#baby lwj is crushing hard

[winepresswrath]

sudden yearning for time travelling teen jiang fengmian lands at lotus pier fic that winds up being about a perfectly nice kid having a varying series of "oh no. i don't like that. that's a lot" reactions.

[symphonyofsilence]

Jin Ling & his Xiao Shushu appreciation, 'cause I don't see enough of it.

Remember that Jin Ling avoided LWJ like plague 'cause he was scared of him shitless, to the point that when WWX fake called Hanguang-Jun he ran without even looking back literally seconds after WWX pulled the same trick on him with JC 'cause he didn't want to risk looking back just in case it was actually HGJ, but he stood against Hanguang-Jun AND sect leader Lan when he thought they were invading his Xiao Shushu's room? Only Jiggy's own intervention made him back down.

& IDK maybe the reason Jin Ling was there at that time was that it was the family section. But since Fairy wasn't with him, maybe he was visiting his uncle. & I find it hard to imagine, like, say, WWX visiting Jiang Fengmian or Lan Sizhui visiting Zewu-Jun or the Lan brothers visiting Lan Qiren in the middle of the night in their private chambers unless something very important has happened. I think according to the standards of their time, they must have been very close for this visit to happen.

Running to Xiao Shushu 'cause JiuJiu is angry with him & adorably hiding behind him 'cause Xiao Shushu spoils him.

Defending Xiao Shushu and having a firm belief that whatever he says is for Jin Ling's own good even in the face of his cool uncle after the rush of winning a fight against a group of his all-time bullies.

Still using the affectionate term "Xiao Shushu"even when confronting him about why would he kill his father, begging him to "say something". Give him anything to make it a little bit less painful.

Jiggy wanting to comfort Jin Ling even when he's crying because he just realized that Jiggy has killed his father.

Jin Ling looking so hurt when Jiggy says that JGS didn't let him hold Jin Ling as though he can't imagine a world in which his uncle is not allowed to hold him. Not being allowed to hold JL being a notable part of JGY's villain origin story.

Jiggy pushing Jin Ling out of danger.

Jin Ling screaming for Jiggy to run even after Jiggy took him hostage. And all the other shit.

(It's worth mentioning that in the books, Jiggy doesn't push JL out of danger and JL still screams for him to run, and he still calls him uncle instead of Sect Leader as he does in the show. It's also worth mentioning that the show made some stunning choices in the Guaniyn temple scene regardimg JGY & JL. As half of the things I'm saying about that scene here only happened in the show.)

Jiggy looking so worried as Wen Ning goes towards JL even though he himself has lost an arm and is bleeding to death. And only looking relieved when Wen Ning holds the blade.

Jin Ling being scarred for life here. Oh my poor, poor baby.

With much difficulty, he coughed up some blood. Everyone present heard a crack that was abnormally clear and brutal.

A whimper of a last breath left Jin GuangYao's throat.

Jin Ling's shoulders shivered. He shut his eyes and covered his ears, too afraid to keep watching and listening.

And my favorite scene that emotionally crushed me: Jin Ling remembering when his uncle gave him little Fairy & mourning his uncle & becoming the hero of the nation who finally told Sect Leader Yao to kindly go fuck himself. 'Cause he told him that his uncle was not worth his tears. Jin Ling thinking that they wouldn't dare to tell him such bullshits if his uncle were still alive. Baby Jin Ling feeling so comfortable around the sect leader and the Chief Cultivator that he could break things beside his feet and scream at him, and his uncle just understanding that he needs to leave him alone at that moment, his Xiao Shushu being the only one who could comfort him and make him happy at that point, his Xiao Shushu giving him his spiritual dog & one of his rare actual, geniune smiles that was so warm & kind that Jin Ling remembers to that day, this happy memory being the one that Jin Ling remembers Jiggy with after all the things he learnt in the span of two days. Him acknowledging that Jiggy's love for him was geniune and real & still choosing to continiue to love his uncle despite everything. Him learning that he can't really resent JGY, WWX or WN 'cause though they gave him reasons for that, they also gave him reasons against that. They gave him reasons to love them. And why choose hate when you can...not choose that. Him breaking a cycle of hate that few of the adults of the story did not drown in. And it must mostly be Jiang Yanli's legacy, but it also proves that Jiang Cheng & Jin Guangyao, despite their own numerous issues did something right raising such a child. He feels so secure in their love. And he's right in that feeling.

[murfeelee]

CQL/MDZS INSP Kemonomimi AU: Rise and Shine! (V2)

CAPTIONS AS TEXT

- One morning in Pagoda Isles…. - As usual, Lan WangJi rises promptly before dawn, to start his daily routine. - Ah, refreshing yoga and meditation! - LWJ's oldest son, Lan SiZhui, is a dutiful child; who wakes early and is dressed and ready for another day at school. LWJ tells LSZ that his breakfast is warm and waiting for him. And his baba packed his school lunch last night. - LWJ's husband, Wei WuXian, is not a morning person by any means, and eventually claws his way out of bed, looking for kisses from his Cultivation Partner and their children. "Where are my little radishes~?" - After LSZ finishes his breakfast, he goes upstairs to wait for the school bus. - LWJ looks around his sons' bedroom--especially LSZ's unmade bed--and sighs. He knows he should make the boy clean up his own mess, but he's weak and proud of it! - WWX and LSZ bond over a few rounds of video games, before the school bus horn finally sounds downstairs. - LSZ kisses his parents and baby brother goodbye, and rushes to the bus to begin a new adventure for the day. "Bye Baba! Bye Papa!" Baba WWX calls out, "Have a good day at school, Radish!" Papa LWJ says "Mn. Be good for your teachers, Baobei." - WWX needs to get to work soon, so LWJ takes their baby boy A-Yuan downstairs with him to his music room. - The sound of AY giggling as he bashes away at his xylophone is music to LWJ's ears. - Meanwhile, WWX enters his studio. He'd warmed up with his son, but now he was ready to CRUSH it. His title as a professional competitive gamer and streamer depended on it! - "Welcome to my channel, this is the Yiling Laozu! Get Good, or die trying!" - Over-reactor streamer! Work hard, and play harder!

MY THOUGHTS & CC CREDITS

MY THOUGHTS

I've been veeeeery slowly working on this gameplay alongside my regular Untamed/MDZS gameplay. There's a billion WangXian fanfics/fanarts with dragon!LWJ, huli-jing!WWX, or bunny!LSZ/AY, so I kinda blended those AUs together--don't ask how a dragon and a fox create rabbit children--when you've Cultivated to immortality, anything's possible! 😅

I also wanted A-Yuan & Lan Sizhui to be 2 separate kids, so I could play with different ages. I've teased LSZ in my other MDZS posts/preview pics, but this is the first time I've shown him and A-Yuan.

In my Kemonomimi/Modern AU, WangXian left Shang Simla to live in Pagoda Isles with their kids. LWJ is a world famous concert pianist & qin player; and WWX's a full-time videogame streamer.

CC CREDITS

Pagoda Isle world (X); I gutted the interior of one of the lots.

I used SO many mods by @twinsimming and @thesweetsimmer111--thank y'all for all the amazing improvements to TS3!

I have like every TSS mod installed; I'm not even sure what does what anymore, LOL.

LWJ was using Twin's Yoga mod, and WWX was using their Livestreaming & Videogame mod, with @martassimsbookcc's Get Famous conversion set.

Also, shoutout to this adorable Anime Clouds mod at MTS!

[llycaons]

ep24 (pt3): sibling time <3

this line makes me go insane...she doesn't even know what she said with this

jyl doesn't come up in fics enough for me to gauge how she's written during this time period, but let it be known that she openly speaks about jc's bad temper

the fact that I mostly read postcanon stuff or AUs is the reason for that, btw. I don't like, avoid reading about her. I just don't read much fic in this time period, at all. I just think it's all far too well-done to bother with fic. the closest I got was a few where wwx and lwj get together earlier and none of them are better than canon. also nobody seems interested in exploring her canon character during this arc, it's all 'badass clan leader jyl with zidian' and such

this is the second time he says this 😭

HE'S HUNGRY! this is maybe the first time THIS shorthand comes up, and jyl knows it! she doesn't immediately run off and get food, she stays with him and plays around and offers him comfort and affection in ways that are easy for him to accept. vulnerability and asking for affection is really hard for wwx given his personality, his interpersonal dynamics with others, and his status in the sect. but he knows he can tell his sister he's hungry and she'll play along with him and shower him in love. ough

I kind of wish they had left her response out...it looked like she know what was going on with lwj but this makes it look like she has no idea

