#{b/c hes a rebel too}

[thewulf]

Love Strikes || Dallas "Dally" Winston

Summary: Request - ok so wild idea but could u do dallas winstin x fem reader who is in the middle of finals and shes really stressed bc shes getting slammed by school work, is tired and her parents keep giving her like hella chores before and after school, so much so shes getting really behind from an straight a student to b's and c's and shes just been bottling up untill she punched a wall and broke her hand- also could her and dallas be in a pre existing relation ship?

A/N: Another one for the sweeeeeetest boy! Hope you guys enjoy

Pairing: Dallas "Dally" Winston x Female Reader (Buck Merril Cousin)

Word Count: 2.7k +

TW: talks of abuse (mental), punching, threats of violence, general Outsiders warnings

The day you started working at the local diner, you immediately caught the attention of the regulars. The group known around town as the greasers. But it was Dallas Winston who couldn't keep his eyes off you. His reputation as a tough, unflappable rebel made his obvious interest in you all the more intriguing. The other greasers noticed it too and they quickly adopted an unspoken rule: you were off-limits because you were Dally's girl, even before a single word had passed between the two of you.

Months passed with stolen glances and the occasional smoldering look from across the room, but Dallas never made a move, and you wondered if his reputation had made him hesitant. Then one quiet Tuesday afternoon when the diner was almost empty, and you were wiping down tables you decided to break the ice.

You approached him, heart pounding but armed with a casual smile. “You know, for someone who doesn’t talk much you sure do say a lot with those eyes of yours,” you teased trying to keep your tone light.

Dallas, usually so sure of himself, blushed a deep, unmistakable red that made him look unexpectedly vulnerable. He stumbled over his words. A stark contrast to the smooth, confident persona he projected. “I, uh... yeah, I guess I do. Sorry ‘bout that.”

It was so endearing. So contrary to everything you’d heard about him that you couldn’t help but laugh. “No need to apologize. I find it kinda sweet.”

Dallas looked up locking his eyes with yours. “Yeah?” he asked, a hopeful, almost shy tone in his voice.

“Yeah,” you affirmed with your own cheeks heating up.

From that day on Dallas made a point of talking to you whenever he came in. The other greasers teased him relentlessly seeing his awkward attempts at flirting, but Dallas didn’t care. His buddies ribbed him one evening as he left the counter with a grin after a particularly long chat with you. “Look at Dally, all love-struck and stumbling!” Johnny called out making the others laugh.

But Dallas just flipped them off casually. His eyes never leaving you as he walked back to his seat. “Shut it. She talked to me,” he said with pride in his voice undeniable.

Soda can't help but laugh. The sound echoing around the diner as he watches Dallas's rare display of affection. He shakes his head with wide grin plastered across his face and leans across the table to give Dallas a gentle shove. "Look at you. All tough and scary but you melt just like butter when she talks to you," Soda teases, his eyes twinkling with mischief. "You're one lucky guy, Dal," he adds more seriously as his tone softened. "Don’t screw it up, okay? Because honestly it's good to see you smiling for real."

Dallas just snorts trying to maintain his tough exterior. But the corners of his mouth betray him, curling up ever so slightly. Soda’s approval means the world to him and it's clear that your interaction has lifted his spirits in a way that the rest of the gang rarely sees.

That was the beginning. Despite the rough edges and the chaos that sometimes surrounded him Dallas showed you a side of himself that few ever saw. He was protective, surprisingly sweet, and more loyal than anyone you had ever known. As your relationship deepened those moments in the diner became your cherished memories. The foundation of a love story that defied expectations.

Now, months later, the dynamic of your relationship had comfortably settled into the quiet routine of your evening study sessions. The small lamp on your desk casts a warm glow over your textbooks and papers. The quiet of the evening interrupted only by the soft scratch of your pen against paper. Dallas lounges on your bed with a copy of a car magazine balanced on his knee, but his attention isn't really on the articles. Instead, he watches you sensing something was off. His gaze occasionally flicking to the window where the last streaks of sunset are disappearing.

You pause in your studying feeling his eyes on you. You look up with a sigh. “Dad’s been on my case non-stop,” you confess sensing his eyes on you. Dally missed nothing. The weight of the words heavier than the textbooks in front of you. “Ever since my brother started getting into trouble… it’s like he’s taking it all out on me. More chores, more rules. I can barely keep up.”

Dallas sets the magazine aside. His expression turning serious as he shifts to sit more upright. “That’s not fair to you,” he says, his voice low and steady. “You shouldn’t have to pick up slack for things you didn’t do.”

You nod at him while rubbing your temples. “I know, but I don’t know how to make him see that. It’s like, the more I try to explain it to him the less he listens.”

Dallas’s brow furrows. He swings his legs off the bed before coming to sit beside you. He takes one of your hands. His touch always so reassuring. “Maybe you don’t need to make him see anything right now,” he suggests. “Just focus on what you need to get done, for school and for yourself. I’m here, okay? I can help with whatever you need. Chores, dealing with your dad, anything.”

The simplicity and sincerity in his offer bring a small smile to your face. “Thanks, Dal. It means a lot, really.”

He squeezes your hand gently, then glances at your books. “Let’s tackle this together tonight. You study, and I’ll quiz you. And hey, I can even stick around to help with the chores your dad wants done. Might make him ease up a bit if he sees you’re not handling it alone.”

Grateful, you scoot over to make room for him at the desk. As Dallas picks up a set of flashcards you’ve prepared, his presence makes the pile of work seem a little less daunting. You dive into your studies together with the occasional question from Dallas punctuating the evening. His efforts to lighten your burden evident in every word he speaks.

As the night progresses the shared tasks and his unyielding support make you feel less alone in your struggles. Dallas was usually so rugged and distant with others. But he’s do different with you. He’s with you in this—completely, undeniably supportive. It’s in these quiet moments that you truly see the depth of his care for you.

As you try to focus on your calculus homework your bedroom door flies open with a force that makes you flinch. It’s your father. His face flushed with anger. “Why haven’t you cleaned up around the house yet? I asked you hours ago!” he demands, his voice sharp and piercing.

The words strike deep, exacerbating the stress already coiled tight within you. “Dad, I’ve been trying to keep up with finals,” you stammer. Your voice laced with desperation. “I need to study to maintain my grades. I have to get into the University of Oklahoma.”

But your father is relentless. Dismissing your worries with a wave of his hand. “There’s always some excuse with you, isn’t there? You need to learn some responsibility,” he snaps before slamming the door as he leaves.

The silence that follows feels heavy, suffocating. You stare blankly at your textbook. The numbers and equations blurring before your eyes. Dallas moves closer, concern etched across his face. “Hey,” he starts softly, trying to catch your eye. “Don’t listen to—”

But his words fade into the background as a torrent of frustrations and fears overwhelm you. Tears start to prick at the corners of your eyes. Your voice trembling. “I just can’t do this anymore!” you blurt out. The dam finally breaking. “The grades, the chores, everything! They expect too much! I’m trying so hard, and it’s never enough. I’m never good enough. I’ll never be good enough. What if I don’t get into college? What then, Dallas?”

Dallas leans closer trying to make eye contact. “Hey, listen to me,” he urges softly. “You are enough, more than enough. Don’t let them—”

But you can barely hear him over the roar of your own insecurities. Your words tumble out, one over the other, each thought darker and more desperate than the last. “I'm drowning, Dallas. It feels like no matter how much I try, it’s just never enough. They don’t see me struggling—they don’t even care. And every day, I feel like I’m losing a piece of myself just to meet their expectations.”

Desperate to reach you, Dallas grabs your shoulders gently, trying to ground you. “I see you, I’m here for you, and we’ll get through this together,” he says firmly just hoping his words break through the storm inside you.

But his words meant to comfort only seem to amplify the pressure. It feels like another expectation to meet, another standard you fear you're failing. "You don't understand," you murmur. The desperation in your voice breaking through. "It's never enough. I’m never enough."

Seeing your distress Dallas softens his hold on you. His concern deepening. "I'm trying to understand. Just talk to me," he urges gently.

But the space around you feels constricting. The walls of your room closing in as each second passes. Overwhelmed, you instinctively step back, shaking your head. "I need... I just need space," you gasp out. A plea for a moment to breathe. To let the tightness in your chest ease.

Turning away from him you face the wall. The cool plaster seemingly the only thing not demanding something from you. You shut your eyes trying to shut out the world, but the silence of the room echoes the loud chaos in your mind. With a surge of frustration that feels bigger than you. Your emotions spill over. Before you can stop yourself, your arm swings out, your fist connecting with the wall. The impact is jarring, pain exploding in your hand as it meets a wooden stud behind the plaster.

"Damn it!" you exclaim. The shock and pain momentarily overwhelming you. As the reality of what just happened sinks in a fresh wave of tears starts to fall. You cradle your injured hand close to your chest feeling utterly defeated. Each sob shakes you harder and between gasps you mutter despairingly, "Can I do anything right?"

Dallas is by your side in an instant. His face filled with concern. "Oh no, no, no, baby," he coos gently. His voice soft and soothing. He carefully wraps his arms around you making sure not to jostle your injured hand. "You didn’t do anything wrong. It’s alright, it’s going to be okay," he reassures you. His tone utterly tender.

As he helps you sit down making sure to keep you close, his presence a calming force. You nod but a new worry creases your brow. "Dallas, please... don't tell my dad," you whisper. Your voice shaky. "I'm terrified of how he'll react."

Dallas looks into your eyes, filled with a mix of concern and determination. "Of course, baby. I won't say a word. But we really need to get that looked at," he assures you as he carefully observes your swelling hand.

He gently guides you to stand and leads you toward the door. His arm protectively around your waist. As you lean into his strength, despite the pain and the overwhelming emotions, Dallas’s steady support offers a small comfort. His presence and protective assurance help you gather the courage to face the immediate challenge.

In the starkly lit hospital waiting room you and Dallas sit side by side. The hum of the fluorescent lights overhead only adding to the tension. You shift uncomfortably, cradling your bandaged hand close, the pain a constant reminder of the day's frustrations. Dallas watches you with a mixture of concern and determination. As you both wait for your name to be called, he leans in, his voice low and serious. "Look, when we get outta here, maybe I should have a talk with your old man," he suggests. His tone suggesting he's already settled on the idea.

You look at him completely surprised by the suggestion. "You think that would help?"

Dallas nods with his expression resolute. "Yeah, I think it could. Your dad and I get along alright, and maybe he'd listen if I explained how tough he’s been on you. It’s worth a try, ain’t it?" He pauses before gauging your reaction. "I can handle it, don’t worry sweetheart."

The idea of Dallas intervening on your behalf brings a mix of relief and anxiety. "Are you sure? I don't want to cause more trouble," you say. The worry evident in the cadence of your voice.

Dallas gives a short, reassuring chuckle. "Trouble’s my middle name, isn’t it? But this is the good kind. I’m not gonna let him keep pushin’ you around like this. You need your space. Especially now with everything you’ve got on your plate."

Feeling a bit relieved you nod slowly grateful for his offer. "Okay, if you think it'll help. Thanks, Dal," you say feeling a bit more hopeful.

"Always got your back," Dallas responds with a firm nod, a slight smile breaking through his usual tough demeanor. He opens his arms invitingly and you slide into his lap, seeking comfort in his embrace. Dallas wraps his arms around you securely. As the the nurse finally calls your name he gently kisses your forehead. "Let’s get you fixed up," he murmurs softly. With Dallas’s support you stand up together ready to face the treatment and whatever challenges lie ahead. His protective presence reassures you that no matter what, you truly were not alone.

After the hospital visit you and Dallas return to your house. The lights are dim, and the house is quiet. Your parents are already asleep, seemingly unaware of the turmoil you've endured today. The lack of concern from them stings but Dallas's presence offers a soothing counterbalance.

He helps you into the house. His hand gently touching your back, holding you with care. Once inside Dallas guides you to the sofa and helps you sit down. He disappears into the kitchen for a moment and returns with a warm cup of tea and a soft blanket which he drapes over your shoulders. "You should rest," Dallas says. His tone laced with a protective warmth. "I'll handle everything else around here for tonight."

You nod, grateful for his thoughtfulness. Watching him move around your living room, picking up a stray magazine or straightening a cushion, you feel a profound sense of gratitude. Despite his rough exterior Dallas shows an unparalleled tenderness and care that fills the gaps left by others' indifference. As he sits down next to you his proximity is comforting. He doesn't say much. But he doesn't need to—the steady rhythm of his breathing, the occasional touch of his hand against your back, speaks volumes.

"Dallas?" you whisper, breaking the comfortable silence.

"Yeah?" he responds, turning to look at you.

"Thank you... for everything today. For being there when it felt like no one else was," you say, your voice thick with emotion.

Dallas gives a small, sad smile, a rare crack in his tough façade. "I wish they cared more. You know? But as long as I'm around you won't have to go through anything alone."

Your heart swells with a mix of emotions. Gratitude, relief, and something deeper that has been growing stronger each day. Moved by his words and his unwavering presence you find the courage to express how deeply you feel. "Dallas, I love you," you say softly. The words feeling both monumental and profoundly right.

He looks at you, his eyes softening and filled with affection. "I love you so much, my sweet girl," he replies tenderly. He leans over and kisses the top of your head before gently pulling you into his side. "Now close those pretty eyes," he murmurs. His voice soothing after your long night.

Leaning back against the sofa, nestled against Dallas, you feel the weight of the day's events begin to lift. It was replaced by a deep, comforting peace. The room is quiet, save for the soft ticking of the clock and the gentle presence of Dallas beside you.

As the night deepens, the chaos of the day finally settles down. With Dallas by your side the challenges ahead seem less daunting. In this quiet moment your bond with him strengthens. Grounded in a profound understanding and mutual care that promises to endure whatever comes next.

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[mumms-the-word]

Shadow Curse Events Pt. 1

Ketheric, Selûne, Shar, and Aylin

I’ve played through the game a few times at this point and I always find myself struggling to understand the timeline or at least order of events that occurred with the Shadow Curse. I know some things conflict because there was one version of the story in Early Access (the version where Halsin accidentally killed Isobel) and it was heavily altered for the final version of the game, and some things just got *gestures vaguely* waved away, but I keep wanting to make sense of it anyway.

So that’s what this post (edit: I mean series) is going to do. After the cut, obviously. Long deep dive post ahead! Picture of a tired Ketheric for attention and because same bro c':

TLDR: These events happen either in the 1370s or the 1390s. Ketheric loses Melodia (his wife) and Isobel (his daughter) and turns to Shar. He captures Aylin, then builds a Big Dark Justiciar Army, training them and forcing them to kill Aylin over and over. Meanwhile, a Selûnite resistance is brewing in the town, and it's kind of making everything worse. One Selûnite rebel even goes so far as to make a deal with a devil. And all of that is BEFORE the Harpers and druids arrive as an army.

We don’t have dates, unfortunately, aside from knowing that the shadow curse itself was unleashed about a century ago, so “timeline” would be a loose term to use if/when I use it. But I have two theories about when it happened.

One theory is that because the Spellplague was happening between 1385-1395 DR (during which there was neither a true Weave nor a Shadow Weave, which is what the shadow curse is made of), the shadow curse likely started around 1396-1399, just shy of a full 100 years before the game’s events in 1492. But that’s just me conjecturing based on the idea that if the Shadow Weave is gone…how does the shadow curse stick around? 

The other theory is that the shadow curse was unleashed sometime between 1371 and 1374. This is because a) Dark Justiciars were still being sent by Ketheric Thorm to destroy Moonhaven (the Blighted Village) in 1371 (Ketheric writes a letter about attacking Moonhave and a journal dated 1371 boasts that Ilyn Toth, the basement apothecary-necromancer dude, got killed by Dark Justiciars) and b) because Khelben Arunsun himself, the literal Blackstaff (super powerful and very old wizard), wrote a letter negotiating surrender on behalf of the Harpers.

We cannot be party to the suffering of the people of Reithwin, and indeed, of the great loss of life that this war will visit upon the Sword Coast - and, perhaps, beyond it. So it is written, and so let it be done, Khelben Arunsun, on behalf of the High Harper Council and its allies.

Wiki says Khelben broke his alliance with the Harpers in 1370 due to some disagreements, but it’s possible his splinter faction was at the battlefield with the other Harpers. I doubt he was there personally, but who knows. I wouldn’t go any earlier than 1371, though, because Baldur’s Gate II happens in 1369, and Jaheira would have been too busy dealing with those events to deal with Ketheric too. But it can’t be later than 1374,  because Khelben Arunsun dies in 1374.

(I have questions about how the shadow curse survived the Spellplague and the loss of the Shadow Weave, but the answer to that could simply be All Magic Was Weird and Unstable at the time…plus Thaniel was already in the Shadowfell by this time, so the land couldn't heal.)

So it’s either 1371-1374 (because of the Khelben timeline, and I guess the Spellplague didn’t affect it) or it’s 1396-1399 (because of the Spellplague, but the writers just forgot Khelben was dead by that point, or maybe his ghost wrote the surrender notice idk). Both are good enough for Halsin and Jaheira to talk about things happening “a century ago,” but you can see why I’m avoiding dates.

But let’s push it back a few more decades. Back when Ketheric was a Selûnite and Isobel a very small child.

As we’re probably all well aware, during this time, Ketheric worships Selûne along with his wife, Melodia. At some point, he even commissions the local Mason’s Guild to build Moonrise as a testament to Selûne herself, according to Morfred the mason (who you can talk to in House of Hope, it’s pretty cool). Ketheric and Melodia have Isobel, but then Melodia dies while Isobel is still pretty young. Ketheric remains a Selûnite, mostly for Isobel’s sake, until she dies too.

Ketheric: I’ll tell you a story, True Soul. About a man who sold himself piece by piece. He had…everything. A wonderful wife. A brilliant daughter. They lived not far from here. His wife died too young. Grief tore through their home like a thief, snatching away the scent of her hair, the rustle of her skirts. But the man did not break. He could not break. His daughter needed him whole, after all. She grew up—grew strong. Challenged him. Filled his heart with such joy it supplanted all sorrow. When she was killed, the man…he tried to remain whole, but it wasn’t possible. Do you understand? Player: So the man fell to pieces. Ketheric: The pain was unbearable. All-consuming. He decided he’d do anything for reprieve. First, he sold himself to the goddess of loss. But the pain did not subside, no matter his obscene feats of devotion. Then a new god came—a god who promised the man something wonderful: his daughter. Her life returned. Imagine it. He would have to give everything: his body and soul entire. He did not hesitate. Not for a moment.

We know this story. Ketheric turns to Shar and everything goes Very, Very Badly. But the exact details/order of Ketheric's Sharran days are a little hazy. So here's what I've been able to piece together to sate my own curiosity.

While Ketheric is still a faithful (but waning) Selûnite, Dame Aylin visits as an emissary of Selûne. Moonrise/Reithwin is a Selûnite refuge and the Thorms are allegedly devout favorites of the moon goddess, so it's a big deal. While she's there, she and Isobel fall in love. Ketheric disapproves, in part because Aylin is immortal and Isobel is not (Isobel and Aylin both say this in dialogue).

Plus, and this is a personal opinion, I think Ketheric might have seen Aylin's interest in Isobel as another thing Selûne was trying to take from him. It isn't enough that Selûne let Melodia die, now her daughter is trying to woo his daughter and take her too.

