#I love CQL / The Untamed / MDZS with all my heart

[tallochar]

Sometimes I write OC backstories and ideas for myself that never see the light of the day. I tend to write male OCs more often than female OCs, so I was kinda confused why my brain kept coming up with female MDZS OCs.

And then I realized just how raw-ly women get shafted in the MDZS / Untamed universe.

List under the cut because of potential spoilers for new people in fandom and also so this post is easy to skip for anyone not interested in me pointing this out.

That I can remember, off the top of my head:

Jiang Yanli (amazing, perfect, queen of all our hearts, who is the only girl born to a major sect leader who is legitimized has a terrible fiance and then they break up and then he's more horrible to her but then he turns around and redeems himself and they get to be happy for a little while and then he dies and then she dies and leaves behind a child)

Wen Qing (amazing, kickass, fantastic, a queen, we stan, who dies)

Assorted Wen women like Wen Popo (who all die)

Lan Yuan's Wen mom (who died before the Wen got out of the labour camps)

Madam Yu (who is a bitch and a queen and HIGHLY controversial for very good reason who has a terrible marriage and dies protecting her home and people after sending off her son)

Madame Jin (whom we don't know much about except that she supposedly was Madam Yu's best friend and adored Yanli and was a bitch about Wei Wuxian and had a terrible marriage to a known philanderer that had bastards all over the place, who dies sometime off screen in the time skip)

Madam Mo (who is a terrible woman who treats her relative horribly and enables her family's shitty actions and her son's shittier ones and then dies in short order)

Mo Xuanyu's mother (who was the daughter of a servant, got into an affair with Jin Guangshan, we don't know if it was voluntarily or if he pressured her / cajoled her into it, was the subject of praise and jealousy when her son was brought to Jinlintai and then when he was booted out for being a homosexual and a not that great of a cultivator 'died soon after' because she was 'unable to bear the shame', which I always read to imply that she killed herself)

Qin Su (who gets to have a shitty marriage because she unknowingly marries her own half-brother [who knows he is marrying is half-sister but can't figure out a way to get out of it], this half brother then [uberknownst to her, at least for a while] kills their child for being the product of said incest and then he threatens her before she decides to die by suicide)

Meng Yao's mom (was a prostitute who was left pregnant by her client and then abandoned to the wayside and died at some point)

Women that were abused by the lecherous Jin Clan head (most of whom died except for like, one or two)

Supposedly a matriarchal sect Madam Yu came from that we never actually see characters from

Madam Yu's lethal handmaidens (who both die)

Wen Chao's concubine (who is depicted as a jealous, crass, bitchy, terrible woman and who dies)

Lan Wangji and Lan Xichen's mother (killed the teacher of her future husband, future husband became husband because HE decided that that was the only way to protect her and then she got confined to the Jianshi and only allowed to see her kids once a month until she killed herself)

Wei Wuxian's mom (who died pre-canon in a hunt gone wrong with her husband)

Baoshan Sanren (mentioned immortal woman with her own peak and disciples that we only hear about and never see)

Lan ancestor lady (who self-proclaimed herself as having failed at her aims in life and spent centuries of her afterlife watching over a piece of the Yin Iron until she finally got to hand it over to the two protagonists and then moved on, died centuries before canon started)

A-Qing (who lived on the streets and faked a disability to get by and then died before we even met her and remains around as a spirit)

Luo Qingyang / Mianmian who actually gets to live even post timeskip but only because she quit the Jin and retired from the Sect world to live as a rogue cultivator but hey, at least she's alive and she's got a husband and a female child (who gets to interrupt Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian while they are about to have sex in the appedinces)

The girl who got cursed by the fairy statue that we never see beyond the very beginning of the story.

Most of these are dead, almost all the ones who were married had terrible marriages and only a couple escaped the novel with their lives.

Like, holy fuck this is such bad percentages.

[pumpkinpaix]

Spotlight 1:

"Introduction: The Single-log Bridge"

(interview questions answered by Alberto)

What drew you to this topic?

