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one-flower-one-sword · 29 days

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Sending virtual hugs! 🌸

I’m wondering about your thoughts on Xie Lian and how he views Hua Cheng and the Gambling Den.

He expressed to Hua Cheng his concerns about how dangerous it is, and let it go when he understood that he and Hua Cheng have differing views on the matter.

It makes me wonder how things would have unfolded if the man who gambled to have his competitors die or give his daughter’s life and marriage if he lost, had been able to complete his bet without interruption. Like how much is Hua Cheng involved in something like that?

Would that man simply have walked away with the luck he needed to get what he wanted? I can’t see Hua Cheng actively hunting down and killing those people.

But I can see him allowing the man the luck needed to make his desires come true - so not actively engaging but not interfering with the man’s terrible decisions - kind of like with how he dealt with He Xuan.

I’m not completely sold on that thought though…😅 your thoughts?

Thank you! 🌸

And thank you for your ask! I love talking about Ghost City :3

I've thought about similar things regarding the Gambler's Den, but ultimately, I think it's on purpose that we don't find out for sure and are left to wonder. Especially since, at this point in the story, both the reader and Xie Lian are still slowly uncovering who Hua Cheng is as a person.

When we look at this scene after everything is revealed, I think it's quite clear from the mockingly derisive way he talks to him that Hua Cheng did not like that guy, and I wonder if he would even have taken that second bet if Xie Lian and the others hadn't been there - he seems to have a pretty good understanding of Lang Qianqiu's character when be talks about him with Xie Lian later, so I can see him use that second bet as a lure to make Lang Qianqiu cause a commotion. Because then Hua Cheng gets to "discover" that Xie Lian and the others are there, which means he has a reason to invite Xie Lian to Paradise Manor, which is necessary to make that whole "have them rescue 'Ming Yi' so that He Xuan's cover isn't blown" plan work.

As an aside, though of course Hua Cheng is always happy when he gets to spend time with Xie Lian, I think he must have deeply hated deceiving him like this. It speaks to how much he values his arrangement with He Xuan and how vital the information He Xuan provides is to him - which is proven when right after this, the whole Fang Xin reveal happens. Without He Xuan monitoring what's happening in heaven and relaying the information to him, Hua Cheng wouldn't have known that Xie Lian got locked inside his palace and couldn't have come to rescue him.

Back to the topic at hand though. I think it's worth looking at the actual dialog when Xie Lian and Hua Cheng discuss the den because there's so much in there:

After some hesitation, Xie Lian spoke up again. "San Lang, it may be out of line for me, but I still have to say it. That Gambler's Den of yours is incredibly dangerous. Won't it blow up in your face one day?"

A place that allowed the betting of sons and daughters and people's lives, granting wishes for others' sudden deaths - it was dreadfully sinful. Never mind a little brawl; if one day the bets got out of hand, the Heavenly Realm wouldn't be able to stay on the sidelines.

Hua Cheng gave him a look.

"Your Highness, did you ask Lang Qianqiu why he had to jump into that mess?"

Xie Lian was slightly taken aback, not quite understanding the intent of the question.

Hua Cheng continued, "I bet he must have told you that if he didn't do it, no one else would."

He was amazingly on the mark, obviously having seen through Lang Qianqiu.

"That's indeed what he said." Xie Lian admitted.

"Then I'm the complete opposite," Hua Cheng said. "If I don't control a place like this, then someone else will. I'd rather that person be me."

Xie Lian knew when to back down, and he nodded. "I understand."

It seemed, although Hua Cheng was the sentimental sort, he also cared more about control and power than Xie Lian realized.

It's fascinating that it we look at what Xie Lian actually says and thinks here, what he mainly seems to be worried about is what would happen to Hua Cheng and his friendship with Hua Cheng should Jun Wu be given reason to actively start going against him. Which is also what Xie Lian worries about during this entire mission - what will happen if it turns out Hua Cheng is involved with a heavenly official's disappearance and heaven retaliates, what will happen if he's not involved and Xie Lian has destroyed their friendship by deceiving him. It doesn't matter to Xie Lian that Hua Cheng is a Ghost King and that they're technically on opposite sides - he's decided based on his own experiences and judgment that Hua Cheng is a good person and a good friend, and he's already at this point very protective of him. Especially since he's not unaware that the heavenly realm in general and Jun Wu in particular do not share his opinion on Hua Cheng, and the political implications thereof:

Jun Wu turned around. "Tell me, what kind of extraordinary character did you engage with when you descended this time?"

Xie Lian raised his hand. "My Lord, I swear I did nothing. Just, one day by chance, I encountered an interesting young man on the road, and we spent some time together. I didn't think much of it."

Ju Wu nodded. "Chance encounter, young man, Supreme Ghost King. Xianle, surely you are aware what the consequences would be if Ming Guang was to question you further and you confessed to this in front of the other officials? No one would believe you."

"Xianle knows," Xie Lian replied woefully. "So, I'm grateful for My Lord's timely intervention. My Lord, you're not actually going to interrogate me, are you? I wouldn't collude with the Ghost Realm. These are absurd concerns."

"Naturally, I know you would not intentionally collude with the Ghost Realm," Jun Wu said.

"I'm grateful for My Lord's trust," Xie Lian replied.

Xie Lian is definitely stretching the truth here with the "I didn't think much of it" part, given that by the end of his investigation in Banyue, he damn well knew that the "interesting young man" was Supreme Ghost King Hua Cheng, and then he kept spending time with him regardless. He's very careful about protecting their friendship by downplaying it and being vague, and further than that, he's very careful about protecting Hua Cheng. We've already seen this earlier when Pei Ming was interrogating him - Xie Lian even pretended not to know who that "red-clothed young man" was because he rightfully deduced that Pei Ming would try to use Hua Cheng as a scapegoat to get Xiao Pei off the hook. Then when Pei Ming does try to pin the whole thing on Hua Cheng, Xie Lian immediately speaks up in his defense:

"General Pei, let's keep things clear and separate. Let's not talk about whether the young man I traveled with was Hua Cheng or not. At the very least, even if he was indeed Hua Cheng, that has nothing to do with what General Pei Junior has done. A Supreme Ghost King might have the worst possible name on people's tongues, but not everything can be blamed on him."

I find it very telling that the reason Xie Lian is being so carefully vague is less so he himself won't get into trouble and more that he's very aware that if Hua Cheng gets wrongfully accused, no one will question it simply because of who and what Hua Cheng is. And it's that kind of injustice and prejudice that Xie Lian will always stand up against. At this point he still completely trusts Jun Wu, but when it comes to Hua Cheng, Xie Lian not only disagrees but actively disobeys, though he's careful about how much of that he shows in front of Jun Wu:

Jun Wu shook his head. "I should not comment on the friends you make, but I will say this: Be careful of Hua Cheng."

Hearing this, Xie Lian bowed his head slightly, keeping his eyes down and saying nothing. He should've responded with "Yes, My Lord," as he should have been able to say yes with ease by that point. Yet, for some reason, he really didn't want to say that particular "yes".

Hua Cheng likewise also understands his and Xie Lian's respective positions and is careful not to endanger Xie Lian. Like here, when he explains why he put up somewhat of an act of not knowing Xie Lian because there were other heavenly officials present:

"Since gege is here, why not come in? We haven't been apart for that long, so don't be a stranger to San Lang."

At his beckoning, Xie Lian let down the beaded curtain. "Earlier in the Gambler's Den, it was San Lang who pretended not to recognize me."

Hua Cheng approached and stopped at Xie Lian's side. "Lang Qianqiu was there too, so if I didn't put on an act, I'd be giving gege trouble."

Or here when he's content to be accused of having maliciously kidnapped Xie Lian if that means Xie Lian won't be suspected of resisting his arrest and made to look guilty:

Xie Lian finally understood. Shi Qingxuan could see that Hua Cheng had no ill intent, but on the surface, they had to pretend that Hua Cheng had only barged into the Heavens to collect his due. It would prevent gossip from those how might suggest that Xie Lian had maliciously and intentionally absconded. Hua Cheng understood Shi Qingxuan's intent and had played along. However, Xie Lian didn't want to go this route.

"All right, stop acting. He only came to the Heavens to save me. San Lang had good intentions, so why conceal them?"

Hua Cheng does this to protect Xie Lian, but Xie Lian likewise wants to protect him. This has ended up quite long-winded, but I wanted to look for more evidence of why I think that Xie Lian mainly brought up the Gambler's Den because he's worried that the bets could end up endangering Hua Cheng himself.

Hua Cheng sincerely thanks Xie Lian for his concern, but makes it clear that he doesn’t quite agree, and I think it's worth looking into why that is.

I've seen Hua Cheng be described as completely amoral by fans, but I don't think that's how the text actually portrays him. He certainly can be quite critical and cynical with his views on both humans and gods, but his reasoning for establishing and keeping the den isn't "I don't care what happens there" or "I want places like this to exist for my own gain". He is, at least from his perspective and based on his experiences, simply being grimly realistic about how if he forbids these kinds of bets, the people who want to conduct them will simply move underground and do their gambling in secret. So not only will these bets happen either way, someone else will eventually take control of such a place, and Hua Cheng doesn't trust that such a person wouldn't take advantage of it.

Hua Cheng isn't amoral, he just has his own perspective on morality and justice. He's also not passive and uncaring in the face of what he perceives as wrong and unjust, but he doesn't really talk about that openly unless prompted. Like here during the Black Water arc, when they discuss the scroll with (supposedly) the names of victims of the Reverend of Empty Words:

Xie Lian turned to Hua Cheng. "San Lang, you said it's full of outrageous mistakes. How so?"

Hua Cheng scooted over to him, they were now sitting much closer than before. Hua Cheng pointed at a few names. "These are wrong."

Xie Lian looked at the names closely; all of them were known to be lawless, malevolently evil tyrants. "How do you know?"

"Because I killed them," Hua Cheng said.

Hua Cheng deeply hates people who abuse the power they wield, to the point that he personally acts against them. I think this ties in well with his reasoning about the Gambler's Den. I don't think there's anything in the text that suggests Xie Lian is upset to realize that Hua Cheng cares more about power and control than he'd thought, just surprised - until he comes to Ghost City, Xie Lian has mostly been around the very laid-back "San Lang", and this is the first time he's encountered Hua Cheng in his own territory, where he's a Ghost King ruling over the largest settlement within the ghost realm.

Also Xie Lian doesn't know this yet, but given everything we later learn about Hua Cheng's past, I think it's quite obvious that Hua Cheng's preoccupation with the power and control he wields, as well as his contempt for those who abuse theirs, is rooted deeply in the trauma he's gone through. Control in particular is a huge thing for him for several reasons, one of the main ones being that as a child, he was repeatedly punished for things outside his control, and he internalized that pattern to the point where he now punishes himself for things outside his control, as is shown repeatedly when he decides he's failed Xie Lian in some way. But I'm going to go into more detail about this in my Hua Cheng + trauma responses meta.

Lastly, I think it's important to keep in mind that the text makes clear that even when Xie Lian and Hua Cheng disagree, rather than a point of conflict it's actually proof of how strong and healthy their relationship is. I've sometimes seen fans (not you) portray their relationship as Xie Lian being irritated with Hua Cheng's attitude towards others, having him either be somewhat grudgingly resigned to it or actively trying to change Hua Cheng's behavior. But when we actually look at the text, we realize that nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, the opposite is the case - Xie Lian is incredibly protective of him and repeatedly gets defensive when others judge and blame Hua Cheng. I'm gonna examine that in more detail in my hualian meta though, so for now, I hope this turned out a satisfying answer!

