#also wwx: why is jc being so mean to me :-(

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Lan Wangji Goes To Lotus Pier AU: Part 1: Dread on Arrival

(Part 2)

[add1ctedt0you]

Novel quotes: wei wuxian having feelings/thoughts about jiang cheng

Under the cut because it's long

However, Jiang Cheng was gone. Holding steamed buns, flatbreads, and fruits in his hands, Wei WuXian felt his heart skip a beat. He forced himself to calm down. Even after he searched through the neighboring streets, he still didn’t see Jiang Cheng. He finally began to panic. Grabbing a cobbler on the side, he asked, “Mister, there was a young master about the same age as me sitting here. Did you see where he went?” The cobbler licked the thick end of a thread, “The one that was with you?” Wei WuXian, “Yeah!”

The cobbler, “I was in the middle of doing something so I didn’t really see. But he kept on spacing out, staring at the people on the street. And then when I looked up at where he was again, he suddenly disappeared. Maybe he left.”

Wei WuXian murmured, “... He left... He left...”

He probably left for Lotus Pier to steal the bodies!

As though he had gone mad, Wei WuXian sprinted immediately toward the direction that they had come from.

[...]

He gave himself a harsh scolding in silence—he was stupid, useless, ridiculous, it was bizarre, unimaginable. Yet, he was alone, without a sword or any tools, and on the other side of the wall there were thousands of Wen Sect’s cultivators, perhaps Wen ZhuLie as well.

He wasn’t scared of death. He was only scared that after he died, he wouldn’t be able to save Jiang Cheng and betray the trust that Jiang FengMian and Madam Yu left him. In such circumstances, the only one he could place his hope on was a person of the Wen Sect whom he had met only three times in total!

[...]

Wei WuXian’s gaze turned from Wen Ning toward Jiang Cheng, whose body was covered in blood and eyes were tightly shut. His fingers couldn’t help but clenched into fists.

Chapter 59 Poisons—Part Four

Jiang Cheng’s expression was rather strange. It was calm, almost too calm. He stared at the ceiling, as though he wasn’t at all interested in the situation that he was in, as though he didn’t care about where he was either. Wei WuXian didn’t expect him to react in such a way. Sadness, happiness, anger, shock—he had none of these. His heart skipped a beat, “Jiang Cheng, can you see me? Can you hear me? Do you know who I am?” Jiang Cheng glanced at him. He didn’t say anything. Wei WuXian asked him a few more questions. Arm supporting himself, he finally sat upright. He looked down at the mark of the discipline whip on his chest before laughing bitterly. If the discipline whip struck, it’d be impossible to wipe away the mark of shame. Wei WuXian comforted him despite this, “Stop looking at it. There has to be a way to get it off.” Jiang Cheng slapped him. His strike was so weak, so powerless that Wei WuXian didn’t even flinch, “Hit me. As long as you’ll feel better.”

[...]

If Wei WuXian were the one injured or if somebody else had saved them, he’d immediately say farewell and leave at once, full of determination. However, right now, Jiang Cheng was the one who had been injured. Not only was he injured, he had lost his core as well. He wasn’t in his right mind. No matter what, Wei WuXian couldn’t find any determination.

Chapter 60 Poisons—Part five

Out of the blue, Jiang Cheng spoke up, “Not to do what?” Wei WuXian paused in surprise, turning to him along with Lan WangJi. Jiang Cheng covered his wound with one hand, his voice chilly, “Wei WuXian, you’re such a great, selfless person. You did the best things possible, and you swallowed all the suffering and didn’t let anyone know. What a touching story. I should kneel down and cry in gratitude, shouldn’t I?” Hearing the mocking tone that lacked any courtesy, Lan WangJi’s face grew cold. Jin Ling saw the displeased expression and immediately stood in front of Jiang Cheng, scared that Lan WangJi would kill him with one strike, “Uncle!” Wei WuXian’s expression worsened as well. He never expected Jiang Cheng to make up with him after he found out the truth, but he didn’t think his tone would be as unkind as ever, either. With a moment of silence, he replied, voice muffled, “I never asked you to thank me.”

[...]

In the beginning, it was precisely because he didn’t want to see such a Jiang Cheng that he decided not to tell him.

He remembered every single thing he promised Jiang FengMian and Madam Yu—to help and take care of Jiang Cheng. If someone as unhealthily competitive as him found out about this, he’d be dispirited his whole life, too tortured to face himself. There’d always be something he could never overcome, reminding him that he could only reach where he was because of another’s sacrifice. It wasn’t at all his cultivation and his achievement. No matter if he won or lost, he’d long since lost the right to compete.

Afterwards, it was because Jin ZiXuan and Jiang YanLi died for him that he had no face to let others know. To tell Jiang Cheng after what happened then would be like shirking responsibility, hurrying to demonstrate that he’d contributed as well. It’d be like telling Jiang Cheng, don’t hate me, look I’ve contributed to the YunmengJiang Sect too.

Chapter 102- Hatred - Part Five

At this point, somebody on the side suddenly called, “Wei WuXian!”

Wei WuXian answered immediately, “What?”

Only after he answered did he realize that the one who called him was Jiang Cheng. Wei WuXian felt somewhat surprised. Jiang Cheng didn’t respond directly. Instead, he took something out from his sleeve and tossed. Wei WuXian caught it by instinct and looked, only to find a black, gleaming flute along with a crimson tassel.

It was the ghoul flute, Chen Qing!

As he felt the flute that he was more than familiar with, Wei WuXian didn’t even have the spare time to feel surprised.

