenly interrupts, low and furious. Meng Yao’s eyes dart up to look over Jin Zixun’s shoulder and he’s not sure if he’s happy or not that Nie Mingjue has finally found him. On the one hand he’s relieved beyond belief that he doesn’t have to continue to face this alone, but on the other hand he hates that Nie Mingjue heard what Jin Zixun said in the first place.

It might actually be worth it though, he reconsiders, as he watches Jin Zixun’s face go slack with surprise and then white with something that looks suspiciously like a flicker of fear in the split second before he turns his head to look over his shoulder where Nie Mingjue is looming, expression thunderous.

“What the fuck did you just say to me?!” Jin Zixun demands, rallying quickly with all the bravado of a man so mind-numbingly ignorant it’s incredible he’s survived as long as he has.

Nie Mingjue crosses his arms over his stupidly broad chest and even in a suit it’s perfectly obvious that he’s all muscle – muscle that makes it clear he’s both willing to and capable of smearing Jin Zixun into the floor without breaking a sweat. “You heard me,” he bites. “Meng Yao is a hundred times the man you’ll ever be, and should you ever forget that I’m happy to remind you - painfully. Get out of my sight before I lose my temper completely, the only reason I haven’t done it yet is that I don’t want to deal with your uncle after I beat you into a quivering pulp all over Wen Ruohan’s floors.”

Meng Yao – through the mental static that Nie Mingjue’s defense of him has created – genuinely expects Jin Zixun to keep putting up a fight. After all, all of Meng Yao’s barbs and threats in the past have been completely ineffectual, why should Nie Mingjue’s threats be any different? (Except Meng Yao knows the difference of course, and as Jin Zixun turns tail and runs with the thin mask of his sneer poorly hiding how unsettled he is, Meng Yao can’t help but be grateful that his own taste in men includes Nie Mingjue, who always looks more than ready to pummel anybody who looks at him wrong.)

“Mingjue –“ he manages to gasp once they’re (relatively) alone. Nie Mingjue is right in front of him in an instant, enormous hands curled protectively around his shoulders. It’s not quite a hug, there’s nothing about it that anyone could call inappropriate should they see them, but Meng Yao leans into it anyway, his eyes sliding shut and some of the tension leaving him just to feel Nie Mingjue touching him, to have had the man come to his defense finally, after all this time.

“Are you alright, A-Yao?” Nie Mingjue asks in that same undertone he only uses early in the mornings, when he and Lan Xichen are trying to talk without waking him, or when they’re trying to wake him with kisses in between sweet calls of his name. The tone he uses when he’s feeling especially gentle.

“No.” It’s too honest, too raw, and it scrapes his throat on the way out but Nie Mingjue doesn’t even seem to pause to consider if it’s too much for him to handle or not. His hands tighten around Meng Yao’s shoulders and he can actually feel Nie Mingjue restraining himself from pulling him into his chest to crush him in a hug, which Meng Yao is suddenly so desperate for he’s practically gasping with it.

“Come with me,” Nie Mingjue mutters. Meng Yao doesn’t even bother protesting as he lets Nie Mingjue lead him through the crowd, which parts for him and his bulk easily. Meng Yao trails along numbly in his wake, eyes fixed on the strong, broad lines of his back as he does his best to ignore everything else in the world. He can afford to, he’s been doing nothing but paying attention to every part of his surroundings that he can all night long. He already has the information he needs and the two hours he had promised Nie Mingjue he could leave after are nearly up anyway. He can afford to breathe for just a minute or two.

They leave the main bulk of the party behind as soon as they step through a doorway leading to a quiet hallway, the lights along the wall dim enough that he no longer feels like an artifact on display, or a bug under a microscope. He’s already breathing a little easier, but then Nie Mingjue stops abruptly to shove a door open and, after apparently finding whatever’s behind it to his liking, tug Meng Yao through it. Nie Mingjue shuts the door behind them and Meng Yao has just enough time to note that it’s a single-stall restroom before the lock on the door clicks into place. His shoulders sag with relief from nothing more than that simple promise of security and privacy, and it only gets better when he turns to face Nie Mingjue only to find himself yanked into a bone-crushing hug before he can so much as blink.

Meng Yao’s arms are trapped between their chests but he manages to curl his fingers tightly into the lapels of Nie Mingjue’s jacket anyway as the man’s arms clutch around his shoulders and waist. His eyes slip shut in blissful relief to feel Nie Mingjue curling around him, shoulders hunching a bit so he can both reach his waist properly as well as rest his cheek against the top of his head. For a few long minutes there’s nothing but the sound of his own harsh breathing gradually slowing and the occasional hush of Nie Mingjue’s calloused hands brushing against the fabric of Meng Yao’s jacket as he rubs his back in slow, soothing circuits.

When his breathing has finally evened out again despite the crystalline tears clinging to and clumping up his lashes, Nie Mingjue turns his head enough to press a long, hard kiss to his forehead.

“I’m sorry, A-Yao.”

“It’s not your fault, da-ge.”

“Does he say that kind of shit to you when he comes to the office?”

Meng Yao takes in a slow, deep breath and doesn’t answer, but his silence is loaded enough that he knows Nie Mingjue understands him anyway. His arms somehow go tighter around him and Meng Yao sighs, relaxes completely as Nie Mingjue holds all the broken, jagged pieces of him together so that, for probably the first time in his life, he doesn’t have to.

He only realizes he’s been crying when he pulls back just enough to suck in a deep, shuddering breath and he sees he’s left a damp patch on the front of Nie Mingjue’s gray jacket.

“Shit,” he mumbles as he unclenches his hands, finally, and pats at the spot as if that’ll somehow help. “Sorry, I didn’t –“ his apology is cut off by Nie Mingjue leaning down to capture his lips in a kiss that’s so tender it almost makes him start crying again. As it is, it leaves him feeling shivery and weak in the knees, though that may also just be the..everything of the night finally catching up with him. He returns the kiss tentatively at first and then with more intent when he feels Nie Mingjue’s hands curl into fists in his jacket.

Very rarely, in the past, has Meng Yao ever allowed others to take care of him. Nie Mingjue and Lan Xichen have been allowed to do so more in the last couple of weeks than he has ever permitted anyone before, but he still doesn’t allow it more than he absolutely has to to make them happy, to make them feel like they’re being adequately productive and attentive. Control is not a freedom he relinquishes easily or often, and his heart is something he doesn’t trust a single soul in the world to handle delicately. He honestly can’t say yet that he trusts Nie Mingjue wholly and completely not to hurt him, but in this moment he’s tired of having to be in control of himself and everyone around him at all times. In this moment, after Nie Mingjue has come to his rescue, after he’s held him together so he could safely fall apart, he supposes that perhaps it might not be so bad to let someone else take the reins for a while.

“Mingjue,” he manages to mumble between heavy kisses. His lips part on a sharp exhale as Nie Mingjue presses him up against the nearest wall hard and fast and that’s really all it takes for him to get with the program. He slides his arms around Mingjue’s neck and practically climbs him, though it’s not exactly necessary to put forth the effort considering Nie Mingjue’s strong hands under his thighs are perfectly capable of hoisting him up where Nie Mingjue wants him. It takes virtually no effort at all for Nie Mingjue to pin him there with nothing more than the strength of his legs, the bulk of his torso. Meng Yao keeps hold around his neck and wraps his legs more securely around his hips though that’s really just so he can grind their hips together in lazy circles as Nie Mingjue manages to get his hands between them to start working at the button of his trousers.

“I’ve got you,” Nie Mingjue mumbles against the corner of his jaw in between hungry, nipping kisses to his skin and Meng Yao tips his head back with a gasp, fresh tears prickling at the corners of his eyes. “I’m here, I’ve got you.”

“I don’t cry during sex - shut up,” he snaps perhaps too desperately. It’s much less persuasive as a breathless plea than as a command, and therefore Nie Mingjue doesn’t seem all that inclined to obey.

“No, you deserve to hear it,” Nie Mingjue argues but at least he punctuates it with a hard, greedy kiss to his parted lips instead of another declaration that makes Meng Yao feel raw all over in entirely different ways than the ‘conversation’ with Jin Zixun. He wraps his arms properly around the back of Nie Mingjue’s head to keep him there, to bite and suck and kiss at his lips and tongue to keep him from being able to say anything else at all, gutting or otherwise.

It works admirably for a few breathless moments but then Nie Mingjue is jerking back with a parting nip to the swollen curve of his bottom lip to look down at his own fumbling at Meng Yao’s trousers, which has proven unproductive so far. Meng Yao arches his back a bit and stretches to make it easier and Nie Mingjue finally manages to pop the button and shove his hand roughly beneath the fabric of both his trousers and his underwear to get a hot, rough palm on him. It stings and it’s too dry and Meng Yao arches into it with a white-hot bolt of need, the slight pain of it grounding after so much emotional turmoil.

“Fuck me,” he pleads against the crest of Nie Mingjue’s cheekbone, lips smearing hot and wet against his skin as Nie Mingjue bites hard enough at his neck to bruise. “Please Mingjue I can’t – I need it. Please.”

“I don’t have any lube, I’d hurt you,” he practically growls with a hard jerk of his hand between Meng Yao’s legs that makes his next breath escape him as a sob.

“I don’t care, it can hurt, I don’t care please da-ge please.”

Meng Yao never begs. He makes others beg. He puts his enormous, ridiculously strong boyfriends on their knees or their backs and he makes them glassy-eyed with the desire to please him, to do precisely as he says. He makes their mouths water with the need to get their tongues on him, he makes them beg to be allowed to come, he makes them so frustrated with edging that they cry when he lets them. He doesn’t beg, but perhaps he trusts Nie Mingjue more than he’s willing to admit to himself.

With the dam holding back his selfish, greedy desires suddenly smashed into rubble, the words tumble out of him and Nie Mingjue doesn’t do him the courtesy of kissing him to stop him from embarrassing himself, he just lets him keep talking until he’s covered in cherry-red lovebites and practically sobbing with the need to feel good. For Nie Mingjue to make him feel good. The only man who’s ever seen almost all of him and taken him into his bed anyway. The only one who had ever made him feel safe there from the very beginning.