#answered asks #silver-cyn #hua cheng #xie lian #hualian #ghost city

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veliseraptor · 4 months

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i'm in a very specific phase right now where i'm only reading jiang cheng-centric fics and then i thought, what has lise written? because i tend to run into your fics even if it's not on purpose (and they're always so good!) and i noticed that two of your fics (which are also not posted that far apart) have lots of Feelings about a lotus pond in the burial mounds, which... wow, talk about heart-wrenching. i'm not very familiar with the exact details of the novel yet so is this something from canon? i know you mostly talk about the yi city cast so i'm not sure whether this is unwelcome but what was it about the lotus pond and what it means for the twin prides that captured your interest so strongly? what do you think it means for jiang cheng to see the tangible evidence of that fact that, in his heart, wei wuxian had not forsaken them? sorry for the long, rambling ask!

I do indeed mostly talk about Yi City these days but I have a deep and abiding affection in my heart for Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng and their relationship. it's such a miserable mess. love that.

as far as the lotus pond goes - I don't recall it being a thing in the novel (though I'd have to go back and check to be sure) but it is definitely a thing from CQL, which is where I pulled it from. there it is very explicitly Wei Wuxian trying to bring a piece of home/familiarity to the Burial Mounds, that to everyone's astonishment actually works.

and hoo boy is that symbolically weighty, which was why I used it there! because it is Wei Wuxian bringing a piece of symbolic home with him (because he can't completely leave home behind, even as he cuts himself off from Jiang Sect in order to protect them), and for Jiang Cheng to witness that it is a symbol that Wei Wuxian didn't just ditch and never look back, but that there was still some attachment there, struggling to survive amidst the ruin of everything else. That Wei Wuxian put in the work to grow lotuses in an inhospitable environment, that he wanted them there badly enough to make the effort - and yet he also (from Jiang Cheng's perspective) walked away so easily, left their family behind without hesitation.

the way I put it in one of the fics I know you're thinking of (no flower can bloom for a hundred days):

It shouldn’t be here. Someone would have had to plant it. Someone would have to have wanted it here, to have wanted badly enough to put in the work to nurture it, coax it to grow from poisoned soil. There was a pond like this in Jinlintai, Jiang Cheng thought. Splendid, well-kept. A-jie had loved it. It’s not home, she’d said, but it’s a piece of it. When I miss it too badly, I can sit looking at the lotuses and think of you, and a-Xian, and feel closer to you both.

it's a very loaded and emotionally potent symbol for both Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng and that makes it very fun to use, basically. because at that point, of course, it's too late; and also, at that point, how is he meant to reconcile that evidence with the fact that Wei Wuxian did leave, and his anger at Wei Wuxian for all the death that comes after, including his own?

he can't. and that's one of the things that has Jiang Cheng so fucked up about Wei Wuxian, for all the years he spends looking for him.

#conversating #anonymous #jiang cheng #wei wuxian #ahh! back in my yunmeng shuangjie feelings #happy to be here #the sad queer cultivators show

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illuminatedferret · 4 months

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Poll idea for you if you want? Or you can just take it as a normal thoughts ask. I've been pondering it myself and seeing what others think might be nice.

Does Jun Wu know Hua Cheng is Wu Ming?

1. Yes, the whole time.

2. No, he doesn't.

3. He figures it out over the course of the present day plot.

I wonder because he told XL that WM was gone and used how 'alone' and 'abandoned' XL is alot in his arguments. But also isn't the kiln and mount tonglu like his space. He never saw any of the statues and wondered? Also what did he think HC wanted from XL? Friendship? Relationship? Revenge? Control? What did he even think of Crimson Rain during the 800 years? I can see him having Black Water figured out and just enjoying that whole mess, but I'm not sure I can imagine what he thought of HC. For a character that really seems to know a lot, I can't help seeing HC as a bit of a blind spot for him? Maybe wilfully dismissed as unimportant?? Jun Wu be hard to understand 😅

Lot your fics and posts ❤

Hey! Thanks for the ask! I made a poll out of it(as u know) and now as promised I'm also gonna share my thoughts!

Short answer: no! I do not believe so. And I don't for one very specific reason- Jun Wu mentions Wuming during the fight on the Heavens-Crossing Bridge. Specifically, he mentions whether or not Hua Cheng knows about Wuming, and all the things Xie Lian did back in his first banishment. He says it to undermine Xie Lian's confidence, both in the fight and in Hua Cheng's feelings for him. If he knew that Wuming was right there, ready to go "actually that's me, I already know all about that stuff, and I'm totally cool with it." he never would have brought him up.

Longer answer: we don't actually know how much attention Jun Wu paid to Mount Tonglu. I mean, it's never confirmed one way or another that he knows/doesn't know everything that goes on down there. I think it's sort of a mixed bag. On one hand, he didn't know about the statue of Xie Lian in the Kiln. On the other, he was in the Cave of Ten Thousand Gods, and the way I see it, he could have either found it beforehand, or he could have followed Xie Lian into it(because he was following Xie Lian by that point- right before he wakes up in the cave he has a nightmare about White No-Face, actually). I think the latter, just because he doesn't act during canon like he knows Hua Cheng is, like, mega-into Xie Lian. Because I do think that it's not hard to put together who made the Cave of Ten Thousand Gods if you saw it uncovered and thought about it a little.

In regards to what he thought Hua Cheng wanted out of Xie Lian... I think it's safe to say that at least initially he didn't think Hua Cheng loved him or anything. He tries to break apart Xie Lian and Hua Cheng very early, by sending Xie Lian to Ghost City on a mission that runs directly against Hua Cheng. Nevermind Xie Lian seeing the Gamblers' Den(which many people would find distasteful and think less of Hua Cheng for), if Hua Cheng wasn't so gung-ho about helping Xie Lian, recovering Ming Yi(and Lang Qianqiu) would've been really ugly. If Jun Wu actually knew Hua Cheng loved Xie Lian(or desired him sexually), I can't see him NOT trying to use that, either to harm Xie Lian or poison his opinion of Hua Cheng(like FXMQ).

I think it's also important to recognize that Mount Tonglu opened while Xie Lian was with Hua Cheng. Jun Wu did that. By this point in time, he's(I believe) already consumed Lang Ying, so he knew that Hua Cheng had invited Xie Lian to Ghost City for the day. If Hua Cheng's reaction hadn't been #KissingTime but violence instead, Xie Lian would have been greatly hurt, and that would have had its own repercussions on their relationship. (if it had been sexual violence...? i think he would have been mad about that, actually) The more I think about it, the more it seems like Jun Wu just didn't want Xie Lian around Hua Cheng at all, like "a supreme's already called dibs on him, back off" kind of deal.

What Jun Wu thinks of Hua Cheng... Overall I think he just hated him. Didn't like him at best. Hua Cheng really did turn out to be a blind spot of Jun Wu's, because there was so much about him that he didn't know. He didn't know he was Wuming or that he loved Xie Lian, and so he didn't think to incorporate those facts into his plans. But beyond that? Not sure. He definitely didn't like him- I would say there was value in Hua Cheng being feared and thus inspiring worship of Jun Wu and the heavens, but he has plenty of worshipers himself. Maybe some stuff about encouraging Heavenly Official solidarity. But I think the existence of Ghost City had a significant(positive) impact on the Mortal Realm, removing 'evil' stuff from the streets of mortal cities and giving ghosts a safe place to live, rather than remain in the open world where they can cause problems. So I don't think he liked that either. I also think he hated having such a powerful figure that he didn't have something over, be it authority or blackmail. Even if he was confident he could beat Hua Cheng, he's very much about control, and he has nothing on Hua Cheng.

#illuspeaks #tgcf #hua cheng #tian guan ci fu #heaven officials blessing #tgcf meta #jun wu #illuanswers #exactly when lang ying was eaten is never explicitly said but i think it was before the mid autumn festival #when he's with sqx in heaven. sqx tells xl that even the emperor has seen him

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mulberriesandtea · 9 months

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A VERY DISORGANIZED AND WEIRD MESS OF THOUGHTS THAT ARE ALL RELATED TO THE SODA EGO SOMEHOW

So wellcheer's story is like, this employee getting drugged and taken aboard a ship, and eventually coming to enjoy his work there, finding it better than working in the city. In general this reads to me as the escapist fantasy of the employees, wanting something that's more fulfilling, more satisfying, hoping for a change. While I think Hong Lu having it is somewhat self explanatory, I think we need to consider Ryoushuu as well, since both can provide context for one another. I will also bring up the fact that someone pointed out they could correlate to the types of work that give grape wellcheers, those being attachment(being kind and friendly) and repression(denying the abnormality in some way)- which I didn't quite agree with at first, but I think I understand better now that yes, it's likely. With that out of the way~! Let's talk about Hong Lu, since he's the one we understand the most about! These are not clean sections by the way. They're ramblings of a mad man.

"Tadaa~ Transformation complete! Hah, we've a boatload!"

- Hong Lu Awakening

I think Hong Lu's is specifically meant to represent denial as his form of escapism. He denies anything that happens to him, and instead focuses on other things. We can note that Hong Lu seems to enjoy film in some way, and often mentions boredom and 'entertainment.' Not to mention Land of Illusion(I stare at the 5 gloom cost good fucking lord). Yah. Anyways, his magical girl transformation is an obvious reference to well, magical girl shows. Y'know, the kind of shows you watch and go 'man I'd love to be just like her" at least according to people. Understanding that, as well as pointing out that in both his Dimension Shredder and his Roseate Desire he seems a lot more overtaken by the abnormality than Yi Sang and Ishmael respectively in their awakenings(Yi Sang at least has both arms and Ishmael seems really not to be having a fun time), I think I can safely say that I think Hong Lu being on the boat is quite literally him fully accepting the fantasy of it. Have any of you method acted before? I have done it before, but not correctly, and I'm easily swayed by the emotions and thoughts of the characters I overtake, it's incredibly hard to maintain a divide between 'yourself' and 'your character' if you don't properly understand yourself- I mention this because it's quite literally what the Sinners do. I know this seems random to bring up but I hear me out here. I think it's clear that method acting wise, Hong Lu gets much more lost in his roles than the other sinners- I'd argue Canto IV especially shows this. Some of the others seem to also have trouble with Canto IV's play scene, but I believe the difference between that and their EGOs is how prolonged it is. Hard to explain, but yeah, Hong Lu quietly gets much more lost in his roles and it really does show in his EGOs- which is likely part of the escapism of it all. TL;DR I think his thing is denial, and as such, he represents the Repression half of the Wellcheers Grape Soda, and the reason he's on the boat is that he's *fully* invested in the EGO.

...Someone more into method acting should explain it better and see how it works within the context of EGO.

"Go on, open wide. Relax and cram this drink down your throats, heheh."