REGARDLESS. regardless. wwx's reluctance to pursue his feelings or even acknowledge them is very in-line with his characterization, especially right now. this isn't a crush who's fun to tease anymore, it's about real, serious feelings that he's attempting to distance himself from because he knows he can't act on them. or looking at it another way, he's scared of getting further in because he values his freedom and connections with others brings with them obligations. so. final scene wwx leaving extremely important thematically and character-wise and shows tremendous growth on lwj's part, and wwx's excited reunion with lwj at the end shows that even after taking his freedom, he's still eager to start his life with lwj because he came to terms with loving him and is no longer afraid...

oh this was just so silly. jyl you goof. this is such big sister baby sibling joking around

this is also really funny. their banter here is SO good, god I truly get why ppl are obsessed with them. when they're not on the outs, they have a great dynamic and are on the same page about almost everything

literally one of the funniest scenes in the show, help

so so funny, jc adjusting his collar to look more dignified and he and his siblings laughing. one of the pure scenes where nobody's being attacked or hurt, and they really are just having a good time with each other

and this was very nice of wwx

prettyyy

and this is decent communication too! hey, I have obligations here to the clan, can you behave yourself?

jc's casual acceptance of jgy's social status isn't really a surprise for anyone in his postion, but it is still kind of sad. even after being legitimized, jgy will only ever be lower than his half brother? this is something I wished was more present from the book. jc clearly judges people by their birth, but in the novel it'd explicitly clear that lwj doesn't. I don't think it came through very well tho

wwx himself was the son of a servant. how would jc have reacted if he wanted to marry a family member of the great sects? well, he does, but I mean. if you ignore everything else that makes that situation complicated...probably would never have accepted wwx leaving, and maybe would have been excited about the political benefits. MAYBE happy for wwx too, but doubtful. it takes him fully 20 years to get to a place where he can honestly wish him well

so classic of flashback wwx. tho postres he is remarkably forgiving

so true, jc. #feminism

OHHHH HIS FIRST TRANSGRESSION. breaking into the library at night for read secret books hehehe

ahh this scene <3

wwx back in a boat on LP with his sister and sect siblings, having the time of his life, realizing that maybe he can be happy after all? maybe things will be okay? maybe he can put the horrors of the past behind him and actually live? this scene is so important in his journey but it's so shortlived. it's only next episode that he meets wen qing and everything changes

personal highlights

this episode was so fucking rich. I ate well

jfm teaching young wwx how to fire an arrow

LXC AND WWX BROTHERS IN LAW CONVO!!!! there are people who care about you!! I know my brother's heart!!! wwx drinking as fast as he can trying to get out of that conversation!!!

lwj starting his long journey to totally just doing what he feels is right regardless of the rules

very sweet jyl and wwx convo

BORN WITH A SMILING FACE

very funny yunmeng sibling convo about throwing up soup and acting like a clan leader

happy ending...🥺

[yiifu]

phew just finished reading recklessness (1) & (2) of the novel and need to write some late-night thoughts down ... the buildup is excellent, i love how just within these 2 chapters so much was explored of the characters and their roles within society e.g. you have mianmian being criticised for being a female (echoing the cultivation world's condemnation of anyone with the wen surname, all that stuff about discrimination based on characteristics that a person cannot control, something which i noticed is a central theme in mdzs), jiang cheng trying to do PR damage control and the slow build up of those years of old issues that had always existed between him and wwx resurfacing again now, even exploring jin guangyao and his role in lanlingjin through the way he handles the conference, and then lwj speaking up despite not usually saying anything during conferences, even the little detail about jiang cheng pulling all-nighters everyday to keep his sect running and just on the day when he decides to retire early he gets called up for more political bullshit. also just wwx gathering all the wens and bringing them to burial mounds to start a proper life like he really just bulldozed his way through the whole situation and, in his own words, made it the precedent.

just, the amount of detail in these chapters was just really fun to read. i could understand both jiang cheng and wwx's side of the matter very clearly so much so that i don't even have a side to pick. and i think after reading the novel i kind of better understand what happened in the manhua (it was sort of disjointed at first but the novel really helps to string it all together chronologically)

now i'm at the part where jiang cheng and wwx have their duel and falling out. at first i couldn't tell if it was meant to be a sibling squabble unserious sort of duel or an actual fight duel but the outcome seems to hint at the latter. and so wwx has defected from the jiang sect - he's on his own. from here on it's only going to get messier. after reading the manhua and watching the donghua, going through this part in the novel just feels like that 'ah shit here we go again' meme like i know what's going to happen I'm just gonna be reliving it again in a diff format

edit: some screenshots since i’m finally on my laptop

man’s Tired just let him rest!!! ffs

lwj went into fkin zen mode 

ah i love this so much

this detail was so funny cos in the exr translation i thought jiang cheng actually crushed the edge of his table from how hard he was gripping it lol i was like ,,, bro u good? i know you’re a strong cultivator but just what on earth did u train with to get your grip strength to a level where you’d be capable of crushing a table edge to pieces? like, can nmj even do that?

again the exr translation was funnier i think it went something like ‘the child was lovable but unfortunately jiang cheng had no love in him’ also this is such a perfect way to show jiang cheng’s personality ... now i really wanna see his reaction to baby jin ling. the two most important men in wwx’s life - jc and lwj - do not know how to react to children upon meeting them for the first time

gdi i KNEW jiang cheng wouldn’t be so calm and genial with wwx after having come all the way to burial mounds for this the lad was probably fuming all the way up while speaking in this fake-polite voice. also jiang cheng just can’t do pretences and faking nice like jgy, he’s more of a straight-talking person and seeing him like that’s just eerily unnatural

this part sounds a lot more scarier here than in exr ... it’s the tone of voice, that little detail of him sounding indifferent that makes me realize it’s at this point that jiang cheng realizes he should have given up all hope of trying to reason with wwx. i thought the fight was like ‘oh it’s just another twin prides of yunmeng squabbling with a friendly duel’ but then the next paragraph comes and it’s actually Serious? like this is their first legit public falling out? like jiang cheng actually issues a public statement declaring wwx public enemy number one? 

there’s definitely something metaphorical (or meta) about the fact that wwx and jiang cheng have to resort to a good old fight to sort things out, and also the fact that neither of them win. like they’re locked in a stalemate. and somehow it feels like they weren’t just fighting about the decision for wwx to leave the jiang clan but also about a lot of other repressed old childhood grievances. there’s a sense that they’re not kids anymore, that what they’re fighting about aren’t simple childish things but real adult feelings and adult implications that can’t be forgotten or pushed under the carpet anymore.

but then in the next chapter wwx goes and says this:

i just got clowned by a fictional character like WHAT IS HAPPENING PEOPLE DID THEY FALL OUT OR DIDN’T THEY

you’d think this is their lowest point but nooo!! it gets worse! 

[cosmic-carpals]

i think this is interesting bc i see lxc as a sex-repulsed aroace guy who just cannot stop making friends with people who want him carnally and is in denial that they do (we know he blinds himself to things he doesn’t want to see in people he cares about). i’m imagining a post-sunshot scenario where a combination of lwj’s distress at wwx not acting normal and nmj’s annoyance at lxc valuing jgy so highly (possibly lwj’s as well, i don’t think his feelings on jgy really come up in mdzs) result in them spending more time together, which leads to a relationship. they both have to pretend very hard that they are not trying to spite lxc with it. they are also very much not telling lxc about it. because lwj and lxc look so similar, lxc would probably feel pretty violated to find out that lwj is sleeping with someone lxc really is opposed to the idea of sleeping with, and would worry that nmj was only with lwj as a placeholder for him. as it is, lxc is completely oblivious and is mostly kind of glad nmj has stopped making advances, though he’s not sure why. it’s also fun to have nmj be lwj’s first baby crush, which he forgets in favor of his feelings for wwx, but rebounds back to when wwx’s personality changes. for nmj, i think he’s always considered lwj someone he has to be nice to in order for lxc to keep liking him but hasn’t had very strong feelings about outside of lamenting that nhs should try to be more like him. i imagine you get a nice moment where nmj looks at lwj and realizes he sees more than a solemn copy of lxc. i don’t think this changes anything else in canon; i think lwj, with his firm principles, still rescues wwx, still fights his elders, and is still punished for it. nmj dies while he is secluded, and he has to grieve him alone, because no way is he tainting lxc’s memory of his best friend with that.

we've thought about nmj/lxc but has anyone else considered nmj/lwj

[stiltonbasket]

on the one hand I'm like gimme the lan wangji laugh for the soulmate au! gimme now! 🥺 on the other hand, I'm 100% here for the emotional development until then, so... I think it would be really cute if Lan Wangji is lying in bed one night in their early teens and he can feel that his soulmate has been laughing all afternoon, and so he just lies there and thinks about what is making his soulmate happy as he feels his laughter, what kind of jokes he likes, etc

Ever since Lan Wangji was a child, his soulmate has given him nothing but the purest happiness.