Meng Yao holds him close and trembles beneath the press of his bulk, the overwhelming heat of him, the deep press of his fingers first and then the painful stretch of his cock because Nie Mingjue is incapable of denying him anything he wants. Nie Mingjue finally muffles his pained moan for the ache of it with a filthy kiss, an assault of teeth and tongue that’ll likely leave his mouth bruised for a day or two, tender and swollen and an excellent reminder of how hungry Nie Mingjue is for him.

The kiss is over quickly though and then Meng Yao is back to his mindless begging as Nie Mingjue lets him slide down the wall just a few inches, enough to drive him further down onto his cock so he can start rocking up into him, one hand still crushingly tight on the back of one of his thighs and the other braced against the tile wall beside Meng Yao’s head for leverage as he works.

It takes an embarrassingly long time for Meng Yao to realize through the haze of his own desperate need to chase pleasure that Nie Mingjue is talking to him, promising him he’ll make him feel good, telling him he’s good. And then, just as he drops his hand down from the wall again to curl around Meng Yao’s cock and drag a crackling, near-painful orgasm from depths of him Meng Yao didn’t even know existed, “I love you, A-Yao.”

Meng Yao comes with a ragged cry, his entire body going tense as he curls forward to crush Nie Mingjue into his neck, his legs trembling with the force of his orgasm and then going lax as it crests and begins to fade.

“You what?!” he demands wetly in the midst of his first aftershock as Nie Mingjue fucks up into him hard enough to make him see stars. “Mingjue WHAT?!”

“I love you,” he manages again though it’s barely audible with the way his lips are parted and pressed against Meng Yao’s neck just below his jaw. He pulls back with what seems like a herculean effort and lets go of Meng Yao’s cock to lift his hand to his mouth and lick it clean without a single stutter in the harsh thrusting of his hips, and Meng Yao watches with wide, tear-filled eyes as Nie Mingjue comes, muffling himself with his teeth clamped around the meat of his spit-slick palm.

Meng Yao gives him approximately ten seconds to recover before he grabs the other man’s face in both hands and shakes him a bit until he opens his bleary eyes to look at him, their noses almost touching as Meng Yao looks frantically between his eyes, searching for any hint of artifice or regret, any sign at all that he didn’t mean it.

“I love you,” Nie Mingjue says again without even needing to be prompted. His eyes slip half-shut as his gaze drops to Meng Yao’s open mouth and he leans in to kiss it like he can’t help himself, like he’ll die if he doesn’t taste him. “My A-Yao…how could I not?” The words are little more than a soft, warm mumble pressed into his lips and Meng Yao moves his mouth with him when he says it once more, “Of course I love you.” The tip of his tongue catches on Meng Yao’s top lip for the ‘l’ in ‘love’ and Meng Yao feels it like a tug on his heart hard enough to bruise his ribs.

He has a hazy moment of imagining Nie Mingjue digging one huge hand into his chest, snapping his ribs off at the sternum to get at the soft, beating heart beneath them and crush it in his grip, jerk it out of his chest to claim it for himself. To distract himself from the way he doesn’t hate the idea, Meng Yao mechanically says, “I can’t believe you just said that for the first time while fucking me in a resort bathroom at a Wen party.” But unfortunately for him, Nie Mingjue knows him too well for that to really work.

“Stop deflecting.”

“Who’s deflecting? Take me home. My standards are higher than yours, I’m going to say it in actual private like a civilized human being.”

“I’ve never once claimed to be civilized.” Meng Yao can’t help but twitch an eyebrow up at that and tip his head briefly to the side in silent acknowledgement that…well, he’s got a point. Nie Mingjue smirks against his lips and finally slides out of him with a wince to let him drop back down onto his feet – where his knees promptly give out. “Whoa, hey,” Nie Mingjue says as he catches his weight again with his arms around his waist and leans back to meet his eyes properly, concern written all over his face. “You going to be able to walk?”

“Yes, your dick isn’t that incredible,” Meng Yao grumbles which would probably sound a lot better were he not clutching at Nie Mingjue’s biceps to stay upright.

“Liar,” Nie Mingjue grins.

“Yes, and I’m quite good at it. Shut up and let me concentrate.”

“Mm.” Nie Mingjue leans in again to press surprisingly sweet kisses to his forehead along his hairline as Meng Yao closes his eyes to focus on breathing deeply and steadying himself the way Lan Xichen has been showing him, drawing strength from the core of his body and letting it spread gradually outward.

“I’ve never heard you beg before,” Nie Mingjue murmurs into the soft quiet and Meng Yao’s next inhale is a little sharper than the last. “Shh, it was good. It’s alright. I know before Xichen, before all of this, you used to ask me for sex. I knew you wanted it, of course, or else we wouldn’t have done anything. But I didn’t know you could…need me the way I need you.”

Maybe it’s the note of wonder in his voice or the way he’s somehow managed to strip Meng Yao bare without removing a single stitch of the clothing he’d started the evening in, but something about the moment compels Meng Yao to soul-deep honesty. “If you ever knew how much I need you I’m afraid you’d run and leave me as far behind you as possible. Or you’d send me away and never look at me again.”

“Never, A-Yao,” Nie Mingjue is quick to promise, the earnestness of it pressed into the cooling skin of his forehead like a brand in the shape of his mouth. “You can need me, you don’t have to hide it. I want to know, so I can be there for you. Every single time, alright?”

“Alright.” Meng Yao leans forward to bury himself in Nie Mingjue’s chest again and his arms slide more fully around him in an instant, his kisses pressed to his hair instead of his forehead now that it’s unavailable. It takes another minute or so before Meng Yao pulls away with a heavy sigh that turns into a snort of wry laughter as he realizes they’ve yet to fix their clothes back where they belong.

“Ugh. Put your dick away,” he admonishes with a swat to Nie Mingjue’s chest and the grin he gets back is brilliant, blinding.

“Pot, kettle. I’m not the one with my trousers all the way down around my thighs.”

“And whose fault is that? I didn’t pull them down, that was all you.”

“Uh huh. Come on A-Yao, let’s go get Xichen and go home. No more scheming tonight.”

“I’m done anyway and I want food, I’m fucking starving.”

They chat about nothing much at all as they right themselves and wash up a bit. There’s nothing to be done about the bites blooming on Meng Yao’s neck but they manage to make themselves presentable enough to at least walk back through the party, and when they leave the privacy of the bathroom the hallway is thankfully as empty and quiet as when they’d walked down it the first time.

Meng Yao isn’t exactly sure how long they’d been in there, but as they approach the party again he can hear music and laughter and the sound of clinking glasses and cutlery, much the same as when they’d made their escape. He makes the mistake of taking his eyes off the cluster of guests in front of them in favor of glancing up to smile at Nie Mingjue, which is perhaps why he doesn’t realize until it’s too late that they’re heading straight towards Jin Guangshan, apparently done groping women for the time being.

Meng Yao looks forward again just in time to meet Jin Guangshan’s too-knowing smirk and he freezes instantly, eyes wide.

“Father,” he gasps before he can stop himself, and as if on cue the man’s gaze slides right off him to Nie Mingjue at his side.

“Nie Mingjue,” Jin Guangshan greets, his tone sumptuous and nauseatingly smarmy, full of self-satisfaction. “How…interesting to see you here this evening, I wouldn’t have expected you to accept the invitation. I’ll be keeping this in mind for the future.”

“One-time deal,” Nie Mingjue replies, his voice as cutting as the edge of a blade.

“Oh? And whose wiles are so tempting that you’d deign to come to a social function to please them?” he practically purrs, the oily insinuation sneaking right under Meng Yao’s skin and making him feel...tainted, simply because his father seems to think he should be. The man still won’t even look at him but the dig is so clearly aimed at him Meng Yao is almost surprised there isn’t a bullseye painted on the front of his chest.

“Xichen’s. He’s missed social functions with people he knows, and Huaisang’s friends are here, including Wangji. He asked if we could attend, I agreed.”

“Oh yes, of course. I see,” Jin Guangshan humors him with a raised brow and a telegraphed glance at the immediate area around them. “Well I’m sure he’s beginning to wonder where you are. I won’t keep you any longer lest your absence be remarked upon.”

Nie Mingjue nods stiffly and turns to go, and though Meng Yao knows better, has known better for years, something small and broken in him escapes the confines of his chest and forces him to say another, “Father?” in the hopes that maybe this time something will be different.

Jin Guangshan turns back to his previous conversation as if he were of less notice than a speck of lint on the sleeve of his impeccable gold suit, and Meng Yao allows Nie Mingjue to tug him away, all good humor tentatively restored by Nie Mingjue thoroughly gone once again. Meng Yao allows Nie Mingjue to shepherd him wherever he wants him to go, and he tries with shaking hands to cling to the feeling of Nie Mingjue telling him he loved him in an attempt to shove it into the yawning, aching, empty spaces of his heart until it can fill him up and make him forget how thoroughly unwanted he is by the first man he’d ever wanted approval from.

He dimly registers the sound of the party continuing on utterly unchanged behind them as the cool night air bathes his face and he takes a deep breath in, dragging all of his emotions down into the pit of his chest along with it so he can lock them all up tight again where they belong, where they can’t hurt him.

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#the untamed fanfic #3zun #Nie Mingjue #Lan Xichen #Meng Yao #Modern AU #@ the people who wanted sexy times at this party: here you go but don't expect it to be without some Big Feelings lol

[words-writ-in-starlight]

Untamed TAZ Balance AU? Don't have to write anything, just consider that (is Wen Ning Lucretia in this or is he too nice for that)

NHS IS LUCRETIA, NHS IS ABSOLUTELY LUCRETIA, I HAVE THOUGHTS, my girlfriend yelled at me for these thoughts.  Hell this got long, I’ve literally been saving it in my drafts until Tumblr fixed the Read More issue.