But then Isobel dies. Somehow. The launch version of the game isn’t clear how. Aylin mourns but Ketheric spirals. He turns to Shar, hoping she will force him to forget about Isobel, but he doesn't. Nevertheless, he becomes a zealous Sharran.

[A journal spanning years, beginning with the birth of a child and ending with what appears to be a series of dateless tragedies.] How can she be gone? Where did she go? The Moonmaiden cannot be so unfeeling - so cruel. Not toward her most devoted servant. Not after Melodia. It makes no sense. It makes no sense. I won't survive it. That much I know. Forgetting is the only possibility. The embrace of oblivion. The reprieve of nothingness. It would not be possible for a man to survive knowing what he knows. Knowing what can be lost. Shar understands that. Hers is the only mercy I can comprehend. My mind is full of holes - yet not enough. The emptiness. The time. The nothingness. And still I remember. Still I remember it all. There is no mercy in this beating heart. There is no mercy in life at all.

He builds the Gauntlet of Shar (or maybe renovates and Shar-ifies it, maybe it was already there) beneath the Thorm mausoleum, connecting it to the much more ancient Grymforge area. Grymforge becomes a kind of base or stronghold for the Justiciar army while the Gauntlet is designed to test their mettle and prepare them for the task that will make them official Dark Justiciars—killing Aylin, though it's not clear when Ketheric and Balthazar lure her into the Shadowfell.

I'll get back to that later.

We know that Grymforge was used as a Dark Justiciar stronghold and possible training ground because of all the Sharran stuff we find there. It's like super obvious. The feasthall room, the dormitories, the weapons that lay everywhere. There's basically a whole Sharran city in the Underdark beneath and near Reithwin, some of which we can see from various points in Grymforge. In fact, if you go through the poisoned room where Nere is, you can see the Gauntlet down below.

(It's a little hard to see here 'cause I play on console but there's a glimpse of the giant Shar statue that takes up a ton of space in the Gauntlet. Somehow, the two places used to connect.)

Ketheric's new Sharran teachings are ruthless and vicious. He encourages his Dark Justiciars to kill a Selûnite once a tenday or more as part of their training and service to the Lady of Loss.

The Law of Nightfall: From the moon falls the foulest of lights. iIt peeks through cracks and fissures, illuminating the most remote recesses of the Underdark. Light bestows hope, a pernicious notion which must be extinguished. At the darkest hour, pray to your Lady and feast in Her honour. The second day after, slay a disciple of Selûne. If none may be found, a Lathanderian or Mystran are an acceptable offering. Do this once a tenday, and the Lady of Loss shall know you.

Reithwin and the surrounding village soon become a hunting ground. Most people convert. Those who don't get hung in the square as examples (according to a shadow memory). All faithful Selûnites are forced to practice their devotion to the Moonmaiden in secret, led by Morfred the mason and his brother Halfred the innkeeper of Last Light Inn. Halfred hides Selûnite relics beneath Last Light (you can still find them) while Morfred plots a true resistance.

[Hidden amidst columns detailing the income and expenditure of a tavern is an aside, written in tiny, urgent handwriting.] I have concealed the sacred relics of our revered goddess in the darkest corner of this place. Morfred, my loyal brother, seeks to forge a network of allies to stand against the oppressive reign of Ketheric Thorm. Sadly, fear has gripped the hearts of many, turning them away from our cause. I cannot truly blame them, for trepidation fills my soul as well - but I must put aside my own fears and reunite with Morfred in the bowels of the Mason's Guild. Together, we shall preserve what we can of the Moonmaiden's light, and hope that the banners of the faithful soon rise against that treacherous dog, Thorm.

But as time goes on, Morfred grows increasingly distressed with the events happening in Reithwin and the ease with which people are eager to switch faiths.

- How quickly things change. The Thorms are Selûnite through and through - or so I believed. Perhaps Ketheric only converted for Melodia, and with her death - and then his daughter's - his faith died too. But to turn to Shar? It beggars belief. - Ketheric's Justiciars are growing greater in number, and more determined to rout out any traces of Selûne in Reithwin. Why do they think this town was built? One cannot rip out the foundations of a building and expect it to remain standing. - Brother and I remain the last two bastions of Our Lady of Silver in the town. A few - the trusting few - come to worship in secret by moonlit nights. Others - converts, all. Whether they truly believe, I cannot say. Impossible, isn't it?

(Don't worry, the second page is further down lol spoilers!)

Life is not going well in Reithwin, even if you're not a Selûnite. Ketheric is determined to destroy all traces of Selûne and treason of any kind. His Dark Justiciars begin tormenting citizens to reveal pockets of Selûnite resistance. He also suffers no treasonous word against him, even if the citizens in question aren't Selûnite. We see a glimpse of this and of the Justiciars' cruel influence during the questline with He Who Was and Madeline, who ratted out her friends' innocent(?) complaints about Ketheric to some Justiciars, resulting in their brutal deaths.

Eventually Morfred realizes that the Dark Justiciars are too powerful to resist and turns to Raphael, offering his soul in exchange for something to destroy the Dark Justiciar army.

- Sick of standing idle while Justiciars gain power in our humble town. What will become of us if we allow it? I met a man who was no man. Touched by a devil. Or maybe worse. But he offered me something I couldn't refuse - help. - The time is now. Ketheric's Justiciars, their stronghold in the temple below - they will be wiped out. All of them. I didn't ask how. I just want them gone. Let the Harpers have at Ketheric now. They'll make short work of him.

You can ask Morfred about this in the House of Hope, actually, where he confirms the details. I mean, he's in Raphael's house, so it's pretty obvious the he did, in fact, make a deal with him.

Infernal Mason: When tragedy came, my master fell into darkness and despair. He marshalled a great army to ruin the world and bring all into shadow. I could not let it happen. I sought out the devil Raphael and signed an infernal pact with him. He promised to destroy my master’s army, and I promised him my soul in return. The devil was true to his word. Fiends slaughtered my master’s forces, but he endured somehow, and blighted the land.

The Fiend in question here is Yurgir, who ends up crashing through Grymforge and the Gauntlet to kill all Dark Justiciars in his path. (He misses one, because Raphael is a sneaky bastard who let one get away by turning him into a swarm of rats, but I digress.) We know Yurgir caused the destruction in Grymforge, too, because of the Merregon masks and hellbeasts we find around the area, and the fact that if you pass all the checks with the Duergar mason examining the stone, he helps you piece together this narrative:

Stonemason Kith: An ancient city, hewn from the stone by the disciples of Shar, later abandoned. Untold centuries later, a new tribe revives it. Fresh walls, fresh sculptures...until a great hellbeast charges through, toppling the walls and crushing the people! Heh - that explains the infernal plate I found. Perhaps you might have use of it.

Further proof that Grymforge and the Gauntlet were once connected...somehow.

Anyway, by the time Yurgir is called in, Morfred's already been found out. Thisobald overhears him drunkenly complaining about Ketheric in the Waning Moon and informs Ketheric of his treachery. Ketheric orders a raid on the mason's guild, leaving Halfred the lone source of Selûnite resistance. It's unknown what becomes of Halfred, but considering the fact that the inn was still taking guests (like Art Cullagh) and housing the Harpers right before the shadow curse descended (there's a shadow memory of a Harper toasting his comrades in Last Light right before the battle with Ketheric long ago), it's likely he's a victim of the curse and not Justiciar brutality.

I’m not sure which is worse, honestly.

It's unclear when Morfred dies, though he admits to witnessing the first part of the shadow curse (i.e., "...but he endured somehow, and blighted the land"). But Morfred's deal coincides in some ways with the arrival of the Harpers and druids. I think he probably makes the deal with Raphael before the Harpers officially march against Ketheric and then gets caught after he hears rumors of the Harpers.

Raphael makes good on his deal around the same the Harpers arrive, perhaps a little afterward. This means Yurgir's slaughter of Justiciars in the Underdark must happen concurrently with the battle happening topside between Ketheric's army and the Harpers/druids, meaning Ketheric is losing his army on two fronts at the same time. Victory seems assured for the Harpers and druids, but of course we know now that Ketheric had a way of cheating death already in place.

He had already imprisoned the Nightsong in a Shadowfell soul cage.

Again, we’re not sure exactly when this happens, but it’s after Isobel dies and before the shadow curse, which unleashes with Ketheric’s supposed death in the battle against the Harpers and druids. However, Aylin herself says that Ketheric and Balthazar lured her into the Shadowfell under the pretense of saving an innocent.

Dame Aylin: He and his loathsome advisor Balthazar lured me into the Shadowfell, claimed they'd found someone in need of my aid. There they trapped me in their infernal cage. I was killed, murdered, made dead, over and over and over by Justiciars of every make and kind. I was reborn, for it is my nature. And Ketheric fed upon my immortality all the while.

This makes me think that Aylin wasn’t aware of Ketheric’s conversion yet, so it must have been very soon after, because otherwise, why would she trust a known Sharran telling her to enter the Shadowfell, the realm that is entirely under Shar’s control? I also suspect Ketheric built (or renovated) the Gauntlet around Aylin after her capture, perhaps at the behest of Shar due to their collaboration in making up new Justiciar teachings, or perhaps out of a sick, vengeful desire to see Aylin tormented for daring to love his daughter.

If this is true, then there’s a very real chance that Ketheric was unkillable before he truly started to torment Reithwin town, and well before the Harpers stepped in to take him down.

Anyway we at least know that Ketheric trapped Aylin in the Shadowfell before the big battle against the Harpers because a) both Isobel and Aylin talk about her being there for a century and b) because Ketheric is already using her invulnerability to survive assassination attempts on his life prior to or during the actual battle against him and his army:

23 Elient The Harpers came too close - they poisoned Father Ketheric himself, yet he professes no ill effects. Malus insists it a fluke. Doctor he may be, but he is no less a fool for it: Father has achieved that of which I can only dream: immortality. I have long suspected. I can guess Father's purpose, but I cannot fathom the means.

This brings us to the eve of the battle itself. But this post is already hella long, so keep an eye out for part 2, all about the Harper and druid battle against Ketheric!

[wangxianficfinder]

In the mood for...

Apr 29th

~*~

1. Itmf wangxian but A) it's a universe with mechas and wwx may/may not be a mecha genius or mecha master?

B) wx but make it Interstellar univ

C) wwx transmigrating please

1A)

The Weight of the World by KouriArashi (T, 67k, WangXian, XiYao, XuanLi, Pacific Rim Fusion, Robots, Monsters, robots fighting monsters, Family, Romance, Developing Relationship, Angst, (but not about the romances), Hurt/Comfort, Politics, Happy Ending)

Thunder's Coming Over Me by phnelt (E, 38k, WangXian, WIP, Avatar & Benders Setting, Pacific Rim Fusion, temporary character death (wwx's), Angst with a Happy Ending, Action & Romance)

I’ll buy you the moon (I’ll buy you two) by Thesaurus_with_no_words (E, 27k, WangXian, Science Fiction, Space, Rebels, Space Opera, On the Run, Promoted To Parent, Robots, Androids, Mechs, Battle Mechs, Hurt/Comfort, Technopathy, Willful and Deliberate Baby and Wife Acquisition, Porn With Plot, Mpreg) would this count if the mech fighting is only mention and wwx is currently a technopath?

~*~

2. Itmf request! Any fics where LWJ and WWX get together (even if just as friends) before LWJ figures himself out and so he's embarrassed by WWX or otherwise reticent or dismissive about their relationship?

Cleaning & Courtship by Winxhelina (T, 13k, WangXian, Modern Cultivation, Getting Together, First Kiss, Bunnies, Domestic Fluff, Fluff) fits the bill I feel. Lan Wangji definitely isn’t dismissive on purpose but he is awfully embarrassed and flustered in chapter 2. (And in fact In the secret chapter 3 that has been in my drafts for ages, but we don’t talk about her. The story is done. Supposedly.)

~*~

3. heyy there, feeling for some angsty fics of lwj finding out wwx death or just grieving for him over the years. thanksss

to the act of making noise by words-writ-in-starlight (WordsWritInStarlight) (G, 19k, LSZ & LWJ, LSZ & WWX, WangXian, Grief/Mourning, Father-Son Relationship, inquiry, LSZ is the best of boys and I will not hear debate, Music, Angst, Fluff and Angst, Found Family) This is sorta third party POV, with Sizhui being the third party. Angsty yet tender, with Sizhui growing up hearing Inquiry. I swear I went through a pile of tissues the first time I read it, but in the best way! Highly recommend the podfic version for extra feels!

to remember names of plants series by detention_notes (T, 8k, Diary/Journal, Character Study, WWX's canonical humor as deflection, WQ is a lesbian, Friendship, Parenthood, Pining, thinly-veiled anger and fear, small moments of hope, planning for uncertain futures, is this angst?, gentle angst, Reminiscing, Found Family, Parenthood, Reminiscing, Pining, Grief/Mourning, Epistolary, Healing, Childhood, Love, LWJ's single parenthood, how to love a memory, how to raise the next generation, Canonical Character Death, Yearning, LWJ's concentrated stream-of-consciousness emotions, Bittersweet, Hopeful Ending)

New Perspective by mrcformoso (T, 8k, WangXian, LSZ & LWJ, Major Character Death, Angst, Hopeful Ending, Fatherhood, Regrets, Flashbacks, POV LWJ, LWJ-centric, Canonical Character Death - WWX, Pining LWJ, LWJ Has Feelings, LWJ Needs a Hug, Character Development, Dead WWX, LWJ deals with the death of his love, And learns to be a father along the way, Introspection, Feelings, LWJ is Bad at Feelings, Character Study, WWX's death in The Untamed was too raw, Regretful LWJ, Breaking Toxic Cycles, Canon Compliant, LWJ in Seclusion, Post-LWJ in Seclusion, Child LSZ)

~*~

4. hello! thank you for all the lovely work you do mods, this is my favourite account for finding fic recs :)

i wanted to ask for recommendations of fics where lwj is pining for wwx and maybe genuinely emotionally hurt, or some temporarily unrequited love? the angstier the better tbh, i want to see lwj go through it (before wwx makes it better). only happy endings though please :’)

thanks so much!! 💖

Continuation by thefaceofno (T, 14k, WangXian, Canon Continuation, WWX builds a lotus pond in cloud recesses, Hair Brushing, Light Angst with a Happy Ending, Pining, gay disaster LWJ, Post-Canon Fix-It)

When the Words Stop Coming by mrcformoso (T, 7k, WangXian, Canon Compliant, POV WWX, POV LWJ, Cloud Recesses Study Arc, Pre-Sunshot Campaign, Burial Mounds Settlement Days, Canonical Character Death, Love Confessions, Rejection, LWJ is a Panicked Gay, Temporarily Unrequited Love, Trauma, WangXian Get a Happy Ending, Angst with a Happy Ending, Sad with a Happy Ending)

~*~

5. fics of lwj being protective of wwx?? have a good day, thanks. ❤️

Inchoate by Marinelifeclub (T, 20k, WangXian, WIP, Child Abuse, Bad Parent JFM, Bad Parent YZY, Protective LQR, Protective LWJ, Rogue Cultivator WWX, Not YZY Friendly, Not JC Friendly, No Golden Core Transfer, Dark JFM)

🔒 between the shadow and the soul by Reverie (cl410) (M, 22k, WangXian, JYL/WQ, JC/NHS, Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Family, Dark WWX, Feral WWX, Memory Loss, Magic, Magical Realism, Protective LWJ, Protective JC, Protective JYL, Grief, BAMF WWX, POV Alternating)

~*~

6. Hi! For the next itmf, do you have anything with jyl acting as a mother to wwx? Or anything similar

Fatherhood’s Calling by Fortune_Maiden (G, 1k, JYL/JZX, JZX & WWX, post-sunshot, crack, humor)

The Teapot Plot series by ToxicAngel13 (E, 127k, WangXian, LXC/NMJ, Misunderstandings, protective Jiang siblings, Golden Core Reveal, Golden Core Transfer Fix-It, Idiots in Love, Post-Sunshot Campaign, Pre-Burial Mounds, Potential for M-Preg, Fix-It, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Injury Recovery, Gusu Lan Sect Rules, Mpreg)

~*~

7. Hi! Someone suggest coming here to ask for wangxian fic recs so here I am >^<. Anyways, do you know any fics where wangxian got together before wei wuxian's death? As in, wwx still dies and comes back later in mxy's body.

Thanks in advance!

~*~

8. in the mood for a wangxian fic thats shows/movies rewritten to fit wangxian, i recently read this mamma mia and love O2O au and fell in love with wangxian being put in shows/movies @yesibest

all your life you’ll dream of this by Attila (T, 22k, WangXian, Fairy tale, Cinderella Fusion, Pining)

🔒 the stars in the hazy heaven tremble above you by cicer (G, 64k, WangXian, Fantasy, Cinderella Fusion, Mutual Pining)

the rivers start to sing by fruitys (M, 27k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Tangled (2010) Fusion, Fairy Tale Elements, Strangers to Lovers, True Love's Kiss, or something like that, Sharing a Bed, Wound Tending, Hurt/Comfort, Attempt at Humor, Implied/Referenced Torture, Canon-Typical Violence, the inherent intimacy of traveling with a beautiful stranger, and completely depending upon one another for 3 days)

Down comes the night by danegen (E, 67k, wangxian, Alternate Universe, Canon Era, inspired by From, Horror, Sharing a Room, POV LWJ, no jiangs, a whole village of OCs, tiny mention of past wwx/omc, Happy Ending)

The Dragon's Bride by jaws_3 (T, 34k, WangXian, Beauty and the Beast Fusion, Arranged Marriage elements, Slow Burn, sometimes ya get sent off to atone for ur villages misgivings and u just gotta deal, Dragon LWJ, Mutual Pining, Happy Ending, Spanish Translation Available)

Something Good by boxoftheskyking (T, 43k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Teaching, Sound of Music AU)

~*~

9. Can you all recommend me some fanfic (preferably if long and not modern AU) also if it's completed. @lanwuxian0725

💖🔒 love, in fire and blood by cicer (E, 360k, wangxian, Canon Divergence, YLLZ WWX, Arranged Marriage, political scheming, Gratuitous Domesticity, Mutual Pining, EXTREME SLOWBURN, the inherent eroticism of the forehead ribbon, The Mortifying Ordeal of Being Known, neither wwx nor lwj want to be Perceived, but sorry kids! it’s gonna happen!, rated E but the the NSFW stuff doesn’t begin until chapter 19!, bottom LWJ in chapter 20 and 27)

Teen Project to Change the World by animeloverhomura (Not rated, 810k, WangXian, watching the series, BAMF WWX, Fix-It, JGS is his own warning, Attractive WWX, Homophobia, disturbing imagery, WIP)

🧡 Stunted, Starving Juvenility by TomatenMark (E, 786k, WangXian, WIP, Fix-it of sorts, Talisman master WWX, Not JFM Friendly, Study Arc, Getting together, Fluff and Angst, Engagement)

❤️ Tragedy is Not the End by Hobbsy3 (T, 358k, wangxian, Time Travel, Torture, Hurt/Comfort, Golden Core Reveal, Canon Divergence from Qiongqi Pass, Angst with a Happy Ending, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Yunmeng sibling bonding, good dad wwx, good dad lwj, JZX Lives, JYL Lives, Junior Quartet Dynamics)