“A-Zhan,” his uncle used to scold, when he caught Lan Wangji dreaming about his mingding zhiren three times in a single afternoon. “Pay attention to your lessons.”

“But it’s his soulmate, Shufu!” Lan Xichen would cry, dragging the four-year-old Lan Zhan into his lap and squeezing him until he let out a half-hearted sound of protest. “His soulmate’s always laughing! A-Zhan’s going to be so happy when he grows up, I know it!”

Shufu gave a great sigh that ruffled his moustache--which always made Lan Xichen laugh, in his turn--and then gave them both yet another lecture about propriety until the gong rang for luncheon, which Lan Wangji’s soulmate spent laughing so delightedly that his heart ached with how full it was.

His mother died not long after that, and Lan Wangji’s only moments of joy in the next few years were his fated one’s, shared across the unknown distance between them day after day like tiny stars in the dark--supporting him, and warming him, and lighting Lan Wangji a path through his mourning until he found his way again.

His soulmate is laughing at this very moment, even after hai shi when all youths ought to be abed, and Lan Wangji cannot bear to close his eyes and miss a moment of her contentment.

“How do you know your soulmate is a girl, Wangji?” Lan Xichen inquired once, when he was sixteen and Lan Wangji just past twelve. “Mine isn’t.”

“But yours isn’t a--a--”

His brother only winked at him. “A lover’s bond, A-Zhan?”

If Lan Wangji were a few years younger, or only a little less disciplined, that would have made him wail out loud like a baby. “Xiongzhang! Everyone has told me that she will be a maiden, and that I will have a proper marriage like our qianbei Lan An and bring honor to our sect.”

“Do not laugh for no reason,” his Xiongzhang quoted at him. “Surely you do not think your mingding zhiren has something to laugh at nearly every minute of the day, didi. They are simply used to making joy for themselves, and for others, no matter what might be happening around them. Such a person would be told to change their ways if they lived here, so they must not be what our clan elders would expect of them.”

Lan Wangji had blinked and then bowed his head. “This brother would like to hear xiongzhang’s advice.”

Xichen only laughed again: probably delighting Nie Mingjue, wherever he was, and perhaps Nie Huaisang too. “Do not turn your soulmate away because they are not what you believed them to be,” he said gently. “When you meet them, put aside all you think you know, and learn them for what they are. Can you promise your dada that, Wangji?”

“Mn. Wangji will not fail his fated one.”

What makes you so happy? he wonders now, feeling his lips curl into a smile as he hides his face in his pillow. Do you perhaps have a brother, too, who bakes sweets for you like Xiongzhang does for me? Do you study music, and know what an accomplishment it is to play a difficult piece perfectly for the first time? Or perhaps the ones you love are happy, and their well-being pleases you so much that you cannot help but tell them so.

Inexplicably, his dreams are filled with the sound of water, and the perfume of a thousand lotus flowers: but all Lan Wangji remembers when he wakes is someone’s bold, winsome smile, and a red silk battle-flag of a ribbon flying in the wind beside his.

[robininthelabyrinth]

Prompt: what if jc was lxc's age (and jyl maybe 2 or 3 years older) and wwx was lwj's/nhs' age when he was brought to lotus pier? (Or anything that involves a much bigger age gap bw the jiang sibs and wwx - where wwx is babey)

Untamed

“You know what,” Jiang Cheng said to his sister, who looked at him. “I’ve changed my mind. I’m not marrying a woman.”

Jiang Yanli’s lips started twitching uncontrollably and she hid her smile behind her sleeve. “Oh?”

“Nope. I’m going to marry Chifeng-zun.”

“On the basis of…?”

“If you take two adult men in charge of two Great Sects,” Jiang Cheng said, doing his utmost best to keep a straight face, “with all the power we can generate between us, we might – maybe – have a chance at disciplining our baby brothers.”

Jiang Yanli burst out laughing.

“There, there. It’s all right,” he said, grinning, reaching out to pat her on the shoulder. “You can join us if you’d like. There’s enough room in Qinghe for two wives.”

“We are not both running away to Qinghe,” she said, giggling. “A-Cheng!”

“What? I think it’s a great idea. If our parents want us back, they can negotiate with Chifeng-zun for it – may they have more luck than they had with the whole medicinal herb debacle.”

“A-Cheng, I am officially tabling this idea,” Jiang Yanli said, still snorting. “Older sibling privilege.”

“I let you out of the womb first as a matter of courtesy,” Jiang Cheng sniffed. “And now you use it against me? A-Li, how could you?”

“Call me jiejie! It doesn’t matter how much older, a few shichen or a few years, older is still older.”

“You probably elbowed me with those sharp pointy things you have on your arms. Weapons of war.”

“Older is older!” she sang. “Now tell me, what did A-Xian do this time?”

“Would you like it in chronological order, or in order of severity? I can also group it by theme, if you prefer.”

“Oh no,” Jiang Yanli said, covering her eyes. “Oh no.”

“And the chief-most theme,” Jiang Cheng said, continuing anyway, “is still called Lan Wangji.”

“Oh no!”

“He has the worst crush,” Jiang Cheng said, shaking his head with endless amusement. “And he just – refuses to admit it. ‘Nooooo, shixiong, we’re just friends, he can’t even stand me most of the time, he’s always trying to get me in trouble, but sometimes he lets me sit next to him and spend time with him and he’s so handsome and I really just want to make him laugh –’”

“We have,” Jiang Yanli said thoughtfully, “raised an idiot.”

“He was fine when we got him,” Jiang Cheng disagreed. “We have spoiled an idiot.”

“This is true. Maybe we should go form a mutual complaining society with Chifeng-zun; isn’t his little brother also an idiot?”

“Oh, you have no idea,” Jiang Cheng said. “Worse: they’ve teamed up. Nie Huaisang buys Wei Wuxian porn now.”

“Oh no…”

“In return for help cheating on his tests!”

“Oh no!”

“So that’s why I’m going to marry Chifeng-zun,” Jiang Cheng concluded. “Our parents may be disappointed by my decision, but with our powers combined, we might be able to save the world from our respective younger idiots.”

“Maybe,” she said, and shook her head. “A-Cheng – about our parents…”

Jiang Cheng shook his head as well, echoing her action but more in denial. It wasn’t anyone’s fault that she took after their father and he took after their mother, that she was born a shichen prior to midnight and he a shichen after and their personalities completely different as a result; it was no one’s fault that their parents didn’t get along, with their mother disdaining what she perceived as Jiang Yanli’s passiveness and lack of passion and their father despising Jiang Cheng’ prickly temper and difficulty communicating his affection without scolding.

It certainly wasn’t Wei Wuxian’s fault for being younger and more brilliant, talented at everything he did and with just the sort of personality their father liked best – the combination of his former best friend and the girl he’d once thought of marrying – and that he’d always made that preference very clear to everyone, even to their mother who often worried that her husband would dispossess her children in favor of his foundling and who lashed out at everyone in response.

That had hurt – hurt a lot, even, and Jiang Cheng was soft and sensitive underneath all his defensive layers, but any time he got angry over it he would look at Wei Wuxian, their little A-Xian, baby Xianxian, who adored his older siblings more than anything and was adored in return, and he forced himself to get over it. He was old enough, by the time Wei Wuxian arrived, to know to whom the blame really belonged.

“I spoke with Nie Huaisang while I was at the Cloud Recesses,” Jiang Cheng said in an undertone, one reserved just for his sister. “He’s asked me to pass along a message to his brother, the next time I go night-hunting, about the whole debacle – he’s so terribly apologetic, you understand, he couldn’t wait for the post – if we get to Qinghe by tomorrow, Chifeng-zun will be able to get to Gusu in time to intervene before our father does something wretched like cancel your engagement and take A-Xian home early from his studies.”

“The engagement I wouldn’t mind,” she remarked. “If Jin Zixuan feels so strongly about it that he’d get into a fistfight with A-Xian, it’s better not to marry, no matter what our mother might think. But on no account is A-Xian to be sent home early! He needs his education!”

Unsaid was everything else he needed, things he could get better at the Cloud Recesses than anywhere else.

“Then we go?”

“We go,” she agreed. Between the two of them, Jiang Cheng had more talent at cultivation, but she was steadier, even in her overall mediocrity: when the two of them flew on a sword together, they could make it much further and faster than anyone expected.

Qinghe wasn’t really close enough for a quick jaunt – they flew all night without stopping – but Chifeng-zun was amendable to their scheme, jumping at once onto his saber and making his way straight to Gusu. A waste of spiritual energy all around, really, but far faster than their father would move, with his Sect Leader’s dignity and retinue, rushing to the Cloud Recesses to save his precious little Wei Wuxian from having any connections in life that weren’t to the Jiang sect, and the Jiang sect alone. 