WWX is Taako, JC is Magnus, WQ is Merle, JYL is in the umbrella (became a lich to keep her brother from doing it), WN is the Red Robe (became a lich because he thought it seemed reasonable), NHS is Lucretia, XXC is Davenport, LWJ and LXC are mutually Kravitz (LXC sets his bro up with the death criminal wizard), Wen Zhuliu is John Vore, LSZ is Angus but also a baby Reaper

ONE

So Wei Wuxian isn’t really a wizard, is the thing.  Like, he does the wizard magic, and apparently he has strong Wizard Vibes because wherever he travels, people ask him if he can solve their magical bullshit problems, but he’s, like, barely a wizard.  He’s an inventor, technically, except that a few years back some stuff went explosively awry while he worked with this traveling show and–yeah.  So he’s working as a wizard because, hey, he can cast Magic Missile and he needs to eat and he’s an Evocation specialist, anyway, so it’s not like he’s out here making food from rocks.  He’s hired on with a couple other random jackasses, a fighter who took a dislike to Wei Wuxian right off the bat and a cleric with a bad temper and an itchy Sacred Flame finger, and they’re doing a job for some dwarf, or whatever.  The dwarf has a guy hired on as muscle, but he doesn’t look like much, all wide eyes and baby face.  He calls himself Qionglin, no last name, and stares at Wen Qing like he’s never seen a cleric before, and Jiang Cheng spends the entire trip to Phandolin messing with his whip, which is the stupidest weapon Wei Wuxian has ever seen.

Well, then everything immediately goes horribly wrong, though, and turns out that Jiang Cheng is pretty okay with that whip.  Qionglin (Wei Wuxian spoke to the man all of one time, but he was sweet, if a little awkward) gets himself kidnapped by a bunch of goblins, and their employer is gods-know-where with whatever a Black Spider is, and suddenly this very boring escort mission is a very not boring rescue mission.

There’s a skeleton in the cave.  Wei Wuxian takes an umbrella from it, and it crumbles into dust beneath its red robe.  There’s a very annoyed man with a sword who calls himself Song Lan and speaks in static, and he’s somehow not the weirdest part of this whole day.

Phandolin doesn’t survive its brush with the Zidian Gauntlet, and neither does Qionglin.  Wen Qing screams when he dies, and Wei Wuxian grabs her under the arms with Jiang Cheng and books it for the empty well in Song Lan’s wake, and they just hide.  

And then they go to the goddamn moon, apparently.

TWO

The goddamn moon is run by an older man with hair still a glossy black, toying with a beautifully painted white fan in his hand.  He calls himself the Director and–after some testing–hires them more or less on the spot.  Something flickers over his face when Wen Qing, bemused by her own upset, makes an offhand mention of a man named Qionglin who died when the Gauntlet brought down so much lightning that it turned Phandolin into black glass.  But it’s not Wei Wuxian’s problem, so he doesn’t worry himself over it too much.  He takes the payment offered to him by the Director’s aide, a blindfolded, stunningly handsome man in Bureau blue and white who rests his hand on his own chest and says “Xiao Xingchen” and not another word.

The Bureau is–weird.  They’ve got a giant jellyfish and a store run by–something Wei Wuxian Does Not Trust and a dorm.  Wei Wuxian laughs and kicks Jiang Cheng cheerfully in the ankle and says “Just like college, huh?” and Jiang Cheng gives him a dark look and snaps “I never went to college.”

“Yeah,” Wei Wuxian says, blinking.  “Me neither.”

Whatever.  They go on a train adventure and there’s a kid, a kid who blinks and stares at Wei Wuxian like he’s seen a goddamn ghost and immediately walks up to introduce himself as Lan Sizhui, boy detective.

Wei Wuxian fucking loves this kid.  He’s not sure why this wide-eyed fifteen-year-old latched onto him so hard, but he’s smart, funny, loyal, and extremely easy to pick on.  13/10 child rating, in Wei Wuxian’s book.

(Sizhui, for his part, more or less kicks down the door to his father’s offices in the Astral Plane the second the Reclaimers are gone and shouts “I HAVE A LEAD ON WHAT HAPPENED TO THE WORLD.”)

(His father, Lan Wangji, the Grim Reaper, is very interested to hear all about it–especially when his son casually name-drops three of the biggest bounties that the Raven King, his adoptive elder brother, has ever sent him after, with the exception of that absolutely insufferably sweet-tempered lich Wen Ning.)

THREE

So…the Crystal Kingdom.

Is it Wei Wuxian’s finest hour, shouting obscure tentacle-related threats at the second crystal construct they’ve seen in the past twenty minutes?  No, probably not.  But it’s been a stressful day, they’re already down one Regulator and Song Lan is fuck-knows-where with Mianmian and, again, this is the second menacing crystal construct they’ve seen in twenty minutes.  Or maybe it’s the same one? 

Whatever, doesn’t matter.  They’re here to hunt down Meng Yao, a scientist who’s been dicking around with some seriously ill-advised necromancy and also the Philosopher’s Stone, and a crystal construct or two isn’t going to stop them.

Wei Wuxian actually physically cannot help himself, though, when the Reapers appear in the mirror, a matched set of beautiful men, and he grins broadly at the one glaring at him most viciously.  They get let go on a technicality, along with a conduit still containing Meng Shi’s memory of a vision beyond the cosmos, and Meng Yao leaves with his life and not much more.

Later, Lan Wangji is absolutely betrayed by the realization that his brother willfully set him up to be the primary go-between for the completely breathtaking deeply irritating wizard-by-way-of-death-criminal.  And that’s before the whole lich revelation.  (He does get a kiss, though, after he watches his brother pulled under by the Hunger.  That’s nice.  He hopes Wei Wuxian will mitigate the death crimes now that they’re dating.)

FOUR

The seven Relics are as follows:

The Zidian Gauntlet, which can generate a lightning blast so powerful that it can obliterate an entire city.  (Jiang Cheng–he watched the others try to lay in protections, try to make their Relics harmless, and he knew it wouldn’t work.  All the Gauntlet does is damage.  It can melt a city down to black glass, but it can’t be twisted, it can’t be made into any more of a nightmare than it already is.  He’s a fighter.  He knows all about damage, knew all about what he was making.  That doesn’t mean it didn’t kill him by inches to watch it leave a path of destruction–so much that his beloved jiejie tried to seal it away.)

The Oculus, which can make any construct real.  (Xiao Xingchen–Nie Huaisang didn’t take everything.  He doesn’t remember the mission, or his own past.  Something strange got confused in the process, and he lost most of his speech.  But he remembers how to fight, handles his sword as cleanly and effectively as ever, and he remembers that he doesn’t think much of Nie Huaisang’s combat skills.  Or maybe it’s just really obvious that Nie Huaisang isn’t much of a fighter.  Regardless, Xiao Xingchen insisted on accompanying him, before–before.  Then they went into the Felicity Wilds, and…Xue Yang is honestly delighted.  He’s never managed to ruin someone so badly on the way into Wonderland before.  It’s just a shame that Nie Huaisang sent Xiao Xingchen away before they reached the doors.)

The Healer’s Sash, which can manipulate natural forces like the wind, the tides, and tectonic plates just as easily as it can manipulate a heartbeat or a pair of lungs.  (Wen Qing–she prays to Pelor, the Dawnfather, the healer and Lord of Light, but she’s long since lost her faith in him as anything but a contracted boss.  It’s a shock to everyone including her when she’s granted a right arm made of glass and magic after losing it.  She was so determined to make a Relic that could be used for good, but–well.  She supposes she should have known better.)

The Philosopher’s Stone, which can more or less transform anything into anything.  (Jiang Yanli–she’s a Transmutation wizard, she’s been feeding the crew of the Starblaster for a hundred years on whatever she can pull together.  If the right person found the Stone, it would have ended world hunger.  The wrong person found the stone.  Jiang Yanli tried her damnedest to hunt it down, but she found the Gauntlet first, and, well–she already became a lich to stop one younger brother from doing it.  It’s not a struggle to decide that she’s going to take responsibility for saving Jiang Cheng from his own guilt.  Then things go horribly wrong, and she spends the next twelve years in an umbrella.)

The Temporal Chalice, which offers complete control over time.  (Wen Ning–he was a strict scholar until his sister was contacted about the IPRE’s creation, but he always did want to travel, and his theories about bonds were too good for Xiao Xingchen to pass up having on his crew.  Everything he’s done since they lost their home system has been about trying not to leave his family, about trying for second chances, he became a lich for them, he’s done everything to stay with them, of course his Relic is a second chance generator.)

The Animus Flute, which offers control over the spirits of the dead and, in the hands of a sufficiently competent expert, the living.  (Wei Wuxian–he’s watched his brother, his sister, his friends, die so many times.  He’s terrified of immortality, but he’s most terrified of being alone.  He meant to make something that could keep the dead present, so that they would never have to fear being left behind again.  Watching it rip Jiang Cheng’s soul clean out of his body in Xue Yang’s hands is the worst thing Wei Wuxian can remember, even after everything is over.)

The Bulwark, which Nie Huaisang never did explain to anyone, but took the shape of a hand-painted fan.  (Nie Huaisang lost the only person who mattered to him when the Hunger ate their home, and then as he slowly, painstakingly, rebuilt something like a family, he had to watch them suffer and die for a hundred years.  And then he watched them win, and grieve like dying all over again for the winning.  He’s sorry they suffered for his actions.  He’s not sorry for what he did.)

FIVE

Wen Zhuliu didn’t mean to make his whole plane give up.  But he had spent his whole life being used, and it all just seemed so pointless.  It all just seemed so pointless.  There was always someone stronger, always something bigger, always a rule he couldn’t break, always something, and he started talking, started telling people as much, and--

Wen Qing is about the farthest thing in the fucking world from a peacemaker by nature, if you ask her, but she’s a healer first, last, and most of all.  And, she thinks as she watches the sun sink with a very tired man crumbling away at her side, she might be the only person in the worlds who ever noticed that Wen Zhuliu needed a healer.