- Ryoushuu Awakening

And that brings us to Ryoushuu, who I think represents the Attatchment side. And that might sound really weird at first. Why is the friendly one who seems to be more open with everyone Repression and the one who quite literally would attack other people and seems much more distant from everyone else despite it being several months now be Attachment? I'll explain more in Hong Lu's corrosion section. Anyways Ryoushuu! I think, in a way, her EGO, and the fact it's Zayin, is rather important- I'm still not quite sure on that aspect outside of 'it is really notable Gregor and Ryoushuu have Zayin EGOs.' I think her form of escapism is much more external than Hong Lu's- of course there's her tendency to smoke, but there's also her tendency to get obsessed with her art- and I think the fact that art is often heavily affected by the emotions of the creator is important. Art's a form of venting in a sense, but the way Ryoushuu does art she forces other people to deal with her problems. It's hard to explain gosh. Basically, she's very much ignoring her problems by creating art- she's not solving the root problem, she's not actually understanding why she's feeling that way, she just doesn't deal with it. THIS IS SHORTER THAN HONG LU'S SECTION BUT IN MY DEFENSE-

"The seagulls... They keep crying and screaming away...!"

- Hong Lu Corrosion

So yeah these two. Ryoushuu's based on a man who committed suicide after the death of his daughter(who we know is dead in Limbus too, Fourth Match Flame and Red Eyes very heavily imply that, not to mention how Ryoushuu reacts to Outis during Hell's Chicken) and very much so has self-destructive behavior(said staring directly at Indiscriminate Art, which passive wise is exactly the same as Self-Neglect, and her smoking habits), while Hong Lu seems to very much have a persona of being cheerful and oblivious to the point of where it's very hard to tell if he's being genuine or not(The one potato joke in Hell's Chicken)- a persona that has not cracked yet in story, even when Faust attempted to break it with a sledgehammer(Once again, Hell's Chicken). I mention this because his persona has cracked in his EGOs- and this is one of them. I argue that both of their egos will be them no longer able to confide in their coping mechanisms of escapism, and their reactions to that. Hong Lu's EGO specifically shows him with the net stuck around him and in his mouth, and with him seeming almost panicked and lost. It's very particular he seems focused on the 'seagulls' which can seem a bit random, but I believe this is due to the 'seagulls' representing his last thread of escapism- his world, literally and in his denial, is falling apart. I'd argue that Ryoushuu's will be somewhat similar, also representing her thread of escapism falling apart- likely to do with either Yuzuki’s death or her completion of the ‘Hellscreen,’ and her being unable to deal with it.

I think they'll both be either Lust or Gluttony EGOs put a cute little thumbsup here

Of course I can be like, completely wrong. Anyways it's like 3 in the morning stream heart's claws by vane(flashing colors warning):

https://youtu.be/2M2BHjVQPH4

i wanted to post the sodas but that’d take too long

#I FORGOT TAGS LMAO #limbus company #lcb hong lu #lcb ryoshu #soda ego #yippee.#there is a girl in the narrative #smoke and mirrors more like. no.#tea with mul

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canary3d-obsessed · 10 months

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Restless Rewatch: The Untamed, Episode 38 part one

(Masterpost) (Pinboard) (whole thing on AO3)

Warning! Spoilers for All 50 Episodes!

OK But Why?

This tale-within-a-tale is excruciating, yeah? So let's start off by considering why it even exists. Yi City feels like, if not a fully separate story, a pretty complete arc that can play as its own little movie. And it's incredibly sad, in every direction. While it may have begun life, in its originally-written form, as a different story exploring some of the same themes, MXTX placed it in the novel deliberately, and the producers of CQL included it deliberately. Why? Other than the, you know, catharsis of a well-wrought tragedy?

I think the answer is that it tells a set of parallel stories, alternate versions of the stories our main characters inhabit, with different outcomes driven by the character's choices. There's an obvious parallel between Lan Wangji's grief and Song Lan's, and another clear one between Wei Wuxian's core donation and Xiao Xingchen's eyeball donation.

And there's an important comparison to be made between Xue Yang and Wei Wuxian, two demonic cultivators. They share some formative experiences, but have followed radically different paths, shaped, at a key moment, by another person's choice.

Overall, the Yi City story illustrates how choices made in a moment affect not just an individual life, but ripple outward into other lives. So be prepared for me to point out parallels even more than usual, as we go through these episodes.

Empathy

We start off learning about Empathy and how it’s sooper dangerous, which means of course Wei Wuxian is totally down for it and probably invented it. He gathers the kids around and assigns Jin Ling to be the person in charge of supervising and deciding when to pull him out of the matrix link.

Jin Ling is surprised and reluctant so teacher’s pet Sizhui jumps forward and volunteers.

Wei Wuxian asks Jin Ling for his Jiang clarity bell, which is on a tassel that used to be Jiang Yanli’s.

(more behind the cut!)

Once the bell/tassel is out of Jin Ling’s hand, however, he changes his mind and snatches it, and the responsibility, back.

It seems like Sizhui might recognize this tassel?

It’s like the one Jiang Yanli gave Wei Wuxian when they met up before her wedding, which means Wei Wuxian would have had it with him during their year in the burial mounds.

Jingyi disapproves of Jin Ling’s mind-changing, which is a little unfair since JL didn’t actually say “no” prior to Sizhui putting in his oar. (Sizhui is entirely loveable, but he is also a pushy brown-noser just like Lan Wangji was at his age. He just does it so sweetly that nobody minds.)

Sizhui, also like his Lan dad, has made it his life’s mission to manage a loudmouth hothead’s temper for him.

Heading into empathy with A-Qing, we get flashes of bits of the story that we're about to see in depth. Then we jump to "ten years ago" which, given the way this series does math, probably means seven years ago.

Side note: A-Qing has managed to keep her hair looking pretty cute despite being 90% dead.

Splish Splash

This particular section of the Wuxia River of Sadness is reserved for people who are contemplating the total mess they have made of their lives (gifset here), but A-Qing didn't get that memo, so she's having a nice time splashing joyfully without a care in the world.

A-Qing isn't about drama or being depressed, even when things are pretty difficult. She has found a big rock to sit on and is having a nice day hanging out on it.

Then she goes skipping along singing "la la la la" (which is the same sound in Chinese as we make in English when we're singing and don't know the words, incidentally). Ok, show, we get it, she's happy and carefree. I sure hope she doesn't get involved in any weird relationships.

Grifting

She sees a couple of women walking on the path and she starts pretending to be blind. In the book, this pretense was facilitated by her having completely white eyes, but in the show she has normal brown eyes, until she actually is blinded by Xue Yang. So her entire pretense of being blind is to unfocus her eyes a bit and wave her hands around...

...with frequent intervals where she thinks no-one is watching her, and she acts 100% like she can see. Somehow she is almost never busted for this.

The ladies give her a steamed bun and whisper loudly to each other about how pitiful she is.

Then she heads into town for a little grifting, picking a wealthy douchebag as a mark. She bumps into him and steals his money bag, which he doesn't notice because he's too busy creeping on her.

She's annoyed and disappointed that he doesn't have a lot of money.

Hey Pretty, Don’t You Want To Take a Ride With Me

Next she bumps into (and robs) Xiao Xingchen, who is actually blind, so he doesn’t notice her noticing how extremely pretty he is.

He does notice that she has robbed him, however.

Did you know if you have your eyes removed or even just damaged so you can't see any more, your eye sockets and/or tear ducts will bleed pretty much forever? Yeah, me neither.

Xiao Xingchen immediately takes charge of A-Qing, telling her to walk more slowly and then telling her - kindly - to return his money purse. Before she can answer him, the rich douchebag comes back to yell at her and try to hit her. Xiao Xingchen stops him and smooths over the situation, and then lectures Ah Qing about stealing and how it's bad. But he tells her to keep his money, so - mixed messages, bro.

She calls him gege and says that since he's blind and she's blind, she's going to follow him forever. He’s like, okey dokey, and they walk off together. Is she really the first person (since Song Lan) who’s had this idea about him? He is *very* pretty, after all.

It's unclear to me if she's calling him gege in the sense of “orphan girl who wants a family,” or in the sense of “mostly-grown-up woman who would like to Hit That.” Xiao Xingchen appears to take it as the former; he is too gay virtuous for the other option.

Two seconds after they decide to stay together, they encounter Xue Yang lying injured by the side of the road. A-Qing pretends she didn’t see him, and almost successfully wangles a piggyback ride out of Xiao Xingchen.

But then he hears Xue Yang and immediately decides to rescue him, like the do-gooder Xue Yang despises him for being.

Xue Yang gets the romance-tropey piggyback ride that A-Qing was hoping for. Girl, the time to stop trying to seduce your gay male friend is 5 minutes before you started, ok?

So...why was Xue Yang lying by the side of the road with a stab wound? Who gave it to him? If Jin Guangyao was sick of him, he would have stabbed him 100% fatally, and he wouldn't have let him hang on to Tiger Seal 2.0. And presumably Xue Yang wouldn’t think of him as a friend any more. It’s a mystery.

The new throuple decide to go to the creepiest abandoned walled city that has ever existed, and head past all the regular houses to set up camp in the morgue, for some reason. Not even inside one of the buildings; just out in the courtyard with a bunch of possibly-occupied coffins. Xiao Xingchen is so fucking weird.

Each Unhappy Family is Unhappy in its Own Way

Xiao Xingchen gets to work patching Xue Yang up, and Xue Yang wakes up and recognizes him. A-Qing explains that they are blind and tells him not to be rude about it.

Xue Yang takes a second to process the situation, and then decided he’s going to hide his identity and make nice with Xiao Xingchen. Proving that found family can also have hideous toxic dynamics.

Xue Yang is very careful to keep XXC from touching his hand, since that would give away his identity. He has a...prosthetic finger? He wears a black glove and keeps his pinky finger straight so we know it's a replacement, or injured, or something.

I think this is a concession to Wang Haoxuan having ten functional fingers and the show having a limited CGI budget. In a real sword-based society, missing a finger is probably not particularly uncommon, and he would probably just rock the nine-fingered look without having a special glove.

At this point, the complex interactions of the trio get rolling. Xiao Xingchen is honestly kind, Xue Yang is fake-kind, A-Qing is fake-unaware with Xue Yang and is unable to make Xiao Xingchen understand the problem, and Xiao Xingchen is genuinely unaware of everything.

We spend a fairly large amount of time with Xue Yang and Xiao Xingchen playing happy families. As part of his false persona, Xue Yang adopts a coy and whiny tone when talking to his pet white-clad cultivator, remarkably like another demonic cultivator we know.

I’m pretty sure Wei Wuxian has never managed to cop a feel while his sweetie climbs up a ladder, however.

Then again, neither Lan Wangji nor Wei Wuxian has ever needed a ladder to get onto a roof, so maybe it’s just a lack of opportunity.

This relationship, on the surface, is cute and sweet, which just makes the reality of it more disturbing. It’s super uncomfortable to watch, but there’s more than manipulation happening in these interactions. As Xue Yang flits around doing domestic tasks like patching the roof of the crappy outdoor shelter that they absolutely do not need to be using, he tells Xiao Xingchen various true things about his early life, and we begin to see what shaped him.

Xue Yang (like OP) is obsessed with candy. In Xue Yang’s case, he was a hungry street kid who loved candy but couldn’t usually have it because of poverty. We learn that he has skills in patching up inadequate housing because he did it growing up.

And we learn that he was beaten a lot.

So he and Wei Wuxian have these things in common - except now Wei Wuxian gets his sugar from alcohol, not from candy. And Wei Wuxian’s handyman skills are used to make a home for his former enemies in the burial grounds, while Xue Yang’s are used - also in a cemetery, of sorts - to manipulate and trap his enemy.