And never mind how much he needed those connections: needed to have friends his own age, needed to have more time with that crush of his, needed independence and freedom and everything the Jiang sect supposedly stood for - needed for them to support him and act as the foundation beneath his feet, rather than the chains tying him down to earth.

Chifeng-zun – who was only a few years older than they were – was really a very understanding person, getting the problem at once and immediately agreeing with their view on things. Perhaps there really was something to be said about the difference in generations…

“Let me show you to rooms where you can rest,” Chifeng-zun’s aide said, a slender young man with a polite smile on his face as he saluted. “I’ll arrange for refreshments as well.”

“We hate to trouble you, but in all honesty you are a lifesaver,” Jiang Yanli said to him warmly, and he unexpectedly flushed red at the cheeks. “A-Cheng, let’s follow this handsome young man and rest a while before we return to the Lotus Pier.”

The young man was blushing.

“What’s your name?” Jiang Cheng asked, and the blush faded away at once as the man paled a little: it would be one he expected them to recognize, then, and not in a good way.

“This one is Meng Yao,” he said, and saluted again even though he’d already saluted once before, and Jiang Yanli’s eyes flickered to Jiang Cheng’s very briefly before she caught his arms and raised him up.

“I’ve heard of you. Smart and talented enough to get Chifeng-zun’s attention, even so far as becoming his personal deputy - you must be brilliant. Truly, you deserve a better father,” she told him, and he stared up at her, dumbstruck.

“Don’t mind her,” Jiang Cheng said. “She’s trying out this new thing in which she says everything she feels without thinking first.”

She elbowed him. “And isn’t it your fault?” she asked snappishly. “You’re the one who needs to speak your mind more; I’m just modeling good behavior!”

If she’d been older than him – really older, rather than just a few shichen – maybe she would have held her tongue more and played the role of the peacekeeper, trying to protect him from his father’s indifference the way she had tried to when they were both younger, just as he had tried to distract his mother from her with his hard-fought accomplishments. It wasn’t until they had little Wei Wuxian to spoil and care for, a joint task that required both of their attention, that they realized that splitting their forces like that was pointless and self-defeating: it wasn’t actually helping that Jiang Yanli suppressed so much of her spirit until she felt like little more than a reflective mirror with no content, nor that Jiang Cheng nearly worked himself to death trying to prove that he was worthy of his father’s love and respect that he would never receive, and it never would.

So they stopped.

They were trying very hard to stop, anyway.

“You’re very kind,” Meng Yao murmured, and led them to their rooms.

The moment he closed the door behind him, Jiang Yanli turned to Jiang Cheng and said, “I’ve changed my mind about your plan – we can run away to Qinghe. You marry Chifeng-zun, and I’ll marry that charming boy out there.”

There was an audible thudding sound from the corridor outside, as if someone had accidentally walked into a wall, and they both grinned at each other.

“Mother would kill you,” he warned her in an undertone.

“And being married to someone who disdains me enough to fight over my worthlessness in public wouldn’t?” she retorted, smiling even though her expression was tinged with pain: if she had one ambition in life, it was to never become their mother. “The marriage agreement might have been forged by our mothers, but the text of it says ‘the Jin sect leader’s son to the Jiang sect leader’s daughter’. Why can’t I marry him?”

“He hasn’t been acknowledged.”

“Only technically. Everyone knows he’s the real deal, or else his father wouldn’t have made such a fuss about it.”

“But –”

“Anyway, he must be a good man, or Chifeng-zun wouldn’t have promoted him.”

“I don’t know about that,” Jiang Cheng said. “Chifeng-zun doesn’t have the sense of self-preservation the heavens bestowed on a lemming.”

There was a vaguely audible snort from outside their door. It seemed Meng Yao, at least, had the good sense not to leave guests in his house unattended, and no discrimination against the very useful business of listening at doors.

He also had a sense of humor, which was good given Jiang Yanli’s newfound ambitions in his regard.

“Yes, well, I wasn’t saying I’d elope with him tomorrow or anything,” she sniffed, eyes dancing. “Give him some time to prove himself to me.”

Jiang Cheng couldn’t help but smile back. “That’s true,” he said, raising his voice a little. “At Chifeng-zun’s side, he’ll be able to make a name for himself until the whispers all say that his father was an idiot for keeping him away.”

“And if even that doesn’t work, I’ll marry him in and make him help me run the Jiang sect,” she said cheerfully. “Who needs Lanling Jin?”

“Wait, since when are you inheriting the Jiang sect?”

“I’m older! And anyway, aren’t you marrying Chifeng-zun? That means you’ll be away helping run his sect, and that leaves an opening at home for me.”

“…huh. Good point.”

“Maybe you can just swap places with Meng Yao,” she said, starting to giggle again. “And we can all see how long it takes anyone to notice…”

“Our parents might not,” Jiang Cheng said dryly. “But Chifeng-zun would. If only because I have my sights set on his bed, and I don’t think Meng Yao does.”

“You don’t know that; everyone wants Chifeng-zun. Maybe you have competition.”

“Better to have competition than be oblivious. Do you want to hear the whole story about A-Xian and Lan Wangji’s tragic mutual pining disaster? Xichen-xiong told me all the details he’s been leaving out of his letters.”

“Tell me everything!”

[featherfur]

Meng Yao should have been around when Jiang Cheng was running around with his head cut off trying to make disciples out of rogues and convince everyone to get started on the war. I just think he’d see this, probably manic, idiot who needs help and is 100% willing to be bossed around and who really doesn’t care about Meng Yao station in life because he’s just fucking desperate and wants to die but can’t because Yanli and just go “actually I’m interested”. Because Jiang Cheng would riot if he knew Meng Yao wanted to go back to his dad, and well Jiang Cheng is very pathetic when he thinks he’s being left behind (“You’re leaving me for the Jin just like Shijie? Tears and loud words for you! Tears and loud words dor a thousand years!”)

And Meng Yao would have a spot in Lotus Pier where he is VERY clearly wanted, he probably doesn’t become sworn brothers with anyone (or LXC and NMJ realize that no one needs to give the Jin any more influence and become sworn brothers with Jiang Cheng) unless it’s Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian (unfortunately WWX will still probably be killed or hunted at the very least but atleast Qin Su is alive? Maybe having MY around will help calm JC into the fact that LWJ wants to bang his brother and help him so JC can convince WWX to let LWJ atleast play for him, then maybe WWX can accidentally let slip about him already destroying one half and LWJ can help destroy the other half… Dunno if the Wen Remnants survive either sorry, honestly I don’t know if anyone can stop JGS in the long run)

So there’s two ways this goes: (under read more I have Thoughts)

Meng Yao DOES go to the Jin Sect still because JC gets wanting your Dad’s Approval even when he’s a dick AND he protects Yanli who immediately adopted him when JC showed up to the war with him. Without being stuck between a Rock and a Hard place (sorry NMJ not everyone is a annoyingly stubborn with their morals as you and MY is being hurt :( leave him alone :(( ) MY is able to continue being pressured without breaking and even though JGS keeps trying to get him to manipulate JC, MY won’t and won’t manipulate NMJ either and every time he goes to Lotus Pier to ‘look into’ the Jiang Sect he actually just spends the week being plied with children and listening to Jiang Cheng explain the fashion industry Again and talk about silks vs cashmeres vs wool so he just gets a vacay and is more prepared to stand up against his dad.

Also JC and Yanli catch on pretty quick to Madam Jin abusing MY because they were there after Madam Yu would hurt WWX and they know the signs of trying to hide the pain and Yanli suddenly starts Show Up whenever Madam Jin tries anything because that is her Didi now and she will protect him and if anyone ELSE tries to mess with him she will rip them apart like when Jin Zixun tries to bother WWX.