A Narrow Bridge by FrameofMind, Jo Lasalle (Jo_Lasalle) (E, 700k, wangxian, time travel fix-it, slow burn, getting together, first time, pining, pining while fucking, burial mounds settlement days, angst w happy ending)

Love Song In Reverse by timetoboldlygo (T, 237k, WangXian, Amnesia, Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Non-Sexual Intimacy, Falling In Love, Slow Burn, agressively mixing and matching novel and cql canon, No Homophobia, Mentions of Starvation, Parental WWX)

~*~

10. Itmf: anything with wwx meeting his family on his father’s side? Preferably Pre-canon or a canon divergence

We Meet at the Thousandth Step by Admiranda, Rynne (T, 295k, WangXian, CSSR/WCZ, WIP, Canon Divergence, No Sunshot Campaign, CSSR & WCZ Live, Rogue Cultivator WWX, Different First Meeting, Night Hunts, Genius WWX, Inventor WWX, Plot, Romance, Drama, Fluff, Strangers to married, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Unresolved Romantic Tension, Everyone Lives AU, Developing Relationship, Minor Violence, Case Fic, Mystery, Flirting, WWX’s Canon-Typical Flower Flirting, Arson, There Was Only One Bed, Getting Together, First Kiss, Meeting the Parents, Resolved Sexual Tension, Resolved Romantic Tension, WWX Is a Good Big Brother, New Relationship Bliss, Chinese Mythology & Folklore, Blood and Injury, Yiling siblings, Married WangXian, Honeymoon, Wangxian’s Baby Fever)

~*~

11. Hi! As always thank you for everything!!! Do you have recs where lwj kinda gets hurt and wwx just go ylz crazy?? Thank you!! @gideonmorningstar

the field meets the wood by astronicht (T, 7k, WangXian, BAMF WWX, slight whump, Ritualistic Self Harm, Canon Era, Tang Dynasty style, Blood Loss, Blood and Injury, salt economics, Post-Canon)

cold black light by rynleaf (E, 2k, WangXian, PWP, Major Character Injury, Unorthodox Methods of Healing, Rough Sex(Ish) Anal Fingering, The Yiling Patriarch, Blood, Bottom LWJ, Aftercare, LWJ is in love, Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Podfic Available)

love what’s burning right in front of you by seularen (E, 10k, WangXian, Post-Canon, BAMF!WWX, description of murder, Case Fic, Political Intrigue, YL WWX, Bottom LWJ, Top WWX, but Big Switch Energy)

to be wielded by your hands by Vir_Abelasan (M, 3k, WangXian, Post-Canon, Fluff and Smut, Competence Kink, Knifeplay, Established Relationship, LWJ has a Yiling Patriarch kink, Consensual sealing of meridians, kink negotiated on the fly, Strength Kink, Resentacles)

~*~

12. hiii!! thank you for all the work you do.

i'm itmf some wwx age regression? like he gets cursed somehow and turns into little a-ying and it's just all feels with the juniors and lwj taking care of him :(((

❤️ grow by cafecliche (T, 14k, WangXian, Age Regression/De-Aging, Character Study, Post-Canon)

found your writing on my wall by howodd5ever (T, 25k, WangXian, JC & LWJ, JC & WWX, Accidental Baby Acquisition, De-aged WWX, Post-Canon, Getting Together, Referenced Child Neglect, discussion of parental loss, child food insecurity, Case Fic, kind of, Nightmares)

~*~

13. hello! i was wondering if there are any fics where Jin Zixuan and Wei Wuxian become like besties/sworn brothers or like really close? thanks <3 @nyxiblue

❤️🔒 Candy & Conspiracies by Reverie (cl410) (T, 16k, wangxian, JZX & WWX, jin wwx, fluff & crack, found family, humor, no angst) WX is taken in by the Jin instead of the Jiang, & he, JZX, & MM are besties

🔒 The Second Hand Unwinds by trulywicked (E, 56k, WangXian, JYL/JZX, WIP, Time Travel Fix-It, Not JC Friendly, Not Yunmeng Jiang Sect Friendly, Not Jiāng Family Friendly, Not YZY Friendly, Time Travelling LWJ, Protective LWJ, Fluff, Minor Angst, Minor Character Death, JGS is his own warning, Wooing, LWJ is romantic af, Inventor WWX, Genius WWX, Cloud Recesses Study Arc, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Protective Gusu Lan Sect, Supportive LXC, Good Uncle LQR, WWX Protection Squad) has Wei Wuxian become sworn brothers with Jin Zixuan

Twin Treasures by crossdressingdeath (T, 81k, WIP, JZX & WWX, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Can’t quite tag this as ‘everyone lives’ but I promise everyone who dies will DESERVE IT, mostly novel-verse with a bit of CQL here and there, currently being edited) has Wei Wuxian and Jin Zixuan become actual brothers.

watch what we'll become by glitteringmoonlight (T, 60k, JZX & WWX, WangXian, Background JZX/JYL, WWX & JZX are married but completely platonically, featuring my let WWX and JZX be bros agenda, slow burn? is it even a slow burn if they confess but can't be together for Reasons?, Canon Divergence, Fix-It of Sorts, Angst with a Happy Ending, you've heard of enemies to friends to lovers, now get ready for enemies to reluctant husbands to begrudging best friends)

🔒 Quartet series by WithBroomBefore (T, 69k, Platonic Soulbond, Hurt/comfort, Canon   Divergence, No golden core transfer, JC&JZX stay in Xuanwu cave, Fix-it, Temporary character death)

~*~

14. ITMF ask, I’m looking for any golden core fix it fics. (with minimal to no JC bashing plz) I’ve looked through the comp and it doesn’t clearly separate fix-its, golden-core revels and golden-core fix its. And some authors don’t explicitly tag a golden-core fix-it or wwx getting a new core as explicitly that, sometimes they just leave it tagged as a fix-it and it’s missed. So give me any good ones you’ve got. @omgnectarina

The Fire Lapping Up the Creek by notevenyou (E, 66k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Hurt/Comfort, Canon-Typical Violence, Injury, Injury Recovery, Blood, Respiratory Illness, Major Illness, Fever, Grief/Mourning, Burial Mounds, Angst with a Happy Ending, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Hunger and food scarcity, Surgery, Fix-It of Sorts)

💖 Echo, Murmur, Dream, Here by bluerainmist (M, 51k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Universe Alteration, the yiling patriarch survives, Angst with a Happy Ending, Catharsis, Slow Burn, Drama, Getting Together, Romance, Hurt/Comfort, Melancholy, Love, Mutual Pining, Reunions, Love Confessions, Eventual Smut, Blow Jobs, Anal Sex, Switching, Grief/Mourning, fucking while pining, Implied/Referenced Torture, Self-Harm, golden core transfer, Playing fast and loose with worldbuilding, Plot, Battle Scenes, Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, implied / Referenced suicide attempt, Sect Leader WWX, YLLZ WWX, Yílíng Wèi Sect, mind all the tags) might count as a GC Fix-It?

🧡 Weep You No More, Sad Fountains by athena_crikey (T, 48k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Fix-it fic, Whump, Curses, Fever, Delirium, Stabbing, Loneliness, Confessions)

the breaking of your soul (upon my lips) by sunsandships (M, 40k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Fix-It, Mutual Pining, Golden Core Reveal, Happy Ending)

Righteous at a Cost by thunderwear (G, 21k, wangxian, LQR & WWX, Canon Divergence, Fix-It, no one dies, LQR finds out about WWX’s core, WWX and LQR are friends??, In My Fic?, its more likely than you think, LWJ in the bg like whats happening?, Fluff, WWX goes to Gusu, Mutual Pining, Golden Core Reveal)

Ghosts Shouldn’t by ShanaStoryteller (Not Rated, 15k, WangXian, Grief/Mourning, Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending)

Can’t Tell Me Nothin by natacup82 (T, 35k, wangxian, Canon Divergence, Everybody Lives, Family Feels, Communication, BAMF Women)

I’m Sorry & Thank You by Iamnotawriter (T, 12k, WangXian, LQR & WWX, Canon Compliant, Post-Canon, Golden Core, Canon-Typical Violence, lqr’s epipheny, Angst with a Happy Ending)

~*~

15. helloo, itmf wei ying near death experiences, canon or modern is finee. thankss.

🔒 a candle blown out by RoseThorne (T, 1k, LWJ & WWX, JC & WWX & JYL, JFM & WWX, Near Death, Depression, Psychological Trauma, Justice, Fear, Angst, No War AU, Attempted Murder, Bad Parent YZY, POV Third Person, POV LXC, Podfic Available)

🔒 a star called sun by thelastdboy (E, 120k, wangxian, SL/XXC, JC & JYL & WWX, JYL & LWJ, WWX & WN & WQ, JYL/JZX, Canon Divergence after Xuanwu Cave, Fall of Lotus Pier, But worse!, Power Imbalance, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, Not Everyone Dies AU, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Canon-Typical Violence, Sunshot Campaign, Miscommunication, Heavy Angst with a Happy Ending, Slow Burn, Major Character Injury, Loss of Limbs, Chronic Illness, Seizures, WWX’s Three Months in the Burial Mounds, Wēn Remnants Live, Wēn Remnants Deserve Better, WWX Creates a Sect | Yílíng Wèi Sect, Additional Warnings In Author’s Note, Hurt/Comfort, Selectively Mute LWJ, Service Animals, Crows)

🔒 Bright Voice Roughly Rendered Softly Silent by Preludian_Staves (T, 26k, WangXian, Canon-Typical Violence, Canon Divergence, No Golden Core Transfer, Muteness, Hurt/Comfort, Getting Together, Not JC Friendly, Confessions, Angst, Choking, Red String of Fate, Appearances by Paperman!WWX, Inventor WWX, Good Uncle LQR, WWX goes to Cloud Recesses, Feelings Realization, Caretaking, Supportive Lan Family, Genius WWX, Angst with a Happy Ending, WangXian Get a Happy Ending, Protective LWJ, Protective Lan Family, Character Death (not wwx or lwj))

when you’re doing all the leaving (then it’s never your love lost) by tardigradeschool (T, 26k, wangxian, canon divergence, hurt/comfort, canon-typical violence, sharing clothes, sharing a bed, fix-it, golden core transfer)

When You Wake, 怎能当梦一场 by acertainrogue (T, 39k, WangXian, WWX is in a coma, Angst with a Happy Ending, Modern AU, Single Dad LWJ, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Parenthood, YZY’s A+ Parenting, JFM’s A+ parenting, wangxian family)

总有一天; a place to hide (can’t find one near) by yiqie (E, 76k, WangXian, Modern AU, Pianist, Getting Together, Mental Health Issues, Suicide Attempt, Suicidal Thoughts, Depression, Hospitals, Overdosing, Eventual Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Additional Warnings In Author’s Note)

~*~

16. Hi, thank you for all the work you do.

Wondering if there's any fics where Jiang Cheng does manage to capture Wei Wuxian post res and drag him back to Lotus Pier. (Like lwj doesn't get to him in time or jl doesn't get to save him) Preferably JC unfriendly, thanks!

~*~

17. This blog is amazing thank you mods!!!!

A) Do you know of any Jin Zixuan lives and brother in laws Wei wuxian and jiang cheng

Or

B) Sister in law Jiang Yanli with Lan zhan

17A)

Marital Prospects by Vamillepudding (G, 18k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Everybody Lives, Romantic Comedy, Misunderstandings, LWJ Needs a Hug)

17B)

Aftermath by KouriArashi (T, 57k, JYL/JZX, wangxian, LXC/JGY, JZX & JGY, JYL & WXX, Canon Divergence, Fix-It, Everybody Lives, Romance, Developing Relationship, Family, Sibling Bonding, Light Angst, Politics, Attempted Sexual Assault, some murder on occasion, People talking about their feelings, processing their trauma, The good shit) Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji are engaged but not married yet at the end.

~*~

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!***

[thenerdofthegroup]

I will be talking about AAA Episode 5 here so if you don’t want spoilers, don't read. This also is very long. So buckle in…

Right. I will put it into facts and theories and then my actual emotions on what has come out of this. Becausem god... But we will get to that.

Fact: that episode was off. What do I mean by off? I’ll tell you:

BIG ONE: the aspect ratio didn't change. First time this happened for a trial. This is a stylistic choice to tell us it’s wrong

Another big tell: the witches road is going down. Every trial they exit going DOWN. HERE THE EXIT WAS UP

Many people have pointed out how out of character they all are. And my friend gave a great sentence: “They are what Agatha fears”. Jen becomes vile. She is usually a bitch (love you girl) but she was down right horrendous. And after the whole endearing speech in her own trial. I can maybe reason at the end when she was reasoning that Agatha was the problem. But every other time she spoke it was with such viciousness when they were all laughing together mere hours ago. And LILIA AND ALICE! They have never talked like this. Agatha has helped Alice and she wants to ‘humiliate her’? Lilia immediately turned cold and dark? It felt like it was too quick. I would get it if there was build up but Rio outright said Agatha was scared. So to treat her like that isn’t right.

The trial itself. We’ll talk about the building. I’ve looked back and there is no moon engravings on the door. Yes there is the window BUT there are no other references to the moon when every trial has an abundance. And it was not complex. It was just… do ouija, talk to a ghost and leave. Which leads onto my next point

What the actual fuck was that trial?!? Every other trial has been about uplifting these witches. This trial only uplifted Billy. That's not fair. If this was agatha’s (only) trial then it was to literally punish her and leave her with her abusive mother. I know we laugh and go ‘oh yeah Evanora bad’ no. If you don’t understand abusive parents you will not understand HOW BAD that is. Its not being told ‘yeah you should have died’ over and over. I fully believe that Evanora beat her or at the very least was so emotionally abusive that even Rio (and if you know who Rio is then you’ll want to k ow I want to stress that name) literally screamed at her. Rio is most likely the only person Agatha has confided in with what happened. And that's just talking about it. So clearly Evanora is horrible on a degree greater than most parental figures we have seen in marvel.

So to have Agatha’s trial be A) The shortest B) just to punish her C) Everyone suddenly acts the way she fears

Because back to my first point: its all what she fears: everyone she is getting close to turns on her, she accidentally kills one and feels pleasure in the magic but you can see how taken aback she was (I'm not even going to because people saying she did it all on purpose and rebelled in the death needs to actually get checked by a doctor my god, if you can't understand the very obvious drugs metaphor for a morally grey character you may need to rewatch), being left with her mum because her mother was right, Billy being like Wanda, more powerful than Agatha, and punishing her. All of it was exactly what she feared

And the reveal was… well Agatha is the smartest one there. She is my girl… but it was kinda dropped.

And he just has magic… and has a crown. This will be explained next episode but… no there is a bigger part to this. Think about Agatha’s, now THAT was a reveal. The drama, the build up. There were hints throughout the ENTIRE episode. This was dropped. There were hints to him being nick. That’s it. It will be explained next episode but

It was the shortest episode. Just no

There were Westview and Eastview flags above the door… for Agatha? Nah

Everyone just… got over Alices death I mean Agatha looked more upset than Lilia and Jen. I mean, I guess its the most explainable part, maybe they came to the harsh realisation but SOMETHING was wrong

And I would like to state now, Agatha is a BAD PERSON. But she is STILL A PERSON OH MY GOD. We literally saw that in WV. Jac HERSELF said that Agatha wants colleges and friends. Not above power but you could see on her face, you can see in the way she was staring at her hands and- Christ I didn't think people would be oblivious. You could see that so clearly. It was not even a ‘read into it’, she was upset. Whether it was for killing Alice OR because she couldn’t control it again is up to you but she was upset. She is a bad person, and that's why I love her. At the end, she realises that no one is on her side (but Rio but she wasn’t there) and she puts all the masks back up. She becomes horrible because she has just been reminded of EVERY BAD THING that has ever happened (her childhood and nick) and accidentally, once again, killed someone and felt good about it. But this time she knew Alice was helping her. She can be both upset and enjoyed the physical sensation, they can both exist. And that’s the complexity. She is a bad person and you should not be surprised when she does bad stuff, but she does also feel things…

It’s a drugs metaphor. If you need it spelt out, Magic is her drug. She has been put on a cold stop, she now has nothing. It's like, let's take something pg, if you loved eating incredibly sweet things and then suddenly don’t eat anything with sugar in. Losing all of her magic must feel horrible on an atomic and spiritual level. So Alice attacked her and the rush of euphoria after being left with NOTHING hit her as she was being possessed. Evanora left her body and she couldn’t come to her senses because of how euphoric it felt. After having nothing against her will she finally feels something. And then it stopped and you can see the confusion and shock. She can both have enjoyed it and regretted how it hurt Alice at the same time. Because the lesson has never been ‘Agatha is a downright terrible person’ and if you think that you're watching the wrong show. She is a dark character. At the end, she shuts off all her emotions and goes back to what everyone thinks anyway, her safety blanket: being horrible, being the villain and pushing everyone away. If you believe she truly loved that she killed Alice or that she felt no remorse, I will be nice and stop swearing. But rewatch. Because that's not what happened. And the mask only came on when she realised the one person there who was standing up for her (except Rio) now sees her the same as everyone else and realises he is connected to Wanda, I don't blame her for being a bitch! And what a great bitch she was! Kathryn, you are a goddess-

Anyway. Lets stop collapsing her character. She is a bad person but she is a person. She did want to get closer to these women and she did feel bad. Kathryn did not act her ass off there for people to strip it of any emotion.

Right, so, theories because this episode can't be this off for no reason.

Someone said it was a vision. I don’t think so. Good theory but Alice did die. Rio stayed behind (and anyone who knows who she is will know why). I think that did all happen but not the way it should have

Someone said when Lilia removed her hands it let lose a spirit. It didn’t. Agatha didn't start the ritual because she said “Mother maiden crone”. She said it out of turn to not start it

Theory 1: Evanora ruined it. So, someone said that it should have been nick to talk and I slightly agree. Or at least, it shouldn’t have gone that way. Evanora put new rules into the trial. It should have been Agatha fighting through it or something (kinda loose here) but she turned it so that Agatha had to stay with her. Don’t mind this theory but it doesn’t explain why everyone was a bit whack and that ending. Also, the of character stuff only happens after she removes her hands and its her fear. Did Evanora affect how she sees things? Hmmm

Theory 2: This was someones vision. I mean… maybe? But what happened at the end was real because we see them covered in mud later. I think there is mental trickery but not all of it.

Theory 3: kind of my theory that I'm slightly alright with. This was all warped by something. By the seven. I'll explain

They are fighting. What a brilliant scene. But then they fly through a crowd of insects left by vertigo. Alright here is the factor. The Salem seven are finally joining the story and they are just… left? They are just there and then leave them alone? We know they can go around trials because they went around Alice’s so why not wait on the other side for them? Why be so utterly pathetic. If these are the ‘worst’… fuck me because Lilia was harsher in that trial than they were.

Now here is where my autism kicks in and my dedication to knowing everything about Agatha comes in handy: Vertigo is the leader of the S7. She is the insect lady. In the comics, she has telepathy on a level that can incapacitate and make them see things. She is ‘the mind’. Now my friends comment made it click for me, this is what Agatha would perceive as her fear. And it only really kicks in when she removes her hands.