When we realized this would be the first scholarly book on The Untamed, we wanted to prioritize writers with lived experience and cultural backgrounds most pertinent to an initial discussion of it!

Was there anything you were surprised to discover while researching?

For me personally, I was surprised to see all the records that The Untamed kept setting as we wrote, revised, and submitted the collection! Some of the sources cited here were added quite literally the week before our deadline.

Did researching/writing your chapter change how you saw the text, the fandom, or the media? How so?

We had to pull together conversations on a lot of different topics for this introduction, and it was very neat to see the big picture coming together.

If there’s one thing you hope the fandom takes away from your article, what would it be?

I hope that English-speaking fandom in particular comes away with a better sense of how complex production was and how much nuance there is to the show. I've seen a lot of discussions that try to read CQL in the way they would a show made in the US or EU, and that just misses so much of what this show is doing!

What is your MDZS/CQL origin story? (i.e. how did you come to this text?)

I (Maria) started watching CQL after seeing it all over my dash and getting rave recommendations from friends in a wide variety of other fandoms! From there, I branched out into the novel and other danmei texts, both webnovels and dramas.

Favorite adaptation, if any?

The live-action drama will always hold a special place in my heart because this is how I first encountered these characters!

If you were isekai-ed into MDZS/CQL, what sect affiliation would you choose and why?

This is such a tough question XD I think I'd have to say Qinghe Nie because I admire their leadership and I'm most drawn to their style of cultivation!

What’s your favorite fictional trope in MDZS/CQL?

Soulmate tropes will always get me! Song Lan and Xiao Xingchen are my very favorite characters and that relationship is so compelling to me: I also love how Xiao Xingchen forms a little found family in Yi City for a time, later on :,)

Chaotic one-sentence pitch to get your friends into MDZS/CQL?

Picture this: disaster gays reunite after dramatic death and reincarnation, then have the slowest slowburn while dealing with post-conflict politics!

If you could ask anyone who worked any adaptation of MDZS/CQL one thing, who would it be and what would you ask?

To any cast member, I would be so curious whether they anticipated how big and visible the show became!

If you could ask MXTX one question, what would it be?

What do you think of how popular your work has become?!

What is one (1) book/media you would recommend to a MDZS/CQL fan? Tell us about it.

Word of Honor, in case there's anyone hasn't seen it yet (heart eyes)

Anything to say to potential readers of the collection?

On behalf of myself and co-editor Yue, we truly hope you enjoy it!

You can find Maria on Twitter/X @MariaKAlberto.

(FAQ) (all posts on Catching Chen Qing Ling)

[temnurus]

More Wangxian Faves: Post-Canon & Canon Divergent

This list was made to honor the request in the notes on my WWX recs post from @100percentserenity for some more fics featuring Wei Ying set in canon or canon divergent fics. Now, not all of these are strictly from his POV, but they all feature him at his quick-witted, charming, & hopelessly oblivious best. Canon divergent can be a pretty wide category, so do keep that in mind if you see a rec & think, "This isn't very canonical.." Haha. There are two repeats from my first Wangxian rec list, but they fit the ask & are both excellent & worth mentioning twice! Now, in no particular order, may I recommend:

Far Away You Are by cqlorphan (E, 17,358)

Thoughts: I absolutely loved the idea of the esteemed Hanguan-jun being this not-so-secret purveyor of comfort hugs & heartache advice. Wei Ying’s shock upon finding this out was so funny I couldn’t help but laugh, & my amusement only intensified when he made the scary Yiling Laozu face while asking who broke Lan Zhan’s heart, only to be told it was him who’d done so. I wanted to hug all the Juniors myself. They’re all so very precious. This was a lovely story where very little hurt in the end, & sometimes that’s just nice after the gut punch that canon gives us.

my age has never made me wise by idrilka (E, 63,439)

Thoughts: I absolutely loved this. It was pretty CQL (The Untamed) compliant & told the post-canon story of Wei Ying wandering alone as a rogue cultivator after the events of the show. Of course he was pining after his zhiji the entire time, so when he heard gossip that the Chief Cultivator might be married by summer's end it nearly undid him. The angst was excruciating, but One Brain Cell WWX Strikes Again fics somehow always manage to be fun at the same time. I've read several post-canon, wandering Wei Ying stories, & this one was particularly good.