JGS does eventually manage to frame something on WWX but MY intervenes immediately by telling JC the truth and without the ‘did my kinda insane PTSD ridden brother so this?” Panic thoughts JC gets his people and is waiting for the force of Jin and smaller sects, with his two sworn brothers on either side. Because yeah NMJ absolutely hates the Wen but can he really ignore LXC and JC? Plus NHS on the side? He’s only there to protect WWX, anyone else can get fucked and even then he’s only protecting WWX because JC asked him too because NMJ thinks WWX sucks for choosing the wens because he’s very much of the one track ‘the wens suck’ mind. MY pretends he has no idea what’s going on but he does summon Jin Zixuan on ‘accident’ who shows up, annoyed he had to leave his kid, and is like “are we really going to accuse Nie Mingjue, known Wen hater, of protecting Wei Wuxian and lying about his innocence? Because his sword is the same size as my body and I’d rather Not”

(okay he’s more polite and subtle but that’s the gist) somehow Jin Guangshan dies, I’m voting Yanli poisoned him because I think Meng Yao is 100% willing at this point to simply take the abuse because Jiang Cheng and Lan Xichen aren’t essentially telling him to murder his father and that he’s stupid for not holding harder to his morals (sorry NMJ,,, you just,, I love you but MY is hurting and he’s not as stabby as you) NMJ is still very much crankily telling him his dad sucks whenever they meet but Jiang Cheng gets all sparkly whenever MY is around because MY will say he’s Doing Good, so there’s only so much room before JC start just biting anyone who even looks at MY wrong. (NMJ says he’s proud of JC once and JC just starts crying and NMJ UnderstandsTM why MY won’t leave him alone)

But Yanli has to be the one to kill him because MY wouldn’t because he’s a filial son and probably hasn’t lost his hope he will be Loved, Jin Zixuan wouldn’t because he’s like the only one in the entire show not down with murder, Madam Jin is not about to give up the power and money that comes from being the wife of Jin Guangshan even if JZX would take care of her because Yanli clearly is willing to rip everyone apart who fucks with her family and unlike Jiang Cheng is willing to change the status quo, and if JGS dies on a hunt they’ll blame WWX so Yanli just poisons him slowly and he dies from ‘illness’. JZX takes power, Meng Yao is told he’s amazing twelve times a day because JZX can do busy work and argue against anyone but he cannot have a small talk conversation to save his life. Life continues peacefully, Jiang Cheng keeps kidnapping JZX’s advisor because he misses him. Meng Yao knows how to control literally every single great sect but he’s busy chasing down his nephews and helping Jiang Cheng avoid marriage offers to do anything.

Once Jin Guangshan died, LXC and MY both swooped in to have the Wen Remnants moved somewhere else to ‘civilize’ them (using LXC’s own words here) and WWX is very much caught between Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji arguing over who he’s going home with and he’s honestly never felt more Loved TM. WWX spends six months to break the rest of the tiger rally under the grumpy/watchful eye of NMJ who still isn’t happy anyone from the Wen’s is still alive but he’s weak to puppy eyes and also when he’s being strong armed by his sworn brothers, MY, and NHS (though he still keeps an eye on the actual cultivators, he’s pretty much forgotten the rest of the Wen Remnants exist he just cares about the ones who know how to use a sword). Wangxian happens, idk how I’m voting for a wild Jingyi another orphan decides that he wants to meet the Purple Angry Man and body slams into WWX’s legs trying to get to the Purple man and LWJ catches him and it’s a full on romantic moment of staring into each other’s eyes while Jiang Cheng makes disgusted noises and Meng Yao pats his hand and just tells him to accept it.

Or Meng Yao stays in Lotus Pier because Jiang Cheng has problems and Meng Yao loves a messy loudmouth aggressive bitch with a secret heart of gold. Also Jiang Cheng is the exact kind of Demi-aroace dummy to not realize Meng Yao has a crush on LXC and keeps sending him over to Cloud Recesses to help with trade or something and MY gets to hang out with his crush constantly.

MY is Jiang Cheng’s personal advisor since WWX is currently refusing to process his trauma and staying in a very traumatic place. MY does try to help but WWX doesn’t trust him and probably only half trusts him around JC, BUT MY is very good with kids and helps work with JC on how to slip WWX supplies while negotiating directly with Nie and Lan without Jin glaring over him this time, and Jin Zixuan is more than happy to help when he can because again he’s just like the only one with modern morals and wants Lotus Pier to be strong since if all the sects fall then well the fucking demons/ghosts they hunt will eat them. So WWX is slowly atleast not ready to kill him, Meng Yao finds out WWX already destroyed half the Tiger Tally and tries to get him to let NMJ and LXC help him destroy it further (because that ties the three sects closer and so WWX won’t just stab someone if someone isn’t happy about the Wen’s existing)

Yanli poisons Jin Guangshan again because I think that’s the best way for him to go, Meng Yao does grieve but also that lasts for three minutes before Jiang Cheng shows up with some children he found in Yunmeng and Meng Yao needs to explain to him again that just because the kid latches on doesn’t mean you can take them home. But with JGS out of the way it’s a lot easier to strong arm NMJ into letting the Lan take the remnants (JC and NMJ still aren’t happy about it but NMJ can’t fight the three other sects and JC is getting his brother back and he’ll take the Wen living if that means WWX is too) and WWX returns to Lotus Pier. The truth of the golden core comes out probably via WWX having a flashback or panic attack or something (or that one theory of Yanli knowing,,,) words happen, WWX storms off to find LWJ.

Meng Yao wonders why he likes messy cry babies but still helps out Jiang Cheng because they’re technically brother in laws and also because he really does care about him. Wangxian happens and now Jiang Cheng is really pissed but WWX also said he wasn’t going to just up and leave so they’re on a rotating system but honestly everyone’s just waiting for them to move permanently to Lotus Pier because Lan Wangji has this giant hole in his heart for kids who love Wei Wuxian and Lotus Pier is filled with kids who are Jiang and therefore are insane ans love WWX.

Personally I think this one is the least likely but it sounds very nice right?

[beartes22]

Jiang cheng just staring at his mom who still has baby fat on her cheeks and is so very eager to prove herself and be the Best TM out there and just honing all his jiujiu energy on her bc he is so proud! That's his mom!! But also trying to prove himself the coolest before bc that's his chance! To make her proud!! Finally, a chance!!

Jiang cheng getting very quiet whenever jfm speaks and jfm hating It just resenting it with the force of a thousand suns because!! Jfm always has the opposite opinion! But JFM's father and SIC do not share this opinion, they share the mystery ancestor opinion!!!

Also?? The idea of JC trying his best (it's the worst but he tries!!! So hard!!! All the time!!) To not cause an international incident like murder wrh on cold Blood all of the sudden but also! Being the one judged in a cultivator conference and seeing them! Just being as useless as always! But!! Hes not there to move them along so they are actually incredibily more tedious and long-winded! So he just got so impatient he just started berating absolutely everyone all the time except!!! Except for baby LQR at Who, in spite of his very unfortunate similarity with LWJ, is the same age of JL (baby age) so he calls him! In a totallly different tone of voice!!! He calls him!!! Xiao Lan!!! And tells him he's doing great? And they are all (threatens and dares anyone to defy him) very glad and grateful he's there.

(this is not a crush, LQR tells himself very firmly. Would he be incredibily honores if daozhang jiang accepts his headband? Yes. Will he offer it? No, better not to be rejected and lose favor.)

The rest of the parent but now teennager cultivator are so jealous they are foaming in the mouth.

Except JFM, Who just smiles bitterly and says nothing, bc apparently he grows to be the fool with no remarkable achievement who went and told the timetraveler that he never could achieve the impossible

(also JC just chanelling all of his pettiness to drag Young jgs to the ground Every time he speaks with the same condescension the bastard used on him after the sunshot campaign? Ruthless, iconic, once yzy realises she's welcome to join the roasting session it is over for him)

Late night brain blast but JC gets transported back in time to when his parent’s generation was studying at Cloud Recesses and manages to blow everyone away. JC being the strong confident self he becomes during crisis because come hell or high water he’s getting back to his nephew, thus attracting everyone’s attention and awakening some crushes. Everyone initially assumes he’s from the past and that he’s JFM’s ancestor, which makes JFM feel inadequate as he should, especially with how starstruck his SIC is by him. LQR being the youngest and having the biggest crush on JC because he talks to him like his opinion really matters and doesn’t focus on whatever heroics his elder brother has done this week. I just think it could be fun and full of shenanigans.

Anon, this is absolutely incredible, and I feel like @not-rude-ginger needs to see this ASAP. More to add later when I'm done being raked over the coals by this zcx fic.

[monsieurboyardee]

Tw // biphobia

One of these days I will write a fic where wwx is falling in love with lwj but he hadn't known he was bi beforehand but instead of just the intense denial there will be slightly less denial so that I can reflect on my own experience with being bi yet never having dated through wwx

Wwx doesn't really like women's voices in porn. Like it's fine he can listen to it, he just really prefers men's voices. This doesn't make him gay though, he tells himself (later, he will reflect, and he will laugh himself silly).

He finds himself staring at men a lot, more so than a straight man probably should. It's all for the aesthetics though, right? Nothing wrong with that.

He's been into girls since the first grade, when he first fell for a sweet girl in his class whom he liked to talk about wii games with. He's only ever been into girls, though that's not saying much seeing as he's only really been interested in a few.

But then lwj comes along. And he's super standoffish and a stickler for the rules but he's the most beautiful boy wwx has ever seen. And so wwx begins bothering lwj every chance he gets bc he Needs lwj to look at him, needs his attention to be only on him. At first he doesn't think much of it. He's an attention whore, this isn't news.

But then the years go by and wwx starts learning about sexuality, and what it means to be gay. He learns a lot through underground forums and maybe like jj stories and comments or smthn but he's still very into girls. So he's not gay, which is such a relief to him, bc madame yu would not be happy if it turned out he was gay.