(They aren’t from the same plane, but--some of the others have found distant family, on their new home.  It’s an unanswerable question, if they might have been family, a few dimensions removed.  Wen Ning still thinks about it.)

#the untamed #mdzs #mo dao zu shi #taz balance #taz au #starlight writes stuff #*sprints into the room with this au multiple months late and completely out of breath* H E R E #this has been languishing in my drafts for. mm. ever. #i don't even remotely remember enough of my original thoughts about it to provide a lot of tags #but i do have a case for why wzl is john vore (and it's NOT just that i think he's interesting) #i could've made jgy the hunger BUT the plot of taz requires some...reconciliatory ending structure? #and honestly nhs still being something of a puppet master means that i couldn't justify that with jgy #i needed a villain less close to nhs' heart. so i thought about xue yang but i like him as the wonderland lich TOO MUCH. #so instead i thought about who i should make the parlay person--first instincts were jyl and wn because they're Nice #but then i decided that i didn't actually need Nice nearly so much as i needed Invested #and by god can wen qing Invest #so okay--if she was going to do the parlay then i didn't need someone who could be talked around i needed someone who needed a healer #so: wen zhuliu #i don't have to justify myself to you fools #also jgy is always everyone's biggest bad so he can let someone else have a turn #jyl develops a crush on a completely socially awkward rogue from inside an umbrella by the way! #pour one out for jzx because he is NOT equipped for an ethereal woman of violet fire to blush at him #a queue we will keep and our honor someday avenge #thishazeleyeddemon #asked and answered

[queenofmoons67]

Canary

Summary: Jin Guangyao is fond of Nie Huaisang and doesn’t want to kill him—even when he’s discovered some of Jin Guangyao’s deepest darkest secrets.

Or, in which Wei Wuxian finds more than just Nie Mingjue’s head in Jin Guangyao’s vault.

Characters: NHS, LXC, WWX, LWJ, JGY

Wei Ying’s paperman hurried through the mirror after Jin Guangyao.

In the weeks since Mo Xuanyu had brought him back, he had mostly just been hanging out in the cultivation world drinking, taking care of the odd night hunt, and spying on his old friends and family.

It had been on one such spy trip that Wei Ying had first become suspicious of Jin Guangyao. His nephew, Jin Ling, had hesitantly inquired after the health of one of his other uncles—none other than Mo Xuanyu himself. That wouldn’t have been enough on its own to make Wei Ying suspicious, but then Jin Guangyao had smiled pleasantly and lied with no hesitation about how he had received a letter from Madam Mo just the other week about how well they were doing.

Since then, Wei Ying had been doing everything he could to investigate Jin Guangyao, but it was hard when he had almost nothing to go on. It was time, he’d decided, to go straight to the source.

Using the distraction of a Discussion Conference in Koi Tower, he had stashed his body in an empty guest room, and gone to hang out in Jin Guangyao’s rooms. Hours had passed with nothing found before Qin Su appeared, trying to talk to Jin Guangyao about why he refused to even touch her once they were in private. When her husband just turned away instead, Qin Su had left, face stony—and that was when things started getting interesting with the mirror reveal.

Wei Ying drifted through the air after Jin Guangyao, and when the man finally came to a stop by the back wall, he hurried to a bookcase just a few feet away, fitting himself up against it and peering around the corner.

If he had a jaw, it would have dropped.

Jin Guangyao wasn’t alone anymore. There was a figure sitting crosslegged on a small bed and leaning against the wall he was chained to, talismans plastered around him that had kept him from view when Wei Ying first entered.

The figure had a soft voice, and Wei Ying found himself leaning forward to listen to their conversation.

“Back early, San-ge? Did something happen?”

Jin Guangyao scoffed as the figure raised his head and smiled. “Don’t pretend like you care, A-Sang. We both know—”

Whatever Jin Guangyao said was lost behind the mirror when Wei Ying darted back the way he had come, flying recklessly down the halls. He couldn’t risk Jin Guangyao moving the man before he could return with help.

Nie Huaisang was supposed to have died five years ago, so how come he was chained up in Jin Guangyao’s secret room?

<line break>

Nie Huaisang whirled to face the entrance as it banged open. He hastily put down the papers he’d been going through and adopted a weak smile—but it was too late. Jin Guangyao stared at him, hand already drifting up and ready to draw his sword.

“San-ge!” Nie Huaisang cried, blinking tears into his eyes. “You’ll never believe—”

“A-Sang. Why are you going through my desk?”

“I—I needed your help, but you weren’t here, so I thought—”

“You thought wrong,” Jin Guangyao interrupted, voice flat. “You shouldn’t be here, A-Sang.”

“San-ge—”

“Why did you have to poke your nose where it doesn’t belong?” Jin Guangyao sighed, even as he stepped forward one smooth movement at a time and Nie Huaisang backed up until his back pressed against the desk. “I like you, A-Sang, I do. You’re my brother; I don’t want to kill you.”

“It’s a pity Da-ge didn’t warrant the same feeling,” Nie Huaisang spit. Giving up his ‘headshaker’ routine as lost, he dashed forward, shoulder tucked to ram past his once-brother and already drawing breath to shout—

He only caught a glimpse of Hensheng’s flat blade before it collided with his head.

<line break>

Wei Ying, back in his physical body, knocked on the door of a guest room he had noted earlier.

“Hanguang-jun!” he called. “Lan Zhan! I need your—help.” Wei Ying blinked up at the blank-faced Lan.

“Yes?”

Shaking himself, Wei Ying grabbed Lan Zhan’s wrist and dragged him towards Jin Guangyao’s rooms. “There’s no time to explain,” he panted. “But Jin Guangyao has Nie Huaisang locked up in—”

“Nie Huaisang is dead.”

“I thought so too! But that was definitely him—” Wei Ying jerked to a stop as Lan Zhan refused to take another step. “Lan Zhan—”

“Who are you? Why should I trust you?”

Wei Ying stared up at his old friend and enemy. Lan Zhan didn’t seem angry; his brow was wrinkled, yes, but Wei Ying thought it was in confusion. “I…”

Why should Lan Zhan trust him? True, they had been friends once, and Wei Ying still trusted Lan Zhan to the point that he’d been the first person he’d run to for help tonight—but to Lan Zhan, he was still just strange Mo Xuanyu at best, and the Yiling Patriarch at worst.

“Because you’re Hanguang-jun,” he finally said. “You help people, even if that means going where the danger is. Is now any different?”

For a moment, Lan Zhan just looked back at him. Then he nodded. “Mn. Show me where Nie Huaisang is.”

<line break>

Nie Huaisang didn’t look at Jin Guangyao when he heard him step through the mirror and into the room.

He didn’t look at him when he heard him moving around, or when he checked that the chains were tight and intact.

He didn’t look at Jin Guangyao when he put fresh food and water in front of Nie Huaisang and quietly urged him to eat while picking up the untouched plate.

For the first week he was in Jin Guangyao’s mirror, Nie Huaisang never looked away from the curtains hiding his Da-ge’s head.

<line break>

Lan Xichen turned the corner to his room to settle in for the night, only to collide with something moving fast. The person cried out, stumbling back, and Lan Xichen reached out quickly to steady the smaller figure.

“Are you ok—Mo Xuanyu?” He asked, surprised to see his sworn brother’s half-brother. “What are you doing at Koi Tower?” Are you even allowed here?

“Mo Xuanyu?” a familiar voice asked, and Lan Xichen looked up, startled, to see Wangji narrowing his eyes at the man.

“My name,” Mo Xuanyu said hastily. “No time, sorry Zewu-jun! Lan Zhan, Nie Huaisang!”

“Mn,” Wangji nodded, following Mo Xuanyu down the hall and leaving Lan Xichen to stand alone, heart thundering and staring after them. Had—had they said Nie Huaisang?

<line break>

Nie Huaisang rested his head on the cold stone wall behind him and studied the ceiling. In the years since he’d been stashed away as just another one of Jin Guangyao’s secrets, he had tried just about everything he could think of to escape—not that there was a lot, when you were chained up in a pocket dimension that almost no one knew existed.

His best chance had been when a young man started coming in and studying various papers. Jin Guangyao had put up talismans around Nie Huaisang’s corner, though, and no matter what Nie Huaisang did, he couldn’t catch the boy’s attention and make him realize there was someone else there.

And now, even that chance seemed to have vanished. The man hadn’t been back in weeks.

“It’s just you, me, and Da-ge now, huh,” Nie Huaisang said, rolling his head to the side and studying the Ghost General.

<line break>

Lan Xichen caught up to Wangji and Mo Xuanyu outside of A-Yao’s rooms, Mo Xuanyu clearly posed to knock down the doors.

“Wangji!” Lan Xichen cried. “What’s happening? Do you—you think that A-Sang is in A-Yao’s rooms? But—” he shook his head, bewildered “—but why? A-Sang has been dead for years!”

“Did you see him die, Zewu-jun?” Mo Xuanyu asked, voice soft and so unlike the man Lan Xichen remembered, despite how his question rocked him. If A-Sang wasn’t dead, then—

Taking a deep breath, Lan Xichen forced himself to look at the issue logically. “No, I didn’t. I was at Cloud Recesses, and A-Sang was visiting A-Yao here. He was overwhelmed with work, so A-Yao—A-Yao thought that a night hunt might help him clear his head. It was supposed to be a small one, so they only took a handful of disciples with them, and…” And A-Sang’s body was burned beyond recognition.

“Nie disciples, too? Or just Jin disciples?”

Lan Xichen blinked. “A-Yao never said,” he said slowly. “I just assumed… why wouldn’t A-Sang have taken disciples with him?

“Unless it was a cover story.”

Mo Xuanyu nodded once, face open. He was sympathetic, but also clearly eager to move on.

If A-Sang was actually in there, then Lan Xichen understood why. If he wasn’t, A-Yao would understand.