I Want Candy

In classic predator form, Xue Yang uses candy to lure A-Qing into coming within stabbing range, because he thinks she’s faking her blindness and wants to test her.

I find him super attractive right here in spite of his evilness. I’m pretty sure it’s because he’s offering candy. (OP goes and gets a jolly rancher out of her purse).

After calling her over, he draws his sword with a super-loud "sshshk" noise that she inexplicably doesn't notice, and she bravely walks up to, and nearly on to, the point of the sword.

This shocks him and convinces him that she's really blind. He sits her down with apparently sincere gentleness, and gives her candy, while quizzing her about her hot gege.

A-Qing tries to warn Xiao Xingchen about Xue Yang being a bad guy, pointing out that he's a cultivator and won't tell them his name. (She can’t say “also he tried to stab me” because she’d have to come clean about being able to see.) Xiao Xingchen, because he is a condescending prick--albeit a very sweet one--pats her on the fucking head and laughs off her extremely useful warning.

Xiao Xingchen came out into the wider world with a set of ideals that he lives by, apparently without examining them. He’s humble, kind, frugal, and wants to eradicate evil. He also believes that the majority of people are good like him, and that detecting evil is simple--as simple as following his sword toward it. He doesn’t allow A-Qing, who is experienced in the wider world, to teach him anything, preferring to keep his ideals untarnished.

Contrast this with Lan Wangji, who also starts his journey into the wider world with a set of ideals (codified as rules), but does not make the mistake of assuming that other people shares his beliefs. Once he’s away from the Cloud Recesses, he follows Wei Wuxian’s lead when dealing with new people, rather than insisting on doing things the way he did back home. In general, he is open to having his beliefs challenged, even when it makes him upset or uncomfortable. As a result, he grows into a righteous man, not a naïve one, and he’s fully capable of identifying enemies even when they appear to be friends.

Bonus:

In this brief long-distance shot we learn that A-Qing sleeps in a coffin, which is some next level goth girl shit.

Soundtrack: 1. Hey Pretty by Poe 2. I Want Candy by Bow Wow Wow 3. Cheap Thrills by Sia

#the untamed #the untamed gifs #restless rewatch the untamed #yi city #yi city trio #canary3d-original #ep 38

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atopvisenyashill · 5 months

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The Magic Users Before Old Valyria, Part One: Magical Nuclear Fallout

i am positive this post has been made before but i'm making it anyway because it's eating away at my brain so let's gooooo.

We are delving into a fever dream that Dany has in AGOT, that will take us to the Pre-Valyrian magical users and their link to Valyria.

so in Dany's fever dream in AGOT, she has a vision of her ancestors:

Ghosts lined the hallway, dressed in the faded raiment of kings. In their hands were swords of pale fire. They had hair of silver and hair of gold and hair of platinum white, and their eyes were opal and amethyst, tourmaline and jade.

They look just like other Valyrians - hair of gold, white, and silver with funky colored eyes.

But note the exact gems mentioned! In TWOIAF, we get a little background on Yi Ti and their belief system. read here:

[In the beginning] a single realm ruled by the God-on-Earth, the only begotten son of the Lion of Night and Maiden-Made-of-Light, who traveled about his domains in a palanquin carved from a single pearl and carried by a hundred queens, his wives. For ten thousand years the Great Empire of the Dawn flourished in peace and plenty under the God-on-Earth, until at last he ascended to the stars to join his forebears.

Dominion over mankind then passed to his eldest son, who was known as the Pearl Emperor and ruled for a thousand years. The Jade Emperor, the Tourmaline Emperor, the Onyx Emperor, the Topaz Emperor, and the Opal Emperor followed in turn, each reigning for centuries…

When the daughter of the Opal Emperor succeeded him as the Amethyst Empress, her envious younger brother cast her down and slew her, proclaiming himself the Bloodstone Emperor and beginning a reign of terror. He practiced dark arts, torture, and necromancy, enslaved his people, took a tiger-woman for his bride, feasted on human flesh, and cast down the true gods to worship a black stone that had fallen from the sky.

Opal, Amethyst, Tourmaline, and Jade Emperors, just like her ancestors. It's not a huge stretch to say that likely, Dany, and therefore Valyrians as a whole (or at the least the Dragon Riders of Valyria) are the remnants of this ancient empire, The Great Empire of the Dawn, the same way that the Ghiscari culture is the remnant of Old Ghis - changed a bit, but with many similarities passed down amongst its people.

But who exactly is this civilization and how did they eventually turn into the Valyrians? Well, let's keep continuing with that passage about the Bloodstone Emperor:

In the annals of the Further East, it was the Blood Betrayal, as his usurpation is named, that ushered in the age of darkness called the Long Night…How long the darkness endured no man can say, but all agree that it was only when a great warrior—known variously as Hyrkoon the Hero, Azor Ahai, Yin Tar, Neferion, and Eldric Shadowchaser—arose to give courage to the race of men and lead the virtuous into battle with his blazing sword Lightbringer that the darkness was put to rout, and light and love returned once more to the world.

Basically, the people of Yi Ti believe that the Great Empire of the Dawn stretched far across the globe, and that when the Bloodstone Emperor usurped his niece, The Amethyst Empress, potentially using some weird blood magic, it caused the Long Night and the collapse of the Great Empire of the Dawn.

I think that this blood magic he was messing around with was, to use a metaphor, basically a magic nuclear bomb and I think ground zero for this - and therefore the capital of the Great Empire of the Dawn - is Asshai-by-the-Shadow. It's very notable that Asshai is so old its people don't even know what its origins are:

The ancient port of Asshai stands at the end of a long wedge of land, on the point where the Jade Sea meets the Saffron Straits. Its origins are lost in the mists of time. Even the Asshai’i do not claim to know who built their city; they will say only that a city has stood here since the world began and will stand here until it ends. Few places in the known world are as remote as Asshai, and fewer are as forbidding. Travelers tell us that the city is built entirely of black stone: halls, hovels, temples, palaces, streets, walls, bazaars, all. Some say as well that the stone has a greasy, unpleasant feel to it, that it seems to drink the light, dimming tapers and torches and hearth fires alike.

Note that last part, about the city being built from black stone - Valyria is well known for having Weird, Cool Architecture that involves black stone, fused together by dragon fire. From ADWD prologue:

Across the wide blue expanse of the Rhoyne, he could see the Black Wall that had been raised by the Valyrians when Volantis was no more than an outpost of their empire: a great oval of fused stone two hundred feet high and so thick that six four-horse chariots could race around its top abreast, as they did each year to celebrate the founding of the city.

and again from Tyrion's POV:

The gateway to the Long Bridge was a black stone arch carved with sphinxes, manticores, dragons, and creatures stranger still. Beyond the arch stretched the great span that the Valyrians had built at the height of their glory, its fused stone roadway supported by massive piers.

And one more time F&B/The Princess and the Queen, when Aegon and Sunfyre on are Dragonstone:

Sunfyre’s scales still shone like beaten gold in the sunlight, but as he sprawled across the fused black Valyrian stone of the yard, it was plain to see that he was a broken thing, he who had been the most magnificent dragon ever to fly the skies of Westeros

rip to the hottest dragon in westeros.

It's very much a Valyrian thing, this fused black stone...yet the entirety of Asshai is built with black stone, even though the city predates Valyria, and the black stone of Asshai is just a little different - a greasy, unpleasant feeling. I think that this greasy feeling comes from the remnants of the magic that caused the Long Night - going back to that idea of a magical nuclear bomb which is poisoning the land the way radiation does. I think this because there are actually several ancient cities of mysterious origin with black stone and a greasy, oily feeling to them, all of which seem to have suffered some sort of magical nuclear fallout the way Asshai has, and they're all not too far from each other either:

The Idol on the Isle of Toads in the Basilisk Isles

Ruins found upon the Isle of Tears, the Isle of Toads, and Ax Island hint at some ancient civilization, but little is now known of these vanished men of the Dawn Age. If any still survived when the first corsairs settled on the islands, they were soon put to the sword, so no trace of them now remains … save perhaps upon the Isle of Toads…

On the Isle of Toads can be found an ancient idol, a greasy black stone crudely carved into the semblance of a gigantic toad of malignant aspect, some forty feet high. The people of this isle are believed by some to be descended from those who carved the Toad Stone, for there is an unpleasant fishlike aspect to their faces, and many have webbed hands and feet. If so, they are the sole surviving remnant of this forgotten race.

The Five Forts

The Five Forts are very old, older than the Golden Empire itself; some claim they were raised by the Pearl Emperor during the morning of the Great Empire to keep the Lion of Night and his demons from the realms of men … and indeed, there is something godlike, or demonic, about the monstrous size of the forts, for each of the five is large enough to house ten thousand men, and their massive walls stand almost a thousand feet high.

Certain scholars from the west have suggested Valyrian involvement in the construction of the Five Forts, for the great walls are single slabs of fused black stone that resemble certain Valyrian citadels in the west … but this seems unlikely, for the Forts predate the Freehold’s rise, and there is no record of any dragonlords ever coming so far east.

The Ancient City of Yeen

Maesters and other scholars alike have puzzled over the greatest of the engimas of Sothoryos, the ancient city of Yeen. A ruin older than time, built of oily black stone, in massive blocks so heavy that it would require a dozen elephants to move them, Yeen has remained a desolation for many thousands of years, yet the jungle that surrounds it on every side has scarce touched it.

And even more suspicious is the fact that Sothoryos, where Yeen is located, is known for its large wyvern population:

Most terrible of all are the wyverns, those tyrants of the southern skies, with their great leathery wings, cruel beaks, and insatiable hunger. Close kin to dragons, wyverns cannot breathe fire, but they exceed their cousins in ferocity and are a match for them in all other respects save size.

Now there's different stories on how dragons came to be, but most interesting to me is what the Asshai'i claim:

The Valyrians themselves claimed that dragons sprang forth as the children of the Fourteen Flames, while in Qarth the tales state that there was once a second moon in the sky. One day this moon was scalded by the sun and cracked like an egg, and a million dragons poured forth. In Asshai, the tales are many and confused, but certain texts—all impossibly ancient—claim that dragons first came from the Shadow, a place where all of our learning fails us. These Asshai’i histories say that a people so ancient they had no name first tamed dragons in the Shadow and brought them to Valyria, teaching the Valyrians their arts before departing from the annals.

Septon Barth later writes that he believes Valyrians used wyverns and blood magic to make dragons:

In Septon Barth’s Dragons, Wyrms, and Wyverns, he speculated that the bloodmages of Valyria used wyvern stock to create dragons. Though the bloodmages were alleged to have experimented mightily with their unnatural arts, this claim is considered far-fetched by most maesters, among them Maester Vanyon’s Against the Unnatural contains certain proofs of dragons having existed in Westeros even in the earliest of days, before Valyria rose to be a power.

So to sum up basically:

Dany's vision shows us her ancestors, who are almost definitely the rulers of the Great Empire of the Dawn

We know several cities - Asshai, Yeen, the Isle of Toads - that have an architectural resemblance to the fused black stone that the Valyrians used, but their structures predate Valyria.

We know Septon Barth believes dragons were made through blood magic with wyverns as a base stock and that there are a lot of wyverns in one of these ancient places, Sothoryos/Yeen, where the black stone architecture is found.

