#what if instead you did that specifically by turning him into a sentient fierce corpse

[thisisallthehattersfault]

Yes yes body horror and Becoming The Monster as in Losing Oneself and the grotesqueries of transgression, of ill-fitting skin stretched too-tight over bones that feel like they don’t belong to you anymore — but what about body horror as metamorphoses? What about Becoming The Monster as in Embracing The Shadow? What about Wen Ning who has never felt more himself when he was alive than he does now that he’s dead?

He is a MASTERPIECE, the greatest work of the greatest demonic cultivator of all time! His life was characterized by fear and uncertainty and loneliness and it was only in death that he learned how strong he really was, how capable, how resilient. If he had been the Ghost General during the war, or right after it, would the Dafan Wen have still died?

I just want Wen Ning to settle into the whole being undead thing and decide that he’s pretty okay with it actually! There’s so little left for him to fear, and the few things he does find actively unpleasant are all things that Wei Gongzi can probably fix if he takes some time to work on it. Wen Ning doesn’t like asking people for things, most certainly not for his own sake, but at the same time… Wei Wuxian, as an inventor, would want to know how his master work is faring, right? He’s never completely satisfied with anything he makes, always tweaking and tinkering, and he does keep Asking of Wen Ning needs anything, so…

I dunno where I’m really going with this but I think it’d be interesting to explore an AU where maybe Wen Ning gets to be lowkey kind of excited that he’s now an unkillable hyperbadass literally powered by all the rage he suppressed for so many years AND he gets to have that while also maintaining his cognizance and his genuine desire to help other people. Wen Qing shielded him from as much as she could but the results of that were Wen Ning feeling like he was quietly suffocating under the weight of his sister’s controlling brand of overprotectiveness — he loves her and appreciates everything she did for him but god was she good at making him feel small and helpless — and it didn’t even work because life under Wen Rohan was such constant stress that by the time Lotus Pier was burned Wen Ning was damn near numb to it. Now? Wen Ning only answers to one master. A master who Knows How To Utilize Him. A master who respects and cares for him as a person without trying to smother him! Wen Ning takes quiet pride in his existence as Wei Wuxian’s magnum opus and consequently in his ability to actually function as his General (personal bodyguard, second in command, right hand man!) he is the living (kinda) embodiment of both his family’s drive to survive and protect each other and his master’s brilliance and ingenuity.

I just think it would be cool! I just think it would be cool.

#wen ning #wen qionglin #the ghost general #mdzs #the untamed #ningxian #kinda if you squint #if I did an au like this #I’d want it to be a Wei sect au maybe #or otherwise one where the dafan wen survive #because I do think the circumstances surrounding the whole Becoming A Zombie thing #would have a big impact on his reaction to Becoming A Zombie #which is understandable! #but I love him and I want him to feel safe and happy in his own body #and while yeah you could do that by just like #Not having him be turned into a sentient fierce corpse #what if instead you did that specifically by turning him into a sentient fierce corpse #some teeth yearn for ripping!! #canines growing sharp out of black dog gums #Wen Ning has been been swallowing down the urge to tear people apart with his bare hands for years #now those hands are strong and marble-pale and capped with elegant little claws #and really who is he to look a gift horse in the mouth?