Chapter 108: Concealment - Part Two

After a pause, he asked again, “How have Sect Leader Jiang and Jin Ling been?”

Lan JingYi pouted, “They seem pretty fine. Sect Leader Jiang is the same as before, always lashing out at people with his whip. Young Mistress’s temper has been getting better. In the past he could talk back thrice to his uncle after he scolds him once. Now he can do ten times.”

[...]

Hearing Lan JingYi say so, Wei WuXian relaxed slightly. In truth, he knew that these weren’t what he really wanted to ask. But as it sounded like Jiang Cheng and Jin Ling had been doing quite well, there was nothing left to say.

Chapter 116: Extra—Banquet - Part Three

[holy--milk]

seeing this post and particularly the notes kinda reminded me of how the larger MXTX fandom sometimes tends to see all MXTX tops as like. basically one character in different skins? and while it's true that the three of them basically fit the same general archetype (which i'd probably call something like "overpowered sexy dom + service top + trophy husband"), i think that's still a pretty big mischaracterisation.

so like if we take the situation of "i need to chose between saving my husband and someone else who's important to me", here are what i think would be the biggest differences in approach between the three:

luo binghe: LBH straight up doesn't understand that it's supposed to be a difficult moral dilemma. of course he saves shizun, why would he even hesitate? he's fine with sacrificing someone important to SQQ (like YQY, LQG and even NYY) as long as it means SQQ gets to live, even if SQQ gets upset and leaves him as a result. the only other alternative that could perhaps make it a bit difficult for him would be his adoptive mother, but she's conveniently already dead at this point.

hua cheng: similarly to LBH, it wouldn't be a difficult choice for him since he doesn't really have anyone he cares about to the extent he cares about XL, HOWEVER. he does care about what XL would think about someone else being sacrificed for his sake, especially if it's someone XL personally cares about (and, inconveniently, XL cares a lot about a lot of people). he would obviously still choose XL, but he would probably take extra steps to hide the fact that there was a sacrifice if at all possible.

lan wangji: the only one out of the three who may even see it as a Choice to be made to begin with, since he's also the only one out of the three who still has his family and non-husband related responsibilities he cares about to some extent. it's an easy choice if WWX is pitted against someone he already dislikes (like JGY, SMS, JC and like 80% of the cultivation world), doesn't have a personal relationship with (like WN or, say, mianmian) or someone who would willingly sacrifice themselves out of love for either of them (like LXC or JYL). but if it's LSZ, someone who he both personally cares about AND has the duty to protect as his student? and who he knows WWX cares about as well? i don't think the answer would be quite as obvious to him as it is to the other two, from the purely emotional standpoint.

although to make it a bit more convenient for him, WWX is canonically a genius who may just be able to come up with a creative solution and save everyone. so saving him first is also justified from a pragmatic standpoint.

[danmeichael]

Can u talk about why JC is your fave

jiang cheng was not my favorite character for a long time. specifically, i actively disliked him when i first watched the donghua.

a turning point, funny enough, was actually the scene in the donghua where he chokes wwx. which i think says a lot about me... much like that scene says a lot about jc.

that was a scene that really humanized jc for me and showcased really clearly what he was in that moment. a lost child, a helpless child desperately vying for any amount of control through violence and lashing out at those around him because of it.

i like when characters do that -- when they hurt the people around them in moments of weakness without really meaning it.

you know when a character asks a loved one to run an errand for them, and something terrible happens while they're running that errand? maybe their loved one gets into a car accident and dies, for example. and instead of blaming the conditions on the road that caused that, the other driver in the accident, the hospital for not saving them, they think "if only i hadn't asked them to go out?"

it's because it's smaller. it's easier to conceptualize that blame, it's easier to grasp guilt or to place fault on a single, knowable entity.

reality isn't like that. there is no one singular point of fault. it's not their fault, not really. but a single point of failure is easier to conceptualize, to cope with, more satisfying in the moment than "sometimes things just happen"

jiang cheng doesn't hate wei wuxian, he isn't really mad at wei wuxian for saving lan wangji. or rather, he won't be when he's calm or in hindsight.

but he needs something manageable to be angry at. he needs something smaller, some neat, easy solution this all stems from that he could say "this wouldn't have happened, if--"

he doesn't really blame wwx. but in addition to... everything, wwx is also the one stopping him in that moment from doing the thing he could do to, his monkey brain thinks, exert control and make it hurt less.

this is wwx's fault. this is wwx's fault, because he saved lan wangji, because he wouldn't let him go back to try to save his parents, because he wouldn't let him try to get revenge. but it's not, really. and deep down, he knows that. he knows the wens would have come for them eventually whether wwx saved lwj or not. he knows he could not have saved his parents. he knows that he would have died trying to get revenge and left jyl and wwx alone. he knows there's nothing he, or wei wuxian could have done.

but being out of control while you're in pain is scary. so he lashes out. because he can control being mad. because he can hurt wei wuxian. because he needs something, anything in that moment to feel like he isn't spinning out and about to crash.

i think that violent ugliness in response to his own suffering is compelling.

that sort of added onto the endless "what if" pursuit common of fandom, after finishing the novel and finding that jc and wwx were still estranged. logically, that was the best possible ending. them suddenly getting along at the end of the book for a happy ending wouldn't have made sense for either of their characters. them making up in a way i found satisfying would have taken another 2 english volumes and circumstances i can't even imagine, and mxtx might not have even written it in a way that i found satisfying even under the theoretical that she did devote an entire additional novel to making it happen.

but that ambiguous, unwritten, theoretical making up that exists in my minds eye haunts me.

even after all that, i still didn't *like* jc. he was compelling, i appreciated him as a mechanism in the narrative, but he wasn't my blorbo. i didn't *like* him in the way i *like* other favorite characters.

no, no. the real catalyst is that nobody who dislikes jiang cheng dislikes him for the right reasons and it pissed me off so bad that i became protective over him.

there's plenty of good reasons to hate jiang cheng but you're just MAKING UP ONES that DO NOT EXIST and IGNORING ALL OF HIS INTERESTING CHARACTER WRITING.

what do you MEAN he doesn't love his brother?! what do you MEAN he only warmed to jyl's marriage because he came to see her as a political pawn and didn't actually love her either?! what do you MEAN he should have just been GRATEFUL that wwx surgically placed his entire fucking martyr complex into jc's body while ACTIVELY LYING TO HIM ABOUT IT?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE'S A MISOGYNIST? WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE'S *COLORIST*????? AM I FUCKING LOSING IT????????? DID I READ A DIFFERENT FUCKING BOOK??????????????

being so pissed off by incorrect analysis of his character made me think about him as a character, his nuances, his relationships with his family and his position of power.

there's no specific trait or scene or thing about him that makes him my favorite. he's just a good shape. he clicks into my brain in a good way.

[jiangfamilytherapist]

All reader reactions to character interactions are colored by said reader’s life experiences, but to me it seems this is especially the case with parent/child dynamics. For this reason, I believe There Are A Lot Of Valid Takes on YZY and JFM’s parenting, and all of them have to do with lived experience— you don’t need to have had an abusive/neglectful etc. parent/guardian for your own familial frame of reference to become an interpretive lens, whether through comparison or contrast. We all do it.

So here’s what I see:

It takes two to tango, sure, but I can’t pretend that I see Madam Yu and Jiang Fengmian as equal agents in the dynamic that emotionally scars their children. That is to say JFM’s Neglect ≠ YZY’s Abuse. And actually, I think terminology is important here, because truly JFM is not neglectful, he is emotionally unavailable, specifically to Jiang Cheng. JFM does in fact ensure that all of JC’s needs are met or exceeded, minus emotional connection. This is not me absolving JFM; emotional distance and feelings of inadequacy learned from parents can fuck with mental health, but in my view JFM is mainly at fault for being a bystander where he should have been a protector. He fails both boys in this. This is a common occurrence where one parent is abusive, and is part of the broader cycle of abuse. It’s not a simple thing.

As for the emotional distance, I don’t think Madam Yu helps. Maybe JC reminds JFM of his mom a little bit (and it’s worth mentioning that JFM doesn’t actually hate YZY by all indications) but it seems pretty dang evident that the bigger problem is her constantly shoving JC in front of JFM and being like WHY DO YOU LOVE YOUR SON LESS… I feel like that would potentially strain any attempt at father/son bonding. It can’t just be JC who hears those words echoing in his skull. Even if it isn’t true, the accusation’s out there and that is awkward to get past at best, not to mention requiring more emotional intelligence than either father or son possesses. It’s a hurdle they’d both struggle to clear.

Honestly, if I had to guess why JFM is better at dealing with WWX (which I find a little funny since at that age most people would find WWX to be way harder to deal with than JC), I’d say that WWX’s constant cheerful masking means that JFM doesn’t have to deal with all those icky complicated negative emotions with him. From a disciplinary standpoint, WWX is definitely the problem child, but again the masking means that from an emotional standpoint he is the “easier” child to deal with, because at that time of his life he hadn’t really let his mental or emotional health be anyone else’s problem since he was little.

I don’t have data to back this hunch, but I think all parents give their kids at least some issues unintentionally. There are also parents whose behavior is overtly damaging to their kids’ present and future wellbeing, like Madam Yu, and there are also parents who hurt their kids—inadvertently—by omission or inaction. This is all to say that I don’t personally think that the accusation that JFM didn’t love JC, or that he loved him less, is really in evidence (especially as portrayed in The Untamed). Nothing I see indicates to me that he is actually disdainful or apathetic towards JC, but the shortcomings in his parenting really did deeply hurt Jiang Cheng, and I find that hurt to be wholly understandable.

[lansplaining]

@iri-vail i hope you don’t mind me pulling out these tags from this post: 

#mdzs meta#meta#why i think wwx has to be a little mean to jc in fic to be characterized correctly#like that whole monologue 'ohhh jc is just too weaaak~'#i know thats borne mainly of his own insecurities/attempt to distract himself from his tough decisions#but maaan it goes on for so long its so mean spirited it turns around into funny

bc damn you know

i’ve really never thought about it, but you are so so right. fic is so fixated on jiang cheng being mean to wei wuxian, with good and obvious reason, but wei wuxian is really quite unkind to him in the second life as well? he truly refuses to actually listen to what he’s saying at almost any point, and as you point out, his fundamental perspective on who jiang cheng is and what he’s capable of is not kind! this is not to say i don’t think he loves jiang cheng, but especially by the time you get to the temple confrontation, there is a fundamental dismissiveness and lack of willingness to hear or see him that is self-protective, but also shades into meanness for sure 

[weiwuxianismybae]

My fandom pet peeves

Lan Wangji’s dislike of Jiang Wanyin

So, I dived back into the world of fanfiction and was quickly reminded of all the fanon things I hate. Starting with Lan Wangji’s unreasonable dislike of Jiang Cheng. In order to promote "Wei Wuxian's little brother Jiang Cheng", Lan Wangji's very good reasons to hate Jiang Cheng are reduced to some petty, stupid bs like "He [LWJ] didn't like how often Jiang Cheng hit Wei Wuxian." And later on we get this gem: "After some time LWJ understood that violence is JC's way of showing affection." Like, wtf? If my younger sibling (and I have one) showed their affection through violence, I wouldn't see it as love, but as abuse, 'cause that's what it is. And I'm not talking about the normal sibling fighting because that's not what Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng's relationship is. I mean, just reread the Cloud Recesses Study arc. The only thing Jiang Cheng seems to know is how to belittle and criticise Wei Wuxian. I'm not gonna lie, I found some of the remarks quite funny (I'm a passive aggressive bitch myself), but when that's the only thing that comes out of Jiang Cheng's mouth, it really starts to eat at you. I deeply respect Wei Wuxian's ability to not take it seriously. And when Lan Wangji’s actual grievances with Jiang Cheng are stated, we get the "but he [JC] still loved his brother" nonsense. Lan Wangji’s real reasons to dislike Jiang Cheng are as follows: abandoning Wei Wuxian, being the prime reason and catalyst of Wei Wuxian's death, spreading hateful rumours about Wei Wuxian (who else could have been the source of "WWX is responsible for Jiang Clan's massacre" if not the only surviver, besides Wei Wuxian, of the said massacre?), and hunting down the so-called demonic cultivators because "what if that's actually Wei Wuxian." I commend Lan Wangji’s restraint, because if it had been me, I would have long since punched that guy in the nose. And I absolutely love Lan Wangji’s attitude of "I won't look at you; I won't speak to you. Sizhui, you may speak on my behave."

"Lans only love once"

Please tell me I'm not the only one who gets toothache whenever I read this. When I came across it for the first time, I didn’t think much of it. Like, at first, I thought it was cute, but then it started grinding on my nerves. Why? Because it diminishes Lan Wangji’s love, trust and devotion to Wei Wuxian to a mere fate thing that is beyond your control. He is already being reduced to some block of ice (by the mob in mdzs and the fandom), and now you also simplify such an important part to his character. Like, where did this even come from? Yes, we have the famous Lan "I will leave this world, because my love is no longer in it" An and Lan Wangji, but that's it when it comes to die-hard romantics in the Lan Clan. The story of Qingheng-jun and Madam Lan is not really romantic (I'm not gonna speculate on what there was and wasn't between them because Lan Xichen telling Wei Wuxian about his parents had a different purpose, namely, to esteblish Lan Wangji as someone who doesn't just listen to what his elders have to say, but as someone who seeks to understand and then judge the reasoning by his own moral beliefs). And that's it. So where is "Lans only love once" coming from??

So why did I write all of this? Well, I'm just tired of seeing this over and over again. Aren't we all so creative? Come up with new head-canons (so that I have more things to criticise /jk) or stick to canon characteristics. Please.

[ravenpureforever]

random question time! which wwx's relationship do you like the most and why? It could be platonic or romantic, all canons allowed

Thank you for the ask! Oh boy this question is hard, because I like I appreciate so many of his relationships for different reasons that picking just one feels kinda cruel 

I think the biggest tie for me is between JC and LWJ for WWX. 

Wangxian is the rare ship where I genuinely can only see them romantically with each other, like I’m multishipper, I’ll ship literally anything if you have an interesting concept, pretty words or beautiful art, like grab my attention I am yours, except these two, they live in my head rent free and they can only be together because like maybe you lost everything, maybe you can never go back to that blissful youth you once had, but that doesn’t mean you can’t build a new life for yourself and find happiness and all the grief and tragedy does not define you but you still want to help people and you will help people and maybe it isn’t the life you thought you wanted when you were fifteen but it is a wonderful one and you love and you are loved and you are happy and that is enough. Maybe you suffered, maybe you were cruel, maybe the world misread who you are and assigned you a role you did not ask for, but maybe that doesn’t matter because you know who you are, you are still kind, and you have someone who knows and understands you and trusts who you are. You are both also kind of insufferable in your love and get to be annoying too. 

But JC & WWX are my ultimate tragic doomed platonic relationship, my neurotic little freaks who can’t be normal about each other and have zero boundaries, bickering idiots, wanting to go back to your youth except you’ll never be 15 again and you the person who knew the most intimate parts of yourself is now a stranger except you still see the glimmers of the person they used to be, the most brutal variation of you’ll never recover from that kind of devotion, the ultimate capturing  lost youth and having to go down different paths and really depicting what growing up is like sometimes, the viciousness where I am able to hurt you unlike anyone else (regardless if I want to or not), the abusive household codependency of survival, literally carrying a piece of your soul in my chest and making the ultimate sacrifice you never asked for because I couldn’t bare to risk losing you, the hollowness is a symbol of my devotion and the fullness is an omen of our splintering, there is one brain cell being shared like a game of tennis, my pathetic meow meow and beloved blorbo, I genuinely can’t be normal about them. 

I think if I really have to pick between them though, I’ll have to say JC & WWX just by virtue of I don’t like Wangxian fics that mischaracterize or villainize JC, like if he’s featured and isn’t a well-written character (Shanastorytellers' and loosingletters’ fics my absolute beloveds), it really takes me out of the narrative. His depiction and relationship with WWX has a lot of impact on my Wangxian enjoyment, and even in canon my beloved Wangxian gets to develop because of all the Ls this poor guy takes, so congrats JC, you win here! It’s by a literal hair, but JC & WWX platonic relationship, get these boys a reconciliation so they can drink in Lotus Pier and gossip about their kids and people they think are stupid, WWX it will enrich your marriage so much I promise. It’s what *I* deserve.

[sonik-kun]

I've seen a lot of people claim lately (mostly JC antis) that WWX performing the experimental core transplant on JC was emergency surgery, and I just have to stop them right there.

This was not emergency surgery by any means. Emergency surgery implies that it is something that NEEDS to be done, or else it would mean imminent death for the patient.

JC did not need that core to survive. He could have very much lived without it. He only needed it for revenge. To get back into joining the war effort to avenge his parents and his sect.

WWX didn't have to do it at all. Sure, JC was miserable, borderline suicidal. But I've seen and read aus where him coming to terms with his new disability is and can be very much possible. Hard, and a lot to work through mentally and physically, but not impossible.

JC did not force WWX to give up his core. It was very much implied that he would grow HIS OWN one via Baoshan Sanren. There was no way JC could have assumed that it was WWX's or anyone else's core for that matter when the concept of a core transplant did not exist at that moment in time. He was the first one to have survived and lived to tell the tale.

Plus, his mental state at that time was questionable. On the surface, he was willing to "consent" to anything if it meant getting his core back, regardless of how and why. But because of his vulnerability, that doesn't mean he consents to being treated like a guinea pig, nor should he have been treated like one for that matter. Although the intentions were good and pure, his vulnerability and naivety was still taken advantage of here. That cannot be disputed.

He also did not consent to having someone else's core (someone else who he cares for deeply, mind) being inserted in him. That possibility was obviously something that would have never crossed his mind in that moment. It is unfair and unreasonable to assume it would and claim he consented to something he didn't even know was possible.

He was led to believe that Baoshan Sanren could successfully give him a new core willy nilly, no questions asked because she was a fabled person with amazing abilities. It was that he consented to here alone, nothing else.

So yes, although WWX's intentions were pure and from the goodness of his heart, he did in fact mislead JC. The whole core reveal and the shock revelation behind it is proof of that. What would be the point in that scene otherwise if it was 100% consensual? And Jiang Cheng's famous "why didn't you tell me?" Break down?

It's okay to accept the moral greyness behind WWX's heroic actions, you know? It won't make him any less of a protagonist, nor does it undermine his HUGE sacrifice. You're still allowed to like him, warts and all. I know I certainly do!

[fubuwu]

Fuck it. Since I'm being spat on and tarnished by jc antis I'm unashamedly doing call out posts as they have harassed me on all my posts and got their little friends to gang up on me. Starting with this "lovely" person

Calling me an abuse apologist just because I said that madame yu had tough love methods..... I was in no way excusing her abuse towards wwx with that FYI. Wwx wasnt even mentioned in the og post.... Never once denied she was abusive in the post either (in fact i ackowledged her abuse numerous times in the post and how her children act around her. But apparently you willfully missed that part). I said she had tough love methods towards her children. NOT WWX. Wwx was not her child or have you forgotten that? She has a tough love attitude in the sense that she toughens up her kids, expects no nonsense, wants them to strive to do better, get on with it, stiff upper lip attitude etc. This does not mean it's a good parenting tactic.

---

Using tough love to describe her parenting technique isn't a compliment. Apparently some of you don't know what it means because tough love, whilst there is love and good intentions behind the actions, it can also have unintended bad consequences on your children and is not a form of love you should expose your child to if you want them to become normal, emotionally stable people.

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It can lead to unhealthy coping mechanisms and suppressing emotions amongst other things I won't go into. I was in no way complimenting her. It was a critique. That should have been obvious. But in your words, ig some of you don't have reading comprehension.

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To accuse me of something so extreme as excusing abuse over a FICTIONAL CHARACTER and trying to get all your friends to agree and jump on my posts because I never explicitly made the above points obvious is what a bully would do. You know nothing about me and decided to make such allegations over a single post. I will not stand for this bullying.

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YOU should be ashamed of your behavior. I've seen your other posts and how you talk about and to REAL PEOPLE.

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You acting all morally superior whilst attacking me and many others like this makes you an abusive person FYI. And I won't sit there and take it from you or your friends.

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Moving on to specimen number two

This person has been spamming my notifications jumping on EVERY post, being disrespectful and pretty much accusing me, an ace person, for being ignorant about MY OWN IDENTITY and using ace stereotypes just because I surmised that jc could be ace due to his lack of interest in romance.

---

Echoing the words used by another user in the thread, but denying that such ace persons exist is acephobic in itself. I'm an ace person who isnt interested in relationships outside anything that is close, platonic but meaningful. Many others in the jc fandom say the same thing which is why they see themselves in him. A large portion of the jc fandom are actually ace in fact and we love to see him used in ace rep posts. We're already made to feel like freaks, so to have that thrown in my face is very hurtful. Above all twisting my words and making out I said every ace person hates romance is very disingenuous. I NEVER once said that in the post. I wont have my character attacked and lied about like that.

---

Also, once again TWISTING my words, implying I was pissed off about the incel claims when it was so obvious that I was merely asking out of curiosity where these claims come from?? Because it was never implied in the canon text. There was no anger or malice behind my questions. It was all open discussion. I can see now that this was mental gymnastics at play here to justify your hcs that you know are not canon and use it as an excuse to attack my posts with your friends, all because you were proven wrong. You lashed out on what was an otherwise polite discussion. That behavior is all entirely on you.

---

Ive only ever been respectful in my posts and they were never done to provoke arguments or hate on others opinions. So to wake up and be accused of all sorts over a fictional character is very hurtful and just shows how terribly low your side of the fandom has to stoop just to prove a point and hate on jc.

---

Im not tolerating it and these blatant LIES any longer. I hope other jc antis read these posts and see how nasty you all are. And if anyone thinks this sort of treatment is okay, then you need to look inwardly and step away from the computer. I'm done here.

[3cosmicfrogs]

Jay what about an au where NMJ and JGY switch bodies right after Sunshot finishes. Say at the phoenix mountain hunt.

you come on this here website and call me by my government name? before marriage???

five headcanons for a Freaky Friday situation after the pmh....hmmmmm

~Gender Dysphoria~ let's get the easy one out of the way first. You know me, i cum the second someone says "blorbo transgender" so naturally anything even Body Horror Adjacent will have Gender Feelings. They needn't even be trans as long as some sort of gender yuri is happening.

everyone would find out immediately. There's no way nmj could spend five minutes in Jin company without making a decisively un-Guangyao-like sarcastic remark. There's no way jgy, who is Deflection Georg and makes 100000 vague statements per day, could tolerate being confrontational.

Ok maybe not everyone, but our Main Cast certainly find out very quickly. NHS figures it out within 3 minutes of the switch ('jgy' started scolding him immediately while 'nmj' just kept smiling, it's creepy-) and naturally this means that lxc gets recruited to help fix this. Somehow, as is tradition with AUs that involve dubious magic, wwx gets involved which naturally means lwj is present as well. jc is also there, though his main purpose seems to be yelling and being outraged at things because someone has to be responsible in this mess, and by god it's gonna be him.

Naturally the whole Switching Situation cannot be fixed overnight and they must Pretend To Be Each Other In Public. This leads to a lot of heartfelt confessions about social status and societal expectations on both ends (not only on jiggy's side. yes, we've done jiggy's pressures and circumstances to hell and back, don't worry, we'll cover them here again, but like. give me MORE. build this world with me. take my hand.) They both grow as people and learn to appreciate each other and be more empathetic and bla bla bla you get the gist.

i think it would be super fun if jiggy can hear baxia now (and maybe feel the effects of early onset hereditary qi deviation???). she would be absolutely delighted by this skinny scared-but-bitter-determined-vicious little Human who is inhabiting her master's body. He's just so fun to scare at night and isn't it hilarious to whisper evil things in his ear and why is your sabre always talking to you da-ge?!

*6. Bonus headcanon! because this is a 3zun Dubious Magic au naturally the absolutely only way to resolve this after all of the conversations are had and revelations are made is by sex. ah, the wonders of dual cultivation... the traditional way most Strange Magic gets solved in this genre of AU, apparently, and who are we without traditions? If it so happens to help with certain hereditary diseases...

[sasukimimochi]

ok but

i came up with what i think is an incredibly cute idea for a mdzs au and i really might add it to my project list cuz it tickles my fancy.

i'm dying thinking about it so let me give as small of a summary as i can here lmao

*the big change here is LWJ. LWJ is essentially a lot less restrictive, but...mainly with WWX! Think of this slightly like a sober-drunk LWJ.

-WWX meets LWJ at Cloud Ressesses, as per usual. he's still strict, but something about him seems softer around WWX than with other people, and others notice it immediately while WWX has no fucking clue. (this doesn't mean he's not aware, this just means it's too early for him to understand there's a difference).

-LWJ intentionally catches WWX every time he does something against the rules, and is secretly the happiest guy ever bc he now gets to sit with WWX every day for hours. this will help it still be a surprise for WWX when LWJ starts opening up to him bc why does strict lan suddenly wanna friend me??

-it does not take long before LWJ is actually seeming to open up even if not in the way WWX expected. (at least a month so after his punishment) as a result, WWX stops doing as much bad things to get LWJ's attention, and simply hangs out with him a ton. (Jc is a bit jealous bc he always wants the two to hang alone. He doesn't think about it too much though cuz wwx is always outgoing so he thinks he's probably overthinking it- not that he thinks they're in a relationship at this point)

-WWX starts behaving a bit, just because he wants to hang around longer, but still ends up punching Jin Zixuan. As a result, LWJ convinces uncle to let him go to Lotus pier as both an escort and to study there since he's already a great lan student! (aka he just wants to stick around WWX) and after a great battle with the of eyes he is allowed to go.

-Thus starts the little adventures of our young couple doing whatever the hell they want for a while.

maybe i'll touch more on this later but

i decided to nickname the au "He's Definitely Sober" for now. if i change it i change it lol

i mean...think about it, just imagine this scene but with a sober lwj. i would literally die. it's like, some of my favorite things. I have always wished there was more of this lmao

scenario for fun-

LWJ: Wei Ying. WWX: Lan Zhan?

LWJ: I love Wei Ying. WWX: You what

LWJ: I want to court you. WWX: YOU WHAT

LWJ: i'll ask uncle in the morning. WWX: ////////???? REWIND.

LWJ: *shoves armful of gentian flowers in his arms* please. WWX, lost, flustered, and who knows what else: o...okay.

...and thus an awkward convo with jc the next day:

WWX, holding his flowers: so...

JC: *squints* WWX: i might have gotten asked about being courted...

JC: ...you're a man! WWX: i said that too but...

JC: but?? WWX: we're both guys so its hard to argue against

JC: *freezes, looking seconds from qi deviation*

somewhere in the Yashi Lan Qiren is also looking pretty similar.

[naturenaruto]

nobut literaly i love a forced???

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

transed??????????? jiang cheng like hear me out lmao

-his parents only married bc forced obviously so they needed a Reward from the marriage to reinforce that they did the right thing what they had to blahblah

-what is this Reward oh right a child ofc

-so they first have yanli and ofc yzy is trying sthhoo hard to reasurre that they needed one of these too and that shell make a good bargaining chip in he future just gotta give it 10-16 years hehheh..

-then jfm is like k fine ill deal BUT we had better have a baby with a PENIS next OR ELSE

-BAD NEWS! they dont get a baby with a penis

-cue yzy scrambling to come up with a way to justify a girls existence (So Difficult) bc they already have the one (1) they didnt need TWO babies w vaginas goodness no so after evaluating her state and determining that no more will come out of her own vagvag she then comes up with a brilliant plan that will get everyone what they want: trans their infant

-so they decide that since they havent declared any name or whatever Theres Still Time so they just....start telling everyone they had a son (wiiiith a penis™️) and they had already told yanli she had a little sister but oops haha kids just tend to mishear misremeber things haha nope defintly a little b r o t h e r *yzy glare* yanli: haha o yes my younger BROther haha yes can i go now

-crisis averted

-so then they just decide to raise her ahem him as a son therefore heir Everythings Fine and besides yzy: oh it just doesnt even matter i mean girls can become *just* as good cultivators as boys cough im sure with myyyy training (and genes) he'll be the best in the sect anyways not like a u know what makes any difference amirite jfm: 😒 uhyeah sure honey whatever u say😓

-so anyways jc is raised as a boy and yanli does in fact know but defers to her mother at first and then jc and so

-GREAT NEWS! jc is Perfectly Fine being a boy™️! no worries here haha

-but as it turns out even when it looks like boy and walks like a boy and talks like a boy and fights like a boy if it doesnt have that penis™️

-well

-so this is why i [hc] that jfm resents and dislikes and invalidates jc because he doesnt......see him as his actual son

-like thats why hes always secondguessing and calling him out and pointing things out and commenting on him like......he doesnt do those things to yanli bc theres. o point yanli does whats required of her and also she doesnt Really Matter but jc unfortunaltely does matter and jfm resents that a vagina could be an heir and yzy knows it and knows her husband never respected her even though shes canonically lauded as a cultivator....and knows that the only reason he validated™️ csr is bc he was fluffing her up bc he wanted to marry her....not bc he wanted a cultivation partner but bc he wanted a Wife™️

-well yzy is no mans Wife™️ so she does her Absolute Best to ensure that jc is qualified (and he is!!!!!)

-except enter wwx and all that scheming goes out the window bc now jfm has found not only an actual (re: had penis) son but csr'ssss son and he now plots to put him in front of jc even going so far as to imply that they could somehow untrans him by ~revealing~~ that oopsies he was Actually A Girl the entire time hehe but now she'lllll be married to the successor Mr. Wei so its k now

-!!!!!!

-yzy: *~~~zidian~~~* -jfm: *muffled broken screams of a man being beaten by a woman* -so blah blah blah ppl dying etc blah

-after everyones dead and wwxs gone.....jc just......was never really asked by anyone not even yanli if he was ok with any of this he just kinda said well i still have long hair the clothes are more comfortable i still wanna cultivate does it matter whats in my pants???? its all baggy anyways whos business is it! *classic jc glare* -so besides the (now very dead) wen no one knows or at the very least they pretend like they dont so its realy never an issue

-jc feels fine it doesnt feel forced the only problem was that he knows it was never meant for him and that no matter how good he got........someone with a penis was always going to be better

[thewhitehairedwitchgirl]

I just read part of a fic that claimed to be writing a more "critical" version of Jiang Cheng, and I'm usually wary of such because when ppl say they're going to be "critical" of JC (or indeed any character) they usually mean they're going to turn him into YZY 2.0 with no redeeming qualities aside from being the absolute worst version of himself 24/7. Every JC/Jiang Bashing fic I've ever read is just the most one dimensional portrayal of MXTX's extremely complex characters, even if the author has to make up crimes and drama that actively contradict canon traits (rip yanli)

And that's fine. It's fanfiction. You're allowed to write whatever you want and if readers don't like it the exit button is free. However, it just irks me because I don't even really like JC and some of these portrayals make me want to defend this man in court.

For one, branding him as a mass murderer for being at the siege. Okay sure, but in that case so is literally everyone who persecuted the Wen Remnants even if only through wilful ignorance and passive allowance. The Lans, the Nies, and every minor sect. Yet why does LXC get a pass when he also was involved with the death and slaughter of the Wens? The primary message of the book was the dangers of mob mentality tyranny, and that all the great clans and leaders were at fault.

I see JC as a victim. As a child he was punished for acting familiarly with WWX while also punished for not being as skilled. Then as an adult he witnessed the death of his entire family and sect, and lashed out badly. Yet why is that his sole defining character moment? As if he didn't spent the end of the war wanting to protect his family, INCLUDING WWX. Of course he blamed WWX for Lotus Pier burning. Everyone did, including the Wens. They were obviously always going to attack, but WWX was a convenient scapegoat.

I won't pretend their relationship was healthy, but it also wasn't monstrously abusive. The reason JC lost his core was because he was trying to protect WWX from a patrol of Wen soldiers. Even after their fight, JC still snuck JYL into the city to see WWX and was the one who suggested that WWX be the one to choose the baby's courtesy name. It's explicitly stated that a lot of the reason their relationship went so sour was because the other sects (namely the Jins) manipulated/preyed on his insecurities.

TLDR: stop making me defend this man.

[lansplaining]

Protagonist-centric readers will do anything but admit that their MCs did lie and impact other characters' decisions. It's not the side-characters fault that they did not know the whole truth because *drum roll* they weren't told anything and/or was deliberately lied to.

LQQ being hated bc he impaled XL in a coffin for a long time but like... XL admitted to killing the King of Yong'an and committing the bloody massacre so what was LQQ supposed to do? Sit down and ask his Guoshi for the truth when we know damn well XL will just continue to admit to it? XL didn't want to tell LQQ the truth to protect LQQ and the two groups of people, and that's completely admirable, but what LQQ saw was his Guoshi stabbing a sword through his father's chest and admitting to everything so him reacting the way he did was completely valid. The single act of killing the king was treason 100x already, and as the son of the king, LQQ's reaction was not out of the ordinary. we don't want XL to suffer and be even more traumatized, but XL already knew that the consequences wouldn't be pretty and lied anyway. idk why fans can't grasp that.

Or for JC's case, HE IS LITERALLY THE ONE PERSON ALIVE IN THE ENTIRE WORLD WHO ACTUALLY DESERVES SOME KIND OF EXPLANATION FROM WWX HIMSELF, THE MAN WHO ACCIDENTALLY CAUSED WN TO KILL JXZ AND INDIRECTLY KILLED JYL DESPITE CLAIMING THAT HE HAD EVERYTHING UNDER CONTROL. These two aren't strangers to JC at all; they're his sister and his brother-in-law, or more importantly, his sister's beloved husband and father of his nephew. He deserves to be angry and bitter at the one person who did all that, and there is no time limit for how long he should remain bitter and angry about it. The GCT was a whole mess and they both made HUGE sacrifices out of love but the only one whose sacrifice is made invalid is JC because one, it was short-lived and two, they already didn't like JC so no matter what he does for WWX, it will be seen as something negative.

I don't even want to get into the hell-hole regarding LXC but... damn...

the revelations after a character found out the truth should be "oh man, so that's what really happened" not "this character was a dick because they didn't know about the major sacrifice the MC made for them that would only be revealed many years later, and it's not even voluntary because someone else told the truth, not the MC themself"

I'm not the first nor am I the last person to say this but a protagonist is just a character we see, mainly, from their POV or the character that we follow the story through. That's all there is to it. I feel like a lot of danmei readers have yet to read a variety of stories about an MC that's completely shit but serves to tell a story just as important and interesting.

okay, first of all-- people hate LQQ?? The sweetest, most violent himbo of all????????????? even Xie Lian doesn't hate him for what he did??????

i have nothing to say to such people

i'll be honest, it is really only relatively recently that i've fully come to realise how completely Jiang Cheng deserves an explanation or even just acknowledgement of any kind from Wei Wuxian, and how cowardly and selfish it is that Wei Wuxian refuses to give it. and I say this with a heart full of love for WWX-- he is dealing with Some Trauma (tm) but that doesn't mean his refusal to even speak to JC isn't hurtful and unfair, even if it's what he needs... but man everyone in fandom and fanworks is focused on WWX taking what he needs in this situation and not even remotely considering that just maybe he also justifiably owes something to someone he harmed and who he supposedly (formerly?) cared about (i think he still cares)

the lan xichen thing is literally inexplicable to me and i will never understand it

[flowersdiceandlove]

Something I’ve noticed I have fun doing in writing fanfics is come up with an au but then follow scenes in canon. What this means is, I’ll take the dialogue from canon, but try and figure out, given the new circumstances I’ve made, why the characters are still saying these lines and why they're still taking these same actions.

A good example of this is a zhanchengxian fic I've been working on where zhancheng get married during WWX's 13 years mia, but it still follows the events of canon pretty much exactly until the end where they all get together. The mental gymnastics I had to go through to figure out why Jiang Cheng is still acting the way he is and does the things he does that he did in canon but with the fact that he's married to LWJ in a secure relationship and they have a kid together was fun. Like, zhancheng are committed to each other, but LWJ still goes off with WWX just the two of them (and WN, but WN doesn't really count bc he's just designated-third-wheel/hiding a lot). Like, LWJ is dedicated to JC in the way he is to WWX, and throughout the whole thing LWJ and JC are penpals (ie LWJ sending his overthinking husband letters so he doesn't overthink and spiral).

It took me forever to figure out how to write the scene on Dafan Mountain where LWJ and JC fight and JC is acting all pissy. Then it hit me. LWJ was traveling with the Lan disciples and has been since at least Mo Manor which was a couple days ago at least (book canon). Jiang Cheng's pissed bc his husband's been away for too long!! Duh! Their little daughter has been asking where her other dad is! Of course, Jiang Cheng's going to be mad at his husband for being gone so long.

Then I also had to figure out which pov to write this scene from to make it clear to the reader that this is why JC's mad and fighting with LWJ. Like, from WWX's pov, it's pretty much the same as in the novel, but everyone else is confused bc these two are literally the cultivation world's Power Couple. So, I could write it from outside pov and have everyone just confused and hint at JC's reasons, but I want it clear why JC's mad. Jin Ling and Lan Sizhui have a better chance at knowing why their uncles/dads are fighting all out, but still don't know the context of WWX/MXY other than what's surface. Then that leaves either JC or LWJ bc they have silent conversations and both know What's Up.

I do think I need to take a break from that scene were WWX returns from the Burial Mounds after 3 months bc there's only so many times I can rework a scene across multiple fanfics until I get to the point where I'm like "Arghhhh! Just get on with it already!" and I flip over to paragraph summaries of What Happened until I get to the divergence part of canon divergence.

In conclusion, the mental gymnastics can be tiring, but they're also fun.