The people of Yi Ti believe that a magical calamity of some sort caused the Long Night.

THEREFORE: The Great Empire of the Dawn had its capital in Asshai, and used blood magic to start the Long Night (by accident, most likely), which caused a huge magical calamity that affected the entire world, and while their people never recovered from it, they brought their magical knowledge with them to their new home in Valyria, where they made more black fused stone architecture and turned their wyverns into dragons. Meanwhile, the "ground zero" for much of this magical calamity still experiences the magical fallout of this calamity.

OKAY. That's part one because this is getting super long winded. Part Two will be....JUST HOW BIG WAS THE GREAT EMPIRE OF THE DAWN ANYWAY?

#valyrianscrolls #old valyria #the great empire of the dawn #house targaryen #getting on my soap box #septon barth #yi ti

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pbaintthetb · 3 months

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For the AU ask... how about an AU where NHS is genuinely a headshaker who doesn't know anything?

Oooh, I did think about something like this once so it's an interstnig ask

Would definitely be cracky because I think there's much comedy potential. TLDR, NHS' is fate's little pet

The man eating castles: NHS, after being shamed by his sect YET AGAIN by his uselessness starts an illfated quest to go look at them and try and sort them out (he doesn't know what or why needs to be sorted, but he heard ramblings while he was hiding from a council meeting so...) and accidentally coincidentally shows up at the same time as Jin Ling. NHS is responsible for NMJ's legs being in the walls, but not becasue he thinks theyre NMJ's legs, more that he's worried about legs in the open

MXY wrote the poision pen letter to Jin Guangyao and mailed it off with a delay before he died, similarly NMJ's arm did make its own way to (roughly) Mo village, which gave MXY an idea...

NHS is absolutely horrified in Gunayin temple- he was just froliciking across the countryside, trying to track a particuarly rare bird, when he was knocked uncncious and woke up in the middle of some weird stand off between Er-ge and San-ge and Wangxian's confession! Poor NHS, what's going on? He certainly doesn't know!- oh and has JGY set off the coffin booby trap? Oh no, NHS had that installed as a favour, in case people thought to mess with his friends' mother, NHS is a big believer in tomb booby traps (read Nie)

The cats thing in the Inn is actually because the inn ownwers in the area talk to each other and got pissed off at Jin Ling being in teh first inn, he's not terrible but he is an unsupervised 13yr old with a repuation for being a bit of a brat and nobody wants to be the one to deal with him, yanno? Altneratively they don't think a 13yr old should be here alone this cose to the creepy Yi city? Where's his guardian? He keeps shouting about how his Jiujiu will hear about this! Maybe he'll come running if he hears about the cats. Because little Jin Ling refused to listen to well meaning advice

NHS shouts out to LXC to be careful, because if JGY even tricked someone like LXC over the years, he should be careful, right? Also NHS is in a moment of high stress, ok? His leg hurts, his friend apparently killed his brother?????????? His booby trap meant to help JGY may have killed him, JGY killed his brother???? And LXC is going to let JGY stand trial, desperate men do odd things (and JGY killed his brother.) LXC should be careful. Regretably everyone now thinks he planned the whole thing because it's so convienent and NHS doesn't even know half the plot to catch JGY let alone half of what JGY did (excepting for, aparently, killing Da-ge) so now everybody thinks NHS is some kind of calculating murderer- and he doesn't even know why? He doesn't know. He really doesn't know. Don't ask.

Thanks for the ask :-), sorry this is kind of rambly and incoherent

#mdzs #nie huaisang

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twistedappletree · 9 months

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Ok sooooo……. idea for you: Yi city except Jin Ling and Lan Sizhui get separated from everyone else and Jin Ling is being a cute little scaredy cat about the ghosts lol 👻

Ohohohohooooo I’ll do you one better, anon.

JL and LSZ separated from the group, then JL getting separated from LSZ, flipping his absolute shit and being a hilarious flustered mess after finding LSZ again.

Is that what you wanted, huh? IS IT?!

becauseiknowthatswhatiwantlmaooo

“The mist is worse here,” said Lan Sizhui, “Stay with me.”

Jin Ling’s eyes darted around, constantly on the lookout for ghosts as he kept quiet and let Lan Sizhui take the lead. “I haven’t even heard any of the others. Where are we?”

Lan Sizhui studied their barely visible surroundings, catching glimpses of a few shoddy, abandoned stalls. “A market street, I think—and I’m sure we’ll run into them eventually. All any of us can do is go in circles, after all.”

A shadow flew past the corner of Jin Ling’s eye. He jumped and whipped around, his hand trembling on the hilt of his sword. Such a weapon would surely be useless against a ghost but it calmed his nerves to know he at least had something to protect himself.

“Sizhui,” Jin Ling whispered, “There’s something out here…”

No answer.

Jin Ling turned around to find that Lan Sizhui was gone and he was completely alone. A twinge of panic coursed through his veins as he twirled around, unsure if he should move or stay in one place.

“Sizhui?!” he called, frantically searching the mist.

Another shadow glided through the murky atmosphere. He jumped back and gripped one of the arrows in his quiver. With his other hand still on his sword, his mind tried to figure out which weapon would be the best defense.

He narrowed his eyes and frowned, taking a brave step forward as he barked, “Sizhui, cut it out already! This isn’t funny!”

He knew Lan Sizhui was the last person to pull pranks, which made the situation even worse. Jin Ling was growing more worried for his fellow disciple than himself as the unnatural silence of the city chilled him to the bone.

The shadow from before returned, spinning towards him this time in a howling whirlwind. Jin Ling inhaled and finally moved, flying through the mist until he ran into something strong but soft, warm and familiar.

The fresh scent of orange blossom and cedar wood surrounded Jin Ling like a comforting blanket as two confused hands awkwardly encircled his waist.

Lan Sizhui looked down at him and frowned. “Young Master Jin? Are you—“

Jin Ling suddenly pushed against the Lan boy’s chest and sprang backwards, his amber eyes burning with annoyance. “You—! Why did you leave me?!”

Lan Sizhui lifted his brows and blinked, not sure how to respond. “Wha—“

The young Jin disciple spared him no room to even attempt an explanation. “You tell me to stay with you, then leave me behind! Ridiculous!”

He crossed his arms over his chest and looked off to the side, his bangs blowing outward as he sighed. “I called you three times. Something was running around out here and—“ He paused for a moment, cheeks burning as he looked back up at Lan Sizhui with a pout. “I-I was worried, but you look fine,” he mumbled. “Why didn’t you answer me?”

Lan Sizhui’s head was spinning trying to keep up with Jin Ling’s heated outburst. “Young Master Jin, I’m sorry but I honestly didn’t hear you. I thought you were still behind me—“

“Whatever,” Jin Ling interrupted, “Just… don’t wander off, I’m not gonna save you if you do something stupid.”

Lan Sizhui stifled a laugh, no stranger to Jin Ling’s fiery way of showing concern. “The mist really is bad here,” he said. “Maybe this would help?”

Jin Ling’s eyes widened and his imaginary hackles raised when Lan Sizhui offered him his hand, the Lan boy’s long, slender fingers safe and inviting. “Huh?! What are you… I-I’m not a baby! All I said is don’t wander off, it’s not that—“

Once again, the shadow from earlier barreled towards Jin Ling and hit him with a glacial gust of air, this time accompanied by the buoyant, echoing giggle of a child.

Jin Ling yelped and lunged forward, grabbing Lan Sizhui’s hand and hiding behind him, his face buried against the taller boy’s sleeve.

Lan Sizhui watched curiously as the shadow circled around them and disappeared into the mist. He glanced down at the trembling Jin disciple and smiled. “It looks like you’ve made a friend.”

Jin Ling popped his head out from Lan Sizhui’s sleeve and glared into the mist with an irritated expression. “I-I don’t need any friends! Tell it to go away!”

Lan Sizhui gently squeezed his hand and laughed. “It’s okay, it’s harmless. Just a playful spirit.”

Obviously unconvinced, Jin Ling scrunched his nose and went right back to using Lan Sizhui as a shield.

“A-Ling,” Lan Sizhui chimed, his tone gentle and sweet.

Jin Ling looked up to meet his soft, striking amethyst gaze and could swear his heart skipped a beat.

“I promise I won’t leave you.”

Heat spread from Jin Ling’s neck to his ears to his face like a wildfire, every nerve in his body ping-ponging wildly. He narrowed his eyes and sputtered, “Why say it like that…?! You’re so embarrassing!”

Confusion washed over Lan Sizhui’s face as he tilted his head to the side. “Is that not what you were worried about?”

“Shut up,” Jin Ling mumbled. Still holding Lan Sizhui’s hand, he abruptly tugged him along. “Let’s just go already.”

Lan Sizhui lifted his hand to his mouth and chuckled as he was pulled through the mist by the flustered Jin disciple. “Lead the way.”

{ 🖤 }

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lunarriviera · 5 months

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why Du Cheng can't hold a grudge: a little 猎罪图鉴 | Under the Skin meta

When Shen Yi first joins the Beijiang City precinct, Du Cheng can't stand him. Not only is he still pissed off about Tragic Backstory, but he doesn't believe a sketch artist can hold any real value, especially not in our era of policing via surveillance. In another drama, he might have continued to nurse his animosity for the duration of the season. But there's one moment very early on which expresses Du Cheng's whole character so succinctly that you know he'll very soon give it up, and quite quickly succumb to Shen Yi's charms usefulness.

First, though, he stomps into Bureau Chief Zhang's office pitching a fit about Shen Yi, of all people, occupying the late Captain Lei's office. But Zhang-ju is not a woman to be messed with. She promptly calls his bluff.

Du Cheng, still hacked off, doubles down. He throws his badge on her desk. Fine! Fuck being a cop! He'll deliver pizzas! Anything, not to have to work with THAT VERY PRETTY GUY.

But then Jiang Feng comes to the door to announce that a body's dropped. Try to sound a little less thrilled, please, Jiang Feng.

A murder you say??? This is Du Cheng catnip. Can he hold out?

Look at his big dumb head swiveling around helplessly, like someone's just announced there's free cake in the break room.

Zhang-ju is canny as fuck, though. She looks down at his badge and idly wonders aloud who's going to catch this one. No idea really. Who could it possibly be.

At this point, Du Cheng has managed not to be a police officer for a whole fifteen seconds.

UGH FINE GIVE ME MY BADGE BACK YOU WIN. But Zhang-ju has not finished winning.

(This woman is a mother of four or I will eat my laptop.)

Du Cheng has to pretend to think about this for another whole three seconds or so.

UGH FINE JUST GIVE IT BACK I'LL TAKE HIM WITH ME OKAY? OKAY???

(And then they proceed to drive off without him anyway, so that our little hero must ride to the crime scene alone on his bicycle. But the ways in which Shen Yi returns everyone's cold shoulder with this kind of serene tai-chi-like nonresistance is another meta entirely.)

All of this underscores two things: 1) Du Cheng's compulsive need to clear cases himself, and 2) his imminent practicality about so doing. When it turns out that Shen Yi is actually incredibly useful, Du Cheng stows his shit with remarkable rapidity and they do an enemies-to-friends speedrun in like three episodes, because nothing else matters to Du Cheng like solving crimes. It's truly the way to his heart. And when Shen Yi gets captured by Cai Dong in episode 3, what does Du Cheng say? "He's got one of our own." It's not just blind loyalty to the force; Shen Yi has already proven to Du Cheng that he really is a cop.