We see her flick a lot of bugs off of her. She is the first one through the bug crowd and clearly the ones most attacked by them. I mean none of the rest have them on them as they enter the trial but they are all over Agatha. So, there's my proposition

What if the bugs affected her mind slightly? What if they adjusted her mind ever so slightly to see her fears OR equally it affects all of them but her the worst. I may even stretch it to say they orchestrated the whole thing. Because its the third trial and it skips right to blood moon AND it’s about Evanora right when they come in, the leader of the coven they are daughters of? Too many coincidences.

This explains a lot. Maybe also with how Billy and Rio are the least affected. Billy was at the back so didn't get hit and Rio is… well Rio.

And everything is attached to her fears: everyone hates her after they were being nice, Billy turns on her and becomes more powerful and punishes her over her mistake, Rio isn't there when it happens, her mother being right. EVERY SINGLE WEIRD THING aligns with her deepest fears. So it has to be directed at her.

Theory 4 that attaches to this slightly: so lets ay this is true and explains the behaviour. We have now TWO options in my mind:

A) The trial wasn’t a real trial

B) The trial isn't over

For A, the Salem seven could have affected it? Maybe? Maybe made it themselves to purposely break them up. I think their whole gambit is to tear them apart to pick them of so Agatha is left alone. So a lot can be explained through that. Also explains the aspect ratio, this is a part of the road

For B, It says that the end is when it clicks goodbye. The trials aren't affected by what happens to the people, its what happens to the danger. Here, nothing was completed. Alice died… and that's it. The ghosts business wasn’t completed. They failed because nothing was done. And what was the objective?!? Every other trial was to uplift each witch or to complete something. In the first, they got poisoned. They solved the poison. Second, stuck in a room with a curse. Killed the curse. Third, ghost appears, ghost… abuses the main character and only leaves after showing Agatha she was right. There was no objective. And at the end, nothing was completed. They distracted Agatha, after a fucking poor performance by Jen and Lilia. They had ages to try and wretch Alice away or stop Agatha and they stood there. And he said it too late. The 0 hit just as he said it. And then they heard Nick’s voice. The trial was still happening. The ouiji was still open. They didn’t accomplish anything.

The door unfolds way too late too. All the others, the exit appears mere seconds after. This took too long. And after Alice dies. That wasn’t the point. And IT GOES UP. It mostly likely responded to them failing OR it wasn’t real. This whole thing is not right. So I think they didn’t do anything. I think the actual trial will continue, maybe connected to the weird morgue room we see later with purple hues. Idk but it either wasn’t agatha’s real trial or it wasn’t completed. No way this was it. I prefer B out of both

Theory 5: love this one. My friend explained it better than I can so here we are,

And to add, it was Agatha’s idea to summon people to the road. I know nothing happened with Rio but Rio is an exception (spoiler once again). The seven aren't. So the seven came on BECAUSE of Agatha, this could add to it

Because also… all of them just disregarded all the rules the entire time.

Theory 6: It wasn’t her trial. It was Billy’s. Honestly don't hate it given his spirit is from Wandas kids and blah blah idk. Kind of fits

Right so we all know that this whole thing was wack and will have an explanation later? Great! Onto my opinions. Lets start off with what I loved:

Kathryn.Fucking.Hahn. Her uncomfortability as they ‘ouija’ (not a verb, hehe), her humour at the beginning, the look of longing on the brooms, her hurt at her mother, her confusion and conflicting over Alice, and the end. THE FUCKING END OH MY GOD GET HER AN AWARD. THAT CHUCKLE. The chuckle made my bones chill. It was outstanding.

Rio this episode was the best she has been. Her defending Agatha. Ooooo you know that’s right.

I loved the broom scene. And their opinions. Agatha is more powerful than a broom. Its ‘undignified’ as she says. Lilia hates the stereotypes. Rio along for everything. Jen and Alice too. It was great

Alice. My girl… the way you could see her immediately soften when Evanora said it. She literally screamed for her to stop and tried to save her. Love you Alice. I know you coming back somehow because in the very first trailer we see a scene of her in a purple lit empty room. Can’t wait to see you again girl

The parallels between Alice and Agatha too. Alice’s discovery was that her mum was better than she thought. She was protecting her. Agatha’s is that she is worse. Even after centuries she is asking others to kill her. What a twat.

All the actors were phenomenal. That's a given

The entire thing looked beautiful

That whole talk with Evanora was heartbreaking. And clearly so much had happened and Evanora was clearly a terrible terrible person. And when someone said it mirrored homophonic religious parents my hear shattered. So good. Just so so good

I don't mind knowing rio’s spoiler now because it's an explanation on such a mysterious and… confusing episode. I like spotting the things now. One thing that makes sense 😭

What I am about to say is not a reflection on Joe. Although I did giggle because… well when Kathryn is giving an award winning evil performance and acting circles around everyone after such a devastating scene… eh I won’t make a joke. But I think he is a great actor and Billy is a good character. He's not my favourite. When you have an entire show of women I will only look at them. I will say the ‘BILLIE’ Eillish song at the end was a good touch. That aside I didn’t mind the reveal. I am excited to see what he looked up for Agatha in the flashbacks next episode. I’m just not fused about him 🤷‍♀️ not everyone has to love every character. I only care about him in relation to Agatha

Right, criticism now, and I hate criticizing this show. I have never done it properly before for this show because I haven't found anything to criticise, so the fact I'm doing this shows how weirded out I was. Most of this is based on people though:

Why the fuck was it so short. This must mean the other episodes are much longer but to have Agatha’s trial, real or not, and the centre episode the shortest? I didn't like that

These are now about the people

My own personal annoyance: we are now going to have to have a whole week of having to now focus on Billy when so much Agatha trauma was there. I knew billy would have his spotlight but now for everyone talking about the episode, that is the only thing that they will focus on, instead of everything else. But I can deal with that because I won't be focusing on it, because to me it is not the important part of the episode. My own annoyance is explainable and irrelevant.

I theorise on what I like. I will not be focusing on Billy unless it relates to Agatha. So I am not mad about that, it just ticks me off it happens in the episode they finally show a bit more of Agatha’s backstory

Right, my complaint about people. Fuck all of you saying that ‘this show has finally gotten good’ because billy has been revealed. Genuinely fuck you. Because once again, and I'm shockingly surprised because a LOT of these people saying billy is the only good part are coming from Wanda stans on twitter. But whatever. People are allowed to be a bit annoyed that, from surface level, 1) ‘Agatha’s trial’ episode was the shortest and then revolved around Billy in the end 2) people are allowed to criticise what happens. They should never hate on Joe, but I have seen people send threats over some people saying they don’t like billy. It is a fair criticism for some people to say that they don’t like that the one man that is is now going to get the attention of this episode

Also very mild proof that this is happening:

Right, point two about how people have reacted and this is real. This is Stan feud, I’m not a child. I like hoes acting. I liked heartstopper and I think he’s doing great. This is about real life consequences: that fucking article. If you have been on Twitter you most likely know what I'm talking about. But a magazine article published an article saying “Billy has made MCU history” and the only article about Agatha, you know the MAIN CHARACTER with a ROMANTIC STORY WITH ANOTHER WOMAN, was basically saying “Are they gay? Hm I don't know”. And then, they released ‘all the gay characters in MCU’ and LEFT OUT AGATHA. FUCK YOU SINCERELY. This is why so many women struggle with coming out. Because no one takes us seriously. His boyfriend had been mentioned ONCE ON A FUCKING PHONE and he’s making history when the entire C plot of this show is about Agatha and her ex-wife and her relationships with them all. Fuck you. People in my life ask me why it took me so long to figure out I was gay. It's because of this. People don't take us seriously and this is EXACTLY what a lot of us feared. Billy, yay, amazing. I like that they are showing him a bit more. I want all of these characters fleshed out. But now, everyone's reactions to it are reinforcing that we are not taken seriously by the wider world, including some of the queer community. Agatha’s whole B plot is about her and Rio. And it was so beautiful in this episode. And even if you aren't interested in the romance, Agatha’s story was amazing! Painfully short but amazing! But now people only want to focus on the man. It's one thing to fear it because originally I dismissed it. But everything that has come out since then has reaffirmed this fear queer women hold. That sapphic relationships will NEVER be taken as seriously and will always be secondary to men. So fuck all of you contributing to that. Truly fuck you

Breathes in, breathes out okay. Rant over. I can just ignore these things. And I am. Its just infuriating to be reminded.

But in the wait, this feeling for many will get worse especially because some of you stans are reinforcing it. I think Billy is fine. I think his backstory will be interesting. But I saw someone try to theorise and someone said ‘Who the fuck cares. Billy is finally here to save the show’. It’s one thing to have a favourite character, it's another to do all of this

On the other side, people who are attacking Joe, that is not fair. Every character will have their spotlight. My critique is that it takes away from Agatha’s trauma this episode a lot but it is not his fault. So let’s never attack the real people

Also if you like his character, amazing. I like that every character is full rounded. But if people have genuine critiques, don’t be mad. People can have opinions. Just as don’t attack people for like him.

Let’s just be nice. Some of you need to go back to preschool “lets treat others how we want to be treated” my god

Rant over. Yay

Thank you to anyone who is still reading. I hope this bring to light a lot of the ‘off things’ with it and maybe show some opinions. I needed to rant because my god some of the things I've seen… But conclusion: everything is wrong. Its one thing for people to be out of character. Its another for the whole trial system to be fucked, the S7 sidelined again, Billy etc. Its wrong on purpose.

I think I will only form an actually feeling in this episode when I see the next one that will explain everything. I need an explanation to say whether I like it or not. But I will say, the other 4 are to me some of the best things ever produced ever. I want to desperately love it but I need to wait.

Anyway, hopefully now that the emotions have died down we can all start theorizing based on that. Here is my attempt haha

I would love to hear any ideas or thoughts! Just please be nice. I'm fragile haha

Your reward for reading to the end: Agatha and Rio being gay

[rainbowgod666]

Wizardposting blogs and my view of them, OR:

My ass out here cataloguing wizards like they're pokemon 💀 i ran out of things to do fr 💀💀💀

@official-megumin: dutch (EDIT. SHE ISNT. I WRONGLY REMEMBERER A POST OF HERS. I KNOW HER ASS IS LIVING [OR FROM] NORTH EUROPE THO) megumin that still has the "only knows one spell and its the stupidest and hardest to unlock and use. Balancing the Meta my ass" problem. In a relationship with @a-sentient-cup

@autism--wizard: just a lil neurodivergent guy that likes spooders. Not much of it really. Possibly strong enough to defeat spiders georg

@the-adhd-sorcerer: moot :) also more powerful than they let on, but its like DBXV2: starter gear and GODLY stats

@mossy--wizard: moss-fueled neurodivergent boi with lots of moss. Yes their blog feels like a wet forest in the sunlight, drying up after a long rain. Not really interacted with them tho...

@wizard-council-bureaucrat: basically the MC of tumblr wizardposting. If they say something its either wizard law or just a suggestion. Probably the only wizard here that ISNT "surprisingly powerful even though their learning was less than advanced"

@wizard-intern: the blorbo.

@the-gnomish-bastard: ok i get that theyre basically pilaf from dragonball, but A: the stew arcanum is REAL bur the 24 gods thing either sounds like bullshit or he made a stew out of 24 REALLY HUBRIS-FILLED PEOPLE (which would explain his "holy fucking shit how are you even capable of HAVING A STRUCTURE WITH THE FUNCTION OF A BRAIN"), B: he was the dude that came up with the whole "floating wizard island thing" (which has so many holes like wtf put it back down) and C: im pretty sure they have been corrupted by some kind of mushroom deity, which would explain the fact that when calling him "stupid" its like SCP-682 saying that humans are disgusting. Because there literally isnt a stronger word in the human language. How in the fuck does someone have so little intellect we have to do like the jewish population of europe after 1945 when they came up with the word "shoah" to describe what happened to them. To the user running that blog. GET SOME PSYCHIATRIC HELP ASAP. Holy shit.

@not-a-suspicious-wizard: "I aM vErY tRuStWoRtHy" dude everyone knows you wanna do some weird "subjugate reality" bullshit. How about you start making drafts and NOT murdering opponents? Seriously dude if you wanna be in charge as long as you dont try weird "consolidating power like its the 1940s" shit its alright. Maybe take some craftmanship things as a hobby! Make your own throne! Come up with something to do when you are too tired to do Dominant King Bullshit! Play modded minecraft/terraria! Make origami! If youre gonna blanket the world in darkness, at least make it look cool and welcoming instead of "inevitable rebel uprising lol have fun with Prophetic Children lmao" :3

@incompetent-wizard: are you SURE youre incompetent? Chances are, you're just unlucky 😊

[edwinspaynes]

I think sometimes about people saying that Cordelia is the only neurotypical member of the TLH cast and haven't been able to figure out why I rebel so hard against that sentiment. I figured it out yesterday.

It's because Cordelia exhibits massive golden child syndrome, and I realized that that's in and of itself a type of (c)PTSD.

She's anxious about her connections with those around her, especially Alastair and Lucie. With James and Matthew, she's avoidant to the point that she will not communicate any feelings until later in ChoT because to do so would be confronting those emotions. She's always saying that Elias viewed her as similar to him (while Alastair was like Sona), and she seemed to have created some sort of proxy-idea in her mind where she is the one who's like her father even if their differences could not be more stark.

Combine that with the fact that she's sheltered to the point of not noticing Elias's alcohol despite a) bottles laying around the house, and b) his concerning violent public behaviours like those we see at her wedding. She's clearly in the mindset of "everything's fine; this is fine," and it's not. She's not, because she's shoved her head in the sand since her father showers her with the attention that she's not getting from Sona and Alastair, who are in different, massively bad predicaments of their own.

And Cordelia copes by being perfect. By being Elias's special daughter, the one who's like him, who's the bearer of Cortana walking in the Carstairs family legacy, who's bright and sunshiney and happy and perfect.

I also want to note that I think Cordelia has some very valid abandonment trauma. While I do inarguably think she should have defended Alastair more, she literally felt abandoned by him (and Sona) for seven years because he emotionally pulled away. There were wildly good reasons, and Alastair's sacrifice deserves recognition (he is the best person), that doesn't negate the fact that she did not know those good reasons and felt abandoned.

I think this seems pervasive in her internal narration, too, as she tries to get closer to people without expressing deep-seated feelings (such as pent-up frustration with Lucie or her profound love for James).

@faithfromanewperspective @thevagabondexpress

[theflikchic]

Probably one of the worst oversights of the HP narrative is that JKR - and the Wizarding World - simply does not care about the half-bloods. We hear of half-blood wizards being ashamed or shamed for their parentage but we never actually see it. The worst we get is them being accused of being Muggle-Borns which, in my opinion, doesn't count because the bigotry focus of the story is still "Pure-Bloods versus Muggle-Borns".

We don't really see how half-bloods are treated at ALL by larger society, only how they feel inwards. And when you look at real life, often internalized hatred like ableism and racism comes FROM the systemic bigotry in our society. But JKR doesn't get into this at all, not with Seamus, not with Voldemort, and ESPECIALLY not with Snape (I theorize she ignores a lot of great worldbuilding chances just to manipulate the reader into hating Snape for the "big reveal" but that's another post).

Because the narrative ignores half-bloods, you get the sense that the world ignores them too. Bellatrix calls Harry a "filthy half-blood" but he's...not. Both of his parents are wizards. It's just that she doesn't consider Lily a wizard which means she's really just slurring Muggle-Borns again.

Really, in the wizarding world AND the narrative, I feel the half-bloods are like asexuals. It always has to be gay vs straight. The asexuals aren't gay enough and they aren't straight enough, so neither side really gets or accepts them fully. And I don't think JKR saw much differently in regards to the half-bloods which leads to...well...bad writing.

When Hagrid talks about the Chamber, who is it about? Pure-bloods vs Muggle-borns. It's not even CONSIDERED in the narrative how the half-blood children could be perceived. And even as a KID, I was like "So Slytherin only thought "pure" kids should learn at Hogwarts? What's gonna happen to Seamus then? Is he in danger too?" This is never answered.

And when we ALMOST get a taste of half-blood bigotry in Order, it's ALL about people who are half-"beast" (in quotations, ofc). "Half-breed" is a slur. And it made me go, even as a KID, "this would be the PERFECT time to get down and dirty with how half-bloods are treated". But it doesn't. Bc JKR, at this point, a) wants no sympathy for Seamus b) wants no sympathy for Voldemort c) wants no sympathy for Snape and d) doesn't want to reveal Snape's blood heritage - even though he would be a prime target for Umbridge (she targets him for other reasons, another post and a good scene). JKR forsakes good character work in favour of manipulating the reader and it results in bad worldbuilding.

All of the half-blood struggles come from inside and for comedy. The narrative keeps SUGGESTING that they MIGHT be oppressed but just does not go any deeper (ignoring people's identity for yourself is a form of oppression, I think). When Mrs Cattermole begs that she's half-blood, it's because she knows this will save her. But how? Is she still not part less-than-human to wizards? And since Muggles are really referred to and seen AS such, why would the "half-breed" bigotry not extend to half-bloods?

When Snape is revealed to be the Prince, the narrative - at the time because of the Big Reveal - frames it as Snape being bigoted and proud of wizardry because "blood purity" rather than EVER raising the scenario - even AFTER the Big Reveal - that he is rebelling against oppression in his own blood-purity crazy house. It's implied but never gone into. And she could have dove into it! She could have had Snape and Seamus experience microaggressions but Snape's could have been concealed as classist or bitter aggressions from his Death Eater days (like what Umbridge does). Seamus could have been genuinely worried about the Chamber. We could have had Voldemort - in memories - experience blood bigotry and used it to critique how the world created him rather than simply "he born evil" (I suspect bc JKR is not actually interested in critiquing HER world but things since past, again another post).

It's inferred but never dived into The half-bloods seem to belong everywhere and nowhere. And it's all based on how JKR wants us to feel, not based on what will make sense for the characters or the worldbuilding. And the characters, who are genuinely enjoyable and engaging except for...maybe Voldemort, could have been even better and instead - they suffer for it.

Who cares for the half-bloods? I do.

[eri-pl]

Silm reread 17: more B&L

And more fourth wall, and therefore more Pengolodh.

TW: Some musings about what exactly Morgoth wanted to do with Luthien, but vague and rather silly.

Sauron, like everyone there knew Huan's "die on greatest wolf" prophecy. Where from???

Luthien faints! She's not that OP. Her cloak dazes Sauron and Huan saves the day. She takes the island, Sauron flees and doesn't notice Gondolin (I guess Ulmo did his mist thing).

Luthien says that she claims the island and the island replies! The magic goes away and it all crumbles (described in a very awesome way) and the ex-prisoners are in shock (who wouldn't?).

Luthien faints at the fainted Beren, because she thinks he's dead. Of all the books you had to reference Romeo and Juliet? Professor… It's a parody more than a serious thing. And it's so… But ok, maybe that's the point. Maybe the point is that of course B&L don't harm themselves because they have a functioning braincell. And estel. Not necessarily in this order.

Also, we get the note that Finrod is already with his father in Valinor. When? When is this written? I guess the only way to get this info back from Valinor to ME would be the War of Wrath, or maaaybe Gandalf told Elrond. But Gandalf barely remembered anything, so more like War of Wrath. Or Galadriel saw him in the mirror and she told Elrond who added this to the book. This would make sense.

Do we have any info on "Finrod got reembodied quickly" except this line above + fanon?