Stepping forward, Lan Xichen cut the door down himself, then stood back and let Mo Xuanyu lead the way.

If A-Sang wasn’t dead, then Lan Xichen had abandoned his didi.

<line break>

Nie Huaisang gaped at the path of destruction trailing to the mirror, and likely continuing outside of it. The Ghost General had just ripped his chains from the wall and dragged them after him, not caring how they crashed into everything.

Nie Huaisang was mostly just thankful the destruction hadn’t included his own bed, but… but there was a part of him, not yet drowned out by the long days spent chained up, that had hoped if the Ghost General escaped, he would take Nie Huaisang with him. Even if the fierce corpse was just an empty vessel after all that Jin Guangyao did to him, Nie Huaisang had liked to think they were friends. They had been each other’s only decent company for years, after all.

“Not counting you, Da-ge,” Nie Huaisang laughed. “But you are just a head.”

Lying down and still looking at where the Ghost General had been just a few scant minutes ago, for the first time in a long time, Nie Huaisang wished for one of his old fans—for the comfort of it tapping against his palms and chin; for the distraction it would provide; for the swish as it opened and gave him something to hide his tears behind.

“We’re going to be here forever, Da-ge,” Nie Huaisang sobbed.

<line break>

The room was empty, but Mo Xuanyu crossed it swiftly, heading straight for a large mirror against the back wall—and then through it. Wangji and Lan Xichen shared a look of alarm and hurried after him.

A wall of sound hit Lan Xichen the moment he stepped inside the mirror; Mo Xuanyu had grabbed a sword from a stand and was using its sheath to block A-Yao and Hensheng’s ringing blows.

Lan Xichen could have excused that. They were intruding, after all, and Mo Xuanyu had been banished from Koi Tower—A-Yao had a right to defend himself. But A-Yao was avoiding the space behind himself, despite Mo Xuanyu pressing the advantage. It was like there was an invisible line that A-Yao couldn’t cross.

And maybe there was.

Lan Xichen and Wangji hurried forward, Wangji going to help Mo Xuanyu and Lan Xichen ignoring everything but that invisible line.

There were shouts around him, A-Yao calling for him to stop, Mo Xuanyu taunting A-Yao—even the voice of Wangji, quiet yet cutting, telling A-Yao to let them through.

Lan Xichen just kept moving until the moment his foot stepped where A-Yao had refused to, and the blank wall in front of him gave way to a small, shouting figure.

“—here! I’m here!”

He broke off even as Lan Xichen stopped, both of them staring.

The figure was chained to a wall,  his clothes brown and black instead of green and gold, and his hair pulled back into a messy topknot that lacked its usual braids. He was thin and pale in a way that spoke of years inside and a lack of even the small amount of exercise he used to do. He was crying.

“Er-ge!”

“A-Sang!” Lan Xichen surged forwards, sweeping him into a hug and making sure to restrain his strength even as A-Sang tucked his face into Lan Xichen’s shoulder.

They were both crying now, their robes damp with tears, and Lan Xichen forced himself to take in great, shuddering breaths of air. He couldn’t lose himself to crying, because A-Sang needed him. A-Sang needed him, and Lan Xichen was finally there.

“I’ve got you,” he said. “I’ve got you, A-Sang.”

<line break>

Nie Huaisang clung to Lan Xichen as tightly as he could, tears blurring his vision—but he still tilted his face out of Lan Xichen’s robes just enough to keep his eyes fixed on the fight in front of him. Though he didn’t think Jin Guangyao would harm their second brother, he had thought the same about Da-ge. He wouldn’t risk taking his eyes off Jin Guangyao for as long as Lan Xichen had his back turned to him.

And, he admitted to himself, the satisfaction of watching Jin Guangyao find himself backed into a corner burned white-hot inside him.

He had wanted this for so long.

What would he do, Nie Huaisang wondered, when he was free from that want? Free from Jin Guangyao? The Nie Sect had surely gotten along fine without him, as he’d at least left instructions for a close cousin to take over as leader. They might not even want him back.

He didn’t know if he wanted to go back, anyway. He had had enough of stone walls to last him a lifetime, and while the Unclean Realm had its nature, going back would mean submitting himself to responsibilities once more.

Maybe he could wander the cultivation world, painting fans and listening to birds. Or maybe, Nie Huaisang thought as Lan Xichen’s arms tightened around him at the sound of Lan Wangji stabbing Jin Guangyao through the heart, the Lans would welcome him at Cloud Recesses. He could paint fans and listen to birds there, after all. It could be a form of quiet retirement—though not too quiet that he would remember this room.

Closing his eyes on Jin Guangyao, Nie Huaisang buried his face fully into Lan Xichen’s robes and let himself relax in the arms of his er-ge.

<line break>

if you're wondering: WWX and LWJ leave LXC and NHS to their reunion, and talk by themselves. it doesn't take long for WWX to make a certain facial expression--or hum a certain tune--and LWJ quickly realizes what's up.

#nie huaisang #lan xichen #wei wuxian #jin guangyao #lan wangji #mdzs #mo dao zu shi #grandmaster of demonic cultivation #the untamed #cql #mdzs fanfic #mine #My fic #fanfic

[robininthelabyrinth]

I just wanted to say, i want moaaaar of Blackened NMJ!!!!! It saddened me to say, but please kill LWJ, lmao~ wwx at this point of time has already like him as "mere" likes and respect it's true, but compared to his love to JYL and JC, it's still has not enough, so i think he'd prefer those two safety even when LWJ died..what would happen in your AU after that though, hm. But, no, dont kill LXC just yet, i want to torture him with the same loss, so that he could start contemplating everything XD

part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4 (Blackened!NMJ aka Digging Graves)

--

(Interlude)

Sometimes Lan Wangji dreamed.

He dreamed that Wei Wuxian had come a little too late.

Lan Wangji did not fail, but he could not win against the undying hatred of steel – the fatigue crept up upon him, and he was a little too slow in the turn. It was a weakness he had long ago recognized in himself, one he’d worked hard to minimize since he couldn’t eliminate it, but in times of stress it reemerged, and this time it was at last the fatal flaw he’d always recognized it to be.

He was too slow, and the sabers pierced his chest – sometimes from the front, sometime from the back, sometimes both – and in his dreams he felt it more as shock than as agony, the smooth slide of steel against his fingers and chest and back, a feeling of coldness more than anything else.

His brother cried out at the sight of it. 

That part never changed: his brother was strong, fighting back, losing but fighting back, right until the moment he saw Lan Wangji fall.

His voice was that of a man whose soul is lost – far more painful than the feeling of the saber running him through.

The only consolation Lan Wangji had was that his brother’s pain was always short: Lan Xichen would always, always, turn towards him, hand reaching out in some futile attempt to help or even just to offer comfort in Lan Wanji’s last moments, and in that moment of weakness Nie Mingjue, his eyes dead as coals, would bring his saber down.

He would take no pleasure in it, the way Wen Xu had in the nightmares Lan Wangji had had about him – it was truly a tragedy that the man who had rescued Lan Wangji from his nightmares about the Cloud Recesses’ burning would now replace them with himself as the main villain. That’s what this all was: a tragedy.

In his dreams, Lan Wangji watched his brother die as he bled out.

The dreams rarely ended there, however.

He dreamed that just as his consciousness was fading, he would hear Wei Wuxian’s choked voice calling out his name – Lan Zhan! No! – and that some moments later he would open his eyes again, white and dead, his spirit screaming at the violation of being summoned by the Stygian Tiger Seal.

He knew, of course, that the corpses Wei Wuxian generally summoned lacked any consciousness – there was no soul there, no spirit – but the irrational logic of his dreams did not agree: he was always aware of what was happening around him after his death.

Wei Wuxian would be akin to some dark god, a demon in human flesh, his knuckles white around the seal as he pointed his finger at Nie Mingjue, accusing – maybe he would be self-aware enough to accuse, you said you’d spare those I cared for, or maybe he wouldn’t, since he hadn’t known yet because they’d never said a word to each other, maybe he wouldn’t have words at all, just screams of agony and pain and you killed him!

There were not many corpses in the Cloud Recesses, and very few with resentful energy, and even those that could come were in the end the preferred prey of the masterless sabers – even with the Stygian Tiger Seal to hand, this was not a battlefield that favored Wei Wuxian.

Lan Wangji dreamed of his body being used against his will, Bichen rising in his hand once more but no longer his, and he dreamed of the sabers becoming even more infuriated than before. Perhaps he would lose a limb, as well as his life; it did not matter, he would not feel it. The dead might feel pain as little as steel and need as little rest, but the human body, even backed by resentful energy, was simply much softer – he could be cut into pieces and still be trapped within his flesh, unable to enter reincarnation.

In the end, even if Wei Wuxian could somehow resist Nie Mingjue – if he’d taken up his sword again, perhaps, in all violation of everything Lan Wangji now knows to be true – it wouldn’t matter.

In the end, he always died.

Sometimes it was at Nie Mingjue’s blade. 

Sometimes it was his own cultivation backfiring, a thousand fierce ghosts flooding his body and ripping him apart.

Most often, though, it was Nie Huaisang, who Wei Wuxian had brought back and to whom he had given consciousness, coming up from behind him and piercing him through the heart.

He’d be sorry about it, of course. Nie Huaisang had always liked Wei Wuxian, even before, and it was a great crime to kill one’s benefactor – and yet, for Nie Huaisang, just as for Nie Mingjue, his brother came first.

Wei Wuxian fell to the ground, and Nie Mingjue fell as well, calling out desperately for the sabers to stop before they hurt his brother, the fierce corpse. 

Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t – there were dreams where the sabers lashed out at Nie Huaisang before they could be stopped, and Nie Mingjue turned Baxia upon himself, leaving the valley at the Cloud Recesses an utter slaughter and abandoning the world to the unforgiving cruel justice of the masterless sabers.