(And, ACAB; and China suffers from massive police corruption. So this procedural, like all the others, isn't reality, isn't a valorization of police work, but is probably some secret third thing.)

#under the skin #猎罪图鉴 #du cheng #shen yi #jin shijia #tan jianci #cdrama meta #cdramas #meta

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wangxianficfinder · 1 year

Text

In the mood for a Fic...

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1. Hi there! Hope you're all doing good! I had kind of an odd itmf request if thats okay. I'm looking for fics where wwx has a pet. It 100% doesn't have to be the focus of the story at all. And it can be any kind of pet, cat or dog or even exotic or mythical like a dragon or something. Modern or canon. Please and thank you so much!! @suibian800

What We Grew in this Forsaken Place by Admiranda (T, 27k, wangxian, modern cultivation, shapeshifter LWJ, WWX has a fear of dogs, bunny crimes, genius WWX, unexpected pet owner WWX) this is a long fic with Wei Wuxian adopting first a giant fox and then some rabbits and being a pet owner for the majority of the fic.

The Bunny Next Door by detailsinthefabric (E, 43k, wangxian, modern, neighbours, fluff, bottom LWJ, internally screaming LWJ)

how to fall in love with a catfish: a guide by wei wuxian (disaster rat) by bwyn, Yuisaki (T, 54k, WangXian, Modern AU, College/University, Actors, Multimedia, Online Friendship, Drunken Shenanigans, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Underage Drinking, Drinking Games, Families of Choice, Fluff and Angst, Slow Burn, Catfish AU)

🧡 A Study in Fluff by WeaverOfTheNight (T, 29k, WangXian, Modern AU, Ghost bunnies, Vet LWJ, Architect WWX, Kid LSZ, Domestic fluff, Modern with Magic) WWX keeps ghost bunnies, inspired by @simzart’s pictures of young witches with their ghost cat familiars.

see also #8 on post

Légèreté by perkynurples (T, 65k, WangXian, Modern au, Horse riding, Swords as horses, Crack treated seriously, Friends to Lovers) modern equestrian AU, so everybody’s got horses instead of spiritual weapons. Beautifully illustrated by @sweetlittlevampire (including WWX and Friesian! Chenqing) and @piyo13sdoodles (including NMJ and Mustang! Baxia

YilingWei series by Dragonesque (T, 200k, WangXian, XuanLi, Canon Divergence, Character Study, Kinda, For Want of a Nail, Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Slow Burn, Slow Build, Yunmeng Shuangjie, BAMF!WWX, Original Character(s), Adopted Sibling Relationship, Adopted Children, Emotional Manipulation, Pining WWX, Bisexual Disaster WWX, YLLZ WWX, Yílíng Wèi Sect, Asexual WQ) WWX has four fierce corpse familiars: three horses and a crow

Yunmeng Jiang Cats by Kakushigo (G/T, 6k, Yunmeng Siblings, WangXian) AU where the Yunmeng Jiang all have cat familiars as part of their sect culture and cultivation

Hubris by incendir (E, 5k, wangxian, WWX & OC, post-canon) WWX has “a lovely, deep brown mare that he’s come to love as dearly as Little Apple”, no name given; she plays a role in a small but crucial magic-working.

🧡 Company by WithBroomBefore (T, 29k, wangxian, canon divergence, not YZY friendly, pre-relationship, getting together, fix-it, hurt/comfort, light angst w/ happy ending)

carried by the wind by saichan (T, 7k, WangXian, Rouge cultivatior WWX, YL WWX, different first meeting, burial mounds crows, letters, Yi city) yllz and his crows

~*~

2. Hello!!! For the next IMTMF could you please recommend any fics set post-canon where LWJ accidentally screws up his relationship with WWX big time and has to fix it real quick? Can be any universe, if theres smut preferably no bottom lwj pls. Thank you so much!

The Roots Grow Riotous by hansbekhart (E, 104k, wangxian, modern, fashion au, garment company, casual sex, group sex, implied/referenced cheating, switching, recreational drug use, angst w/ happy ending, single dad WWX, panic attacks, implied/referenced self-harm, grief/mourning, catharsis, body horror, floral horror)

~*~

3. Hi Mods! I read “ The Price of Old Wishes “ and I wondered if you know of any more fics where either WWX or LWJ feels that post resurrection, WWX is mentally younger than LWJ? Thank you!

#4 of this post has couple

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4. hi for itmf id like really, really messed up dark wangxian fics. not necessarily nsfw, but if so please bottom wwx only

Limp by orphan_account (E, <1k, wangxian, major character death, rape/non-con, mind all the tags!!, choking, humiliation, spit & blood as lube, blood, military au, LWJ fucks WWX to death) modern military AU. LWJ fucks WWX to death—is that dark and messed-up enough for you?

Kinktober 2021 by Anonymous (E, 18k, wangxian, CHECK ALL THE TAGS before reading!, dead dove do not eat, consensual non-con, sadist LWJ, dark LWJ, rough sex, bestiality, etc.)

the sweetest dream would never do by honeyandviscera (E, 2k, WangXian, Modern AU, Dark LWJ, Somnophilia, Non-Consensual Somnophilia, Body Worship, Breaking and Entering, Drugged Sex, Stalking, Come Eating, Unreliable Narrator, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat)

DarkLanZhanExchange there might be some in here that work for you

You & Me Baby, We'll Eclipse The Sun Series by 2501987 (M/E, 130k, WangXian, XiCheng, MIND THE TAGS, Modern AU, Mafia, Murder husbands, Torture, Possessive Behavior, Blood and Violence, Older JC, Younger WWX, Hurt/Comfort, Dark)

💖 The Way You Tremble by themunchking (E, 6k, wangxian, murder husbands, vampires, blood, violence, supernatural elements)

The waters and the wild by SecretStorm (T, 62k, WIP, WangXian, Fairy Tale Elements, Pied Piper WWX, Trans Character, Trans LWJ, Many juniors, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Kid Fic, Sexual Tension) Bc the person asked for "not necessarily nsfw" this one discusses child abuse etc in detail, and lwj has gone into it thinking the absolute worst of wwx (which he encourages). Ends as a wip before there is much character redemption. I really like it!!

~*~

5. itmf timeloop fics with wx

Wearing Down Every Bone by CSHfic & VSfic (E, 30k, wangxian, post-canon, groundhog day, time loop, temporary character death, hurt/comfort, case fic, curses, pining, getting together, night hunts, hurt WWX, mystery, angst w/ happy ending, depression, unhealthy coping mechanisms)

see you yesterday by glyphic (M, 138k, WIP, WangXian, Modern AU, Modern with Magic, Ghost Hunters, Time Loop, Case Fic, Hurt/Comfort, Memory Loss, Angst with a Happy Ending, Slow Burn)

Let’s try this again by ilip13 (G, 22k, wangxian, post-canon, getting together, time loop. introspection, humor, feels)

A Torn Red Ribbon by shiroakuma (M, 195k, wangxian, LXC & LWJ, canon divergence, sunshot campaign, time loop, time travel, canonical temporary character death, fix-it of sorts, angst w/ happy ending, hurt/comfort, dreams, unreliable narrator, bitter WWX, injured LWJ, slow burn, pining, YLLZ WWX, grief/mourning, revenge, WIP)

Like a leaf lost in time by shiroakuma (E, 15k, wangxian, sunshot campaign, time loop, time travel, fix-it of sorts, temporary character death, unreliable narrator, YLLZ WWX, injured WWX, good sibling JC, angst, fluff, sentient burial mounds, first time, bathtub sex)

Rebirth of a Wretched Mayfly by marikazz (M, 15k, wangxian, Graphic Depictions of Violence, Time Loop, Time Travel, Groundhog Day, Suicidal Thoughts, Violence, Not Really Character Death, Panic Attacks, Self-Harm, Mental Health Issues, Trust Issues, Hurt WWX, Miscommunication, Heavy Angst, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, Whump, Feelings Realization, Mutual Pining, WWX is Not Okay, Mental Breakdown, Canon-Typical Violence, Existential Angst, Dissociation, Suicide, Angst with a Happy Ending)

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6. a bit of a specific request- but may i ask for fics where wwx's main romantic struggle is 'not being lwj's equal anymore'? bonus if they address and correct this assumption? 😄❤️

~*~

7. do u know of any fics that more resemble some wuxia dramas, like, where the head of a household (say lwj) has multiple spouses just living together day to day, wwx being one of them, maybe favored, or maybe friends with the other spouses (or both).. i think a slice of life type fic about that would be interesting to read 💜

SIMILAR! The one where WWX is not LWJ's concubine AU Series by Lookingkindofdumb (Varied, 89k, WIP, WangXian, Non-Cultivator AU, Emperor LXC, Concubine AU, Rumors, Humor, Politics, Extended family chaos) this is not an exact fit but it’s very very close

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8. are there... fics with BAMF wen popo?? i would love to read a strong matriarchal grandma at any point in canon (or modern au!).. like pre/mid-sunshot smuggling her family away to loosen wrh's hold on wq, or post-sunshot treating her family at camp and arranging jailbreaks where she could, or maybe in bm era taking charge of the settlement and making sure it thrives? (or any other scenario/divergence/au obv). that sounds wonderful even if it's not the focus of a fic. thank you! ❤️❤️

~*~

9. i know it's logical for wwx to be touch-averse after his 3 months in the burial mounds (teen project (link in #10) gave me the most /visceral/ reaction to the corpses being all over him), but are there fics where he comes out touch-starved instead? he's a tactile person and i just want him hug. pour into lwj's lap. hair pat. i love wwx h/c thank you.

they who refuse to be blessed by sysrae (E, 7k, WangXian, JC & WWX, Canon Divergence, Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Whump, Golden Core Reveal, Developing Relationship, wwx can have a little scurvy, as a treat, Bathing/Washing, Confessions, Sharing a Bed)

~*~

10. Hi! I recently found this blog and it's incredible! I have read so many recs I feel my love of this fandom has been reinvigorated. Could I ask some recs for your next itmf? Are there any canon-esque fics where WWX is incredibly powerful? I love reveal moments when other characters go "oh shit, that guy is super strong." Perhaps he has difficulty controlling his golden core, or his teachers note he is extremely strong, his power bursts out of him sometime, etc. Thank you!