Not What We May Be by brooklinegirl (E, 29,222)

Thoughts: I love Wei Ying’s cleverness in this. He’s his usual irreverent, chaotic, charming self, & I never get tired of how wonderfully his mind works. The odd phenomenon occurring in the town he’s staying in was an interesting mystery to solve, & I had to laugh when Lan Zhan arrived with the usual Lan Juniors ensemble in tow. Watching them all work together to figure out how to fix the issue while also dealing with the healthy side helping of oblivious Wei Ying & searing sexual tension between him & Lan Zhan was a fun treat.

All Caught Up by brooklinegirl (E, 36,934)

Thoughts: Wei Ying proposing to Lan Zhan to get him out of an arranged marriage he didn’t want is so something he’d do. There is no character more quintessentially chaotic good than Wei Ying. You can’t change my mind. The practice kissing was a lovely regular feature from this author, & my particular favorite thing in this fic was Nie Huaisang’s cameo as their pseudo wedding planner with his classic meddling while insisting he’s useless shenanigans. This was super cute. I liked it a lot.

love, in fire and blood by cicer (E, 360,042)

Thoughts: This was an example of a cool MDZS-specific trope I hadn't seen before, & in it Wei Ying, the infamous Yiling Patriarch, was a cultivator who had achieved immortality (aka, he's OP as fuck but in a fun way). The great sects enlisted his help to win the Sunshot Campaign, & what did he demand in return? Lan Zhan's hand in marriage, of course! It was a fantastic slow burn in which poor Lan Zhan suffered the mortifying ordeal of falling in love with his own husband. An amazing & complex plot, chock-full of angsty goodness.

Birthday Party by waffles_4_breakfast (E, 100,123)

Thoughts: I loved the idea that Wei Ying would actually get to attend Jin Ling's one month celebration, but I was, of course, still concerned about the continued danger he'd be in. This fic nicely showcased Wei Ying's sharp wit, charm, & ever-present sass. I also loved his dramatics when it came to his interactions with Lan Zhan (and in general, of course, haha), but their sweetness together was ultimately my favorite thing about them. The continued threat to Wei Ying's life & all the plotting surrounding it was interesting, but the best things about this fic were the characters & their bonds with each other.

Fentao-laoshi's Guide to Cut-Sleeve Pleasures by occultings (E, 31,775)

Thoughts: This was set during the Cloud Recesses Study Arc, & it was so, so good. The sexual tension between them was just simmering the entire time, & the idea of them “practicing for marriage” on each other was fucking hilarious. Their banter was top notch, & I absolutely loved Lan Zhan’s nearly overwhelming desperation for Wei Ying, not to mention Wei Ying’s bullshit getting him in over his head (as usual, but this time in a fun way, haha). The feelings were actually very sweet, too. I enjoyed this a lot.

wide enough and wild by impossibletruths (E, 64,120)

Thoughts: I love the tag “Noping Out Of Society With Your Boyfriend And Your 50 Wen Refugees: The Novel”. It made me laugh before I’d even started the fic. While this was set during the time period in which Wei Ying frees the Wen refugees, they didn’t end up in Yiling this time. I won’t get too specific, but they still ended up rebuilding their own little settlement & farming to survive, basically. Lan Zhan found them & decided to stay. The slow burn was so good, & I loved the pining in particular. I cried a couple of times in this. It really was just that good.

your problem as a mountain. by cupofwater (E, 30,989)

Thoughts: It was so cute to see the difference between Wei Ying’s & Nie Huaisang’s fantasies, & Wei Ying’s turning out to be more vanilla & romantic in nature absolutely cracked me up. I nearly hurt myself laughing when Nie Mingjue sent Lan Zhan some of the letters by mistake, & I was delighted by Lan Zhan’s reaction. I won’t spoil it, but the smut was lovely & despite the misunderstanding our boys definitely both got their happy ending, haha.