Nargothrond rebels against C&C and Orodreth becomes king. He doesn't kill them because he is afraid of getting more Doom of Mandos. This… isn't a very moral attitude. Well, at least he doesn't kill them.

Also, Celebrimbor disowns his dad. Or at least his dad's deeds.

Beren, against his better judgment, tries to leave Luthien in safety but she tells him it doesn't work this way.

They fight C&C. Luthien forbids Beren to kill Curufin. Which is great of her. (I wonder what she'd say about Celegorm, but probably the same.)

Curufin curses Beren. "Taking the sky and clouds as his witness" – I guess he is too afraid / too ashamed to mention the Valar. :þ He wishes Beren a painful death, soon. Which …kind of works?

Celegorm tbh doesn't do much in here. He does fight Beren, but Curufin seems to be the boss.

Beren is desperate, leaves alone, sings, Luthien (who was searching for him because no, she won't let him go on the quest alone) sings back. Again. It's not a full rescue, but still, it is the song thing again.

Description of Thuringwethil, who is just a large bat with iron (liteerally? metaphorically?) talons. And Sauron's mail-lady. Mail-monster? Sadly, we don't get an info on who killed her.

Beren curses his promise to Thingol, Huan lectures him, gives him a sort of prophecy and leaves. Why is everyone cursing things all the time?

Morgoth also knows what Huan's fate is (Everyone knows it. How? Did Celegorm gloat about it?), also, more info on how werewolves are made. So, Carcaroth.

Luthien gets a burst of Maiarin powers (because fate, plot and all. Yes. I know. But this is the genre.)

We got an absolute metal description of Morgoth's throne room: "his nethermost hall that was upheld by horror, lit by fire, and filled with weapons of death and torment". Upheld by horror. This is just peak description. (as long as it's sparse and the rest of description is actual description. Yes, HPL, I am looking at you) unspeakably

Morgoth, umm, reacts in a similar way as Celegorm, and we're told that it was the wickest idea he got since he escaped from Valinor. Which:

I respect Tolkien for putting it so high on the wickedness meter

Does the "since he escaped" addition mean that killing the Trees was more wicked??? Sorry, I'm not buying it. Depraving the Elves? Hmm. Making orcs was more wicked in my opinion (in the "from broken Elves" theory), and he indeed invented it before the whole imprisonment in Valinor, so I would like to assume this is what the narration means, but I somehow doubt it.

Please don't tell me that indirectly giving Feanor bad ideas was somehow more wicked than this. :|

Also, him and the Men… but that is vaguely canon and anyway Pengolodh said himself that he doesn't know what happenned, so this doesn't count. Because if it counted, this "most wicked" would be false.

And of course it turns against him. He gets blinded, everyone else falls asleep, the Silmarils glow brighter (reacting to Luthien?).

Out of the blue, we now get a quite sympathetic description of Morgoth being so tired and terrified and worried and …. see, Jirt, that's why. That's why I can't read him as you would like me to. Seriously. If you don't want me to have compassion for the guy, do not show him as emotionally vulnerable. Seriously. [Unless it is the translation again]

Yea, I could blame this on narrative frame (which goes on and off, in one paragraph he doesn't know things, and in the other he almost knows what Morgoth's inner emotional state is) and say that Pengolodh made it up… except it's very much a kind of thing he would not make up, rather cut out… I would have to assume some other author or editor added this for some reasons… If I were to guess, this very much sounds like something Luthien would say when telling this story. (Which tells us a lot about her)

Anyway: book, what are you doing?

And Luthien puts Morgoth to sleep (which is an achievement!!!), "as black as the Outer Void where he once wandered alone". Jirt. Seriously. Stop giving me ammunition to like him. I almost wish I had more normal reactions and, idk, assumed more details on what he planned about Luthien or anything that would allow me to read it closer to the authorial intent. (Because with how cautiously you worded it, it might have as well been planning to propose to her and make her a dark queen, Haladriel-style, but cooler. And from a book that says "corrupting Fefe was one of the worst" I could assume this would be still called "wickedest since fefe". I know that's not what you mean, but I wish I could internalize it more.)

My brain is not braining properly. (Also I can't learn to not mistake "wonder" and "wander" every once in a while. I blame it on that one song from RoP. Which is almost as uneven in quality in my eyes as this chapter.)

At least, we get a description of how the Silmarils were set in the crown. (Also, my drawing was wrong, because Morgoth falls face-down.)

Beren takes the Silmaril and it glows through his flesh like in a lantern (White or red? Seems more like white, but red often works better with fanart.)

Luthien is out of spell points tired, Beren tries to use the Silmaril on Carcaroth, saying "this is the fire that will destroy you and all the evil creatures" which I think is quite stupid, so Carcaroth promptly bites off his hand, chomps the Silmaril and runs away because he's in pain.

"Stupid but well-intentioned thing doesn't work but gets the result anyway" is a trope I like, but sadly in Legendarium it is terribly rare. Again, B&L have a different genre than the Feanorians. :(

Another "the most X to ever X": Carcaroth's rage is the most terrible thing to happen to Beleriand (before the War of Wrath). OK, I can believe this, I think.

Eagles! They should really have a tagline about providing eucatastrophes. It's their main job.

Morgoth is probably awake, because volcano and lightnings are striking from the gound (lightning seems to be his thing, and thunderstorms in general too).

Luthien (in contrast to Sauron) can see Gondolin down below and it gets a beautiful (but short) description. Also, she'd rather wander aimlessly with Beren because she is so happy, but he remembers that he gave his word, also Thingol deserves to see his daughter, despite all his problematic behavior. Beren is so kind.

We get a lot of information from Luthien's PoV in this story, more than Beren's, which confirms to me that in-world, this is derived from Thingol's retellings of their story, and Luthien told him more than Beren did. Also, he was unconcious in many important moments.

Also, we get a note that it's bad to ignore father's opinion, "unless in extreme situation" which sounds quite feminist to me, considering Tolkien's times and the genre.

Meanwhile in Doriath:

Daeron left Doriath to be sad for Luthien's disappearance (we aren't told if he even learned that she returned with Beren). Well, he did snitch on her twice. :þ Also, we are reminded that "he was considered better even than Maglor". :Þ

Thingol is mad at Celegorm (for the "let me marry Luthien pls" letter + probably for Finrod's death), he'd like to attack all Feanorians, but can't, so he writes to Maedhros demanding help in finding Luthien, but the letter gets eaten by Carcaroth (probably. Definitely doesn't reach its destination) so we don't know what Maedhros would do.

[I think: berate Celegorm, agree to help with Luthien and demand the Silmaril for it. Which… Thingol may have agreed to tbh. He cared for Luthien more. So, maybe if it wasn't for Carcaroth things would be better. Even for Celegorm. There's a fic potential in here.]

Oh, here is Mablung. He will be in CoH too, I think.

Thingol is still not a fan of Beren. Until the hand pun. Absolutely realistic father-in-law behavior. :D I love the genre whiplash.

And the narrative tells us that Luthien's love is a feeling unknown before and all the powers of Arda cannot stop B&L's fate. I'm not a fan of this sentence, it makes me cringe a bit. Did I mention that I dislike romance as a genre?

Anyway Thingol ok-s it and they get married.

Hunt for Carcaroth. The way in which Mablung takes the Silmaril gives me a vague Arthurian (Grail) vibe, but I'm not sure. It is weird and the disappearing hand seems the medieval sort of weird?

Beren dies, Luthien … It doesn't say explicitely that she died of grief. I would prefer to believe that it was more like her Maiarin instinct… she went to Mandos, because she had a business there.

Also. Men after their death sail from the dark shores of the Outer Sea — what? That is so cool. And who runs the port there, who has a house on the very edge? Nienna! This is just so fascinating. Early-Legendarium-like but in the best way.

Luthien sings the most beautiful song that has been made. OK, I can buy that. And, says Pengolodh, there wasn't, nor will ever be a saddest song. My guy, you would sound wiser if you stopped saying what will be and what will not be, you are not Namo. But anyway, her song is beautiful and very, very sad.

This song is so amazing that it's still sang in Valinor, without any change, and the Valar are sad. that is… interesting to explore. It is about Men and Elves and even Namo is sad… yes, I am definitely getting ideas. Which may be explored some day. Or not.

I wonder whether we get the words of it in the Lay... No, the Lay doesn't go this far. I therefore will assume that it starts with "the stars have faded" or something similar, like we have described Luthien's grief in the chapter: "the starlight was quenched and darkness had fallen even upon Lúthien Tinúviel"

B&L say their goodbyes, Namo is so moved that he goes to Manwe, Manwe goes to (metaphorically; mentally in his deepest mind) Iluvatar, Luthien gets a choice.

And the invitation to forget Beren and live among the Valar… I'm not sure what is the exact deal here? Is she offered just a normal Elven Valinorean deal or to make her a full-on Maia? Because it kind of sounds like this. And… why not? The word "impossible" got yeeted out the window anyway (I love such situations, of course I do, I love the insane out-of-the-box-ness as Mairon loved order and efficiency, but hopefully the other way around ie.: it is a problem first and not last).

Anyway we don't know what exactly was the first option, because she choses Beren (I really like to think it was less about "romance means so much to me, I am not complete without my man" and more about "it feels like a beautiful idea (and I do love him and forgetting it sounds cheap and too easy)" but … have I mentioned I don't like romance as a genre?)

Luthien was the only Elda to truely die… Yep. Hold our beers and behold our fics. (Or maybe it is just my optics that Elves going "because Luthien made a precedent" is a fic staple? Anyway this makes too much sense to not use it.)

Yes, she's the only one in the canon. She died and it's sad. But we got half-Elves which is cool. Also, and we got a teaser for Elrond and Arwen:

"Yet in her choice the Two Kindreds have been joined; and she is the forerunner of many in whom the Eldar see yet, though all the world is changed, the likeness of Lúthien the beloved, whom they have lost."

Also, poor Elrond. This paragraph shows us how he is seen by other Eldar. First and foremost as a memory of a long-lost legend. :(

I feel like I missed some of the cool parts, but nevermind. TLDR: Luthien cool, narrative frame inconsistent.

[villainsandvictimsalliance]

Something I love about Tomura is how defiant he has always been. From day one, that was not a kid made to obey society norms, that was not a child the hero society could have tamed, that is not the type of personality that would have easily bent.

He was 5 years old and running from home 'cause he wanted to be a hero and he'd be a hero against his parents wishes, if necessary. He was asking his mother directly "why does my dad hate me?" and if it isn't why I love kids, when they cut straight to the bone, when they ask what adults wouldn't ask because they'd rather dance around it than admit the big problem. Tenko was 5 years old, the type of child would get rejected all the time but still he wouldn't give up on his desire to make friends, the type of kid that wouldn't cave in to the pressure of his peers. He had a rebellious sister, as rebellious as him, who would lie to her father saying that she wanted to be a housewife to make him happy and then go sneak on his office to find his secrets, the grandmother he never talks about, and she'd go fetch her little sibling to inspire him, to tell Tenko she was there with him, they could do it together, become heroes, escape that house, their dad.

And when things go to hell, when AFO finds him, when Tenko gets groomed and manipulated and lost his family, his memories, his identity and he's replaced by a version AFO created, Tomura does not give up control, not fully. A problem child, you would called it.

Tomura then decides to kill whoever hurts him. He is mentally unstable, doesn't know who he is even, he is dealing with enough trauma to nuke a town and that without counting that Tomura's primary caretakers are A) the greatest abuser and villain the bnha world has ever faced, B) a mad scientist that wants to turn Tomura into a zombie, C) the most functional zombie the mad scientist could create. He is isolated, brainwashed, tortured with the hands of his dead family all over his body to remind him of his pain and made him unable to escape his agony and mourning... The whole pack and yet Tomura rebelled.

A part of him, pieces of Tenko that keep leaking to his new identity, made Tomura different from the idea AFO had for him. Tomura rebelled against the heroes, against the system, against society itself, against the future and past and present of those beliefs. Tomura rebelled against other villains and refused to bow down to them. He criticized them openly and when he made his own group, Tomura acted totally different from the rest of villains. He was not just ordering around or ignoring them or faking affection to manipulate them. He never lied to them, told them more than what they wanted to hear at times, gave them free reign to act and trusted their judgement, never punished them for the decisions they took, Tomura respected them all, treated them like equals, listened to what they had to say, adapted to their desires, protected them and avenged them and fought for them and inspired them.

And when AFO possessed them, he fought AFO too. 15 years of abuse and emotional manipulation and grooming and brainwashing and none of that could stop Tenko's heart for its rebellious nature. When Mirio suggested he was sad 'cause he had no friends, Tomura corrected him passionately. He had friends. When the pro-heroes suggested he was naive, he tried to explain it again. To every person doubting his resolve and his purpose, he answered the same. Through the whole manga, he keeps fighting against people invalidating him, refusing to listen, refusing to accept, refussing to become what they want him to be.

That's the deepest parallel with Izuku, the kid who went against All Might himself when the hero told him he could not be like the rest. The concept of both Deku and Tomura determined to prove the people who doubt them wrong, the fact that they keep pushing against all odds, their resilience and determination and how they believe in themselves even if no one else, not even their parents, do it.

I really, really, reeeaaally wish Tenko would get his happy ending after all of these. To be so persistent you survive the worst anyone can suffer and come out on the other side still wanting to be a hero, it is something that I'll never get tired of watching.

[shinjisdone]

B and C for Cater?

B and C for CATER?! YA- ARE YALL OKAY???

@justm3di0cr3 , @a-small-tyrant , @twistedcece , @savanaclaw1996

Blood: How messy are they willing to get when it comes to their darling? - Cater Diamond

A difficult question. Something tells me that Cater could be very willing to go to extreme lengths for you but there always seems tobe something holding him back. Lack of a plan, guilt, befuddlement or doubts. Whatever it is, it gets in the way of truly getting to you. However, I doubt Cater, or anynone in NRC for that matter, would commit murder. Physical assault at most but nothing bloody.

Cater tries to cause damage in other ways. Gossip, threats, blackmail - all in digital form. He is a master when it comes to social media, knowing the ins and outs on how to get information and what to do with it. The most harmless thing he'd do is damage someone's reputation slightly and the worst he'd probably do is turn into a stalker. Phone always in hand and just waiting for the perfect moment to strike. He does not wish to murder anyone but if that obstacle were to have an accident or freaks out so much due to their stalker that they leave the college, that is fine by him.

Cruelty: How would they treat their darling once abducted? Would they mock them?

Abduction is an interesting case in the world of Twisted Wonderland.

Every single student is on an island, filled with the brim of other students sharing dorms, rooms and employees of NRC also know every nook and cranny. So abducting anyone is hard to almost impossible.

Cater needs to get his hands on you in different ways.

That, too, can work through blackmailing and stalking. However, those are not methods he particurlarly likes. He wants to appraoch you normally and have you see him in a positive, almost idolizing light.

If you do still try to see him in a positive light, Cater might either really appreciate it and try to build your relationship on there or even somewhat mock you for clinging onto the hope that he is good. Deep inside he knows he isn't...so it's so foolish and cute and kind of you to still try.

If you rebel and reject everything he offers, he will be more agitated and mock you with his usual smile though. Cater does not want you to hate him but he's got you know and he won't ever let go so why can't you just try to accept all of this? C'mon...he didn't fall for an idiot.

[ms--lobotomy]

Iiiif someone wanted to write you a typhus x reader fic, which one would appeal more to you?

A) Reader's planet is successfully taken over by post heresy Death Guard. Reader attempts to rally their fellow humans to try and rebel against them. Reader is caught Rabble Rousing by Typhus and bullied into submission. Once Reader is dragged on board his ship. Typhus fucks Reader into drooling incoherency

B) Nurglite!Worshipper Reader catches the attention of Typhus, Herald of Nurgle. He enjoys teasing the easily flustered mortal and they fuck on an altar

C) pre-heresy Typhus takes to teasing serf!Reader for fun and profit. Post-heresy Typhus tracks down his little serf and drags them back to his side. For f o r e v e r

D) pre-heresy Typhus enjoys bully-flirting with diplomat!Reader

NO WAY!!! Anon, you are far too kind! These are all wonderful, maybe the first one? Thank you so much aaah

[adeliniel]

SFW alphabet | Iorveth

No one ever asked for it, but I wrote it anyway. Dear tumblr, just incase you wanted some Iorveth fluff, here it is! Happy weekends^^

A = Affection (How affectionate are they? How do they show affection?) 

Not a fan of making out in front of others, but doesn't hide his affection either. Holding hands or just holding you in his arms are absolutely normal things for Iorveth.

His true nature, though, comes to life when the two of you are left alone. Gentle and passionate kisses, touches all over the body, words of love and adoration and so much more. This elf has a big passionate heart and it stores so many feelings.

B = Body (Their favourite body part of their partner, why? Do they like touch?) 

He admires all of you, but your back is something that always draws Iorveth’s attention. He remembers you being younger and smaller, and with just looking on your back he can tell what a long way you’ve come to become who you are and how strong you are now. 

C = Courtship (What do they do to take your attention?) 

You have known each other since you were a child, so it all just happened naturally, when you grew up. The biggest show of his interest to you reached when Iorveth started dancing with you only during elven feasts and different celebrations. Even if the celebration will go for the whole night, he will prioritise you amongst everyone else.

D = Domestic (Are they the type to settle down with you? Are they willing to help with chores? What is your daily routine with them?) 

Despite the path Iorveth chose for himself long ago - to fight for the freedom of elves - deep inside he dreams more and more about a place he can call home. With a warm campfire, food always on the table, simple and steady life. The time is passing and Iorveth is getting older and more sentimental too. Although he's not sure, he'd be able to sustain a lifestyle like this, he definitely would like to try it with you. 

E = Espousal (Do they want to marry you eventually? Who proposes to who?) 

Yes, eventually, Iorveth sees you as his dearest spouse. Maybe not right now, as he’d like to believe that better times are lying ahead, and there’ll be more time and opportunities in the future. He’s also well aware that it might never happen as any of you can die any day, but the thought of having a family gives him hope.   

F = Fragile (How protective are they of you? If they are, how do they show this?) 

Iorveth knows well that you're a great and careful fighter. Yet in his sleep he dreams about a peaceful life where Scoia'tael don't have to fight to survive anymore. Any time he loses you out of sight in battle, his heart skips a beat. If only he could protect you from all of the misery of the world...

G = Gifts (What type of gifts do they give their s/o? Do they like receiving gifts?)

Elf doesn’t have much to give you, Life of an elven rebel didn’t bring him any wealth, rather the opposite. He and his squad are struggling to afford basic stuff like food or new armours and weapons, what to say about something luxurious. Iorveth realises it well, and sometimes sadness hits him hard, when he feels that you deserve better than this poor miserable life. Yet still he’s forever grateful that you choose him every day and that you stay.  

H = Hugs (Do they like hugs? How often do they do it? What are their hugs like?) 

Not so huge on hugs at first, simply doesn’t remember how it feels. However, grew to like it really quickly. The feeling of someone warm and completely devoted to him is something incredible he hasn’t experienced for years. When you hold him back, gently but firmly, he for the rare moment finally feels safe.    

I = Intimacy (How romantic are they? Do they have problems with intimacy?)  

Iorveth has more problems with being intimate than he'd like to admit. Rough life of a Scoia'tael taught him to always be on guard, and it's really hard for him to just let it go.