In other dreams, Nie Huaisang survived, though Nie Mingjue rarely did; and in those dreams Nie Huaisang buried Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji together, two corpses in a single grave, and it would be touching if only Lan Wangji’s spirit were not still trapped inside the fierce corpse, awake and aware and unable to move as the dirt piled up on top of him, one shovel at a time, and he knew he would lie there forever with the unmoving shell that had once been Wei Wuxian in his arms –

“Hey, Lan Zhan! Wake up!”

Lan Wangji opened his eyes. Wei Wuxian, alive and well, was grinning down at him; the hours was abnormally early for him, and there were already circles under his eyes suggesting that a long nap later in the day would be required to revitalize him.

It was fine. There wasn’t much else they had to be doing, here in Qinghe. 

“I had a dream!” Wei Wuxian announced. “We were farmers – well, we had a farm, anyway. I did the farming, and sometimes I went to the river and got us fish, and you stayed at home to guard the house, weaving and cooking for me. I gave you all the money and you did the accounts, and we were just about to take a bath together…what did you dream about?”

Lan Wangji considered the question for a moment.

“Sex,” he finally said. “In the Library Pavilion.”

Wei Wuxian shrieked with laughter, clutching at Lan Wangji’s body. “Oh, Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan! Who would have thought you’d have such a dirty mind? Was I just too young and handsome to resist? Or is it just that you like being around all those books? Or maybe you just like having little old me at your mercy –”

Lan Wangji used his mouth to shut him up.

#mdzs #lan wangji #lan xichen #nie mingjue #nie huaisang #my fic #my fics #so I went with the other direction #but you still get a touch of the horror of the might-have-been #there's another chapter after this one that goes into what happens next in real time #mostly Nie bros focused #catmaid-san

[mdzs-headcannons]

I read the A Girl Can Dream request and i was wondering if u can do a continuation of that? like maybe see this in LXC perspective or see what would happen after they've been conversating for so many times?

Whichever one u do, im sure id like it either way♡

Yes. Yes we can! (Also, disclaimer, I've gone thru all 5 versions of the story and so many fic, I cannot remember the actual way JGY handles the hired girls after his Dastardly Deeds, but that's in play here. Just so folks know!)

A Girl Can Dream- Part 2: Waking Nightmares

It begins, as their visits always do, with tea. But this time, Lan Xichen sits still and watches her hands shake as she lifts the tea pot, a few small droplets of the fragrant liquid splashing out to soak into his sleeve.

"I'm sorry," she rushes to say, reaching for a napkin to clean before the spill can stain, but he gently catches her hand to stop her.

"It is nothing," he says with a smile. Or rather, as much of a smile as could be appropriate, given the circumstances. After she settles again, he takes over the tea, smoothly pouring into both cups. "You seem tired, my friend. This all must be difficult for you."

'This', naturally, being the fact that not two weeks ago her employer had died in the middle of a.... Vigorous harem meeting. He was grateful to know she was never usually called on for the late Sect Leader Jin's licentious habits, but the man still paid her expenses and put her up in Koi Tower. It was fortunate that his sworn brother had agreed to keep her on so Lan Xichen could continue with their regular visits.

"... I trust you, Sect Leader Lan," she finally says, twisting her cup between her hands in an uncharacteristic display of nervousness. "But...If something dire were to happen... Something truly despicable that might even be hard to believe... Would you trust me?"

At this, he pauses the action of bringing the tea to his lips, returning the cup to the table. He has been speaking with her every other week for many years now, his favored reception at Lanling, rivaled only with being met by the newly minted Sect Leader Jin himself. But even then- he does not leave until he has had the chance to visit. And she has been very good and honest with him in that time, through many types of strife and grief for both of them. Of course he trusts her. She is like a sister to him.

But he has never seen her like this. Cagey. On edge. Watchful and quiet like she was worried someone might be watching her. Might be listening.

"What has happened?" he asks seriously, reaching across the table to lay a comforting hand over hers. "Has someone hurt you?"

She shakes her head, grasping his fingers so tightly her knuckles turn white and she looks as though she might cry.

"I am afraid someone will though," she whispers, so soft he has difficulty hearing the words at all. "I have seen something I was clearly not meant to know, and if he finds out, he'll kill me. I know he will."

"Who?" Lan Xichen asks.

She takes a deep shuddering breath before she looks at him, the fear clear in her glassy eyes. "Jin Guangyao."

-

He sits, silent, the two of them carefully shrouded in privacy talismans, and he listens. Listens as she tells him her story, tears clinging to he lashes a she recounts finding one of the other girls had left behind a medicine she needed nightly, and following after the tracks from their departure to deliver it to her, only to be met with the view of a man in dark clothes with a cruel smile and a deformed hand and, beside him, Jin Guangyao, standing outside with the former sect leader's body and listening to the girls inside scream as the building burned down around them.

He listens a she tells him of her slipping away as silently as she could, back through the trees and into the city, rushing so she was back where she was supposed to be before the heir arrived, feigning grief and surprise.

How she has not felt safe since, constantly worrying that Jin Guangyao will realize, and send someone with ill intention to stage an "accident" for her as well.

He listens.

He listens, and he grieves.

-

For a time, he does nothing. He has asked his own questions, softly, gently, and in ways that seem innocuous, but he cannot rid himself of the memories of fear in her eyes, even as Jin Guangyao gives perfect, placating answers.

And then, just as he begins to settle and think this all might truly be a misunderstanding, it happens.

A walk through the city to return her to her staying place or next appointment, sometimes done when his sworn brother is busy, and then there is the slip of a knife, gone before the rush of red even meets against the collars- pink and gold of a finely crafted dress staining crimson, and she's collapsing in his arms.

He weeps.

He mourns.

-

She lives.

Barely... But she lives.

He could not bear to leave her there, in a den of beasts she fears, and he spirits her away, the strength of his core feeding her struggling body life until he touches down in Cloud Recesses, handing her over with mourning hands to his healers.

His friend lives, scarred and quieted, but free and safe in the mists of his protection.

But the perfection and trust he held for his sworn brother has died, shattered like a porcelain mask put under too much pressure.

-

He prepares his confrontation. He has gathered the evidence, witnesses, and all he would need for a proper trial, diligence having been paid its due. And not just for her- for all of them. For every dark secret his sworn brother has managed to hide. For the girls murdered after being used as tools. The civilians tortured to build resentments to weaponize. For the Wens who truly did not deserve to die. For Wei Wuxian, who, it seemed, truly only wanted justice, despite his own darkness.

For Nie Mingjue. Their sworn brother. Their Da-Ge. Their friend.

It pains him, rips his lungs apart like claws and leaves him to bleed out in his tears and well-beloved lies, but it must be done.

Be just.

Defend the helpless.

Punish the wicked.

These are the precepts his Uncle has raised him in, has raised the whole of the Lan Sect in. And as much as Lan Xichen loves him, he cannot excuse Jin Guangyao of his crimes. The dead will not rest until their victimhood is brought to light. Until Jin Guangyao accepts his punishments. He can't do what he's done in the past. Can't stand by and let the world simply happen around him.

As much as he loves him, there is a justice coming for Jin Guangyao that cannot, no, that will not be denied.

#team zewu jun #someone hug the man damnit #and they live happily ever after #platonically #aftet LXC takes some time to heal his poor heart #lan Xichen #lan huan #zewu jun #jin Guangyao #meng yao #sect leader jin #sect leader lan #lan bros #lan sect #my writing #mdzs #mo dao zu shi #the untamed #cql #Gdc #grandmaster of demonic cultivation

[yeetlinglaozus]

Swan Lake AU where WWX is invited to attend the Lan School of Dance and Ballet and is the first choice to play the black swan. LWJ is the school's accompanist and has a hard time taking his eyes off the way clean and sharp lines of WWX's body when he dances. He spends his evenings dancing in secret with all the grace of a true ballerina and WWX, having gotten lost and mixed up in the winding hallways of the school, accidentally stumbles upon him. He's immediately awestruck by the precision of LWJ's movements and from then on glues himself to LWJ and pesters him endlessly to audition and dance openly. LWJ firmly protests at every turn, content to play the piano for the rest, but WWX doesn't accept defeat. When the auditions come and go, WWX is naturally cast for the black swan and MianMian is cast as the white and WWX notices the longing in LWJ's gaze as he watches MianMian dance with him and mistakes it as LWJ liking her. WWX tries to suggest that LWJ take his role, monologues on and on about how he'll support LWJ's pursuit and interest in MianMian by relinquishing his role to him and LWJ is just horrified and disgusted that WWX thinks he's a hetero and storms off. MianMian falls and is injured during a practice and her understudy is ill and there's only one person that knows the routine for white swan perfectly and it's LWJ. But! Gasp! Two male leads in a production like Swan Lake is unheard of and controversial enough that it could be like courting disaster so LQR is adamantly against it. WWX, not one to back down, convinces LWJ that if they can't persuade him with words they'll have show him with their dancing and they begin to practice together in secret. However, LWJ is slightly taller than WWX which makes any lifts awkward and difficult so they agree to switch places and WWX is captivated, absolutely dumbfounded by the power and dominance LWJ exudes as he takes up the mantle of black swan and feels like he's about to be devoured by their dancing. They present their routine, WWX dressed in pristine whites and sheer fabrics and using his femininity to appear more demure and less sharp than usual while LWJ is draped in glittering black and brimming with allure. LQR hates it but can't rip his eyes away from it and, after discussing it with LXC, agrees and casts them. The performance goes off without a hitch and after they make their bows to the audience and the curtain falls, WWX catches LWJ by the hand and tells him in esrnest that he's in love with him and LWJ grumbles an "about time" and kisses him breathless.

#this has been in my head for days so here you xan have it #wangxian #mdzs #mo dao zu shi #wei wuxian #cql #the untamed #chen qing ling #lan wangji #cakeswrites

[angelrider13]

Alright, so I mentioned in discord yesterday that Thalassa’s been dimension hopping. (We all have that one OC.) She’s currently hanging out in MDZS/Untamed world and causing chaos - as she does. @starofthemourning asked what specifically she was getting up to. So have a ramble!