The Vermilion Ribbon by Unforth (E, 233,368)

Thoughts: This sat on my Marked For Later list on AO3 for the longest time, & I really did myself a disservice by not reading it sooner. It was absolutely fantastic. The world-building, pacing, & intricate plot were all brilliantly done, & Wei Ying being in the Wen clan was nothing like I imagined it was going to be in this. Instead of his core family being the Jiangs, we get Wen Qing in Jiang Yanli’s role & Wen Ning in Jiang Cheng’s. Now I’ll warn you that this got super heavy in some places, so mind those tags & take care of yourselves. Nothing was graphic enough that I had to stop reading, but it didn’t shy away from the serious subject matter it covered either. The whole fic was a real emotional roller coaster, & I can’t recommend it highly enough.

[ilovealonelystar]

Random thought of the day:

I wanted to share with you my (and I found out some other people too - Cris?) experience with the CQL/MDZS/BJYX world. I've been a drama lover girl ever since the pandemic (k-drama, c-drama, j-drama, thai-drama, taiwan-drama, BL...). Even so, that I have a spreadsheet with all the dramas I've watched (170+ so far) reviewed 1-5 stars - the outstanding ones have an extra color - and with personal notes (crazy organization lady much?)... Anyways, all of this is to say that, obviously, I had already heard about The Untamed before watching it, especially when I dived into the BL world.

I added it to my watchlist years ago, but I kept postponing watching it because 1. I'm not THAT big of a fantasy drama enthusiast 2. I heard it was a bromance so I was kind of meh... 3. I've watched tons of c-dramas and I know some are suuuuuper slow burners to the point it's infuriating, so I was afraid CQL was going to be like that too.

Then, I decided to give it a try for the first time earlier this year. I stopped watching it on the first episode because I couldn't engage with the story and the fantasy aspect. Then, I tried watching it again. I slept through the first episode. BUT THEN, I came across one TikTok video that talked about how both leads were prohibited from seeing each other until 2026.

I was a little bit familiar with Chinese regulations regarding BLs because I've watched Addicted/Stay With Me, and I heard that Addicted was banned because of these regulations. But even so, being used to Thai BL dramas, and how the male lead actors usually THRIVE on fanservice, this information flared my curiosity about HOW GOOD of a chemistry those two leads had that caused all this ruckus (I wasn't fully aware of the whole 227 situation).

Then, for the third time, I began watching The Untamed with the promise to myself that I would finish it even if I had to play it at 2x or skip the boring parts (I confess I do this in a lot of dramas). So my journey began once again...

First, I tried focusing on the beauty of the lead (our own XZ) because... you know how it is, right... dramas with good-looking leads are indeed appealing. Then WYB appeared and I was like DAMMMNNN... then, I tried focusing on the plot to understand what was going on... then, I slept again HAHAHAH but I kept pushing and pushing, dozing off, rewinding some parts, fast-forwarding some... until we reached the third episode. I couldn't understand what was going on. So I had to google it and found a Reddit topic explaining the world's longest flashback, and promising that I would enjoy it if I hung on through these first few weird moments.

So I made myself a cup of coffee, sat properly on the couch, and hit the play button once again. And I kept getting more interested, more entranced, more hypnotized by those characters, the story, the silliness, the campy CGI, the beauty of the leads... and I kept watching and watching in my spare time (usually between 1am and 5am hahaha) and started digging deeper on the lead actors, why they couldn't see each other, then I bumped across 227, and started kinda retracing their steps from there.