Despite it, he always tries to give you his full presence whenever you're together. He listens carefully to what you say, he remembers little things, he tries to open his heart and share things with you, even if it's really hard.

J = Jealousy (How jealous do they get? What do they do when they’re jealous?) 

You expected Iorveth to be more jealous than he actually is. Gets jealous here and there, but his overall trust in you and your relationships is way stronger.

When he does get jealous you can tell that he's starting to show off. Crossing hands on his chest, giving everyone that arrogant look of his, standing right behind you and stabbing the opponent with his stare. A frightening picture to look at and a really scary situation to be in. 

K = Kisses (What are their kisses like? Where do they like to kiss you? Where do they like to be kissed?) 

His kisses reflect his passionate nature. They are hungry, sometimes rough, but always full of love. 

He likes to kiss your hands, starting with peppering your fingers with light kisses, slowly going up to your elbow and then shoulder, softly continuing until he reaches your neck. He is as gentle as he could be, patient and dedicated to covering as much of your skin with kisses as he can.

For himself, Iorveth enjoys when you kiss (and sometimes bite) his collarones. It makes him shiver, leaves goosebumps on his skin. 

L = Love language (What’s their love language?) 

In private Iorveth is rather talkative and manages to express his feelings in all different ways, be it words of love or appreciation or touches.

He's good at actions, always making sure that you have anything you need, like a covered place to sleep, food to eat and that he's always there for you.

M = Morning (How are mornings spent with them?) 

Some time into the relationship you found out that Iorveth enjoys slow lazy mornings. He’s the type to stay in bed for longer, have cuddles, nap or chat, whatever brings you both joy. He calls it his guilty pleasure, that he cannot indulge in too often.   

N = Nicknames (What do they call you? What do you call them?)

Iorveth has so many names, given him by all the people he hurt and frightened, that he prefers when you call him by his name. Without fear in your voice or judgement it sounds nice to him.

Mostly calls you by your name as well, rarely adds something like "my dear" or "my lady".

O = Overture (How did everything start?) 

All of it began so long ago, that it’s even hard to remember when exactly. You just came out of your teenage years and started joining elder elves in their feasts and other entertainments. Iorveth was your older brother's best friend and witnessed how out of rebellious child you slowly became a beautiful young elf. And that’s about a time you both developed romantic feelings for each other. 

On one hand, Iorveth was worried that you’re still too young, on the other hand - he couldn’t help but fall in love with you.     

P = Pace (Are they fast-paced in a relationship? Or do they like to take things slow?) 

Elves live long and there’s no point in speeding things up. Even Iorveth with his passionate nature agrees that rushing is the last thing that makes a relationship stronger. He waited so many years to just be able to see you again, that couple of days wouldn’t change anything. He tries to take it as it goes and just follow destiny, believing that this time it’s not going to separate you.

Q = Queen/King (Who takes the initiative in relationships?)

It actually appeared to be quite equal. Although Iorveth is an intense partner with a tough, heavy personality, he manages to recognise other strong individuals and to listen to them (sometimes), to cooperate with them. He wouldn’t even consider you as a partner unless you live up to his expectations, so when you’re already together it’s easier for you to reason with Iorveth when needed.    

R = Remembrance (What is their favourite moment in your relationship?) 

He’d never forget your first kiss. After years of longing and waiting, he finally had you in his arms. When you were recovering from the battle, resting on the bench, enjoying the evening sun, Iorveth was massaging your injured arm. He looked you in the eyes and there he knew - it was now or never moment. He leaned forward, resting one hand on the bench and putting his other hand on the back of your head, and touched your lips with his. He deepened the kiss when he felt that you were reciprocating, letting him in. For a spare moment Iorveth felt a little bit lightheaded, barely believing that what was happening was true, his heart full of happiness.    

S = Salvage (What issues does this relationship help him to cope with?) 

These relationships do make Iorveth feel needed.He feels like he finally belongs somewhere, he’s cared for, loved and he’s not alone. It’s been years since he felt something like warmth inside, years since someone treated him with love. You took away his loneliness, his feeling of unworthiness. You showed him that life can be different and that there is more to it than misery, poverty and eternal fighting for survival.   

T = Tiny (How are they around children?) 

Iorveth is highly concerned about the future of Aen Seidhe, he worries about the extinction of your race, and if he’d be able to have offspring himself. Despite his harsh temper and complicated past, he actually likes little elven children and would like to have a kid or two (or three). Currently he understands he’s not in the position of having any, as he would never put his own child at risk, but he believes that there’ll be a time when you both can create a new elven life and provide it with a better future.   

U = Ulterior (What’s their secret?) 

This elf has a fear of rejection. Well, he doesn’t trust anyone, and no one likes him as well. So many times Iorveth and his Scoia'tael were used, abused and lied to, that his revenge fell a heavy burden on the shoulders of his enemies.

When it comes to relationships Iorveth knows what kind of elf he is (unkind and unfriendly at least), how much hurt he caused to others and that loving him is not an easy task. So he preferred to stay away from anything that might bring a rejection to his life. Because hearing it is hard, and it hurts more than any arrow that pierces the flesh.  

V = Vulnerable (How long until they can be vulnerable around their s/o? What are they like in this state?) 

Iorveth is definitely not the one who is used to being vulnerable in front of others. As a leader of his group of Scoia'tael he is forced to maintain an image of a strong and confident elf. When it comes to the vulnerability in the relationship, at the start Iorveth feels that if he lets his guard down he would be considered as weak and unable to protect you. As time passes he learns that it’s impossible to build a strong bond between the two of you without being completely honest and open, and that he has to make an attempt to risk and open his heart.   

W = Wound (How do they feel about exposing their scars/injuries?) 

It took you quite some time to understand how Iorveth himself feels about his scars. For a long time you were sure he was completely indifferent and didn’t care at all.

Right until one day you caught him looking at his reflection in the water with unbearable sadness. Iorveth knows very well what he has become and he accepts it, but you can still see that he’s mourning those long gone days of him being the pure beauty of an elf. 

X = Xtra (A random headcanon about your relationship) 

Long ago, when you were just out of your teenage years, and Iorveth just joined Vrihedd, not wearing his scar yet, and was about to leave the camp, you gave him a little bowl of fresh berries, trying to show your affection and to wish him good luck. It deeply touched his heart and he remembered.

 So when you were injured in the battle for Vergen and ended up having a fever, Iorveth secretly went to the forest to pick some fresh berries for you.He wanted to remain anonymous and to just leave the berries by the side of your bed.

Little did he know that the whole Vergen already noticed his feelings towards you and it quickly became obvious who left those berries for you. 

Y = Yearning (How well do they cope when their SO isn’t with them?) 

Well, he waited for about 10 years to just have a chance to see you again. He devoted his life to the path of Scoia'tael and he was and is ready to sacrifice a lot for the higher goal.

Yet he still misses you badly when you part ways, even if for shorter periods of time. You both know that any moment can become the last one. You never ask each other to promise that you'll see each other again, but you both always hope for this.

Z = Zzz (How are nights spent with them?) 

Quiet and sensitive sleeper. Even if he’s deep asleep, Iorveth is still always on guard. Will always notice if you have trouble sleeping or something is bothering you. 

Since you got together, he started to care more about whether you have a good place to sleep, whether it’s protected from the rain and safe enough to relax and rest. This is one of his ways of showing you that he cares.   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you for reading! You can find more of my works here. You can also leave your requests!

[wangxianficfinder]

In the mood for...

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1. Thank you fabulous mods for all you do! Itmf wangxian fics where Wei Ying recovers from starvation or struggles with eating.

💖 the absence of hunger by parsnipit (M, 27k, wangxian, angst w/ happy ending, eating disorder, PTSD, food as a metaphor for love)

a kind of emptiness by ScarlettStorm (E, 11k, wangxian, Post-Canon, Established Relationship, Eating Disorders, Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified, featuring WWX's fucked-up relationship with food, and his own body, Eating Disorder Recovery, tricking your brain into better habits, bad choices, followed by good choices, low angst, Happy Ending, Tender smut, Frottage, Praise Kink, Additional Warnings In Author's Note)

The Second Hand Unwinds by trulywicked (E, 20k, wangxian, JYL/JZX, Time Travel Fix-It, not JC friendly, not Yúnmèng Jiāng Sect friendly, not Jiāng Family friendly, not YZY friendly, Time Travelling LWJ, Protective LWJ, Fluff, Minor Angst, Minor Character Death, JGS is his own warning, Wooing, LWJ is romantic af, Inventor WWX, Genius WWX, Cloud Recesses Study Arc, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Protective Gūsū Lán Sect, Supportive LXC, Good Uncle LQR, WIP) It's only 3 chapters in & idk where the author plans to take it, but there's discussion of WWX being starved in the past & he is put on a special diet to make up for that

my eyes got used to the darkness by curiositykilled (M, 4k, JC & WWX, JC & WWX & JYL, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, Body Horror, Implied Cannibalism, Dehumanization, Sunshot Campaign, YLLZ WWX, Demonic Cultivation, PTSD, Suicidal Thoughts, Ghosts, Disordered Eating, Referenced Animal Abuse)

~*~

2. hi, thanks to the mods and everyone for all the recs! i have a few requests for itmf if i may 🙏🏽

a) could people recommend their fave non-english fics (ao3 or not)? i know mtl isnt that great but i'm hoping it's passable enough to enjoy fics that I've missed (peferably wx/gen but anything's good!)

b) yiling sibs feels? or bm family? even if it's not the focus of the fic! canon or modern (truth will out is one such brilliant example)

c) i saw a fun post that the juniors (or jl and lsz) each experienced canon as a different genre of YA protag. are there similar fics, of like, canon retelling/divergence but as the junior in question Goes Through It? (full quartet is great too of course!) @danmeiireader

2A)

【羡忘】落花时节又逢君 by Faywangper (E, 245k, wangxian, ABO, Alpha WWX, Omega LWJ) My favourite non-English fic is a very long and delicious AU written in Chinese

2B)

so you’ve been robbed by a museum by yukla (M, 5k, WangXian, JC & WWX, Modern AU, Mutual Pining, yearning tm, Mild Sexual Content, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Getting Together, immortal cultivators in a modern world, JC is a good brother, WWX has a couple self-worth issues)

Lynchpin by ShanaStoryteller (Not Rated, 103k, WangXian, JC & WWX, Time Travel, Fix-It, Lynchpin [PODFIC] by Opalsong, [PODFIC] Lynchpin by Gwogobo)

And Time Is But a Paper Moon by sami (M, 139k, WangXian, XiChengQing, Time Travel, Fix-It, Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Healing, Mental Health Issues, PTSD, Hurt/Comfort, Depression, BAMF WWX, BAMF JC, BAMF LWJ, BAMF JYL, Getting Together)

2C)

❤️ kick at the darkness ‘til it bleeds daylight by AlfAlfAlfAlfAlf, tardigradeschool (T, 75k, WangXian, Hurt/Comfort, Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Eventual Happy Ending, Getting Together, Burial Mounds Settlement Days, Inspired by The Parent Trap (1998), Kid Fic, teen shenanigans, two a-yuans, Fluff and Angst)

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3. Are there any fics where Madam Lan's death actually pushes LWJ into being a (secret?) rebel instead of a perfect disciple?? I think I read an SBWY fic (I think it was Pancho's privated fic that someone looked for a few fic finders back) with something vaguely similar, but I would love to read if someone explored that idea! Thank you!

Following the Rules by BegrudginglyTumbling (SarcasticSmiler) (T, 2k, wangxian, gusu lan rules, fluff & humor, LWJ being a little shit) Not quite what the request asked for because it doesn't really delve into the why, but this has LWJ rebelling via malicious compliance

Awaiting Your Return by Karmiya (E, 114k, wangxian, burial mounds settlement days, found family, opposite of slow burn, WIP) has Lan Wanji basically acting as a rogue cultivator only rarely returning to the cloud recesses, though that is a relatively small part of the fic

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4. Hello!!! I'm looking for some wangxian (a)stripper aus, and (b) prostitution aus

All Old Things are New Again by The Feels Whale (miscellea) (M, 51k, WangXian, XuanLi, ChengQing, Reincarnation, Modern AU, canon still happened, extreme post canon, Sugar Daddy, Kink Negotiation, gentle dom!LWJ, canonical levels of consent play, Modern Cultivators) though not quite either A or B, All Old Things Are New Again has Camboy!WWX

4A)

Wuji Club Remix by babybeets (E, 30k, WangXian, Modern AU, College/University, fancy rich prep school flash back, Library Sex, Strippers & Strip Clubs, Deepthroating, Aftercare, Porn With Plot, Porn with Feelings, Getting Together, Friendship, lan zhan FUCKS, Dancer LWJ, Addled WWX, WWX & WQ Friendship)

please forgive my most passionate disruptions by pumpkinpaix (E, 65k, WangXian, Stripper/Exotic Dancer, Strippers & Strip Clubs, Modern AU, Modern with Magic, Modern: Still Have Powers, stripper!WWX, Graduate School)

little bun by eightroses (E, 6k, WangXian, Modern AU, Stripper AU, PWP, bunny tail plug, Dirty Talk, Lingerie, Double Penetration, Trans WWX, Sex Work, First Time, Confessions, Trans Male Character)

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5. Hiiii!!!

I'm on the mood for a fic where Lz has his hair cut when he's punished with the discipline whip.

All Exits Look The Same by Ahlai (T, 14k, LSZ & LWJ, LXC & LWJ, Madam Lan & LWJ, wangxian, Canon Divergence, Madam Lán Lives, Family Feels, Healing, Grief/Mourning) They cut his hair when he leaves the sect in this one

my life’s journey is far from over by thelastdboy (E, 148k, wangxian, Modern Cultivation, Canon Divergence, Madam Lán Lives, JYL Lives, WQ Lives, Post-Sunshot Campaign, POV WWX, Slow Burn, YLLZ WWX, Recovery, Hurt/Comfort, Healing Is a Slow Process, therapy is good actually, All women deserve better, mlm/wlw solidarity, the mortifying ordeal of discovering you're into bdsm while you're caught up in political intrigue, Kink Negotiation, Kink Exploration, Not Everyone Dies au, WWX Lives, Mental Health Issues, References to Depression, Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Burial Mounds Ensemble as Family, Single Parent WWX, Selectively Mute LWJ, Eventual Smut, Light Dom/sub, Happy Ending)

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6. hi, do you know of any royalty wangxian AUs where wwx is the royal instead of lwj? ty!

travelers through the empty gate by stiltonbasket (M, 99k, WIP, WangXian, Royalty, Emperor WWX, Mistaken Identity, Poor LWJ, Bookshop owner LWJ, Intrigue, Court Drama, Forced Marriage, Confused WWX, POV Alternating, Parenthood, Misunderstandings, Empress LWJ, Requited Unrequited Love, Fluff, Humor, Married Life, Angst with a Happy Ending)

Silver & Silk Series by farawayanddreaming (M/E, 55k, WangXian, Established Relationship, Emperor WWX, Concubine LWJ, Implied/Referenced Sex, Light Bondage, Devotion, No Plot/Plotless, vibes only, Bottom LWJ/Top WWX)

Conquering the Emperor by catbrainedschemes (E, 21k, WangXian, Historical, Imperial China, Emperor!WWX, General!LWJ, Mutual Pining, Idiots in Love, Historically Inaccurate, Misunderstandings, Fluff, Eventual Smut, Light Angst, Slow Burn, Happy Ending)

Son of Heaven and Frost General Series by Aki_no_hikari (M/T, 7k, WangXian, Royalty, Historical, Emperor/General, Fade to Black, Romance)

The Last Concubine by deliciousblizzardshark (T, 13k, WangXian, Royalty AU, Emperor WWX, Concubine LWJ, LWJ Whump, Forced Marriage, Starvation, Non-physical spousal abuse, Fluff and Angst, Doing the Wrong Thing for the Right Reasons, Happy Ending, WWX Takes Care of LWJ)

The Most Important Man in the Empire by Marayanna (G, 14k, wangxian, Royalty, Emperor WWX, Secretary/head of state LWJ, overworked WWX, Supportive LWJ, POV WWX, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, competent LWJ, Happy Ending, Inspired by the book The Hands of the Emperor, But you don't need to know it to read the fic, Competent WWX, LWJ Takes Care of WWX, As much as he is politically able to, Is 'working together to make the world a better place' considered flirting, it should be)

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7. hello, how are you. For the next itmf

(a). Fics where lan wanji is incredibly inlove with wei ying. Whether is Canon or Au but he is just showering wei ying with love

(b). Fics where wangxian are the shameless couple. People will be finding them kissing in the corner or they are keeping cloud recess awake with their noice. It can also be canon or an Au.

(c). I would also like bamf weiying.

🧡 Stunted, Starving Juvenility by TomatenMark (E, 712k, WangXian, WIP, Fix-it of sorts, Talisman master WWX, Not JFM Friendly, Study Arc, Getting together, Fluff and Angst, Engagement) kind of answers all three requests

7A)

Snow by kuro (M, 38k, wangxian, Modern, Snow, Sick Character, Caretaking, Fluff, Sugar Daddy, only they're like… bad at it, Angst, Rabbits, Food, Sexy Times, occasionally)

A Matter of Time series by mrcformoso (E, 70 k, WangXian, Time Travel Fix-It, POV LWJ, POV JC, Dark LWJ, Manipulation, Grooming, WangXian Get a Happy Ending, Consensual Underage Sex, Except problematic please read warning in first chapter, Blood and Violence, Insane LWJ, Manic LWJ, Conditioning, WWX is a Lán, Minor Character Death, Confused JC, Golden Core Reveal, Good Friend NHS, WWX Isn’t Adopted by the Jiāngs, Abusive Jiāng Family, Jiāng Family Bashing, Jiāng Family Critical, POV NHS, Dark NHS, Anal Sex, Marathon Sex, Dual Cultivation, Qīnghéng-jūn Lives, LWJ Has a Big Dick, WWX Self-Lubricates, Plot Twists, Porn With Plot, Scheming NHS, Manipulative NHS, BAMF LWJ, BAMF WWX) (also fits 7C) i think they'll enjoy A Matter of Time but heed tags and warnings

7B)

Wangxian’s Time-Travelling Shenanigansseries by pupeez4eva (M, 18k, wangxian, time travel fix-it, Humor, Love Confessions, PDA, Wangxian being their shameless selves, Nothing will ruin WWX’s confession, Not even dozens of very confused disciples, or confused family members because LQR and JC are not amused, time travel at the most inconvenient moment, Everyone is just very confused, Wangxian elope with no explanation and leave everyone else to deal with the aftermath, LXC is a very good big brother, JC is probably going to end up killing WWX, Canon Divergence, Featuring: many horrified bystanders, Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, AU of Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now, The many moments that Wangxian could have travelled to, POV Outsider) Features WWX & LWJ being shameless throughout & part 3 of the series has them keeping CR awake with their noise

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8. Hi friends!! do you know of any fic where Lan Wangji moves into the burial mounds right after Wei Wuxian takes the Wens there? I’m not sure what to even search on ao3 for it but I would owe you my life if you knew any! @spectrelle

wide enough and wild by impossibletruths (E, 64k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Getting Together, Canonical Accidental Baby Acquisition, Families of Choice, References to Depression, Happy Ending, I Swear To God I’m Giving Them A Happy Ending, Overzealous Use Of Imagery, Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Well Except WN But He Was Already Dead So, Fix-It of Sorts) WWX doesn't stay in the Burial Mounds in this, but LWJ joins him anyway, so idk if this counts?