Not exactly the op vibe the anon was asking for , but there are definitely people awed by WWX powers:

pitfalls of greed by glitteringmoonlight (T, 3k, WangXian, POV Outsider, BAMF WWX, Kidnapping, Violence, YLLZ WWX, not exactly but the vibes are there, Post-Canon)

💖 Teen Project to Change the World by animeloverhomura (Not rated, 686k, wangxian, watching the series, fix-it of sorts, bamf!wwx, WIP)

Tired of the Sunset by julomaiboulomai (M, 55k, WangXian, Modern AU, Superheroes/Superpowers, Identity Porn, Secret Identity, Parent-Child Relationship, Grief/Mourning, Unreliable Narrator, superhero fights, Major Character Injury, Major Character Undeath, Slow Burn, But also somehow, Established Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, Injury Recovery, JC-LWJ Mutual Hate Society, Domestic Fluff, Co-Parenting, Fade to Black, Brief mentions of suicide, Angst with a Happy Ending, Art Embedded)

Before we get started, does anyone wanna get out? by Iggysassou (E, 13k, WangXian, Married Couple, Post-Canon, mdzs canon rather than cql, 5+1 Things, Canon-Typical Violence, Hurt/Comfort, Domestic Fluff, Protective wwx, protective lwj)

Cotton Wool by incendir (M, 34k, WangXian, LJY/OMC, ZhuiLing, JC & WWX) It’s kind of a misleading fic, since it starts very sweet, and is part of a relatively wholesome series. There are other POV of the events in the other parts. (link in #15)

Hubris by incendir (E, 5k, wangxian, WWX & OC, post-canon) portrays the sequence of events in Cotton Wool from WWX’s POV; the witnesses’ reaction to what he ends up doing, and under what constraints, also qualify both stories for #10. (link in #1)

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11. (for itmf) hii thank u so much for doing this!! I have two requests, A.) can u recommend wangxian fics with the same romantic comedy vibes as The Mistletoe Virgin by VamillePudding? I've read everything else by the author but am still looking for more to read!

and B.) some wangxian childhood friends to lovers with lots of pining, esp if it's the kind of pining where they feel guilty about their feelings and/or are content to hide their feelings and stay friends but do eventually end up together! preferably over 10k words but I'm not picky, thank you so much!!! @cryiling

11A)

play your love songs all night long by AlfAlfAlfAlfAlf, tardigradeschool (E, 17k, WangXian, Modern AU, Marriage of Convenience, Mutual Pining, Light Angst, Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, One Big Happy Family, Sharing a Bed, (platonically for 13 years), Therapy, Pegging, Hand Jobs, Blow Jobs, Romantic Comedy, Misunderstandings)

a one track mind by bunnxianluvsu (MooseFeels), MooseFeels (E, 11k, WIP, WangXian, XuanLi, Modern AU, screwball comedy, Romantic Comedy, Phoenixes, just the one phoenix actually, Body Image, Body Modification, but like more complicated than you might think, Swimming, Medical, Illnesses, Accidental Flirting, Breeding Kink, idiots to lovers)

r/relationships by vespertineflora (T, 8k, WangXian, Modern AU, Social Media, Viral Reddit Post, Pining, Crushes, Friends to Lovers, Awkward Flirting, Romantic Gestures, Romantic Comedy, Love Confessions, Kissing, Happy Ending, r/relationships [podfic] by someplacelikebolivia)

one out of three by everythingispoetry (T, 9k, wangxian, canon divergence, fluff, misunderstandings, triplets, idiots in love, matchmaking, romantic comedy, cloud recesses study arc)

I would also recommend the author kuro for that romcom vibe

11B)

Make The Fireflies Dance Silver Moon’s Sparkling by Sweetlittlevampire (T, 23k, wangxian, modern, highschool au, friends to lovers, teenagers, growing up, getting to know each other, getting together, slow burn, first kiss, first love)

drag my teeth across your chest by ana_cp (E, 60k, wangxian, modern, soulmates au, angst w/ happy ending, childhood friends, hurt/comfort, WWX pov, friends to lovers, porn with feelings, pining, first kiss, first time, growing up together, versatile wangxian, violinist LWJ)

Lan Wangji is now on Instagram by MohnDoe (T, told in pictures so 0 word count, instagram fic, modern, texting, pre-relationship, getting together, friends to lovers, childhood friends, oblivious WWX, dark LWJ, word of honor crossover, faraway wanderers crossover, fluff & angst, pining)

Lan zhan and his bestfriend(love of his life, soulmate, his one and only) Wei Ying by Wangxian101 (T, 3k, wangxian, modern, highschool au, not actually unrequited love, best friends to lovers, love confessions, jock WWX, LWJ pov, pining, obliviousness, implied sexual content, kisses, holding hands)

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12. Hello! May I have some fic recs where little WY was adopted and raised by HuaLian? I would like to read some BAMF!WWX who was raised by literal gods! Thank you in advance! ☺️🫰@sareen-momos-stuff

echoes from across the void by Nilaic (G, 20k, wangxian, hualian, adoption, YLLZ WWX, deaging, oblivious WWX, protective LWJ, BAMF WWX & LWJ, pining, dimension travel, WWX has PTSD, demonic cultivation, hurt/comfort, fluff & angst, families of choice, WIP) not quite what you’re looking for but hopefully it tides you over while I search for couple others I know are somewhere in the depth of my bookmarks!

🧡 The Red Ribbon by Xiao_Hua (M, 21k, WangXian, HuaLian, Canon Divergence, Ghost City, a bit of beefleaf, Immortality, Cultivation Partners, Juniors, XL and HC find a child who happens to be WWX, Fluffy wangxian, WWX is a Supreme Ghost King, First Time)

let this soul be your whisper by merthurlin (T, 28k, hualian, wangxian, post TGCF canon, post first siege of burial mounds, canonical character death, canon divergence, found family)

Hua Xianle by Tiffany_Guinne (Not rated, 55k, hualian, wangxian, canon divergence, not Jiang friendly, madam lan lives, WWX adopted by hualian, WWX with different name, overprotective hualian, hurt WWX, WIP)

~*~

13. Hi hi 👋 So, I've been watching a lot of paranormal shows lately, and for an IITMF, does anyone have any like, paranormal investigator AUs??? It can be the cast being the investigators or the cast doing the haunting, and it can be serious or silly! I just want to see what's out there. Thanks for all of your effort!

Yunmeng Supernatural by Leffy (T, 16k, WIP, WangXian, Modern AU, Youtube AU, buzzfeed unsolved au, Social Media AU, exorcist!LWJ)

Live Thread: The Hauntedest Place by sami (T, 1k, ridiculous future bullshit, Social Media, Chaos Gremlin WWX, under a fake name) / (Pov outsider) It's not a modern au except that it's an au set in modern day? 😅 wwx and lwj are immortals currently in the modern day and wwx is running a YT channel where he is "investigating" a haunting. It's pretty hilarious!

Who You Gonna Call? by Beltenebra (E, 15k, WangXian, Ghost Hunters, Modern with Magic, Minor ChengSong, Anal Sex, Paranormal Investigators, Mild Blood, Mild Horror, Ghosts, Demons, Fluff and Humor, Case Fic)

~*~

14. Hey there! This is an IITMF request :)

a) Fic(s) where MXY does not summon WWX. He doesn't comeback. LWJ could only show his regret and all AFTER WWX fell in Nightless City, and he knew what it felt like to lose someone you love. But what if WWX didn't comeback? What happens to LWJ? (e.g. dormiveglia (in between sleeping and walking) by comforting_monachopsis)

b) where after WWX comes back, he rejects LWJ, and walks away - maybe to JC, or NHS(well cuz they're bffs) or maybe somewhere else.

- bonus if he falls for someone else entirely. @utxqia

14A)

Bitter Recompense by mondengel (M, 1k, LXC & LWJ, Angst)

Thirty-three Lashes by Winglesss (E, 56k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Modern AU, Modern with Magic, Canon Temporary Character Death, Immortality, Reincarnation, Case Fic, Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Mutual Pining, Slow Burn, Blood and Injury, Major Character Injury, Mystery, minor polyamorous relationship, Happy Ending, Eventual Fluff, Eventual Smut, Explicit Sexual Content, Memory Loss)

When the Honor Comes too Late by ExtraPenguin (T, 1k, major character death, angst, canon divergence, bad ending)

Future Cultivation AU Series by Aki_no_hikari (G, 23k, WangXian, Modern AU, Canon Divergence, College/University, Modern with Magic, Reincarnation, Angst with a Happy Ending) this was the historical situation before the timeskip and reincarnation.

~*~

15. Hello, good day to all of you mods.

May I trouble you, for the next I'm In The Mood, do you have any mindbreak fics, preferably WWX. It can be as disturbing as you want. Thank u very much (⁠づ⁠￣⁠ ⁠³⁠￣⁠)⁠づ

body and bone, hair and skin by Mikkeneko (T, 6k, wangxian, major character death, dark, horror, grief/mourning, unhealthy coping mechanisms, zombies, bittersweet ending) LWJ travels to Lotus Pier to confront a WWX who has pretty clearly snapped.

~*~

16. fave jingyi-centric fics? i adore the one-body problem and would love more of that dude (the rest of the quartet is always a bonus obv) <3

sing up to the stars by tangerinechar (T, 10k, ZhuiYi, background WangXian, Fluff and Crack, opera singer!LJY, rated t for jingyi's cursing and one (1) makeout)

Silent Rules by SherlocksHound (G, 726, WangXian, shortfic, Fluff and Humor) the editorial voice is LJY’s

Potatoes, chapter 29 of court the stars by chomrafy an endangered bunny poses little LJY a conflict of Rules and Righteousness

A good read by Aki_no_hikari (G, 1k, Modern with Magic, Canon Divergence, Metafiction, Reincarnation) modern cultivation AU; historical RPF fanwriter LJY receives feedback from his favorite author, LWJ

Why Not Me? by Eleanor_Fenyx (G, 7k, WIP, LJY & LQR, LJY & LWJ, Good Uncle LQR, POV LJY, War Orphan LJY, Character Study, LJY Has ADHD, Found Family, Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria)

DID YILING LAOZU REALLY EXIST???: a Thread [1/?] by el_em_en_oh_pee (G, 5k, WangXian, Academia, Social Media, Research, Mixed Media, POV Outsider, this is kind of an AU - Modern and kind of not???, it's a modern academic/researchy exploration of canon lol)

Dad's Got a Date With a Vampire! By PaPaYa_Bites (T, 7k, NieLan, WangXian, Vampire, Half-Vampires, Supernatural Elements, Modern AU, Teacher!LWJ, Vampire!LWJ, Humor, Getting Together, Family Feels, Cute Kids, Meet-Cute)

~*~

17. Hi mod kay!!! For the next in the mood for, is there any fics about the thirteen/sixteen year gap where Wei Wuxian is there with LWZ? As either a ghost or having faked his death? Thank you!

Response by Aki_no_hikari (G, 12k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Family Feels, Love Confessions)

🧡 Ghosts Shouldn't by ShanaStoryteller (Not Rated, 15k, WangXian, Grief/Mourning, Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending) i know a few other wwx's-ghost-is-around-the-cloud-recesses fics but they're focused on sizhui instead

Dignity and Animality by quick_cat_tl (G, 31k, WangXian, Watership Down, u know the one with the political/philosophical bunnies, Reincarnation, Lapine language, Rabbit!WWX, Sunny Angst, Pining, Mojo's post) WWX, reincarnated as a rabbit, comes to live among LWJ’s bunny herd at the Cloud Recesses

promissory notes Series by kakikaeru (T, 57k, WIP, ZhuiYi, WangXian, Post-Canon)

His Merit All My Fear by violettressed (G, 16k, ZhuiYi, WangXian, Post-Canon, Canon Compliant, Pre-Relationship)

every time we touch I get this feeling by ritualist (M, 11k, ChengYi, Case Fic, Curses, Crushes, Masturbation, Confessions, Overstimulation, Humor)

~*~

If you didn’t get an answer to your ask here, don’t forget to make use of @mdzs-kinkmeme and MDZS KINK MEME on Dreamwidth. Authors actually do use them for ideas. You may get what you order!***Your prompt doesn’t have to be kink! Fluff, crack, whatever - it’s all good!***

#wangxian #mdzs #wangxian fic recs #i'm in the mood for a fic #the untamed #wangxian fic search #wangxianficfinder #long post

145 notes · View notes

mdzs-owns-my-ass-i-guess · 1 year

Text

Finding

Part 3 to this

Part 2 here

Part 4 here

The next morning, Lan Zhan gathers up enough courage to leave his room - lonely and cold as he felt - to check on Wei Ying. He knocks three times, and enters when he is granted permission.