I watched some YouTube YiZhan compilations, BTS videos, bloopers, CQL on crack, their interviews etc etc etc, then I looked up MDZS and was SHOCKED to discover that the original novel IS NOT AT ALL a bromance. Then I started reading the novel, DEVOURED the manhua, and mixing it with all the emotions I was feeling watching CQL - WWX and LZ carefully told love story with all the hidden details - a new door opened in my heart. Ever since my daily life has been flooded by YiZhan and WangXian. I've rewatched CQL 3 times after it, NOT SLEEPING THROUGH ALL THE EPISODES !!, and now I'm watching snippets of it but with a whole different perspective (I talk about it here if you're interested).

I was personally experiencing an emotionally turbulent moment in my life when I started this journey, questioning some paths I chose to follow in life, and going down the BJYX rabbit hole actually brought me so much fun, distraction and joy, and even reignited the flame I used to have for writing and reading.

I guess that's YiZhan's power, whether you are BJYXSZD or not. They spark our imagination, fill our eyes with lovely moments, grace our ears with their giggles and gremlin laughter, and genuinely make our hearts full with their Wei Wuxian and Lan Zhan, and their own Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo.

[tavina-writes]

Do you mind if I ask your top 10 favorite characters (can be male or female) from all of the media that you loved (can be anime/manga, books, movies or tv series)? And why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before.....Thanks....

This is a difficult one! I've loved a LOT of characters over the years even if the current blorbo of interest is NHS from MDZS/CQL bc he's just such a fun little guy BUT lets see if I can try to do this chronologically and not in like, any character ranking fashion:

1 & 2: these two characters are absolutely the rulers of my heart: Huang Rong and her father, Huang Yaoshi from Legend of the Condor Heroes by Jin Yong. I just love my beloved spoiled conwoman princess and her insane evil wuxia version Maes Hughes dad so much. I could write so many essays about the Huangs and how they mean so much to each other and also to me. I'm always insane about family members who have complex relationships with each other and that's super evident with them.

3. Uchiha Madara from Naruto. Now, people who have known me for a long time know that I am a Naruto girlie, and that I skipped all the way to "Sasuke's Insane and Sad Pathetic Ancestor" on the character likes list. I love insane murder men and Madara is an insane murder man! He's also very sad. What's there not to like about him truly.

4. Mirasol from Chalice by Robin McKinley. I have a deep love for beauty and the beast narratives and this one ALSO had magic bees. I love Mirasol for her kindness and her devotion even in the wake of massive change and I have a special fondness for the entire story of Chalice both for the lovely worldbuilding and also Mirasol herself.

5&6. Sansa Stark and Cersei Lannister from A Song of Ice and Fire. I really really love both of these characters for entirely opposing but also really similar reasons! I love them for their flaws. For being stuck in their positions in a world that's really just! not! kind to them! and how they take that and go in such different directions.

7. Sheng Rulan from The Story of Minglan. I have such a soft spot for Rulan. She's petty, she's spoiled, she has so much love and holds onto her principles and her dreams so tightly, she's her father's least favorite child despite also being a legitimate daughter, she finds love, she's so cute, she's the clearest sighted of all four of the Sheng sisters, she's got such a growth arc to her, I love her SO SO MUCH. (I love all three of her sisters too don't get me wrong, Rulan is just my favorite.)

8. Wei Yingluo from The Story of Yanxi Palace. Yingluo! My girl! Never have I ever seen a female lead with so much pent up rage and desire to get even in a story that does not judge her for her hard edges and her propensity for violence. I love that about her. I love how kindness and cruelty and how her quest for vengeance never destroys her ability to love and care for others and recognize other people's genuine kindness and the difficulties other people face in life. I love her shrewdness and her determination to survive too! I'm just! So fond of her!

9. Jaskier from The Witcher (TV). I RARELY TALK ABOUT. MY UNAGING BARD BLORBO. BUT I LOVE HIM. I love the messy relationship Jaskier, Geralt and Yennefer have in the Witcher TV show and I REALLY love the way that Jaskier is portrayed. I don't know anything about the games but! I just! I love! This annoying kind of foppish man because annoying foppish male characters are another beloved character archetype for me, see below.