A Narrow Bridge by FrameofMind, Jo Lasalle (Jo_Lasalle) (E, 700k, WangXian, Time Travel Fix-It, Canon Divergence, Slow Burn, Getting Together, First Time, Pining while fucking, Burial Mounds Settlement Days, Angst with a Happy Ending, CQL Verse, almost everybody lives/almost nobody dies, epistolary-ish, canon-ish side pairings, radishes)

Home and the Heartland by Witch_Nova221 (T, 210k, wangxian, JYL/JZX, Burial Mounds, LWJ Stays at the Burial Mounds, Slow Romance, Friends to Lovers, Hurt/Comfort, Found Family, Fix-It, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Self-Discovery, Golden Core Reveal, Canon-Typical Violence, Canon Divergence, the burial mounds aren't always a happy place, but wangxian do their best)

no one ever said the single-plank bridge had to be walked alone by roserocksrapidly (T, 174k, wangxian, Canon Divergence, Yílíng Wèi Sect, Fix-It, Not Everyone Dies au, LWJ Stays at the Burial Mounds, Fluff, Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Found Family, Slow Burn, LWJ and WWX get to be Dads together, the healing power of homoerotic flute/guqin duets, Happy Ending)

Also re: 8 - Requester might be interested in the tag Lán Zhàn | Lán Wàngjī Stays at the Burial Mounds

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9. I've got another itmf request. Does anyone know of fics where nhs gets angry or criticizes nmj/the nie sect for their part in what happens to wwx? Or ones where nhs shows that he's protective of wwx to the nie sect/cultivation world whether that's covertly or overtly. Thanks all!

and having a marvelous time by varnes (E, 108k, WangXian, Yúnmèng Siblings, Sound of Music AU, (i know!!! i know. stay with me on this.), Slow Burn, Mutual Pining, Family Feels, spies to lovers???, Protective Siblings, Sometimes You Just Want Your Dads To Admit They’re Your Dads, Angst with a Happy Ending)

A Matter of Time series by mrcformoso (E, 70 k, WangXian, Time Travel Fix-It, POV LWJ, POV JC, Dark LWJ, Manipulation, Grooming, WangXian Get a Happy Ending, Consensual Underage Sex, Except problematic please read warning in first chapter, Blood and Violence, Insane LWJ, Manic LWJ, Conditioning, WWX is a Lán, Minor Character Death, Confused JC, Golden Core Reveal, Good Friend NHS, WWX Isn’t Adopted by the Jiāngs, Abusive Jiāng Family, Jiāng Family Bashing, Jiāng Family Critical, POV NHS, Dark NHS, Anal Sex, Marathon Sex, Dual Cultivation, Qīnghéng-jūn Lives, LWJ Has a Big Dick, WWX Self-Lubricates, Plot Twists, Porn With Plot, Scheming NHS, Manipulative NHS, BAMF LWJ, BAMF WWX) (link in #7A) i think they'll enjoy A Matter of Time but heed tags and warnings

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10. Can you find me a fanfic where wei wuxian doesn’t die, instead he goes into a mountain and takes orphans in to take care of them and one day lan wangji stumbles upon his mountain. Kind of like baoshan sanren except there is no immortal thing, but it’s ok if there is ofc. Also it should have a good amount of wangxian with a happy ending

and having a marvelous time by varnes (E, 108k, WangXian, Yúnmèng Siblings, Sound of Music AU, (i know!!! i know. stay with me on this.), Slow Burn, Mutual Pining, Family Feels, spies to lovers???, Protective Siblings, Sometimes You Just Want Your Dads To Admit They’re Your Dads, Angst with a Happy Ending) link in #9

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11. Hii , are there fics where wei ying becomes the wen sect leader , if so can you please recommend some? 🙏 @karinasnowwwx

assuming this is for the Wen remnants, the user might want to try the Yiling Wei sect tag

uncertain if this is asking for wen zongzhu wwx or yiling wei fic so one of each!

To the Heavens and the Earth by IsilmeLasgalen (E, 77k, WangXian, NingSang, XuanLi, MingXu, ChengYu, WWX is a Wen, POV LWJ, Good Parent LWJ, Marriage of convenience, Accidental Marriage, Implied Mpreg, Time Travel, Canon Divergence, WWX isn't adopted by the Jiang's, CSSR and WCZ Live, BAMF WWX, BAMF LWJ, Cultivation Sect Politics, Bottom LWJ, Top WWX, POV NHS, Protective LJY, Good Person WRH, Protective LXC, Immortal LWJ and WWX, POV LXC, Mpreg, WangXian in Love, Soft WangXian, WangXian Get a Happy Ending, POV JZX, Emperor WWX, Emperor LWJ, Past WWX/Other(s), Everybody Lives, Fluff, Angst, Smut, LWJ is LJY's Parent) wen sect leader wwx

A Narrow Bridge by FrameofMind, Jo Lasalle (Jo_Lasalle) (E, 700k, WangXian, Time Travel Fix-It, Canon Divergence, Slow Burn, Getting Together, First Time, Pining while fucking, Burial Mounds Settlement Days, Angst with a Happy Ending, CQL Verse, almost everybody lives/almost nobody dies, epistolary-ish, canon-ish side pairings, radishes) burial mounds settlement becomes a sect

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12. Is there a Pacific rim AU for wangxian? I would love to read one. Trying to quit smoking, need a good distraction.

Lightning’s Call, Abyss’ Song by DiamondCrystalInk (T, 37k, WangXian, Pacific Rim Fusion, Slow Burn, Happy Ending, but i guess, Angst with a Happy Ending, Drift Compatibility, but also..., Soulmates, Sword fights but romantic)

The Weight of the World by KouriArashi (T, 67k, WangXian, XiYao, XuanLi, Pacific Rim Fusion, Robots, Monsters, robots fighting monsters, Family, Romance, Developing Relationship, Angst, (but not about the romances), Hurt/Comfort, Politics, Happy Ending)

or for a whole list, including ones I have not read

The 'whole list' link under 12 does not work. The asker might use the shiptag and then use 'Pacific Rim' in the 'Search within Results' box to get that list.

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13. Hi, thank you for all your hardwork!!

I come here for "I'm in the mood for", I would like a any good fic with some bickering between Lan Zhan and Jiang Cheng like 'Brothers in law', even if it is the main thing of the fic or just a passing scene. Don't have any preferences if it is canon or not.

Thank you once again. @anime-trash-parody

Time Kept Flowing by notoneforreality (T, 201k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Grief/Mourning, major character death is wwx, who comes back, Family, Autistic LWJ, Kid Fic, JC and LWJ raise the kids, Co-parenting is hard, Emotional Hurt/Comfort)

none lives forever, brother, and nothing lasts for long by eena (M, 38k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, LSZ raised at Lotus Pier, JC found him first, Twin Prides of Yúnmèng Dynamics, Yunmeng Bros Reconciliation)

whatever comes of you and me (I’d love to leave my memory with you) by sami (E, 12k, XiCheng, WangXian, references to past emotional manipulation, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Healing, Recovery, Family, Brotherhood, Correcting for Poor Interfamily Communication, JFM’s A+ parenting, Not MY Friendly, Not JFM Friendly, Modern AU, Angst with a Happy Ending)

A Bell That Tells Us to Rise and Fight by DeerstalkerDeathFrisbee (T, 120k, wangxian, JC/WQ, JYL/JZX, SL/XXC, Canon Divergence, Arranged Marriage, Everyone Lives au, Everyone Needs A Hug, Women Being Awesome, WQ is a goddess, content warning for JGS, content warning for XY, content warning for JGY, WWX's terrible awful brilliant plans, Yunmeng Bros, JYL is an angel, BAMF Women, I take it back NMJ still dies, Minor Character Death, NMJ is BACK and he is NOT HAPPY, MM is not paid enough for this shit) has a fun sort of brothers-in-law feeling between lwj and jc

This is our Get-Along Night Hunt by hmc73 (T, 28k, WangXian, Post-Canon, JC & WWX Reconciliation, LWJ has Feelings, canon-typical horror elements, POV LWJ, Canon Compliant, Fluff with Knives, It starts off funny but WATCH OUT, Case Fic, Good Sibling JC, Fluff and Angst)

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14. Hi, me again, I have been looking for fics, Modern, with cultivation, conferences and the like, where Wei Wuxian is not treated well, were things similar to cannon happened and he's not recognised as a great cultivator and Lan Wangji and his family, Jiāng Yànlí, Jiāng Chéng or Wen Qíng and Wen Ning aren't ok with this and try to help him deal with reputation and things. they can be long or short. Please help. Be well @monicaop21

Hi, I'm number 14 in the last In the mood for…post!! I just wanted to share the fics that started my obsession with modern fics that speak well of WWX in the cultivation world!! One is My Zhiji's On Broadway by ScarlettStorm and the fic inspired by this beauty Let Her Leave Your by Worldspacewitchbot Both of them in Ao3 So amazing both of them!! More sequels!! ;) Be well and tons of thanks!! You are awesome!!

My Zhiji’s On Broadway by ScarlettStorm (E, 15k, wangxian, modern with cultivation, drunk LWJ, drunk shenanigans, getting together, first time, minor angst, major comedy, smut)

Let Her Leave Your World by spacewitchbot (E, 10k, MM/OFC, JC/WQ, JYL/JZX, modern cultivation, Seattle, Conventions, Getting Together, Jet Lag, One Night Stands, Alcohol Breastfeeding in public (not in a sexy way,) Infant Care, Canon Divergence, Fix-It, #metoo movement, Not quite everybody lives but more people do, People listen to Mianmian, That actually fixes a lot of stuff)

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15. Hi! For the next ITMF, do you have a recommendation where LQR secretly fond of/have a soft spot for WWX? Thank you! @idontknowwhattowriteforusername

through the eyes of elders series by Fleetling (T, 13k, LXC & LWJ, LXC & LQR, wangxian, LXC & WWX, LQR & WWX, LQR pov, LQR is a good uncle, LXC recovering from the whole JGY thing is a major part, Wingman LXC)

💖 Lessons relearned by Iamnotawriter (T, 44k, WangXian, LQR & WWX, Not Madam Yu Friendly, Time Travel Fix-It, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon-Typical Violence, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Inventor WWX, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, No Golden Core Transfer, YZY Bashing) LQR goes back in time & learns to appreciate WWX

🧡 Stunted, Starving Juvenility by TomatenMark (E, 712k, WangXian, WIP, Fix-it of sorts, Talisman master WWX, Not JFM Friendly, Study Arc, Getting together, Fluff and Angst, Engagement) link in #7 LQR recognises WWX talents (& his relationship with LWJ) during CRSA & encourages both

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16. For the next ITMF: life of wwx or/with lwj after the revelations at the Guanyin temple. Preferably long fic, around more than 5 or 10 chapters or more than 10k words, and completed. Thank you!

💖 Germination by taotrooper (M, 14k, wangxian, post-canon, honeymoon, domestic fluff, comedy, teaching, character study)

Imprints by Lisa_Telramor (G, 47k, wangxian, post-canon, humor, panic attacks, phobia recovery, poor life choices, JC & WWX reconciliation, dogs)

Between The Lines by Witch_Nova221 (M, 153k, wangxian, WWX & LSZ & LWJ, WWX & OCs, Epistolary, Eventual Romance, Fluff and Angst, Letters, Falling In Love, Love Confessions, Love Letters, Long-Distance Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, Loss, Canon-Typical Violence, Post-Canon, Idiots in Love)

Agapé (home is in your arms) by estel_willow (G, 15k, wangxian, fraternal bonding, Mutual Pining, Post-Canon, Wwx is oblivious, LXC is patient, LSZ remains the best son, Most of these characters could do with a good therapist, Wwx uses his words, Wwx is an unreliable narrator, Light Angst, canon-typical self dislike from our favourite chaotic disaster bi)

Vagabond by xantissa (E, 65k, wangxian, Slow Burn, Mystery, Anal Sex, Oral Sex, Frottage, Case Fic, murders, Supernatural, Angst, Fluff, those two are so in love it hurts, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, badass LXC, Canon-Typical Violence, topLWJ, Bottom LWJ)

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17. Hii! I saw a lot of tiktok that got me in the mood to read wangxian again! I love canonverse fics, but bc they’re so angsty (tho i do like a bit of it as one should) I wanted to ask for canondivergance fix it fics, prefferably with xicheng too! (*by fix it i mean shijie doesn’t die and a-cheng doesn’t hate his brother bc of it) 🥹 thank you!

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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!***

[j2zara]

hello janelle zukkacore j2zara, its a long time coming but i would like to be a part of clone enjoyers anonymous bc im v interested in their dynamics and i really like ur drawings of the clones :3

i am however, overwhelmed on where to start learning abt them and i was hoping u could point me to the right direction since i pretty much see u as the president of clone enjoyers thank u so much ily 💖

HI FRIEND WELCOME TO THE CLONE ENJOYERS!!!!! WE'D LOVE TO HAVE YOU! THIS WAS GETTING WIELDY SO I SPLIT IT INTO TWO PARTS

PART ONE + TWO OF CLONE LORE IS HERE

Part 1 is basics of Clone Lore. Part 2 is me shamlessly reccing my fanfic to understand the context. Tbh I'd start with part 1 first or the doc

I've also compiled Clone Lore into a Google doc: it contains all the information from the first post and this post. I might include elaborations later (i was too exhausted to get fully into LJ3. But i feel bad neglecting it).

Anyway. I'm probably gonna link Clone Primer into my pinned post so that people can come back to it.

And I wanna emphasize. I 100% get how insular this is so if you're confused please feel free to ask!!! I have no problem explaining things. I love to talk. I talk way too much. Ask anyone. b/c like. I feel bad that this is gonna look super intimidating.

SO here's the rest of Clone Primer

PART 3: CLONE PRIMER - ELABORATION ON THE BASICS + WEIRD INSULAR INFO + ME RECAPPING FIC CONCEPT STUFF

[I WOULD SKIP THESE OR COME BACK TO THEM LATER IF YOU WANNA GO INTO THE FICS UNSPOILED BUT IF THE SUMMARY IS SUPPLANTING READING THE FIC GO RIGHT AHEAD]

J2 EDITION (aka ALMOST LORE) - aka "BLUEJAY"

J2's personality originates from I'm Almost Me Again (He's Almost You), and was the first one to be developed

J2 is devoted, sweet, earnest, hard-working, anxious, desperate to prove himself. He can have a slight acidic streak (his favorite way to rebel is smashing Jace's stuff) but is very preoccupied with being useful.

He reads as slightly younger than Jace b/c he's a clone, he basically just started existing yesterday, and I jokingly refer to him as "25 year old green new hire coded jace" (and also as Born Sexy Yesterday Jace) bc rewatching Freshman Year, I was surprised by how young and inexperienced Jace sounded, and I feel like that detail about his character (that imo makes his situation very pitiable) was really lost in translation in Junior Year. Because he is young to the world and kind of naive, he is very easy to impress and exploit

However, he is still clever and good at magic. Simulacra in dnd don't regain spell slots, but J2 was the first clone to figure out that as a sorcerer, he could convert sorcery points into spell slots, extending his utility to Jace and Porter and basically sparing himself from being dispelled.

J2 is initially very anxious about his purpose / survival. As a clone, he knows he has an expiration date and is desperate to make himself invaluable. The sorcery points solution to the spell slots is part of this.

J2's innate talent is part of what caught Porter's eye. He was the first clone to meet Porter, and Porter (and to some degree, Jace too) laud him as basically like. Jace's Precious Last Gift to Porter. He's often seen as remarkable or special, but its ambiguous whether that specialness is about j2 on his own terms or if he is special as a manifestation of jace's talent.

J2 is the one who is the intermediary between Jace, Porter, and the other Clones. He takes on the most responsibility, and interacts the most with Porter. Spending a lot of time with Porter, they two of them became very close

J2 is the one who loves Porter deeply enough to be very committed to The Plan. He thinks Porter is worthy of ascension, godhood, even if it means Porter will eventually leave him.

J2 had a long, deeply committed affair w/ porter that culminated in them sleeping together and J2 taking devil's honey that kinda rewired his brain and fucked him up. J2 was very much in love with Porter until he found out that Porter killed Jace and brought him back to life, but the devils honey tricks him into forgetting that fear.

The lie he told himself on devil's honey is "I want this. I want everything. Porter deserves everything". It basically rewires his brain to convince himself that he wants whatever happens to him, whether it be good or bad. Even if Porter got back together with jace, he would want that too, because Porter deserves everything, right? Everything he wants. Me and Jace. Just jace. Even if J2 becomes a literal or emotional sacrifice for the betterment orf porter or the cause. Whatever it is, i will be happy

Right after this happens, jace calls porter and agrees to enfold back into the Plan, but is not going to get back together w/ Porter. J2's fate is ambiguous, but emotionally, Porter has pretty much cast him aside with the hope that he will get back together with Jace. Also, b/c Jace is back in the picture, his status as the Last Precious Gift from Jace is in jeopardy and he becomes about as disposable as the other clones (however, usually when we clonepost, J2 is still top of the pecking order just below Jace)

POST-ALMOST: as far as Clone Lore goes - J2 tends to live in this state where he doesn't just worship Porter, but what we call the "Starbreaker Pantheon". He reveres the jaceporter relationship b/c he finds it to be profound and meaningful even if it's not always Good. Jace also occupies a spot in his devotion as like. This figure he is deeply envious of and could never measure up to, but also as someone he knows must be worthy of respect b/c that's who Porter wants, right? He wants what Jaceporter has b/c he sees Porter's love for Jace as like, something true and intimate and something he's only ever gotten a sliver of, treated as a replacement. He wants to be Jace, but he also wants Porter to be happy, so if Porter is happy with Jace he can find a way to worship Jace, too.

I ALMOST FORGOT TO MENTION: in Almost, Porter gave J2 the nickname "Bluejay". This is b/c J2's favorite color is blue, which makes him distinct from Jace. He is a very cozy boy who loves cardigans and sweaters and blue nail polish. Yes. Blue Jay is two words. We're gonna breeze past that. J2 fell in love with his new nickname, desperate to see it as a way for Porter to finally recognize him as different from Jace. If you see the clone enjoyers refer to J2 as Bluejay, this is why.

J3 EDITION (aka some Biggest Lie Lore etc)

J2's personality was developed in Almost, and I'd say J3's personality was crystalized in Biggest Lie, but technically J3's personality started as a joke. I said offhand one time in reply to another mutual that in my head, Porter was 100% noncommittally flirting with J3 the entire time he was having this very deep and torrid love affair with J2, and J3 sort of. Became the our beloved little slut as a result of that

J3 is flirtatious, thrillseeking, playful, manipulative, charming, easily bored, fatalistic / borderline parasuicidal, and deeply alientated from his sense of personhood. J2 spent a long time wishing to be loved by Porter on his own terms, as his own person, before finally succumbing. However, J3 is happy (well, convinced himself he happy) to be treated as Jace's cypher.

J3 is often treated as the Most Disposable of the clones. J2 is the intermediary and the Precious Gift. J3 is usually left with grunt work, and anything dangerous is usually foisted upon him to spare J2. He is the one who goes with Porter to cast enlarge-reduce in the woods, and he is the one that used to be spellcaster support for Porter if they ever needed to go anywhere dangerous.

