#(and/or lxc and/or nhs)

[pillow-boi]

The full comic is finally over!!! Thank you for following it ~

[disgracefulthings]

Jin Guangyao: My brothers, I need your help. My father wants me to commit atrocities and I don't know how to get out of it!

Lan Xichen: Well, if you were married to a powerful sect leader, then you will no longer be part of his household, and therefore free of him

Nie Mingjue: That could work

Jin Guangyao: But who would-

Lan Xichen: Dibs

Nie Mingjue: What?! Fuck you! I called dibs years ago!!

Lan Xichen: Well you kicked him out of your sect, so that's no longer valid

Nie Mingjue: No longer valid, my ass!!

Jin Guangyao, whispering: What the fuck is happening??

[maalidoesart]

now both of you are gone

[bnnywngs]

they were back in time, all three of them - lan wangji, lan qiren and wei wuxian. it was as smoothly as it could be, waking up as if from a very realistic dream instead of something dramatic as wei wuxian suggested such as fainting in the middle of doing chores.

they had discussed what they had to do and the rules they meant to follow so it wouldn't change too much of the past-now-present again.

"try to act as much as you were when this age." lan qiren said.

it was the middle of the gusu classes and lan qiren was getting ready to travel to qinghe for the conference, while the two young ones were planning for the waterborne abbys.

"wangji, you can start showing some signals that you are interested in wei wuxian. this way we can initiate a marriage contract with the jiangs without having to fight for his freedom." lan qiren continued.

"mn." lan wangji nodded politely, while wei wuxian smiled brightly with a slightly pink face.

days later, while wei wuxian was being his annoying self following his future husband around where others could see and hear them, lan wangji snapped and pulled wei wuxian for a fierce, deep, knee weakling, kiss that made everyone around gasp out loud.

"LAN WANGJI!" lan qiren yelled with a face as red as his future nephew-in-law's favorite foods and almost spitting blood "THIS IS NOT WHAT I WAS TALKING ABOUT!"

[add1ctedt0you]

Guanyin Temple + live reactions

(Live Wei Wuxian reaction is inspired by this wonderful gifset)

[meteortrails]

I do think there’s something so interesting in how jin guangyao is like. so adamant that he would never harm lan xichen or act against him bc of how much he cares for and admires him, bc like! the way things shake out I honestly do not think you could’ve hurt him worse if you were trying!!! like maybe if you tricked him into killing wangji or something equally heinous like. MAYBE. but as things stand jgy took advantage of xichen’s trust and affection for him to get into a position where he could then poison and effectively kill nie mingjue, one of xichen’s oldest and closest friends. xichen was repeatedly responsible for protecting and vouching for jgy, and jgy then used the chances xichen gave him to put himself in the positions of power that allowed him to commit the crimes that he did. like i do genuinely believe jgy cares about lan xichen more than anyone else, that he sincerely admires and looks up to him; I just also believe that jgy was at least participating in some willful denial bc how could he not see that xichen would some day find out about this shit, and that he would blame himself for all of it til the day he died.

[benevolenterrancy]

@hereticcryptid I appear to be slowly but surely developing an entire series about how Hensheng and Baxia apparently get fed up with their owners' inability to express their feelings and take matters into their own hands...

[naehja]

Nie Huaisang: If you took a shot for every time you made a bad decision, how drunk would you be? Lan Xichen: Maybe a little tipsy? *says the guy who can burn alcohol with his Golden Core* Lan Wangji: I don't drink! Jiang Cheng: Unconscious! Wei Wuxian: Wasted. Jin Guangyao: Dead. Nie Huaisang, between his teeths: Yeah because i would have poisoned your drink, asshole!

[trans-yllz]

this does not necessarily have to be your favorite character or the one you'd want to impress most etc. who would truly crush you the most to hear you disappointed them

[tavina-writes]

I have been pondering the recent rash of "post canon NHS and LXC would never ever reconcile bc even if NHS wanted to have Er-ge back, LXC would never ever forgive him for [insert reason of choice here]" type of posts + the "do you think NHS thinks very hard about how much Da-ge would hate him for becoming [the way that he is now] by choosing to seek vengeance" type of posts, and I think fundamentally the reason these posts do not jive with me is that we have no indication, in the show or in the book that uh, NHS gives a shit about either of these things very much anymore?

The first type of post is predicated on the assumption that LXC's forgiveness or lack thereof some some sort of either extension of mercy (which NHS obviously does not deserve <- or so assumes the post) or some form of punishment (which is obviously the correct answer) but the last scene we get with NHS both in the book and the show make no indication that this is a thing he wants? Or cares about? Book NHS has *sauntered off* with his little hat trophy and Show NHS walks off screen after saying something along the lines of "What is my responsibility I won't shirk, what isn't my responsibility I won't care about." Now, arguably, show NHS is having a worse go of it emotionally, but shows no real inclination or interest in either apologies or making up and being friends again with LWJ, LXC, WWX, or other people. Book NHS seems pretty pleased with the outcome of the events as a whole?