10. Nie Huaisang from The Untamed/Modao Zushi. Beloved Blorbo. Little crimes man. Unfilial and spoiled. Beloved for being SO jiggly and full of trauma and his tragedy is writ large to me because it! powers! the plot! without his tragedy there is no plot! he burns down his social circle because he loves his brother! There's just so much in here that's like, oh god. I love that he's an annoying foppish dandy and that he loves his pets and creature comforts and that he doesn't enjoy working hard and has so many problems. This too is life. I love this little guy I want to rotate him for a good long time.

[theleakypen]

Fic Writer Interview Game

Thank you for the tag (almost 2 years ago) @gusu-emilu!

I am tagging literally anybody who sees this and wants to play :D

name: Puck

fandoms: multifandom! although Untamed/MDZS continues to be my main

two-shots: I never understand this question but it looks like it means to rec your own two-chapter fics so here we go: Stories More Beautiful Than Answers (CQL, Mianmian gets to meet Jin Ling post-canon) and Rhûnlanders (I published it as a series of 2 separate fics, but it's basically 1 thing: Songxiao in Middle Earth - Xiao Xingchen is an Elf and Song Zichen is a Man, both from Rhûnland so they're still Asian)

most popular multi-chapter fic: Obviously Yunmeng In-Laws (my and @iamwestiec's CQL modern AU groupchat fic which had bafflingly runaway success) has to be the answer to this. But if we're only going by ones written solely by me, it's But, After All, I Am A Wen (incomplete Wen Qing canon divergence wherein she actually takes and uses the comb Jiang Cheng gave her to commit treason and save her family's lives)

actual worst part of writing: having the fucking brain space to fucking write, fuck. it's been really hard bc i have so many other obligations and they eat my brain so even if i have ideas i can't get them to turn into prose :(

how you choose your titles: in order of likelihood: first, quote from the fic itself; joint second place, something kinda descriptive of the fic or lines from a poem or song

do you outline? not generally. I did outline my multichapter Wen Qing fic bc it's so much more ambitious than anything else i've ever worked on and I occasionally do something resembling in an outline in the doc of my one shots when i know what happens in the sections but don't have the prose yet; it's usually, like, a series of bracketed statements.

ideas you probably won't get around to, but wouldn't it be nice? oh god so many lmao. i have an entire channel in my writing discord that is just these ideas. One idea I have is a Songxiao no eye transfer AU because BSSR doesn't open the mountain back up to XXC and how they have to deal with that. Also I have yet to write any Witcher fic but I've been playing Witcher 3 and I really wanna write a Vesemir POV fic that's 5+1 "5 times Geralt sent some random-ass stranger to Kaer Morhen and 1 time he came home" inspired by all the times in Witcher 3 when you can help someone and then be like "Oh yeah you'd be welcome at Kaer Morhen"

spicy tangential opinion: not that spicy but i wish more people would comment, especially on the smaller/less popular fics. i see your kudos! it makes me happy! but i'd love to know your thoughts if you have any!

callouts @ me: none of my self-callouts are writing-related, it's all just - clean your room, go the fuck to sleep, you're not a teenager any more and your body hurts less when you do basic life maintenance tasks. (honestly i'd probably also write better/more if i did basic life maintenance tasks so it counts lol)

best writing traits: Westie once said I'm good at making soft things hurt and I hold that compliment close to my heart <3

[notesofarichlycolorednight]

fuck yeah love these writing ask games! tagged by the awesome @seavoice!! thanks so much for tagging me :D

post the names of the last five files in my wip folders —regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous.

full disclosure i've hit a writer's block so bad the likes of which any writer would hate to see and haven't written at all or started anything in like,,,, 2 months. maybe more. oTL i'm dying over here. so i'm gonna cheat and post some ideas that i'd like to write, in the order they're in my personal discord channel for writing ideas. the first one is smth that is a wip tho.

also a lot of these also don't have official titles lol

1 long story short : yes it's named after the thing you think it's named after iykyk. a pet project of mine. oc-centered story, takes place in the pjoverse. third installment of this series, takes place in toa, and it's abt an oc child of apollo who fell in love with luke in the og pjo series and is now just going thru it and facing the consequences of that decision. still going, even tho i update even slower than i did for my last two stories in this series ;; oc is op. read at your own risk lmao.