- Thalassa was just minding her business, cruising through Death’s realm as she does from time to time, visiting past children and friends, helping newly deceased souls cross over, etc., etc., when she gets yoinked into a completely different land of the living.

- Thalassa: Toto, we are not in Eos anymore.

- She’s been summoned into the body of a young woman by a group of demonic cultivators that pushed some buttons they should not have. They are a cult, because of course they are, and Thalassa has no idea what’s happening, but they are cuckoo bananapuffs and leaning WAY too hard on the cult thing - virgin sacrifices, child sacrifices, torture, lotsa bad things. Thalassa in her new, 100% human body, says no.

- Enter JC! Who, as we know, hunts down demonic cultivators with a single mindedness that is probably more than a little unhealthy. And this is...I’m saying like 3 years after WWX died, so some things as still fresh (and also, other people are still alive to react to Thalassa and her...Thalassa-ness).

- JC arrives to find that Thalassa has already solved the problem. Very thoroughly. This strange woman covered in blood, with lines of fire burning across her skin and a smile that’s all teeth and gold, gold eyes that burn with power, escorting children and missing travelers out of the smoking ruins of their former prison, carrying the dead and dying with her. Because she cannot save them, but they will die free.

- JC is immediately Suspicious. This woman is not a cultivator. She is also not human. He is sure of it. He absolutely cannot prove it. (The body she’s currently inhabiting is human, she used to be human in body and soul and still is to an extent - she’s not lying.)

- Thalassa ends up being dragged to Lotus Pier along with some of the kids she saved, because orphans and we all know that Thalassa can and will adopt everything that breathes if it stands still long enough. She has technically done nothing wrong and has earned the gratitude and good will of quite a few people, so it would look bad if JC just disappeared her. But Something Is Afoot, so JC isn’t about to let her go gallivanting across the countryside either.

- Thalassa notices pretty quick that these people bow a lot. In greeting, in farewell, to show respect. Thalassa is Not About That. She is the Sea and the Sea Does Not Bow. It’s not such a big deal at first because the circumstances of meeting are...messy. But once they’re in Lotus Pier, people start noticing that she never bows, even after they’ve bowed to her, and they are Offended. The only ones that are not are the kids that she adopted. No one says anything at first, but they all make spectacular pissy faces that Thalassa delights in. JC eventually snaps at her, snarling about respect, and Thalassa calmly replies that if she ever bows to him or anyone else, they will have earned it. (”I have only ever bowed to my Mothers, to Death and to the Light of Dawn, and no other.”) JC, knowing that she’s not human, but not knowing exactly how, doesn’t bring it up again.

- Thalassa likes Lotus Pier. It’s bright and colorful and loud and surrounded by water. It’s not as good as her waters, of course, but it’s nice to be able to swim when the mood strikes. It’s nice to be able to swim with the children, nice to know that everyone learns to swim at Lotus Pier and that they take it seriously. The first time she catches JC teaching the kids she brought with her to swim she stares because he’s not gentle exactly, but...softer. These people operate on different rules than her, but it’s nice to know that somethings always stay the same.

- It takes Lotus Pier a little while to figure out that they’ve been adopted, but they get there. Thalassa is the weird big sister/aunt/mother figure that will be getting you into trouble one moment and then helping out get out of it the next. She doesn’t bow and they don’t make her. She’s chaos in human skin, but some of them (far, far too few) remember that Lotus Pier has always had a soft spot for chaos gremlins and their antics. It brings smiles to their faces when they see this strange whirlwind of a woman trail after their Sect Leader, tugging at his sleeves and leaning into his space and laughing with a smile brighter than the sun when he swats at her, a secret grin tugging at the corners of his scowl.

- At some point, Thalassa meets other sects. It goes...well it goes. For maximum chaos, let’s say its a discussion conference. At Jinlintai. Which brings us right back to the Thalassa and bowing thing.

- JC and YunmengJiang have been dealing with Thalassa’s bullshit for - months? a year? who knows, it’s been awhile - at this point and know that it’s better to just Roll With It.

- The rest of the cultivation world has very much not learned this lesson.

- The Lan are Offended. So Offended. Depending on the Lan, at least. LXC is pretty chill and would probably also be offended, but not let it bother him much. LQR leans so much on propriety that he might just qi deviate. LWJ also leans pretty heavily on propriety but he is also that person who is So Done With Everyone’s Bullshit that he’ll just walk right out of the room so who knows.

- The rules of propriety! Broken!! Without cause or care!!! The Lans are flipping their shit. Quietly. And with great dignity.

- The Nie also kinda offended, but not nearly as much as the Lan. It’s not often that a woman will look Sect Leader Nie in the eye and refuse to bow to him, but NMJ can admire the guts it takes. He’s also the most likely to bring it up and Thalassa will calmly tell him what she tells everyone who asks - that she does not bow. Most especially not for social niceties that mean next to nothing at the end of the day.

- She absolutely bonds with NHS over the arts. He shows off his fans, she does a dance or two with them, they ramble at each other, they are now best friends. (JC is in the background being a Dispair because he knows, he knows, the NHS is an Enabler. He should never have allowed them to meet.)

- The Jin...well. Thalassa is a woman. Thalassa is very pretty. Thalassa knows she is very pretty and flirts as she pleases and moves with a grace that draws many a eye. And JGS...is JGS.

- You know that post that’s buried in my STotS story tag where Mera, literal Queen of Atlantis, breaks a man’s arm because he put his hands on her without her permission? I’m not saying that happens...but that 100% happens.

- JGS tries to be all smooth and Thalassa is Not Having It. She is well aware that 1) this jackass is married AND absolutely does not have the permission of his wife to fuck around and 2) JGS has a reputation among women. And it is not one that endears JGS to her.

- So he puts his hands on her. Pulls her close and tries to flirt. She tells him to let go. He smiles in that ‘aw you’re playing hard to get, how cute’ way that he probably thinks is charming but really wants to make women punch his face in, and gropes her. So Thalassa breaks his arm, snaps it in her hand and doesn’t let go. She uses the pain and the leverage of her grip to force him to his knees before her.

- It draws attention. JGS doesn’t strike me as the kind of guy who gets in physical fights much - he probably doesn’t have much pain tolerance. He’s likely screaming. And you know cultivators are trigger happy little shits so swords are drawn. Thalassa smiles, all teeth.

- JGS is probably demanding that JC ‘put his woman in her place’. JC, having witnessed what happened and far less inclined to put up with this man than he was in the immediate aftermath of the Sunshot Campaign when all he had was the ashes of his sect, is having None Of It. He’s like well if she’s my woman why are you touching her and if she said no, why are you still touching her?

- NMJ approves. JGS deserves this. He’s had it coming for years. He is so happy he gets to witness this. As far as he’s concerned JGS brought this on himself and if he can’t handle it, maybe he should try keeping his dick in his pants.

- Thalassa is not impressed. She’s heard the titles thrown around. Sect Leader, Chief Cultivator, Your Excellency. She is well aware that leaders do not represent the entirety of the people, yet these people overthrew a tyrant and let this take his place? (”So you allow an oathbreaking rapist to lead you. This explains so much.”)

- JGY steps up and tries to smooth over the situation. Thalassa does not allow it. (”The next time he touches me, I will cut off his cock. If any woman he’s touched comes to me for help, I will rip out his intestines and strangle him with them.”)

- The Jiang are the only ones who know that she means this 100% literally. More than a few of them are okay with her following through. JC is standing at her shoulder, glowering at the whole room because Thalassa is one of His People at this point and you better believe he’s not going to let someone, not even another Sect Leader, not even the Chief Cultivator, disrespect her this way.

- JGY continues to deescalate with varying levels of success. (Thalassa is old. She is old and has lived through much. She knows what a viper looks like no matter how honeyed the words or how silver the tongue or how sweet the smile. This child thinks he can manipulate her. How cute.)

- In the end, no action is taken against Thalassa. JC is loud in his defense of her actions and NMJ and LXC side with him. JGS was in the wrong and his behavior was disgraceful. The Jin have no choice but to concede fault.

- Thalassa may or may not spend the rest of her time in Jinlintai teaching as many women as she can how to cripple a man twice their size.

#sweat tears or the sea au #ffxv x mdzs #a sea of lotus flowers verse #think i'm mostly gonna stick untamed canon cause that's what i'm most familiar with #thalassa out there not caring one wit about your social norms #for thalassa this is some time post astral war but pre ardyn #because i said so #thalassa adopts lotus pier and is adopted in turn #jiang cheng has Mine instincts as strong as any lucis caelum's #jiang cheng wonders why he keeps getting attached to chaotic assholes #he should know better #and yet #give thalassa an excuse jgs #just one excuse #thalassa still here not caring about politics #her stance remains: i'm right prove me wrong #it continues to be effective #especially when she shoves their own shameful behavior in their faces #thalassa for the rest of forever: hey remember when i broke your arm? #...if you ask me about this i'll probably ramble more

[angstymdzsthoughts]

I promised that I would share the convo me and @time-flies-by​ had earlier today regarding the Maleficent AU post, so here it is!