The second type of post is predicated on the fact that NHS finds Da-ge's judgement a horrible burden to bear at this stage in the game, which! He might! But again especially in the book we get no indication that he has any fucks left to give about what Da-ge may or may not have wanted since Da-ge is dead. In both the show and the book, NHS went about revenge taking very specific and complicated actions with the desired result of JGY dying, but he certainly took the scenic route getting there, which, he didn't need to? As I've written about before, JGY didn't see him as a threat. If he wanted JGY dead he could've arranged to poison JGY's tea like, 10 years ago and had done with it instead of his complicated Rube Goldberg life ruining scheme. If he is still sickly anxious about how Da-ge might feel about the scheming and the trouble causing and the whole everything, that's certainly possible, but he must've decided it was worth it anyway regardless of that, and I don't know that it necessarily would've changed just because he got what he wanted at the end.

Overall, I think as a fandom we think a lot about like "will and should this relationship ever be repaired or similar to how it used to be?" and "does this character deserve/not deserve the forgiveness of people they've hurt or abandoned?" which can be interesting questions! I do feel like these are often taken as "is a character morally good (deserves to be forgiven) or morally bad (deserves to rot in hell forever never forgiven ever ever)" and based entirely on if Character is the meta writer's blorbo. Under this paradigm the concept of "Character did bad things to get exactly what they wanted and were happy about that and no relationships were ever repaired and the emotional detachment of people they used to care about no longer matters to them!" is uncomfortable.

It's just that for NHS I've increasingly come to the conclusion that canonically, I don't think NHS thinks he has anything to apologize for, nor is he super interested in being forgiven! He got what he wanted the way he wanted it to happen. Which is potentially supremely unsatisfying but I think is very sexy as a narrative concept.

[eruhamster]

theres like minimum 5 different examples in MDZS of strong-willed, stern, "mean" characters whose families only function normally because they're as mean as they are

the entire story of MDZS revolves around the aftermath of one of their deaths, and never once is his death painted as a good thing - especially in the eyes of the person he 'terrorized' the most

and yet literally any time i have seen half of these stern characters discussed to any capacity beyond 'oh they're pure evil,' there is at LEAST 1 person in the notes or QRTs or whatever treating the OP like they're literally satan

[adhd-wuxian]

[random-mdzs-thoughts-dumpster]

Lan Xichen: Sect Leader Jiang, don't answer him. He is good at talking. Once you start to talk with him, your attention will be averted and emotion stimulated. You will want to cradle him in your arms, kiss him on the forehead, and confess your undying love for him. Jiang Cheng: Lan Wangji: Wei Wuxian: Jin Ling: Su She: Jin Guangyao: Jiang Cheng: No, I think that's just you.

[rkivees]

"it's not that the cultivation world didn't want to listen it's that wxx just pushed everyone away" I wanted to have the confidence in an elitist system the way this person has, I think my life would be wayyyy easier.

If you think for a second that a system that is naturally structured to let those at the top stay at the top and for those at the bottom to stay at the bottom would hear wwx when he's literally going against that then I don't know what to tell you about the real world.

[khattikeri]

i don't think enough people talk about how the backbone of nie huaisang's plan hinged heavily upon jin guangyao's low birth, and the jianghu's willingness to dogpile on such people.

nie huaisang is upper class. he's specifically stated in the novel as behaving more like the idle rich than like a distinguished second young master of one of the five great cultivation sects, but he's still an heir by birth. even if nie huaisang had been more openly caught, who would do anything to him?

wei wuxian notices that bicao's testimony was bought with a few shiny baubles— that nie huaisang was the one who bribed her with a nice bracelet for her testimony. he intentionally kept his own sect half dead, barely afloat for years, just to keep up the guise of an incompetent loser!

but the only actual consequence he's faced for such poor leadership that probably hurt a lot of common folks in his territory over 13 years is that people think nie huaisang is an annoying, useless crybaby. nie huaisang has a level of protection from consequences that jin guangyao had to fight much harder for (and that jin guangyao ultimately never truly got).

nie huaisang knew his own class and social position extremely well, and he knew how most people of that position behave and think. he was more than willing to use this in his revenge.

we know lan wangji is the type to use his wealth and position to do good for others. nie huaisang is the opposite— he's the type to use his wealth and position for himself and his own personal goals.