2 faceblind!yuuri cinderella au : yuri on ice. yuuri being faceblind is canon to me as far as i'm concerned bc he doesn't recognize yuri p. twice and doesn't recognize minami initially, even tho he beat yuuri at nationals that past yr lol. not to mention minami has mc anime hair. the rest of what it's abt is in the title lol

3 what remains of jason grace : a what remains of edith finch au for jason grace from hoo/toa. what remains of edith finch is a beautiful game about edith finch revisiting her old family home after her mother's death. the last finch left alive. came up with this idea when thinking abt one of my favorite white boys jason grace. wanted to write smth similar to the game, smth that's as melancholy and heart-rending. i imagine it smth like jason wrote a journal after hearing the prophecy from herophile in tbm, and this was what was in the journal.

4 nie huaisang v jin guangyao : cql/the untamed/mdzs. would be a character study. would be extremely difficult. it's very hard to explain if you don't know the source material/have not watched the show/donghua or have not read the books/manhua, but these two characters parallel each other in multiple different ways in the narrative, and one of them is unknowingly battling the other in a game of wits, with the other characters in the story as their puppets and suffering the most consequences from the actions of these two, who mostly work behind the scenes until the reveal in the finale. and i think it would be a cool character study to write abt that battle bc it's not focused on enough in the source material imo

5 diary of luke castellan/halcyon green : it's actually fitting seavoice is the one to tag me! bc ever since i read their post abt hal/luke's diary and incorporating it into toa i've wanted to write a story that explores this more, but in a playwright format. bc i think it would have a lot of impact as a stage play, focusing on those quite moments between apollo and meg's travels, when he gets a chance to sit down and read thru the diary. at the very least, i envisioned it in that environment when i first read their post.

tagging the few peeps i know who write on the reg (and are moots). feel free to do this (or not): @spooderham @lucifers-favorite-child @talking0fmichelangel0 @bisexualoftheblade

thanks again for the tag!!

[huigusu]

“而姑苏蓝氏立家先祖蓝安有言，只有在命定之人、倾心之人面前，可以不必有任何规束。所以，历代以来传下的教训都是，呃，我们家的抹额，是非常非常私人且敏感的珍贵事物，除了自己，任何旁人都不能随便触碰，不能随便取下的，更不能够系在旁人身上，这是禁忌。

嗯，只有，只有……”

The founder of the Gusu Lan sect, Lan An, said that only when in front of your destined one, your beloved one, can one not adhere to any regulations. Thus, the teaching passed down through generations has always been that our sect’s forehead ribbon, is an extremely private and sensitive precious object. Other than oneself, no other person may casually come into contact with it, nor may it be casually taken off, and even more so it may not be tied onto another's body, this is prohibited.

Unless, unless...

— 魔道祖师 第45章

June 27: Two Years with CQL Event for @mdzsnet [Gusu Lan]

[qinghe-s]

of course loss is the great lesson

— from ‘Poppies’ by Mary Oliver

[id: four screenshots from various episodes of cql/the untamed and fatal journey, each with a line from the poem in the caption. the first has the line “and what are you going to do —” and shows nie huaisang, in distress, eyes wide and mouth open, facing the viewer. he is held back by jin guangyao who is looking at him, showing little emotion.

the second image has the line “what can you do” and shows nie huaisang in white, simple mourning robes. he is looking off to the right.

the third image has the line “about it —” and is showing a closeup of a sword plunged into someone wearing white robes with gold embroidery, a trickle of blood spilling from the wound.

the fourth image has the line “deep, blue night?” and shows a closeup of nie huaisang’s face as he looks down and over his shoulder. end id.]