But then he learns about bisexuality, and pansexuality, about all the different letters that make up the LGBTQ+ community and all of a sudden things start to click for wwx.

But he's never dated any girls, let alone any guys. So he doesn't know for certain. Maybe he just really wanted to be a part of this community, and now he's deluding himself. Maybe it's just a phase. Maybe he's making mountains out of molehills.

But as he starts trying to figure out what he is exactly, he starts to realize that he has been attracted to males in the past. He thinks back on all the crushes he's had, and he starts to pick things apart.

And then there's a school trip, and lwj and wwx have to share a bed. And somehow, while lwj is asleep, his leg ends up in between wwx's and his nose ends up pressed to his neck, and wwx gets so hard he has to disentangle himself and run to the bathroom to take care of things.

And then wwx sits on the counter and realizes that during this strange experience, lwj's gender never came to mind. Wwx was just into it regardless. And so then wwx let's out a sigh of relief c finally!!! He knows what he is now, he finally understands.

But then the rest of the fic would be about wwx's fear surrounding his realization at being bi and his Constant worry that he was mistaken, and that he's actually straight or he's actually gay or whatever. And then madame yu finds out, and she's demanding that he make a choice, and he keeps telling her that he can't, bc he's into girls and guys, and she keeps asking him "so what are you?! Are you gay or are you straight?!" And bc he spends so many years trying to convince her that he's neither that he never is given the chance to really allow himself to be in between labels, to reflect on what he truly is, bc he's constantly trying to convince madame yu of what he is and if he doesn't know himself how can he Possibly convince her?

But wwx's also a baby virgin kid whose never had his first kiss, so he still doesn't know whether he's actually bi or whether he's not, so he's constantly worried about whether or not he's been faking or whether he really knows what he is bc he just doesn't know.

And I think it'd be interesting to juxtapose wwx with lwj, whom in this fic would have known he was gay since he was like 8, who is so steadfast and sure of his sexuality that he doesn't understand why wwx can't seem to take pride in his label, or why wwx is constantly second guessing his sexuality and himself. And lwj asks wwx at some point like "are you into me or not" and wwx tells him he doesn't know, bc he thinks he is?? He really, really thinks he is, but what if he's not? What if his supposed feelings for lwj are Actually just a phase? he couldn't string lwj along like that, it would be so awful and so cruel to do that to him. And it frustrates lwj when they're younger, that wwx just never seems To know, but when they get older and lwj is more balanced and a modern interpretation to wwx's running away with the wen's occurs, he is okay with wwx not knowing, bc even though it's caused him so much heartbreak he understands that wwx just needs time, he won't be like this forever he just needs to become a bit more sure of himself.

And eventually when wwx is open and available to the idea of opening himself up to somebody and being able to rely on them completely, he and lwj kiss and it sucks bc they're not good at it but it's still amazing Bc it's lan Wangji, whom he really has been in love with this entire time, he wasn't just deluding himself. And they have sex and that sucks too but it's still amazing and wwx is finally at peace with the idea of himself being into men (there will still be instances where he Will second guess and will question, but he feels infinitely stronger in his perceptions of his preferences).

And maybe wwx is okay with the idea that he's never been with a woman, bc he recognizes that he doesn't need to date or have sex with woman to still be attracted to them, and that he's still bi regardless. Or maybe after he and lwj do their thing, he tells lwj that he needs to find himself just a little bit more first, just needs a bit more time, and it breaks lwj's heart to do it but he tells wwx that it's okay. And then wwx goes on a couple of dates, has a couple one night stands, and at the end of it is certain that while he has mostly been into women, he is still very much into men, and he finds comfort in his sexuality. But ultimately, he realizes that he really really loves lan zhan, so he goes to lwj and Confesses, and lwj confesses too, and they kiss and wwx feels happy and confident and comfortable with who he is, and the man that he now has by his side.

Btw lwj wasn't just like "oh do ur thing I'll wait for you" he was more like "I recognize that you need To figure out who you are before you are able to enter into a relationship, so therefore I encourage you to do that, and if I'm not what you want at the end of that then I will try my best to move on"

[guqin-and-flute]

Banquet Face Journey’s in Episode 26

(1) JGY: my bullshit detector is going off oh god oh no this asshole i stg

[TRANSCRIPT BELOW]

(2) Jin Zixun: hey i have the greatest fucking idea it’s so great like insult the central tenants of your clan great wanna hear it??? chug this

(3) LXC: *siiiiiiiiiiigh*

(4) LXC: okay so this is happening now, i guess

(5) Jin Zixun: DRINK MY WINE R U INSULTING ME TAKE A FUCKIN SIP BRO OMG AREN’T WE FREINDS?? C'MON U SCARED?

JGY: how u doin’, bb? i’m sorry about him

(6) LXC: i meaaaan not idea

(7) Jin Zixun: OMG DUDE WHAT’S UR PROBLEM IT’S JUST A DRINK MAN WHAT ARE YOU A PUSSSSSSS-

JGY: can u fuckin NOT?

(8) LXC: u ok?

(9) LWJ: i mean no i have the alcohol tolerance of a fucking baby turtle u know this plus i hate people and parties and this fucker in particular

(10) JGY: *tfw ur asshole cousin harrasses our straight edge boyfriend in the middle of a party*

(11) JGY: HEY I HAVE A GREAT IDEA

(12) JGY: LET’S STOP CAN WE DO THAT? CAN WE STOP NOW?? pls omg i hate this so much

(13) Jin Zixun: wtf party pooper

JGY: we are all having a nice evening could you please shut your stupid face

LXC: it’ll be okay, bro i got this

LWJ: don’t really think u do but ok

(14) JGY: i’m not gonna regret killing you even slightly

Jin Zixun: what?

JGY: nothing

LXC: ok bud u made wangji uncomfortable ur officially on my shit list

LWJ: i mean… i’m literally 2nd ranked cultivator

LXC: and i’m 1st hush now

(15) Jin Zixun: DUDE UR BOYFRIEND IS A WUSS WHY YOU FREAKING OUT BRO?

JGY: ah at the whims of assholes always where i want to be why do you do this to me

(16) LXC: i could literally end you right now, u know it wouldn’t even be hard this is really cool of u, jzx were it not for the laws ofthis land and my own self control, i would have slaughtered you

(17) Jin Zixun: CHUG CHUG CHUG CHUG CHUG (x infinity off the page)

JGY: oh god he’s mad that’s his mad smile I’M TRYING HERE OK I REALLY AM

(18) LWJ: jfc could this day get any worse i’m just gonna think about all the great things that just happened in the forest OH WAIT there weren’t any

NMJ: should i be…doing something? stabbing someone maybe? keeping XICHEN from stabbing someone?

(19) LXC: WELP down the hatch i fuckin GUESS wow politics are just so fun

(20) LXC: *slorp*

(21) JGY: what’s the opposite of turned on? horrified? sounds about right

Jin Zixun: hell yeah bottoms up bro

LXC: #suffering

LWJ: wtf peer pressure is BAD brother

Random Jin Guard in the corner: hate these fuckin parties

(22) LXC: thanks for the invite, jin clan learned a lot today didn’t know alcohol tastes so much like rage hello darkness my old friend [in the headband] This_Is_Fine.jpeg

(23) Jin Zixun: READY, BABY LAN BITCH

JGY: i fucking hate family reunions

LWJ: i’m gonna crush ur fuckin skull with my m i n d

Bonus background stares

(BONUS) JGY: i’m so sorry ilysm

LXC: i also love you

JGY: i fuckin tried

LXC: i know u did

[i guess this will be a thing now? here’s more]

[kurowrites]

Um! So here I am! Asking (begging) you, if you are so inclined of course, to write Wangji succumbing to Wei Ying's baby aura and their reactions to Wangji finally babying Wei Ying to his heart's content (as he should). :3

Oh goodness.

At some point, LWJ has to come to terms with the fact that he’s jealous. It was still fine when it was just LXC, because he knows his brother and LXC is good and would never treat WWX as anything but a little brother. But the situation is different when it comes to others. For quite a long time, LWJ is convinced that WWX has a crush on JYL because he LOVES being coddled by her, and if LWJ is slightly colder to her during that period of time than he usually is, then he thinks he can’t really be blamed for it.

She really shouldn’t be encouraging that kind of behaviour.

The only light at the end of the tunnel is that there’s an immediate sense of rivalry between JC and WWX, and LWJ’s saving grace is the knowledge that WWX will never be permitted inappropriately close to JC’s sister. So he’s not saying he subtly encourages that rivalry...

...but he definitely does.

So yes. At some point, LWJ has to admit that he’s jealous. And afraid that WWX will decide one day that he’s had enough of LWJ and his inflexibility, and look for greener pastures.

But that hasn’t happened yet. WWX still hangs off his arm, pretending to hide behind him when he is actually capable of standing on his own. Always Lan Zhan this and Lan Zhan that. And whenever he’s seated somewhere, it will never take long for a weight to press into his side or back, and Wei Ying is there, wanting attention.

It’s easy, then, to tuck a loose lock of hair behind Wei Ying’s ear, or to make sure that his belt is tied properly and his robe folded orderly, so he doesn’t expose himself in public. If LWJ has to witness another person staring into the dishevelled opening of Wei Ying’s robe, lustily gazing at his smooth chest and tantalising nipples, LWJ will have to gouge someone’s eyes out. And they won’t be his own.

Wei Ying melts into his touch every time he does it, and LWJ honestly doesn’t know if his doing that is a good incentive, since he has started to wonder if Wei Ying dresses so sloppily precisely because he knows that LWJ will fix it.

He tries hard not to feel happy about that.

“Gege is mean,” Wei Ying mumbles into LWJ’s neck where he has squashed his face as he’s leaning against LWJ. “He’s not giving me any attention. I think I might die.”

He lets out a sigh so big his soul might as well be leaving his body.

Wei Ying is wrong. If anything, LWJ gives him too much attention. His mind just now was full of Wei Ying, just Wei Ying, and none of his attention is on the work he’s supposed to be tending to.

“Patience,” he chastises Wei Ying, but he gives Wei YIng’s waist a gentle squeeze that tells him he’s going to be with him shortly.

Wei Ying sighs again and laments, “Cruel. I am not cared for at all.”

With these words, he lets himself slide off LWJ’s shoulder and slip onto LWJ’s lap.

“The sooner you are quiet, the sooner I will be finished,” LWJ reminds him, and wraps a hand around Wei Ying’s delicate neck, squeezing once. The touch won’t hurt Wei Ying, is barely enough for Wei Ying to feel the pressure, but Wei Ying gasps as if LWJ has robbed him of his breath.

Lan Zhan abandons his work for a moment and leans down to Wei Ying.

“Be good,” he says. “Naughty children will get punished.”

Wei Ying presses his face into LWJ’s stomach and says nothing.

It is good, LWJ thinks to himself. Now he can finally work.

He doesn’t even realise that he keeps his hand around Wei Ying’s neck until he is forced to remove it in order to reach for something else.

[tauremornalome]

tags from @howdydowdy

my favorite headcanon it's that Lan Qiren has Jiang Cheng as his favorite. haisjdjwj like:

lan qiren: Goodafternoon sect leader jiang I hope you did have a nice travel, here get some tea I hope you like it 😊

*Wei Wuxian enters the room*

Lan Qiren: oh great...*loom at wwx with hate* *leaves*

wei wuxian: he hates me😔👊

jiang cheng: sucks to be you🤷‍♀️

[restingdomface]

Okay so for anyone interested: i want an AU where the Cloud Recesses arc actually takes place when Jiang Yanli and Jin Zixuan (I prefer them to be the same age... mainly because of sibling reasons...) and Wen Qing and Lan Xichen (unfortunately not Nie Mingjue, because I think he’s a few years older... but tbh he can show up with NHS for a visit lol) are all 17 and tbh Lan Qiren is suuuuuper confused on why these teens are all dragging their baby siblings along with them????? But then NMJ visits with NHS and he’s all ‘y’all I got seventeen new ten-twelve year olds fuck it imma make them their own class’ and sticks all the kiddos in the same class, which means instead of them all getting into mortal enemies/friendships with each other, it’s mostly just the older siblings dragging these brats out of middle school fights and watching the WangXian Baby Crush Show and Jin Zixuan trying to be a sibling to JC and WWX because he’s stupid(ly in love with JYL and simping hard) and is trying to be a good big brother but the terror twins keep tricking him into being a part of their schemes so he gets all the blame and looks bad and Nie Huaisang got in trouble for painting on a wall and LQR really doesn’t wanna admit it but the kid is stupidly talented and he wants to get him to paint a huge mural but he can’t reward bad behavior and he caught LXC and NMJ making out behind a tree last week and one week into classes some of the cultivators bring in an amnesiac 13 year old Meng Yao, who’s only identified because JZX has seen his half brother before and was told he wasn’t allowed to interact with him and they find out that in this universe the tumble down the steps to Koi Tower Lost a lot of memory and now he’s following LXC and NMJ around like a lost puppy and JZX is super jealous cause that’s HIS baby brother and he wants to be a big bro too but NieLan stoke his baby and JYL is all ‘hmmm, maybe this guy okay’ and accepts that he’s Trying and yes. So. Basically. I want all the older siblings hanging out with their pre-teen babies. Wen Qing is constantly being run to by a million kiddos with scratches. Wen Ning is corrupted by WWX and gets glared at by LWJ a lot.

[xiyao-feels]

new tu and xiyao fan from earlier. i searched ao3 as per your suggestion and there's only 500 or so fics for them. :( however, i do have a legit question - what are the differences between mdzs and tu (i've never read the latter). and if you want expand on nieyao (or xiyao) please feel free! i love reading meta! one of the few reasons i miss old school fandom spaces lol. thank you!! :D

Hmmm, I see about eight hundred if I limit to English? But I take your point! But that was just as a way to start; once you do find an author you like, you can look at their bookmarks, for example. (Also I'm not sure if you're familiar with the AO3, but if not, sorting by kudos when doing a general search is a way to get stuff that at least lots of people thought was good. I'm not saying it's perfect, but when you're starting in a fandom it can be better than the default by-date-updated.)

Also I'll take the opportunity to plug my absolute favourite xiyao author, roquen. I didn't mention them last time because they haven't I believe written a post-canon fixit, and you should know that they're mostly sticking to MDZS instead of CQL canon, although with some sprinkling of CQL elements and characterization. Some particular favourites of mine include their AtLA AU and their Sunshot/on the run fics (both series with a couple of short fics), their what you might call a mid-temple hopeful fix-it (divergence where LWJ strikes to kill and LXC takes the blow), the baby LXC fic ("Lan Xichen reverts to being a fifteen-year-old junior, and immediately gets an epic crush on Lianfang-zun"; disclaimer that I was fairly involved with the creation of this one but it's GREAT) and, of course, above all, their gigantic canon fix-it verse, it's worth it every time. It's SO GOOD and the characterization is fantastic and the prose is excellent and UGH. It's so good!!!!! Disclaimer that the second fic in the series, which is the main work, is still WIP, but roquen updates regularly and there are only a couple of chapters left; if you're still wary of WIPs, I'd at least recommend the first fic, which stands alone and is brilliant in its own right.

As to the differences between MDZS and CQL…ho boy. There are quite a few, both major and minor, and I'm by no means familar with all of them—especially the ones that don't involve 3zun, lol. I tried to google around but unfortunately the ones I found tended to be either short or, if more in-depth, contain inaccuracies about JGY/LXC—I think people tend to be more interested in the Wangxian, and then this stuff goes by the wayside. The wiki can be a good source for differences for specific incidents, and although I think it's not always accurate it /does/ usually cite chapter or episode, which can be pretty helpful. 

This, by hualiann, looks like a good overview, though I'd add that JYL, WQ and WN didn't study at Cloud Recesses in the novel and that more generally MDZS has a lot of actual undead.

In general my advice is to take things people say about the novel with a large grain of salt, myself included. And about CQL, too! I have no idea if this is you but when I joined the fandom, if people asserted stuff about CQL I tended to just kind of take it as fact—oh, I thought, I must have misremembered! My memory is pretty terrible, and honestly there was absolutely stuff I did misremember. But also sometimes other people misremember, or fanon gets taken as canon, and then there's stuff like—I mean, I'm certainly not going to blame people for not realizing that "JGY conspired with XY at the Unclean Realm" is a lot more uncertain than you might guess at first, especially if they're more Wangxian focused which most people in the fandom are, but I'm still not going to present it as straight-up fact. (veliseraptor has a recent post examining this here which I would very much recommend).

Honestly I think I'd recommend reading the MDZS NMJ Empathy flashback—chapters 48, 49, and the beginning of 50. That gets you a lot of the JGY, LXC and NMJ backstory, and then you can compare for yourself! I'm also going to recommend Mercy's thread, here, listing common fanons about MDZS (I will add to the list, since it's a bugbear of mine, the idea that LXC recognized NMJ's fierce corpse by his abs).

Okay with all that out of the way, and in no particular order, Sun's extremely idiosyncratic and particularly- aka mostly JGY-focused differences list:

-In MDZS, LXC doesn't become Sect Leader until the burning of Cloud Recesses by the Wen, when his father is injured and then succumbs to his wounds. In CQL, he's Sect Leader from the beginning of the show, his father having apparently died not too long before the show started.

-In MDZS, MY wasn't working for the Nie at all before the beginning of Sunshot; he joined the Nie forces just after Sunshot began. NMJ didn't instantly promote him to be his deputy when he's telling at the Nie men for bad-mouthing him; it takes a few more encounters and/or battles with the Wen (after which MY clears the battlefield and helps the commoners).

-In MDZS, xiyao's first meeting happens when LXC is on the run with the Lan books after the burning of Cloud Recesses. We don't see it happen on the page, and we don't know any details of that time beyond, like, MY helped LXC.

-NMJ willingly sends MY away from the Nie, with a letter of recommendation for JGS, after, uh, an extended overhearing of a conversation between MY and LXC wherein MY's desire to be recognized by his father and gain a proper place in the Jin, the opportunity offered for that by JGS recruiting talent at Langya, and the possible difficulty of obtaining permission from NMJ are all established. 

-NMJ sees MY stabbing a /Jin/ captain, at Langya, after he goes looking for MY. Rather than taking a blow for NMJ, MY stabs himself, faking suicide, then immobilizes NMJ (who's trying to save his life) and flees. This is because NMJ wants MY to go turn himself in for killing the captain; MY thinks they'll kill him, while NMJ says that if the captain has actually been mistreating MY as MY said, MY won't be killed. Personally I think that all the evidence suggests that MY is right, and NMJ is blind to the effects of his position to the extent it's a not insignificant moral failure.

-Okay, so, you know how in CQL MY stabs WRH while he's distracted with WWX, outside on the steps with the Sunshot alliance right outside? In /MDZS/, they're in the Sun Palace, WWX isn't anywhere near the place, he does it to save NMJ's life, and then he starts lugging NMJ's unconscious body out of the palace. And then NMJ comes to consciousness amd demands his sabre and tries to kill him. He likely only survives because of NMJ's wounds, and if LXC hadn't shown up (responding to a message MY sent for aid for NMJ) NMJ might easily have killed him. If you want a more in-depth analysis, I take a close look here in my response to someone's, er, imaginative interpretation of NMJ and JGY's relationship in MDZS.

-In CQL, NMJ's qi deviation happens at the stairs incident. In MDZS, it happens later, when he overhears JGY being upset to LXC about how NMJ treated him at the stairs, and, overcome with rage that JGY would dare (arguably in combination with being polite and pleasant to NMJ's face, although the last time he was confrontational to NMJ's face NMJ kicked him down the stairs and tried to kill him so), he kicks open the door and tries to kill him. He also kills several people as he's qi deviating (seeing them as JGY—while in CQL he also sees several JGYs they seem to be just illusions), and injures NHS.

-In MDZS, NMJ sets fire to all of NHS' nice things. I don't think we're told either way in CQL, although it's worth noting that in MDZS this happens after the stairs (and before JGY starts playing for him again). (I think they do something in FJ?? But I don't take FJ as canon for CQL; see confusion-and-more's post here).

-In CQL, JGY suggests to NMJ that he's always played the corrupted Clarity for him (though granted this is in Empathy, so it's hard to say for sure if this is what he actually said, but in any case it's the only version we're given). In MDZS, it's strongly indicated that JGY only started playing Turmoil for NMJ /after/ the stairs—there's a variety of evidence, but I think the most objective is that WWX, who in MDZS Empathy can literally feel NMJ's anger, actually observes it working beforehand:

Since [JGY started playing for NMJ], Jin GuangYao would travel from Lanling to Qinghe every few days, playing Sound of Lucidity to help quell Nie MingJue rage. He tried his hardest, without speaking even a single word of complaint. Sound of Lucidity was indeed effective. Wei WuXian could clearly feel that the hostile energy within Nie MingJue was being suppressed.

(Exiled Rebels translation, ch. 49)

And then the next scene is the stairs incident, so.

-In general, the degree to which JGY's position is completely awful is played down in CQL. confusion-and-more talks about it a bit here; I'd also note that some of JGY's dialogue defending himself is removed ( “Some trivial achievements?” He spoke in a shaking voice, “…What do you mean, some trivial achievements? ChiFeng-Zun, do you know how much work I put into such trivial achievements? How much I suffered? Glory? Without the handful of glory I have nothing!”, for example), we don't hear about his mother at the guqin scene, the temple flashback where his mother is dragged naked outside by a client and he's kicked down the brothel stairs is eliminated, etc etc.

-There is absolutely no second flutist in MDZS; also JGY tells us in the temple that QS was already pregnant before he found out about the incest. I think even in CQL it's questionable whether he actually intended to kill Zixuan (see this whole conversation), and significant unveiling or no CQL never actually says QS wasn't pregnant before their marriage so I tend to go with that too, but certainly it's easy to walk away with the impression that he definitely did both deliberately, especially if you aren't familiar with the novel.

-(In general, I think CQL JGY is a lot more sympathetic than most people think once you look closely, but he's also very much set up to look upon a more casual watching as Villain, so.)

-In CQL it's All A-Yao All The Time but in MDZS we see LXC calling him san-di after the sworn brotherhood, and then it's back to A-Yao in the present day (see my last addition on this chain here).

-In MDZS, JGY doesn't shove JL out of the way of the incoming attack.

-The LXC lifting JGY out of his bow thing is from CQL

-The watchtowers! Oh /man/ the watchtowers. God the watchtowers are so much. Uh, confusion-and-more has a post about how much they're mentioned in MDZS vs CQL here, and see my last addition to this thread for an argument that the watchtowers were indeed a force for good. God. Twelve hundred watchtowers. He must have saved so many lives...

-confusion-and-more's watchtower post also reminds me that CQL has the Guanyin temple giving out medicine, while MDZS does not

-The episode 23 scene where Sect Leaders Jin, Nie, and Lan agree to spare some of the Wen doesn't exist in MDZS (though I'll take the opportunity to observe that I disagree with popular interpretations of that scene, see point three here).

-In MDZS NMJ's fierce corpse is literally trying to kill JGY, there's no saber spirit. And like, it's been trying to kill JGY for a long damn time, that's why JGY dismembered him.

-The XY plotline—in MDZS, JGY recommends a young XY (who at thay point has a reputation but is not known to have committed any massacres) as a Jin cultivator, as part of an effort by JGS to recreate the Yin Tiger Seal. JGS has multiple people trying, but most of them aren't getting anywhere and XY is getting furthest. It's during this time that XY kills the Chang clan, and is discovered as guilty by XXC, who brings up the evidence at a conference happening in Lanling; the Jin are stalling, MMJ gets angry and shows up, he almost kills XY on the spot and gives JGS a lecture such that he's forced to relent and sentence XY to death (and incidentally scares JGY, imho quite seriously, while he's at it). Then JGS turns it into life imprisonment once NMJ has left, and then NMJ is extremely angry and attacks JGY at the stairs. (Ch. 30 and 118)

-I mentioned before but I'll add it here too: in CQL JGY asks LXC to stay and die with him, and LXC agrees.

-The CQL ending in general is...hmmm. Despite having most of the elements which complicate MDZS' ending (JL is in a terrible position!), it kind of presents as...happy ending all is fixed now? In MDZS I think it's presented as—more complicated, even though Wangxian do very much get their happy ending.

-Also LWJ is a lot less. uh. Okay, so in CQL he's more Mr Morality, and in MDZS it's much more Wei Ying Right Or Wrong. Also, he doesn't become Chief Cultivator in MDZS! I think that's my least favourite change, because it's like...LWJ hates politics, hates compromise, and never attends the cultivation conferences. At least one of 'this is going to be a major diisaster' and 'LWJ is going to have to go through some significant shifts in his worldview and approach' are going to have to happen, but that's not the vibe CQL gives off at all, and I think it really works against some of the major themes of the text :/

-OH RIGHT I knew I was forgetting something—in MDZS MXY's revenge is focused solely on the Mo; JGY is not part of the curse.

Okay I don't want to go too much on about xiyao or nieyao, because this is already quite long and I don't want you to be waiting forever, but broadly although I certainly think NMJ cares about JGY a great deal it seems to be about his competence and potential; he doesn't really seem to, like, actually like who he is as a person. JGY, meanwhile, is at first very grateful to and then increasingly exasperated by and very much fucking terrified of NMJ, but...well, he doesn't seem to be into him or interested in spending time with him for the sake of it or etc etc.

On the other hand—xiyao. Man, xiyao!!!! They just—they get each other so fast, they're /partners/, they work together so well, they like and they respect each other, they're both like—LXC and MS are on their own tier for JGY, LWJ and JGY are on their own tier for LXC, they're for each other in a way neither is for anyone else, they care a lot about the same things—it's not perfect overlap, obviously, but it's more overlap I think than either has with anyone else, they—invest, they're builders, JGY was planning the watchtowers project from way back and although I have no doubt he was driving it LXC was with him and!!!! ugh!!!!! xiyao are REALLY GREAT, okay.