and this wasn't just something that started after his brother died! avoiding responsibilities, never carrying his sword, ignoring the fact that he wasn't honoring his sect or ancestors the way others wanted… his underground ring of selling porn as a teenager even got him out of the worst part of the wen indoctrination camps, because he bribed the wen cultivators overseeing everyone else.

my point is, nie huaisang is self-aware enough to know he doesn't really ever do the "right" thing! at no point in the story does he delude himself or others with grand ideals of how one ought to behave. he doesn't care.

unlike almost every single other upper class cultivator in the story— jiang cheng, jin zixuan, nie mingjue, lan xichen— who all think of themselves as righteous in a way, who are always able to justify their thoughts and actions, rarely if ever able to conceive of those thoughts and actions as flawed or wrong... nie huaisang KNOWS his own selfishness.

like lan wangji, nie huaisang recognizes that his class can easily be used as a shield to do whatever he wants. while lan wangji at worst uses this nifty privilege to silence people he doesn't like, refuse to explain himself in inconvenient situations, and bring wei wuxian along with him everywhere, nie huaisang uses it to shirk his duties for decades and tear jin guangyao apart in revenge.

jin guangyao being the son of a prostitute automatically amplifies bad rumors around him. bringing to light his incestuous marriage and the gruesome way he murdered his upper class father, however deserved, is obviously going to impact him in a way that someone higher class wouldn't be as hurt by. combining that with a final lie to get his sworn brother to stab him in a flash of doubt, and well...

is that good or righteous or just? no, of course not. nie huaisang doesn't spend any time pretending that his actions were conducted based on morality, or that he "had no choice".

nie huaisang just wanted to destroy jin guangyao, and damn did it feel good to finally do it.

[naehja]

Because of a failed expriment, Wei Wuxian meets others versions of himself who have been adopted by other sects and who have more of less differents lifes. He must help them to return to their own universe but learns interesting things about them.

So our WWX has to deal with:

- A Nie!Wei Wuxian, adopted by the Nie Sect at 5 (gave his Golden Core to Huaisang, was sworn brother with Jin Zuxian), knows Lan Zhan since he's 6. Was called Nie Ying and then Nie Wuxian until he does defection to save the Wen Survivors. And then the next actions are the same. Jin Zixuan dies, Jiang Yanli dies, Lan Wangji save A-Yuan but let the boy know his uncles. Wei Wuxian is brought back by Mo Xuanyu like in canon. He hate Jin Guangyao with passion for what he did to Mingjue during the war and what he did after, killing him with the music who should have helped him. In this universe Miánmián marry Mingjue so Huaisang and Wei Wuxian have a niece and a nephew (twins born 6 months before Mingjue's death). He knows what Huaisang did but said nothing because he's just proud of his brother. Nie Huaisang is a lot stronger in this universe.

- A Jin! Wei Wuxian has been found at 7 by Jin Zixuan. Wei Wuxian becomes a strong cultivator, a pride in his sect. He sees Jin Zixuan as his brother and loves to tease him. He knows Jin Zixuan feelings about Jiang Yanli and being forced to marry and help him to getting to know her better. He goes to help the Jiang when Lotus Piers is attacked by the Wen. Then he's captured and throw in the burial mounds. Following that, the events are the same than in canon. The incident on Qiongqi Path is even worse since Zixuan was Wei Wuxian's brother and this death broke him. Yanli doesn't die. And so Wei Wuxian is brought back by Mo Xuanyu 13 years later. He's very protective of Jin Ling and feel even more bad about Jin Zixuan dead. He hates Jin Guangyao with a burning rage when he learns the truth.

- A Lan!Wei Wuxian, adopted at 5 by Lan Qiren. He never lost his Golden Core and is renowned for his inventions. He never touched demonic cultivation and is married with Lan Zhan for years. He's sworn brother with Huaisang and Zixuan. He's the only Wei Wuxian to still have his old body. He didn't have to learn demonic cultivation and create a lot of things during the war who helped to win. When he has decided to save the Wen Survivors, he asks Lan Qiren and Lan Xichen to come with him. Since he's sworn brother wirh Jin Zixuan, he's still Jin Ling uncle. Nie Mingjue never died because Wei Wuxian was visiting Huaisang one day and heard Jin Guangyao playing the "song of clarity" and was like "wait something is wrong about it". And so Jin Guangyao was discovered to poisonning Mingjue with dangerous music and has had to face consequences. Mo Xuanyu never died because Zixuan and Yanli decided to literally adopt this new little brother. Lan!Wei Wuxian is the only one to not die and be bring back to life or to lose his golden core.

It's just funny to imagine that all the Wei Wuxian became good friend/brother/sworn brother with Jin Zuxian, except the canon!one who more or less dislikes him.

Also all the Wuxian are in love with Lan Zhan. They're soulmates.

Feel free to write it if you are inspired =)