[theheartofthekoko]

-Margaret Atwood — MDZS Bingo Event, Prompt: Memories

[id: gifs from “The Untamed”. first, Wei Wuxian looking at Wen Qing, with the text, “In the end”. second, Wen Ning demonstrating burying A-Yuan to Lan Sizhui beside Wei Wuxian burying A-Yuan. third, the ghost general beside Wen Ning rubbing dirt off his face. fourth, Wen Ning telling Jiang Cheng about Wen Qing’s role in getting his golden core beside Wen Qing taking off her Baoshan Sanren hat. fifth, A-Yuan waving a grass butterfly back and fourth beside Wen Ning giving Lan Sizhui and grass butterfly. sixth, Wen Qing and Wen Ning smiling at the rest of the Wen remnants, with the text, “we’ll all become stories”. /end id]

[kitkatsgalore]

I just think they should’ve all been friends!!

[asingularshieldmaiden]

Jiang Cheng is the kind of person to feel lonely when he is hanging out with a large group of people. He is comfortable in a one on one setting, but in a larger group he wonders how close he even is with somebody as he watches them interact in a similar way with others that they do with him.

When he’s comfortable enough with someone one on one, like with Wei Wuxian when he was younger, Jiang Cheng has fun and can engage in banter and long conversations. Wei Wuxian is treated as a Jiang family member in cql by the rest of lotus pier and the Jiang sect, and also by other sects in cloud recesses lectures. This social treatment of Wei Wuxian also proves that Jiang Cheng sees him as close enough in rank as his brother within the sect to become comfortable enough with within the first place and as a safe person to lower his barriers around where his actions and emotions won’t be used as an immediate judge of his character and potential as heir.

When Jiang Cheng is with a large group of people, he watches the people he is comfortable with talk with others in a similar manner that they talk with him, which makes him question the deepness of his relationship with them, and how one sided it is. These large social interactions feed into his pre-existing insecurities about being second best, installed by his socio-familial dynamic between Jiang as sect and Jiang as family and his parents flawed treatment of him. Jiang Cheng has been taught by his parents actions that love is conditional and finite, as well as the fact that his position as heir sets him socially apart from the rest of the sect and means his actions and feelings could reflect upon his potential and the sect itself. Consequently, Jiang Cheng struggles to break past his existing friendships where the walls are already removed, and feels abandoned or more lonely when he sees the people around him appear to be moving past him for others, and he feels it’s harder to make this transition to emotional relationships as a result of his standing as heir. He sees Wei Wuxian make room in his heart for his other friends, and feels as if there is subsequently less room for him, and large social interactions remind him of this insecurity. Combinations of his childhood, position as heir, and current feelings cause him to struggle in group settings and to make new friends.

Love is not conditional or finite and Wei Wuxian’s ability to make fast friendships and form trust with others is proof, but Jiang Cheng was raised to believe that Iove in someone’s heart is limited. Subsequently, he finds one on one social interactions more comfortable and easier than group ones as groups feed into his insecurities that his loved ones won’t love him as much and this can be forgotten in one on one. Jiang Cheng’s feelings and social position make it hard to break out of his shell to make friends in the first place, hence increased feelings of loneliness in group settings.

[jzixuans]

[image id: a greyscale painting of lan wangji against a partial grey cloudy backdrop. his guqin is slung over his shoulder. his headpiece, emblem on his headband, and accents on his robes are all gold. there is a faint gold and blue outline around him. in the top right corner is the artist’s signature “blinks in bewilderment” and “jzixuans.” /end id]

okay but listen. listen. he would look so good with gold headpieces

[wangxiians]

happy birthday to the person with the brightest smile in the world, wei wuxian

[isinuyasha-art]

Modern Wangxian Fashion AU Inspired by the MDZS X PEACEBIRD - FALL 2021 Collection

[a-very-fond-farewell]

JC: “stop being so damn competitive. I fought in a war too!”

WWX: