#and I still think he was playing up his behavior so lxc would fall in love w him giving them a fake starcrossed lovers dynamic

[llycaons]

shipping lxc w the guy who used him to murder his best friend is dubious enough but shipping him w the guy who hates his guts once he really gets to know him and them is murdered BY him is kind of hilariously obtuse

[laryna6]

There was some meta re novel!JYL and WQ being too perfect, which would seem to fall into a type of misogynistic portrayal of female charas where either you’re inhumanly perfect or you’re a ‘whore’ for having one (1) human flaw, but in MXTX’s defense that may have been a deliberate authorial choice to defend charas who could have been seen as potential threats to the OTP from readers’ hate (see the ‘I hate this female chara’ chara bashing of years ago in the English fandom and to this day published!slash authors are getting told not to include female characters because of the amount of undeserved reader hate they can get for existing in proximity to the men). 

However, that did make me think: how would you flaw JYL while still making her JYL and like something just stormed into my head immediately: 

Make her unfilial

A major flaw in Chinese culture, but like. Nobody is that kind unless they’ve been wounded and where did JYL get her awareness, at a young age, of the amount of love JC and WWX are going to need to try to make up for the damage their parents are doing to them? She’s the eldest, she’s the one JF and YZ would have fucked up first and worst. 

Her parenting JC and WWX is easily explained by her wanting someone to do for them what no one did for her. Not after she was poor at cultivation and a disappointment to her parents, and you can easily imagine that JC was conceived after JYL was told she was fail as a second attempt at a heir and probably YZ being glare at JYL because now she has to sleep with JF again because JYL sucks.

A JYL who is open about how she’s not letting her parents did to these two what they did to her.

So, you know, a JYL who TELLS her parents that they suck ass, who flips the table when they play JC and WWX against each other bc their own issues, who spends hours and hours kneeling in the ancestral hall as punishment. Who gets the discipline whip as often as WWX. Who shames the Jiang and Yu families for being so unfilial as well as a fail cultivator. 

Who has JC and WWX going ‘Shijie, shijie, our parents did Some Bullshit again, Do Not Throw Down, for the love of gods you don’t want you getting in trouble bc you love us!’ JC and WWX trying to drag JYL away. WWX who goes ‘shit I can’t afford to let myself get hurt Shijie will GO APESHIT’ and realizing that Shijie gets in trouble sometimes to distract JF and YZ from WWX and JC... A JYL who is ‘oh no, all our poor shidi’ after the Lotus Pier attack and the bros sweatdropping at the unspoken ‘but at least the Wen weren’t Totally Fucking Useless’ and then the ‘Oh my gods mom you piece of shit! The last fucking thing you did on this earth was whip a-Xian and send him into battle wounded!? Fucking typical! A-xian poor baby, let me make you soup~’

A JZX who makes doe eyes at this utterly unsuitable wife bc ‘wow... I Wish That Were Me.’ NMJ, who had to defend NHS from his dad after qi deviation, is ‘can relate.’ LXC will not consciously realize that he admires her not just for her protection of her sibs but bc he wishes he could throw down with his parents for the damage they do to LWJ and LQR. Also JYL going *smile’ that clearly translates as ‘wow it sucks when your father is a literal piece of shit can relate’ at Meng Yao - even better if JYL’s openness about the concept that ‘sometimes parents suck and don’t deserve anyone’s loyalty’ makes Meng Yao realize that JGS is not worthy.

NHS wondering why JYL is supposed to constantly be doing cultivation and sword practice despite having shit potential like him. WWX and JC NOT saying that it’s because when JYL told her parents to stop treating JC and WWX that way or she’d beat the shit out of them they LOLd at the weakling/failure being a threat to them.

JYL is Determined! One day. ONE DAY it will be a credible threat. (one day she will be able to make them stop treating all of them this way)

Nursemaid scolding JYL going ‘stop you’re bringing shame on the Jiang and Yu families’ and her going ‘GOOD their behavior is shameful and whatever gives them motivation to knock it the fuck off’ 

Like, this started as ‘a change to novel characterization’ but in an actual fic you’d probably have JYL’s higher cultivation let her survive her death

JYL with muscles (which are a sign of weak cultivation bc normally your cultivation makes the lifting easy). NMJ considering marrying her because A++ defender of little brothers and when NMJ goes crazy due to qi deviation he could count on her to not let him hurt their kids.

[trensu]

Wangxian thought: if lan zhan manged to stop wei wuxian from falling using his bounding or binding tailsman.

i really wish we had been able to see wwx use that particular talisman more. it seems so useful! you’d think it would’ve survived him like the spirit attraction flags did.

Anyway, so lets say that lwj used that to catch wwx. wwx tried to dislodge him but lwj isn’t having it so now he’s hanging from the cliff by lwj’s binding. jiang cheng is still there tho, wracked with grief and transmuting that grief into rage bc rage is much easier to manage. lwj is still carrying the weight of wwx and they’re still on that unsteady cliff.

realistically at that point i’m pretty sure jc would’ve have just shoved lwj off the cliff and be done with the both of them bc jc is in pain and alone and very much not in the best state of mind.

but lets say that didn’t happen. somehow lwj manages to pull wwx back up with the binding. wwx is still in distress over losing jyl, lwj is still in a panic after nearly losing wwx and suddenly acquiring a toddler whose family name is enough to condemn him to death. they are still surrounded by cultivators that all want wwx dead.

...so it’s not the best situation. Maybe they flee to the burial mounds together.

tbh anon, i don’t see this scenario playing out happily for either of them.

wwx would probably hate lwj for saving him. wwx did NOT want to live at that point. lwj still hasn’t made that journey to understanding the world in shades of gray rather than black and white. a-yuan is a traumatized, malnourished, sickly toddler. the three of them are stuck in a cave together in the middle of a mass grave site surrounded by enemies.

lwj would want to take them back to gusu. if wwx didn’t resent him before for saving him, he would outright hate him at this point for not only saving him but also effectively imprisoning him. lwj would focus all his energy on “fixing” wwx rather than seeing the flaws in the system of the cultivation world. i don’t think a-yuan would have survived.

look, as upsetting and traumatic as wwx’s death is (I LOVE MY SUNSHINE BOY AND I WANT ONLY GOOD THINGS FOR HIM ALWAYS), i really truly believe that without it, lwj would not be the honorable hero of the people we know and love. remember that wwx is the one who starts to show him that the world can’t just be divided between “good” and “evil.” And we see him try to puzzle this out when he asks his brother “are there rules already set for everything in the world?” Lxc does confirm that gray areas are a thing.

But we’ve seen how lxc handles moral ambiguity. Lwj would’ve mimicked this behavior, in a world where wwx doesn’t die. after all, the cultivators were right. wwx did lose control. wwx is overcome by resentment (if his angry venomous words at being trapped in gusu are to be believed). lots of people died bc of this. i don’t think lwj would’ve looked much deeper into the morass if it weren’t for the grief and loss and isolation he endured bc of wwx’s death.

and bc he doesn’t have that growth, bc wwx is trapped and overcome by grief and anger, i’m not even sure if wangxian would’ve happened. or if it did, i’m not sure it would’ve been a particularly healthy or wholesome relationship.

[trensu]

Episode 25: The One where They Frolic in the Forest but like, Sad This Time

Okay folks, buckle up bc this one has a lot of Hetero Drama and Stupid Plot Things

But look!! I’ve made it to the halfway point of the show!! I’m so proud of myself

We’re gonna skip as much of that as possible

BUT this one has some EPIC moments to make up for it

We start at Lotus Pier

Stuff’s happening that we’re not interested in 

except for how our resident Disaster Het jzx comes by to invite the jiang clan to the jin clan’s awesome sleepover with sweet sweet party games

Plot plot plot

WE’RE AT AN ARCHERY COMPETITION!!

I guess that’s how they open sleepovers in Ancient Fantasy China?

LWJ AND WWX ARE STANDING NEXT TO EACH OTHER

OUR BOYS ARE SHARING SCREEN TIME!! WITHOUT HURTING US!!!

Blegh, jgy is talking

And here the jin clan bring out their wen prisoners bc they think it’s fun to place them in front of the targets??? anD THEY GET AWAY WITH IT??

THEY DID THIS IN FRONT OF BASICALLY THE ENTIRE CULTIVATION WORLD AND NOBODY SAID ANYTHING!!

I WILL NEVER BE OVER THIS

WTF IS WRONG WITH THEM

Wwx at least tried to protest but jc shut him down, bc their clan really isn’t strong enough to stir up trouble rn 

BUT THERE WERE PLENTY OF PEOPLE IN MORE SECURE, POWERFUL POSITIONS THAT COULD HAVE SAID SOMETHING

I’M LOOKING AT YOU, LXC. WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE LAN CLAN MOTTO, HUH?? WHAT HAPPENED TO RIGHTEOUSNESS???

*takes a deep breath*

Okay, okay

I’m calm, i’m cool

So that happened

Jzx tries to show off by shooting an arrow and getting a bullseye without hitting any of the prisoners

And wwx sees this and is like, hmmmm, i can humiliate jzx AND discreetly protect the wen prisoners!!! (and give the audience a bite of wangxiantics)

Wwx: lan zhan, do me a favor

Lwj: what’s the matter?

Wwx: can i borrow your forehead ribbon?

CAN I BORROW YOUR FOREHEAD RIBBON

THE SPECIAL ONE THAT NO ONE BUT FAMILY AND SPOUSES CAN TOUCH

I JUST WANT TO BORROW IT IN PUBLIC WHERE EVERYONE CAN SEE. NBD

Lwj just stares at him in response and wwx sulks but doesn’t push it

(lol, jc sees that go down and is just completely exasperated, like, one day, can we get one day when you don’t OVERTLY FLIRT WITH LWJ in front of EVERYONE??)

(the answer is no. no, he cannot do that, jc)

(he’s not allowed to not flirt with lwj)

Since he couldn’t get the super special forehead ribbon, he uses one of his own wrist ribbon things to blindfold himself

Please take a moment to appreciate the fact thAT HE WAS GONNA USE THE SACRED FOREHEAD RIBBON TO BLINDFOLD HIMSELF, THE KINKY BASTARD

Wwx: nbd nbd, imma just shoot 5 arrows whilst blindfolded and hit every bullseye there is WITHOUT harming any of these innocent war victims.

It’s all in the twirl, baby

He does a Dramatic Twirl, Smirks™ and then releases those arrows like nothing

And afterwards he has this proud little grin on his face bc hell yeah, he just owned jzx’s smug ass AND prevented any harm from falling on innocent people

Also, LOL, NMJ’S REACTION TO THIS WAS GREAT

He sees wwx be a badass with a bow and arrow and immediately turns to lxc next to him with an expression like HOLY FUCKING SHIT, DID YOU SEE THAT, THAT WAS AWESOME and starts clapping like a madman

For future reference, this is the correct response to wwx all the time, I’M SO PROUD OF YOU BB

After all that, wwx struts back to stand next to lwj and gives him a proud little smile. It’s so cute, so cute.

Jgy is talking again BLEGH

Now we’re in the forest!! For hunting reasons!!

Wwx makes himself comfy by a tree and plays Magic Music on his demon flute and is all pretty while doing it and supposedly gets all this prey to jump into Jiang nets

we never actually see this happen but everyone says it happened and who am i to argue?

(actually i like to argue one-sidedly at the screen a lot but this was not important enough so whatever)

Also, side note, jc is KILLIN IT with his fashion choices in this ep. LOOKIN GOOD BRO

But we don’t care about any of this 

We care that WWX SUDDENLY SPOTS LWJ WALKING ALL ALONE IN THE FOREST AND HIS WHOLE ENTIRE FACE LIGHTS UP LIKE THE FREAKING SUN BC HE’S SO HAPPY TO SEE HIS SOULMATE

IT’S SO BEAUTIFUL

And then it gets sad. Sad times in the forest :(

Wwx was totally making a move to get lwj’s attention but he stops himself

Bc he remembers the conversation he had with lxc about how the ones he cares about can be hurt by his decisions

Thank goodness lwj notices him back

Wwx looks so surprised but also pleased the lwj sees him

And ofc lwj does not hesitate to go to wwx

BC THEY LOVE EACH OTHER AND ARE SOULMATES

Wwx: hey lan zhan, i heard you got tired of writing out the Lan Fam Rules~!

He’s happily engaging him in conversation!! He’s trying to tease him again!

Too bad lwj does not go along with it

This whole “let’s ruin wwx’s attempts for pleasant conversation by bringing up sad things” is getting really old lwj, stop that

Lwj: i made some progress in composing the music score and i’d like to share it with you to see if it works

eXCuSe mE??

HE’S BEEN WRITING MAGIC MUSIC FOR WWX??

HOW THE HELL DID I MISS THIS BEFORE??

I THOUGHT HE WAS JUST LEARNING FORBIDDEN MAGIC MUSIC, NOT CREATING MAGIC MUSIC FROM SCRATCH SPECIFICALLY FOR WWX

HE LOVES HIM SO MUCHHHH

Wwx: lan wangji, lan wangji

Noooo he’s reverted to calling him formally!!

And his tone went all flat!!

DON’T DO THAT

Wwx: who do you take me for? Why can’t you leave me alone?

DON’T SAY THAT

WHY ARE YOU SAYING THAT

YOU DON’T WANT HIM TO LEAVE YOU ALONE

STOP HURTING ME LWJ LIKE THIS

The minute wwx asks him that, lwj lowers his gaze when previously he had his eyes glued to wwx’s face the whole time

Bc WWX JUST STABBED HIM IN THE HEART WITH HIS WORDS

Lwj: who do you take me for?

He says all somberly, STILL NOT LOOKING AT WWX

Oh god, their faces are breaking my heart

After lwj says that, wwx stares at him for a long moment before canting his eyes to the side AND THEY LOOK KIND OF TEARY??

I THINK??

THAT MAY JUST BE MY TEARS

SOMEWHERE, TEARS ARE INVOLVED

Wwx: i once treated you as my lifelong confidant (AKA SOULMATE)

Lwj: i still am

*SOBBING*

~THEIR SONG~ IS PLAYING IN THE BACKGROUND

THEY’RE STARING AT EACH OTHER WITH SO MUCH FEELING

I WANT TO TEAR MY FACE OFF

Aaaaand the moment’s interrupted bc of stupid jzx and his Hetero Drama

Wwx hears someone approaching and he grabs lwj by the arm and drags him to a hiding spot where they can spy on jzx who just appeared with jyl

You know, i love how whenever wwx grabs lwj to drag him somewhere we get a bit of slo-mo stuff to, i guess, emphasize wwx is touching lwj or something

Not that we need the emphasis

It’s not like we’re not already hyper-aware of their EVERY INTERACTION

So now we get to watch wwx and lwj spy jzx and jyl

Lol, i wonder what lwj is thinking

Does he watch this and sympathize? Does he get secondhand embarrassment bc he knows he doesn’t do any better expressing his feelings to his soulmate??

I can’t imagine he has any actual interest in spying on Disaster Het jzx

Lwj is a Disaster Gay 

There can only be so much Disaster at a time, y’know?

or maybe he’s just thinking OMG WWX TOUCHED ME OMG WWX IS SO CLOSE

yeah, that’s probably it

Okay, there’s Hetero Drama going down 

Blah blah blah

BUT WAIT, jzx just made jyl tear up AGAIN

Wwx is all ready to tear jzx a new one but lwj holds him back before he could give away their location

Like, if asked, i’m sure lwj would say “oh, i stopped him to avoid an inter-clan incident” or whatever

But his REAL reason for holding him back was bc he was enjoying have wwx so physically close to him again

While secluded in a hidden spot

I mean, there’s less than a foot of space between them

I wouldn’t be so eager to give that up if i had wwx that close to me either

But lwj can’t hold him back for long bc jzx does another douchebaggy thing and wwx has had Enough

Wwx goes to defend his sister BC NO ONE IS ALLOWED TO MAKE JYL SAD, OKAY?

Wwx and jzx argue and then jzx draws his sword and takes a swing at wwx!!

SO OFC LWJ SWOOPS IN AND PARRIES THE BLOW

Lol jzx is so confused as to why lwj is there suddenly

You just tried attacking his soulmate, bro

what did you think was gonna happen

Ugh more Hetero Drama

Gotta say, i do enjoy watching jzx get scolded by his mother

Asshole cousin starts stirring up trouble and throwing a hissy fit about how wwx used his demon flute to catch 30% of the prey and how it’s Dishonorable and Cheating behavior

Lwj turns to wwx for a moment here and is like “30%??” idk if he’s impressed or concerned here.

Maybe both

Lwj gets a lot of Feelings around wwx, okay?

Lol, while asshole cousin is ranting, wwx turns his back on him to look at lwj

Wwx: oh, lan zhan, i didn’t thank you earlier for blocking that attack for me! Thank you~!

WHAT A POWER MOVE

HE GETS TO INSULT ASSHOLE COUSIN AND STARE AT HIS SOULMATE’S BEAUTIFUL BEAUTIFUL FACE

WIN-WIN

Wwx is holding it together until asshole cousin accuses the jiang clan of having a corrupt or weak family or smth?

Then he starts getting all twitchy the way he does when Resentment kicks in

Asshole cousin continues to goad him and wwx starts to reach for his demon flute

Lwj flies to his side and grabs his arm!

Lwj: wei ying, concentrate. Wei ying, concentrate.

(wwx has a knack for making lwj repeat himself)

Jyl joins him to help wwx calm down

And now we take a break from wangxiantics for BADASS JYL TIME

Jyl goes and apologizes all sweetly to everyone for wwx’s supposedly rude behavior or whatever

And then turns to asshole cousin

Jyl: i might not know much about hunts, but i know there’s never been a rule about catching too much prey

DAAAAMN, GIRL

Jyl: it’s not his fault you can’t hunt prey. He used a different method that he worked hard to learn

Jyl: FURTHERMORE, you called him the son of a servant when he is my dear little brother

Jyl: so i would like for you to apologize to wwx

JYL IS THE GREATEST SISTER IN THE WORLD

Madam jin is like, ah, it’s not that big of a deal, let the boys squabble 

And jyl shuts that down by telling her that wwx is family, an insult to him is not a trivial matter for her

GOD I LOVE HER SO MUCH

Blah blah plot blah blah jzx is a Disaster Het in front of Witnesses blah blah 

Gross, sect leader yao goes off on a rant

We’re gonna ignore him

We cut to wwx downing a jar of wine in the middle of town 

*sigh* i don’t even know why i bother telling him off at this point, he’s obviously not worried at all about alcoholism

Ooooh, and now we’re getting Lan Bro time. Very wangxiantic lan bro time

Lxc: lwj, i can tell you’re worried about something. What is it?

Lwj: …

Lwj: lxc, i..i want to bring a man to Cloud Recesses

(guys, the ellipses here actually happened. We actually hear lwj do a start-stop on his sentence)

(THIS FROM A GUY WHO DOESN’T SPEAK MUCH BUT WHEN HE DOES SPEAK, SOUNDS LIKE A PRINCE)

(Our boy is Overcome with Feeling rn)

Lxc: bring a man back to Cloud Recesses?

Lwj: bring him back…and hide him there.

Lxc: hide him?

Lwj: …

Lxc: he may be unwilling to go, right?

LXC KNOWS WHATS UP BC THERE’S ONLY ONE MAN WHO HAS EVER AFFECTED HIS LITTLE BROTHER THIS WAY

Lwj stays silent here, and the lan bros manfully stare off to the distance

(I like to pretend that here lxc starts coming up with elaborate kidnapping plots bc he wants his lil bro to be happy and that’s only happening if he drags wwx back to their home)

(i mean, locking up your soulmate against their will is a Lan family tradition, isn’t it??)

AND THAT’S WHERE IT ENDS

THIS SHOW DOESN’T PULL ITS PUNCHES, DOES IT?

This forest frolic was not nearly as fun as the last one :(

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