J3 being treated as disposable is why he has no sense of identity or a sense of self preservation, unlike J2. Porter never spends time outside of necessity (until they start screwing. we'll get to that), so nobody has ever really bothered to get to know J3 besides the other clones. J2 is the one that Porter treasures, so J3 views himself as the shield for j3, the disposable one, the one who is likely first to die.

Because of this, he is a thrillseeker, desperate to cram as much living into his short half-life as possible (this includes trying to fuck anyone and everyone in elmville). The experiences do not have to be positive, he wants everything as long as its exciting.

During Almost, J3 and Porter were casually flirting. J3 would die before admitting it, but spending time with Porter was his favorite part of the day. Post Almost, when Jace got folded back into the plan but was not back together with porter, that's when Porter started hooking up with J3. With J3 perfectly willing to let Porter project all his want for jace and frustration at jace onto him because hey, he's getting the porter hookup and not jace, right?

J3 always threads this tenuous line of actively seeking out experiences while also passively being the recipient of other people's fantasies. unlike J2, he embraces being a jace cypher for Porter because that's how he gets porter at his most heightened. J3 often refuses to articulate what he wants, instead letting people do whatever they want to him. He is terrified of being seen as needy, terrified of being rejected for who he is.

At his best he is charismatic and charming, but at his worst he can be dramatic, whiny, desperate for enrichment, actively manipulative and cruel. His best quality and greatest flaw that he inherited from jace and took to the extreme is that he is generous and egoless; as much as he desires to be the center of attention, as much as he can push and push, at the end of the day, he gives people exactly what they need from him at his own expense

J3 rejects the intimacy with Porter that J2 seeks out and can never really achieve because he always falls short of being Jace. J3 convinces himself that he got the best deal out of anyone b/c he doesn't have to deal with the mess of attachment and heartbreak. However, deep down he is deeply jealous of J2 and Jace.

Post-Biggest Lie: Jace and Porter get back together in IYWD, in which Porter drops the clones, including J3. However, in cloneposting, sometimes the clones still have like a weird undefined thing with Porter and Jace for the sake of us having a fun time and fucking around.

BONUS LORE: Not technically canon to Biggest Lie, but J3 is closest to J4 out of everyone in Jaceporter + the clones dynamic. Because J2 is the precious favorite, J3 n J4 developed a weird allyship because they were the matching spares. They are kinda primed to be each other's biggest supporters and biggest weaknesses tbh. J3 provides J4 a spot of actual levity and pleasure in a half-life she otherwise considers to be miserable. J4 recognizes J3's personhood, gives voice to injustices he faces, and likes him for who he is and not who he pretends to me. They are best friends. They flirt. Sometimes they're in love, but like. we'll get to that

J4 EDITION - (aka Electra / Ellie)

J4 doesn't have as much of a... hefty source for characterization. i really hesitate to call things i write a primary source b/c i don't like to claim ownership over the clones it feels weird and wrong for something that is supposed to be fun and is already fanfiction. But i will say the things i write are. Substantial sources if you want clone context bc they're hefty projects lol.

J4 does not have a Porter-centric fic. This may change in the future but, the reason for this is b/c she is the only clone that hates Porter so subjecting her to that is. A much more convoluted task. Closest thing she has is Stay / Leave which is j3/j4 which we sometimes call LJ3 (and the two fics written by iaus!!!! which are fan fucking tastic!)

J4's personality is the result of. Looking at J2 n J3 and going. Ok what is the third point in a data set. If J2 worships Porter, the antithesis is someone who hates Porter, right? (and J3 is a middle ground)

J4 is marginally more loose in her characterization, but I would say she is... Rageful, bitter, driven, rebellious, ruthless, and steadfast in her beliefs, whether they are good or bad. She feels trapped by her circumstances, unlike J2 who has learned to love his gilded cage, and J3 who has accepted his fate and is basically trying to fuck hard until he dies in an explosion. She is determined to carve out her own path and define her own personhood, what we jokingly refer to as her "escaping the narrative"

Unlike J3 who has no problem being a cypher for jace and has completely neglected his own personhood, and J2 who desperately tried to get porter to recognize him for the person he was before succumbing and submitting, willing to be whatever The Plan and Porter needed of him, occupying this weird middle ground, J4 wants nothing to do with jace. She is determined to be her own person. She is disgusted by the limitations placed on her by being "of jace"

You're probably wondering why J4 is a girl. This was a me-headcanon that became fairly mass accepted, but I have joked that J4 is the only clone to achieve transgenderism. I do use she/her pronouns predominantly for J4, but it's mainly out of habit, i also am not super precious about it, nor do i really care what anyone else does with her. I don't necessarily see being a binary trans girl as the only way to interpret her character, but J4 being a girl it is the common way she is perceived at this point this deep into clone lore. As someone who also has a lot of gender feelings, i do see the need to define oneself and create your own identity to be very transgender tho, so i do think it's fitting

More of a fandom joke thing, J4 loves knives. We love when she gets stabby. There are also a lot of jokes abt her stealing jace's credit cards, his SSN, fantasizing abt setting his house on fire

She is preoccupied with the ways in which she might be similar to Porter because she views him as the embodiment of everything she hates, but she is the clone most like him. She is afraid of her own capacity for rage, her instincts for violence, for control, to own, to take, to posses, to dominate. She wants to fight to liberate, for what's right, but she worries her fight is just to be the person holding the boot at someone's throat rather than the person under the boot.

She worries her impotence and rebellion makes her unpalatable and unlovable. Because she can't really make any meaningful change in their circumstances, wouldn't it just be easier to submit? She worries she's denying herself pleasure for nothing. Even if she doesn't have a choice, wouldn't it easier to be submit and be happy, rather than fight and be miserable?

We also joke about Bad Timeline J4, who is equally as cruel and ruthless, but is devoted to Porter. There's no real content abt her, but its just a make believe scenario where she did finally stop fighting and agree to love Porter, in which she is the one most possessive of him, determined to be his attack dog right hand.

As articulated brilliantly by bambi, Jace, j3, and j2 are pretty archetypal charisma casters in that they are charming and make themselves easy to love. J4 wields her personality like a sledgehammer, but that is charisma, too. Her presence is always felt

She was originally very prideful. Determined to be different. Determined to be the one to make it out. Her pride covers up for a deep self hatred, especially as the expiration date of the clones ticks nearer and nearer, and she views herself to be a failure.

Her only soft spots are for the other clones, but especially J3. She pities J2, essentially viewing him as brainwashed into accepting their lot on life, but because of that pity, she does harbor some kindness and tenderness for him because of that. But J3? J4 bets on losing dogs, and she loves her losing dog so much and she would never admit it, but everyone can see it. If it wasn't for him, she probably would have ditched this whole situation.

This is an Esme Special aka @neerdowellnarrator, but J4 b/c she wants to make a point about not being Jase does choose her own name. J4's chosen name is Electra b/c of the greek myth comparisons and her basically Escaping A The Cycle. She goes by "Ellie" for short. J3 sometimes calls her El / Elle. We still refer to her as J4 sometimes for clarity's sake. Whatever stage she is in when it comes to even having a name is very dependent on whoever is depicting her anyway.

PART 4: Wait, so are J3 and J4... In love?

Yeah. it's like a whole Thing. This is a pretty recent development. I'll save it for the doc. To be elaborated on soon, I promise. It's called LJ3, i have a whole tag for it if it grips you.

PART 5: ADDITIONAL SILLY CLONE ENJOYERISMS (with links)

J2Porter Vegas Wedding Roleplay Weekend: a Jess Special! Based on this post! Elaborated on here! Jess aka @hauntedwizardmoment has more thoughts here! But I have a whole tag dedicated to it. Gist is that even after Jace n Porter get back together, Porter still devotes special days to the clones to give them Porter Time, and J2's day is an entire weekend where they booked a hotel in Bastion City. And during that time, they're basically roleplaying "What if we got spontaneous hitched in vegas" where Porter books out the honeymoon sweet, and J2 wears a tacky wedding dress, and the whole weekend is just devoted to treating J2. I'm not kidding, if i think too hard abt j2porter vegas roleplay weekend, I might cry.

Jace put the Clones are in the Torment Nexus: based on a post made by Jess again. Makes me laugh my ass off. If we say the clones are never escaping the torment nexus, this is why

J2Jace Blue Lingerie Gift: Sometimes J2 deserves the niceys, so Jace gives him a treat. NSFT warning lol. The post is a Jess Special / Bambi @iaus / @innskeep Special. I drew J2 something inspired by the getup once.

J2 is goodboy modest tradcath jace / J3 is college casual hookup clubbing era jace / j4 is grunge jace: Just headcanons for the different Jace's style of dress. They're all different eras or common headcanons within the fandom b/c Jace fashions eras. J2 is a bit modest, he likes cardigans and sweaters and for things to be comfortable and oversized (but to be fair, he's not AS modest as goodboy jace. Goodboy ex tradcath jace is the jace backstory for IYWD btw. He's the child of one sol worshiping parent and one galicaean worshiping parent and he is NOT ok). J3 wears a lot of form fitting clubbing outfits and hotpants and shit, Jace's wild child era. J4 wears clothes from grunge jace era which i think is a Jess Special again? Like. Old band tees and flannels and lots of black.

J4 is constantly name dropping obscure alt bands that play tuesday night in the parking lot of the black pit and only watches experimental indie horror movies and foreign war films shot from the perspective of pigeon (said w so much love, that concept fucks)

J2 Amy Dunne / J3 Cool Girl / J4 Gone Girl Amy / Jaceprime Amazing Amy Thesis: An elaboration on Jess's Cool Girl Jace Thesis on which she wrote an awesome fic about.

The Clones are Dykes: This one is old as fuck. I made a joke ages ago abt Dyke!Jace b/c I think Dykefag!Jace / Zara is a cute ship. So if Jace is a dyke, then the clones must also be Dykes. I drew art of them once. Digging up the dyke clones posts would be a trip and they're not really indicative of their current personalities, but if you see us joking about. J2 escaping to another timeline where he is a dyke and in a committed relationship with Zara or Lucilla, that is where that comes from

"Born to Love Porter Cliffbreaker, forced to do weird menial tasks for Jaceprime": another old ass thing i said as a joke before the clones had personalities. But it does have a lot to do with j4's preoccupation w/ free will. And Jace also being remade to love porter. Life is hard when you're born to love someone and you're forced to grade papers instead! It ain't much but it's a half-life! At the same time, me positing the clones all had potential to fall in love with Porter is kinda what brought us here, so.

There's a whole host of greek myth and hadestown references we're always dragging out. Cassankarna is Persephades, Jaceporter is Orphydice. Jaceporter is Persephades, J2 is Eurydice. Jaceporter is Persephades, LJ3 is Orphydice. J2 is Iphigenia, J3 is Helen, J4 is Electra / Cassandra. J2 is also Psyche.

Putting the Clones in Game changer: A comedy au in which the Clones are improv comedians on Dropout.tv. But also it's about LJ3 being a little in love and unable to escape the narrative. Esme made Elliego n J3go which i love (aka bingo cards). Loosely based on the last time i drew Jaceporter on game changer as well

Anyway! Thank you for coming on this long winded journey of Clone Primer! If i have any other thoughts I'll add it to the doc.

[stupidphototricks]

Cheery/Cheri Littlebottom socially transitioning in Feet Of Clay.

"I thought dwarfs hardly recognized the difference between male and female, anyway. Half the dwarfs we bring in here on a No. 23 are female, I know that, and they're the ones that are hardest to subdue--" "What's a No. 23?" "Running Screaming at People While Drunk and Trying to Cut their Knees Off," said Angua. "It's easier to give them numbers than write it down every time. Look, there's plenty of women in this town that'd love to do things the dwarf way. I mean, what're the choices they've got? Barmaid, seamstress, or someone's wife. While you can do anything the men do…" "Provided we do only what the men do," said Cheery. Angua paused. "Oh," she said. "I see. Hah. Yes. I know that tune." -- Terry Pratchett, Feet of Clay

"What is this place?" Cheery whispered. "It's... a place where people can be themselves," said Angua slowly. "People who... have to be a little careful at other times. You know?" "No..." Angua sighed. "Vampires, zombies, bogeymen, ghouls, oh my. The und--" She corrected herself. "The differently alive," she said. "People who have to spend most of their time being very careful, not frightening people, fitting in. That's how it works here. Fit in, get a job, don't worry people, and you probably won't find a crowd outside with pitchforks and flaming torches. But sometimes it's good to go where everybody knows your shape. -- Terry Pratchett, Feet of Clay

(Just try not to see Biers as a gay bar stand-in.)

"I don't know, I've never talked girl talk before," said Cheery. "Dwarfs just talk." "It's like that in the Watch, too," said Angua. "You can be any sex you like provided you act male." -- Terry Pratchett, Feet of Clay

"There's no help for it, I'll have to move out," sighed Cheery. "I feel all… wrong." Angua looked down at the little figure trudging along beside her. She recognized the symptoms. Everyone needed their own space, just like Angua did, and sometimes that space was inside their heads. -- Terry Pratchett, Feet of Clay

THIS.

Vimes hesitated. Now he could put his finger on what had been bothering him for the last twenty seconds. "Littlebottom…" "Sir?" "You… er… you… On your ears?" "Earrings, sir," said Cheery nervously. "Constable Angua gave them to me." -- Terry Pratchett, Feet of Clay

"Er… Littlebottom?" "Sir?" "On your… your lips. Red. Er. On your lips…" "Lipstick, sir." "Oh… er. Lipstick? Fine. Lipstick." "Constable Angua gave it to me, sir." "That was kind of her," said Vimes. "I expect." -- Terry Pratchett, Feet of Clay

"Cheery?" "Yes, Captain?" "You've been, er, you've been trying to hide your face from me… Oh. Did someone hit you?" "No, sir!" "Only your eyes look a bit bruised and your lips--" "I'm fine, sir!" said Cheery desperately. "Oh well, if you say so." -- Terry Pratchett, Feet of Clay

Okay, so the recurring joke of Vimes not being able to wrap his head around why this dwarf he thinks of as male would be wearing makeup and jewelry gets a bit old. But bear in mind that a) he just hired her and barely knows her, b) there's a lot of other stuff going on, c) nobody has told him there's been a pronoun change, and d) Vimes does become one of Cheery's biggest advocates by The Fifth Elephant.

"Cheri," thought Angua. Now, what does that name conjure up? Does the mental picture include iron boots, iron helmet, a small worried face and a long beard? Well, it does now. -- Terry Pratchett, Feet of Clay

I actually love this.

"Are you all right, Corporal Littlebottom?" "Yes, sir," said Cheri. "You're wearing a… a… a…" Carrot's mind rebelled at the thought of what the dwarf was wearing and settled for: "A kilt?" "Yes, sir. A skirt, sir. A leather one, sir." Carrot tried to find a suitable response and had to resort to: "Oh." -- Terry Pratchett, Feet of Clay

Carrot, though. Carrot is uncharacteristically awful, I'm not sure he's entirely excused by his traditional dwarfish upbringing. Fortunately Angua is there to beat some sense into him.

"Female? He told you he was female?" "She," Angua corrected. "This is Ankh-Morpork, you know. We've got extra pronouns here." -- Terry Pratchett, Feet of Clay

"Well, I would have thought she'd have the decency to keep it to herself," Carrot said finally. "I mean, I've nothing against females. I'm pretty certain my stepmother is one. But I don't think it's very clever, you know, to go around drawing attention to the fact." "Carrot, I think you've got something wrong with your head," said Angua. "What?" "I think you may have got it stuck up your bum." -- Terry Pratchett, Feet of Clay

"Er… what's that on your hands?" "Nail varnish, sir." "Nail varnish?" "Yes, sir." -- Terry Pratchett, Feet of Clay

"You come, Littlebottom, and bring your… have you got taller, Littlebottom?" "High-heeled boots, sir," said Cheri. "I thought dwarfs always wore iron boots…" "Yes, sir. But I've got high heels on mine, sir. I welded them on." -- Terry Pratchett, Feet of Clay

"Hrolf Thighbiter's asked me out," said Cheri shyly, looking at the floor. "And I'm almost certain he's male!" -- Terry Pratchett, Feet of Clay

It's a throwaway joke but I mean. Imagine a society where you might find out someone's gender only after you dated and maybe already fell in love with them.

(It could be amazing, you know?)

[sandiavolo]

Can you post art from the latest chapter on tumblr as well? Because it seems to me that then they have better quality <3

EXTRA (Sibling Lore!!!!)

Oare te Oman Sarwa’ite (Spider/Trr'ong's Big Sis)

An aggressive cat.

"Oare" means "Moon" in Na'vi

Sneaky huntress. Best archer in her clan, and youngest one too

Oare is crazy protective of her little human-brother (heavy emphasis on the 'crazy')

Has a dark sense of humor and personality a bit...offputting to say the least, especially to the Sullys and Ao'nung in particular. She's the kind of person to beat you to a bloody pulp without question, and ask how your day is in the middle of it (without stopping)

"Aw, why so down, little Metka'yina?" "YOU JUST STABBED ME IN THE FOOT 5 SECONDS AGO!!!" "*Holding the bloody knife* Oh yeah, I did, huh? Did it hurt?" "YES!" "...poke." "AGH! WHY?" "Wanted to be sure you weren't lying."

Kinda the trouble-maker, and would round up some Na'vi (especially Lo'ak) to break some rules and rebel some more 🤘

The paint near her hips hides a few scars

Txon te Oman Rewon’itan (Spider/Trr'ong's Big Bro)

Oldest child

"Txon" means "Night"

A very cool cucumber most of the time, pales in comparison to his sister. But mess with Spider and you unleash the beast (you don't want that if you know what's good for you)

Talented warrior, almost better than Trr'ong and Oare. Dual-wields a spear and a macuahuitl (ancient Aztec wooden war club), prefers the spear most of the time

Spider instantly grew on him the first time they met as kids. And was the first ever to give him the nickname "Txepvitsyip", or "Little Spark", cause ma boi Spider was a fiesty little thing

Forgets his own strength when it comes to giving his little brother affection, especially when it comes to hugs 😅

Amazing brother, like Neteyam, except he doesn't fret over it as much as he does. Very good listener and wise for his age, so he would like the company of the eldest Sully, especially to spill some tea amongst a fellow 'brother in charge of a bunch of feral nantang'

Major scars are on his legs and hidden by the red cloths, but has a few around his forearms and hands

Other neat details (courtesy of the beautiful mind of @anka-partizanka-from-pandora)

(My personal fave, Anka💙) If you look carefully, you can see the outlines of two palms near Oare's shoulder. The one in black, kinda hidden, is Txon's. The one in red, with five fingers, is Trr'ongs. It's a tradition of hers everytime she goes out on a clan mission, and she firmly believes it helps, b/c it allows her brothers to always be there supporting her

On Oare's bow, just below her hand, there is an amulet incased with a small fang and a lock of Spider's hair. This is used as a sort of charm. So that her arrows always find the right mark

Eywa, I love giving Spider a family so much! Even if that means someone gets whooped every five minutes in his name, I'll take it! My boi deserves to be snuggled with love and overprotectiveness 💙 Hope you guys enjoyed this!