He finds Wei Ying already dressed, admiring himself in the large mirror of the room. "I didn't expect to look so much like myself in this new body. I think I look quite pretty!"

Lan Zhan allows himself to come up behind Wei Ying, maintaining a bit of distance between them so as not to frighten him or push his boundaries in any way. If he had lost the Wei Ying that loved him, at least he did not want to lose all of Wei Ying completely.

Lan Zhan glances into the mirror, watching Wei Ying. He seems fascinated with himself, tracing his features with his fingers in childlike wonder before moving on to admiring his clothing.

"You are very beautiful, Wei Ying."

"Thank you!" A little blush, "These robes such good quality, Lan Zhan!" And he does a half twirl. "I don't even remember the last time I wore something so fancy! Silk, embroidery, you must be spoiling me rotten!"

"Mn. I am."

Wei Ying turns to look in the mirror and begins messing with his hair. "Say, how do I usually style this?"

"Up, but sometimes you let me braid it."

"Then do you think you could braid it for me today?"

"Mn."

Wei Ying takes a seat at the vanity and is about to hand Lan Zhan a red ribbon, but he reaches to undo his forehead ribbon instead.

"That... means a lot to you."

"So do you. You always have."

"You used to get angry when I'd play with it."

"I've changed my mind."

Wei Ying hums, then silence blankets them. Lan Zhan allows himself to be absorbed with his task, carefully crossing sections of Wei Ying's hair in a simple, loose braid.

"Can I ask you some questions, Lan Zhan?"

"Mn."

"How did I die?"

Lan Zhan's fingers pause in Wei Ying's hair. "You never shared specifics, you just told me you became overwhelmed with resentful energy when trying to destroy the amulet. Why do you ask?"

"I had a... dream. Or a memory, a vision, I don't know. I wanted to see if it was true. Looks like it is."

"What else did you... see?"

"A ghost hand, Wen Ning, you... it was all convoluted, I couldn't tell you exactly what was happening, but it was a lot..."

"Would you like me to tell you?"

"Is it... okay for you to do that? I may not remember much but I can tell you're... devastated with whatever's happened to me that has me like this. You don't have to push yourself."

"I am not, it's alright." A lie, but Lan Zhan can't stand to see Wei Ying so confused and fearful anymore. Maybe he'll even remember some things if Lan Zhan recounts them to him.

"Okay, then tell me. What happened to me in all of these years?"

And Lan Zhan does. He tells Wei Ying about the ghost hand and Mo manor, about how he took Wei Ying to the Cloud Recesses so he wouldn't fall victim to sect leader Jiang's whims, about what happened in Yi City, about Nie Mingjue and Jin Guangyao and Guanyin Temple.

About the first time he drank and how much Wei Ying delighted in teasing him, about their song, about Sizhui and the other juniors, about their confession and their wedding and their honeymoon.

He has long finished braiding Wei Ying's hair, but he has done and undone it all throughout the story, more or less consciously, desperate to have even the slightest physical contact with him. Lan Zhan struggles so much with not being able to touch Wei Ying, to kiss him, to feel his body clinging to his own that he's going to take up every opportunity he can get to do so.

As the story ends with yesterday events, Lan Zhan finally weaves his forehead ribbon through Wei Ying's braid and lets go.

"Our life sounds like a fairytale." Wei Ying says, a dreamy lilt to his voice. "I can't believe this is how it turned out for me in the end."

Lan Zhan wants to kiss him and he wants to cry and he's so overcome with emotion -love, grief, desperation- that his breath stutters with it. Wei Ying places the braid on his shoulder and traces his fingers over the ribbon in it.

"There is something I saw in my... visions from last night that you haven't told me about."

"Hm?"

"I saw... you had scars. On your back, many of them. A discipline whip."

Lan Zhan exhales and closes his eyes.

"I used to have scars like that too." Wei Ying continues, his fingertips inevitably drawn to the ribbon, finding comfort in it subconsciously. "When the Wens invaded Lotus Pier, Wang Lingjao demanded I be punished for disrespecting Wen Chao. Madam Yu whipped me with Zidian to appease her. The scars never got to heal because I then gave my core to Jiang Cheng, so I had them all throught my... first life."

That knowledge has Lan Zhan unable to refrain from wrapping his arms around Wei Ying, enveloping him from the back like a shield against lashing that has long happened.

Wei Ying tenses a bit, but does not push away. Lan Zhan is relieved with it, and allows himself to squeeze Wei Ying a little harder, hiding his face in the space between his neck and shoulder.

"After Nightless City, I sought you out to take you somewhere safe and run away with you. Even if you kept pushing me away, I never let you go. But my sect found us hiding and demanded I hand you over. I refused and a fight broke out. I injured 33 elders and should have been executed, but brother and uncle pleaded that I be spared. So I received 33 lashes with the discipline whip as punishment. It took me 3 years to heal, but within months after, I came looking for you when I was told you were dead. That's how I found A-Yuan."

Wei Ying feels two matching droplets fall on his shoulder, and turns his head to leave a fleeting kiss on Lan Zhan's cheek. It's almost involuntary, he doesn't think of it when he does it, and it surprises them both.

"Wei Ying... you don't have to- for my comfort-"

"I want to. I think... I think I've always wanted to." A shy smile. "I never had the time to really think about... love, with everything that happened. But I think I've always loved you, I just never knew that the way I felt about you was called that."

Wei Ying finally stands up and turns to his husband. "When Wen Chao threw me in the Burial Mounds, I used to dream of you, sometimes. We would be in the library and you'd silence me while you worked so I'd write the rules, or you'd catch me sneaking wine in, things like that." A small laugh. "It made living there a lot easier. Just the thought of you gave me hope. It does even now. I don't know if this can be fixed, and while I've done a lot of impossible things, it's never a guarantee I'll succeed this time too. But just knowing you're here with me is enough to make me want to try regardless."

"Wei Ying..."

"Even if I don't remember a lot of things, I know that I love you, that I feel safe with you, that you're my home and my future and my everything. And even if I never get my memories back, I'll just make new ones with you!"

Lan Zhan can't stop himself from kissing Wei Ying now, and he's yelling at himself in his head about it, about overstepping boundaries and losing Wei Ying because he can't control himself.

But Wei Ying kisses him back and all those doubts fade away.

Eventually, they break apart, breathless and teary-eyed.

"I know I'm not your Wei Ying right now-"

Lan Zhan cups his face, caressing his cheeks with his thumbs. "You are. Always have been, always will be, no matter what happens. You're mine and I'm yours."

Wei Ying burrows in his husband's arms, holding him tight. "I wish to never forget this again."

#mdzs #mo dao zu shi #wangxian #writing attempts #theres one more part. i say. with no suspicious intent.

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silvysartfulness · 2 months

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top five favorite moments of Heaven Has a Road

I already got this question, but that just means I get to list 5 more, oh no... >.>

1. Xue Yang and Xiao Xingchen looking for Song Lan in Muaishan (chapter 41)

The scene where Song Lan has finally had enough and nopes out, and both the other two panic a bit about it and bond together to try and find him. The way they fall into each other without thinking, once they have a common goal. Xue Yang unthinkingly being reassuring, Xiao Xingchen unthinkingly trusting him. The little quips and jokes – “Far as I know, I’ve never been your wife!” (Is that so?)

This is the first time they interact properly after Xiao Xingchen lost his memories, but it quickly becomes apparent that there is a muscle-memory to his emotions, his affection and intuitive trust. And Xue Yang, who’s been so torn apart reacting instantly to that, falling back into step with him without thinking, because this is how things are supposed to be.

2. Yingchuan reveals (chapter 43)

I love the combo KO of Song Lan learning that Xue Yang has been expecting them to offer him up as a sacrifice the moment they get to Jinlintai just about all along, and then right on top of that, the reveal that Jin Guangyao is dead, and all their plans – including the ill-advised willingness to self-sacrifice – are completely shattered. It’s just such a perfect storm of a mess!

Counting the following confrontation in Wangzhuang into this, too, when they finally drop that fact on Xiao Xingchen who gets to join in on the shocked yelling and nervous breakdowns all around. 🙂

And of course, being faced with the prospect of Xue Yang dying is where Song Lan first has to confront his own feelings for Xue Yang, and how strong they’ve grown, no matter how unwanted.

3. Demonic cultivation in Wangzhuang (chapter 44)

I just think this is a really cool one? Xue Yang who’s teetering between “kill” or “help”, but finally offering to help the haunted widow of Wangzhuang reach out to her long-dead husband's soul, to either meet his ghost again or getting closure on him being truly gone. Using all the lingering ghosts of that miserable place as willing fuel and dancing with the thunderstorm to finally give her an answer to the same question that haunted him all those years in Yi City - is there anything left? Any hope at all? Why won’t he ever answer when I reach out?

Xue Yang has a very low capacity for empathy, and certainly not on a conscious level - but this once he witnesses this grieving stranger’s despair and feels something resonate within himself. And so he decides to help, for shits and giggles, to prove that he can pull off this insane feat… but maybe also for the sake of his own past self, and to give grief and longing one big middle finger on someone else’s behalf, too.

4. Xue Yang and Xiao Xingchen’s reconciliation in Hongqi (chapter 50)

Another scene I spent a lot of time thinking about for literal years before actually getting to write it. Xiao Xingchen having been given Song Lan’s “blessing” to court Xue Yang too, being giddy (and very, very horny) with anticipation, and Xue Yang not picking up on it. At all. Just sulking about being hungry and wondering why Xiao Xingchen insists on them waiting in the bedroom? When they could be having lunch? Why, Daozhang? :(

And then being utterly floored when Xiao Xingchen spreads his arms to embrace him, telling him how much he’s missed him. Completely blindsided. Not one single defense up and ready. Just breaking right down crying, 8 years worth of horror and grief and hurt exploding out at once.

Not what either of them had planned for that afternoon, but lancing that wound for both of them is where they can finally begin healing, not only as individuals, but starting to mend this broken, twisted but heartfelt love between them.

5. Song Lan’s final insight in Dushou (chapter 56)

I'm very soft for the scene in the last posted chapter where Song Lan wakes up resting on Xiao Xingchen’s lap with Xue Yang draped all over him, clinging possessively to him, being theirs. And acknowledging being theirs.

Accepting his own messy feelings for Xue Yang, even to himself, even out loud. And confessing that Xiao Xingchen’s dream of them all being together is something he wants, too.

It’s a hurting kind of love, and he weeps as he finally faces it, how much it hurts him to love this way and what a betrayal it is, in so many ways. But also realizing that fighting himself on this would only cause more hurt, for himself, and for the others. Accepting that love is a surrender and a triumph in one.

Giving the sleeping Xue Yang a tentative little kiss on the head, and holding him closer as he goes back to sleep, directing that final “I love you” to them both. ♥

Thank you so much for asking, truly! 🥰

#asksilvy #the happy songxuexiao roadtrip story #maybe if i get to talk about the story enough #my motivation will return from the war

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