-

time-flies-by Dude that Maleficent AU-

angstymdzsthoughts I knoooow

angstymdzsthoughts It got a bit dark on me

time-flies-by It did, but goddamn was it good!

angstymdzsthoughts Right? I'm super happy with it

time-flies-by As you should! It actually gave me chills

angstymdzsthoughts WWX goes to sleep in his husbands arms, happy and in love. Wakes up to that husband mutilating him Thank you!!!

time-flies-by The best part, is that LWJ doesn’t even see anything wrong with it. He’s just like, “it has to happen”

angstymdzsthoughts Yep! Just another part of getting married to him

time-flies-by WWX definitely leaves understanding Madam Lan a lot better.

angstymdzsthoughts Oof LWJ grows up around spouses who seem perfectly happy with life after losing their wings And his mother, who still had her wings, was miserable So he thinks hes actually helping to make WWX happier

time-flies-by Double oof WWX really doesn’t understand what he was getting himself into.

angstymdzsthoughts Oh my god other spouses try to warn him (in a quiet subtle way so their husbands don’t get upset)

angstymdzsthoughts All the Lans are taught that this is a special, intimate experience between spouses

angstymdzsthoughts I feel like Su She is jealous that LWJ got to experience that and is vindictively happy when WWX ran away

time-flies-by Oh my god, the Lans all brainwashed into thinking that the tight smiles, and the tears are signs of love, when in reality their spouse is trying so hard to not hate them. Soakxldowkenenw fuxking Su She

angstymdzsthoughts The spouses are all trapped. Oh wait

angstymdzsthoughts The "soulmate" thing only happens once or twice in a generation and Madam Lan had been the most recent before WWX so the spouse around who tries to warn him away is an old woman who has been married and trapped in the CR for life 55 years That makes it so much worse

time-flies-by Oh my god, imagine wwx accidentally runs into the the wing room, and is absolutely horrified to find all the wings there, so he goes to lwj and is all like “Lan Zhan? What’s this?” And LWJ just goes “don’t worry Wei ying, I’ll make sure that never happens to you.” And what he means is “I’ll make sure your grounding isn’t as painful as theirs.” And wwx trusts LWJ 100%, but then their own grounding happens.

angstymdzsthoughts OOF Oh my god just rip my heart out

angstymdzsthoughts All I can picture is WWX crying and calling LWJ a liar before he's silenced Most disturbing part is how gentle and loving LWJ is being while hes Removing His Husbands Limbs Soft little praises and telling WWX that they will be happy together now

angstymdzsthoughts Ohhh WWX is totally gonna blame himself if he saw the wings and didn't immediately run Gets to Yunmeng like 'how could I be so stupid to believe him'

time-flies-by Ooh especially if the spouses before him tried warning him too.

angstymdzsthoughts Yes Exactly

time-flies-by WWX: The signs were all there. . . There was a red flag everywhere!

angstymdzsthoughts The way WWX sees it is like that 'face eating leopard party' meme Everyone else is just plain horrified

time-flies-by Oof 😂

angstymdzsthoughts LWJ is crying in the CR asking what he did wrong Yunmeng Jiang is ready to start a war in order to get WWX his wings back

time-flies-by Omg yesssss The Lans are all clueless and offended because they see NOTHING wrong with their traditions.

angstymdzsthoughts Someone tries to put it in perspective for them. "How would you react if your spouse cut off your hands?" But the Lans dont get it and just dig their hole deeper. "Thats ridiculous! You Need hands! Wings are in no way a necessity."

time-flies-by Aish 😓

time-flies-by Yeah no, the Jiangs are definitely cutting all ties with the Lan after that.

angstymdzsthoughts The Lans argue that wings do nothing but make someone fickle and reckless and arrogant. They Need to be earth bound so they can learn stability and humbleness ... Oh my god... Horrible thought

time-flies-by Do tell

angstymdzsthoughts Some children of grounded spouses end up with wings too But they get them cut off when they are younger Should it be LXC or LWJ who use to have wings?

angstymdzsthoughts Spend their entire adolescence being ashamed of the wings and eagerly waiting for the day they can be removed

time-flies-by Oooh maybe LXC?

angstymdzsthoughts The most recent wings added are a pair of small white ones maybe half the size of WWXs and the sight of them make him run out because he may be sick

time-flies-by Oh god, what if there’s like, a whole room just full of children’s wings.

Angstymdzsthoughts Of course the Lans would keep them Ohhh WWX hears people talking about the grounding ceremony that will follow the honeymoon and has no idea what their all talking about He asks and the Lans explain that it's a sacred ceremony between spouses that truly binds the new spouse to the Lan family WWX is like- oh wow that sounds really great! Like a big 'welcome to the family'!

time-flies-by Oh no that make it worse! WWX is super excited for the ceremony. He’s like hyping himself up nonstop.

angstymdzsthoughts Oh with the Lan members with wings- they normally have a form of the grounding ceremony when they get their courtesy name and become a Real Lan. Lose your wings and get a name Oh my gooood WWX and LWJ go to bed that night talking about how the bonding ceremony will be tomorrow morning and LWJ assures him that he knows WWX will be perfect

time-flies-by Oh god no, I’m just imagining a bunch of children scared but super willing to lose their wings, because they’d been taught that having them made them everything the clan was against

angstymdzsthoughts WWX, cuddling close: What if I mess up and make a fool of myself? No ones really told me what to do yet. LWJ, petting WWXs wings lovingly: Don't worry, I'll take care of everything Exactly

time-flies-by Oooh I just got chills again

angstymdzsthoughts Something about LWJ touching and admiring WWXs wings in this context... 😨

time-flies-by LWJ: once I get rid of these, he’ll be all mine.

angstymdzsthoughts Touching wings isn't a normal thing outside of family (given that touching in general isn't normal in Chinese culture) but WWX was always super ok with friends petting his wings. He totally offered to let LWJ touch his wings when they were teenagers after catching him admiring them

angstymdzsthoughts LWJ hadn't felt a wing since his mother died shortly after her Binding and WWXs are a really beautiful glossy black color that turns a dark, rich purple if the light hits them just right. Of course he wants to touch

time-flies-by 😥😥

angstymdzsthoughts LWJ, cautiously running one finger along the feathers: They are so big... WWX: Of course they are! My wings have to be big and strong to carry me while I fly! LWJ immediately snatching his hand back, suddenly cold at the remainder that WWX can and will fly away far, far away from him

time-flies-by LWJ is really undermining the love WWX has for him by being that concerned that he’ll leave him.

angstymdzsthoughts He got brainwashed by his clan and he saw his mothers constant attempts to escape. Everyone around him said that the only reason she was trying to leave was because of her wings. If his own mother would leave him because of wings, what would stop WWX?

angstymdzsthoughts Madam Lan got way too close to actually escaping and QHJ was pressured into finally doing the ceremony. Madam Lan didn't last long after that

time-flies-by sent a post Source (****)

angstymdzsthoughts Hahaha

angstymdzsthoughts You know what would be worse? Baby A-Yuan with wings

time-flies-by Oh noooooo

angstymdzsthoughts Like au where LWJ didn't do the binding and unbrainwashed himself Then A-Yuan is born with wings and he grows up being told he won’t be a Real Lan if he keeps them So his parents have no plans of removing them but as his naming ceremony gets closer Yuan says he Wants to get rid of them WWX is immediately packing a bag and getting him and his son the hell out of there. LWJ is right behind him with another bag

time-flies-by Oof yes I like that

time-flies-by But like what if, the day before they leave or something, A-yuan runs to the elders and tells them about what his parents plan to do, and he’s so desperate to get rid of his wings that he asks them to just do the ceremony there and then

angstymdzsthoughts AAAAAAAAAA

time-flies-by When LWJ and WWX wake, they’re so stressed cause they can’t find A-yuan, but a few minutes later he comes in all proud and wingless

angstymdzsthoughts I mean since its Maleficent au wings are apparently magic and can be put right back on but Still Horrible WWX cries LWJ is gonna fight to get his sons wings back and then get his family the hell out of there Oh my god..... LWJ walking through a room full of tiny, near identical wings looking for the little pair that he would recognize anywhere

angstymdzsthoughts Let's a few tears out when he finds them. Remembers helping WWX clean and groom them and watching while WWX taught their son to balance and fly using those wings Hates himself for not seeing what his clan was doing to LSZ and not getting them away from all of it sooner

time-flies-by Codnekaoenen perfect

time-flies-by Heartbreaking, but perfect

angstymdzsthoughts Also, if things had gone according to plan and they left before LSZ did the Binding Yuan, struggling and crying: But I won’t be a Real Lan! WWX, throwing Yuan over his shoulder to carry him mid tantrum: Then you're gonna be a Wei. Lan Zhan, would you please carry this bag? LWJ, taking the bag: Mn. Wei Yuan sounds nice.

angstymdzsthoughts Then they go to Yunmeng so LSZ can grow up in a healthier environment

time-flies-by Oh I like your version better.

angstymdzsthoughts You brought the pain, I brought a bandaid

time-flies-by Haha yes yes, thank you

angstymdzsthoughts Oof tho. LWJ finds the wings and brings them home where WWX is guarding Yuan while he sleeps. They Return the wings while Yuan sleeps and return to making plans to go to Yunmeng once Yuan wakes When he wakes up and has his wings back he bursts into tears.

angstymdzsthoughts Could be because he really missed his wings and is glad to have them back or because this means he's gonna have to go through the grounding AGAIN and it really hurt the first time and he doesn't want to go through it again. Maybe both

time-flies-by If both, then WWX and LWJ will do their best to reassure him that he won’t have to go through the grounding ever again.

angstymdzsthoughts Aww little Yuan crying so hard he can hardly breath and bringing his wings around himself so he can pet and groom them because he needs to make sure this is real and their back

angstymdzsthoughts Oof. Imagine LXC seeing this and wishing he could have kept his wings. Goes to visit his wings and knows that they are too small to fit his body now that hes an adult so he's lost his chance

time-flies-by *sigh* we really should give LXC a break.

angstymdzsthoughts Never Ok how about he gets his wings back and even tho there too small because they never got the chance to grow with him and he'll never be able to fly hes so unbelievably happy WWX and Yuan teach him how to groom his wings correctly because the only person who ever did that was his mother and he cant quite remember how to do it

time-flies-by *sniff* family bonding time

angstymdzsthoughts He starts an arrangement with Yunmeng Jiang so he can send any winged Lans to them for half the year so they can learn that having wings Isnt the worse thing in the world

time-flies-by Oooh yes yes That’s good.

#Time-flies-by #Had a great time and the story kinda got away from us to the point that we made an au of an au #Maleficent AU #Wei Wuxian #Lan Wangji #Lan Xichen #Lan Sizhui #mdzs #mo dao zu shi