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canary3d-obsessed · 2 years ago

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Restless Rewatch: The Untamed, Episode 36 part two

(Masterpost) (Pinboard) (whole thing on AO3)

Warning! Spoilers for All 50 Episodes!

Breakfast Al Fresco

After a nightmare about falling into the burial mounds, Wei Wuxian wakes up all misty.

I guess this is supposed to be sweat, but sweat is usually not distributed in a fine spray over the surface of a person’s face like this, at least not the kind that happens while you sleep. My fellow menopausal people can attest to this.

For the first and probably last time in their lives, Wei Wuxian is up for breakfast before Lan Wangji.

This means that we, not Lan Wangji, get to watch him eat.

What? I’m a simple woman with simple interests.

(more behind the cut!)

I Sit And Watch the Children Play

While he eats his breakfast, Wei Wuxian watches a group of kids playing “Sunshot Campaign,” complete with shooting toy arrows at a kite that represents the sun. A reference, presumably, to that kite that Wang Lingjiao used as an excuse to attack Lotus Pier.

Doing things I used to do They think are new

Wei Wuxian smiles with genuine pleasure, watching these small fry play-acting the central trauma of his and his peers’ lives; only the mention of Jin Zixuan’s death brings his mood down.

He appears to carry his damage very lightly, but we know that this bright morning began with a nightmare. Perhaps every morning begins that way, but he is an expert at clearing his mind and embracing The “Now” of Wolf Thought the present moment.

Seeing kiddie Hanguang-Jun and Jiang Cheng cheers him right back up again. Kudos to whoever was in charge of casting kids in this show. I particularly love baby Nie Mingjue’s big boss energy.

BBNMJ: Don’t make me shank you

The kiddos do a good job of embodying the conflicts of the cultivation world, roleplaying a bunch of guys trying to be in charge while smack-talking the other guys who want to be in charge.

Wei Wuxian politely asks the kids where’s Yiling Laozu? which sets up a gag in which their...nanny? shows up and hollers at them and they call her Yiling Laozu and run away. It’s funny and it does illustrate Wei Wuxian’s ongoing bad reputation.

It misses an opportunity, though, to show us a cute baby Yiling Laozu like the one we see in the Donghua.

There’s Got To Be A Morning After

Lan Wangji finally emerges from the inn, and proceeds to have more facial expressions in 60 seconds than he usually has in an hour.

Wei Wuxian has a good time teasing him about his drunkenness, while managing not to actually tell him any of the things that happened, other than their discussion about rabbits.

Note that this conversation is even more entertaining if you mentally substitute the word “ass” for the word “rabbit.”

Trust Me

Wei Wuxian mercifully changes the subject, asking Lan Wangji if he recognized the Ghost-Masked guy’s sword style. Lan Wangji doesn’t remember anything from last night except the sword fight, which is very on brand for him. He loves: sword fighting, rules, and Wei Wuxian, not in that order.

Wei Wuxian, because he has a perception bonus of +10, noticed that the dude put a spell on his sword to disguise it, meaning that he and his sword must both be well-known cultivators. He also noticed that the dude knew Lan Clan sword moves. Wei Wuxian very gently asks if the guy is someone that Lan Wangji knows.

Lan Wangji thinks for a moment and says No. Wei Wuxian accepts his answer so readily that Lan Wangji is taken aback, and thinks that WWX doesn’t believe him.

He asks if Wei Wuxian trusts/believes/believes in him, using the same word,信, that we looked at in Episode 33, and that will come up again in a couple more places.

Wei Wuxian reassures him, although his reasoning--that Hanguang-Jun has never spoken a lie--is not 100% correct. Unless we think he really was night hunting in Yiling all those years ago.

At this point the Qiankun bag of Plot Convenience tells them to mosey along to scenic Yi City.

An Inauspicious Place

When they approach their destination, we get to see the more mellow side of their camaraderie; their interaction has a lot of the flavor of their first road trip together, but with more maturity and mutual respect. As in the old days, Wei Wuxian handles the social interactions, talking to a dude by the road to get directions, while Lan Wangji hangs back.

In discussing the name of the place, Lan Wangji listens with interest while Wei Wuxian explains the layered meaning of the name, and we’re reminded that Wei Wuxian was a formidable scholar before his life went to shit.

Wei Wuxian 2.0 has some catching up to do, both in cultivation and in reading, to be a match for his 30-something boyfriend once again, but his fundamentals are strong as hell.

When they reach the gate of the city they take a moment to share some unnecessary eye contact. They probably think they’re about to have a fun low-angst adventure.

They start walking through the almost-deserted town, which has random paper funeral swag rolling around. The whole town was apparently focused on funerals and making funerary offerings, which seems like an unreliable basis for an economy.

Everything is covered in a haze that makes things difficult for sword dudes and gifmakers. They’re led a little ways into town by a mysterious running person, who is A-Qing running at breakneck speed, presumably to hide from Xue Yang while she also tries to make contact with the newcomers.

A little more running, and Wei Wuxian find a whole crowd of juniors, including all of our favorites. Bright boy Sizhui immediately figures out that if “Mo Xuanyu” is here, Lan Wanji must be here too. Jingyi immediately fangirls about Hanguang-Jun, recognizing Bichen’s sword light through the haze.

Jin Ling has never had a cool teacher in his high school, so he doesn’t get what the fuss is about.

Wei Wuxian encourages the kids to dump a heap of exposition about why they are here. They are here because the plot wants them to be here.

Then they start squabbling, because they are a bunch of teenage boys, and Lan Wangji, who is not anywhere in sight, silences them with the Lan silencing spell. Despite the fact that they’re all lost in a fog in a strange, inauspicious place. Fuck safety, amirite?

Naturally the next thing that happens is a bunch of zombies come up behind Wei Wuxian and the kids try to warn him, but without speech they’re reduced to impassioned pointing. Don’t bother drawing your swords, you useless twits.

Wei Wuxian temporarily stops the zombies with a finger snap, but then they start up again. Lan Wangji shows up and guqins them into oblivion, accidentally poisoning a random selection of juniors in the process.

The adults figure out that there’s a Yin Tiger Seal in operation, but it’s not Wei Wuxian’s. Wei Wuxian takes this opportunity to brag about his superior corpses.

Lan Wangji: I know, dude; I distinctly recall one of those fuckers slicing my Wei-Ying-catching arm open

Then the ghost-mask dude shows up to fight, making the most of the low visibility and his uncanny ability to not actually be in the scene for most of the fighting.

Camera Operator: sword fighting while I hold this camera sure is difficult

Lan Wangji elegantly goes after Ghost Mask guy, heading over the rooftops to have a smoke a prolonged offscreen fight while Wei Wuxian handles things in town for the next...hour or two? However long it takes to make congee, anyway.

Wei Wuxian leads the kids to find a house with a functioning kitchen so he can cook up a remedy for the poisoning.

He tells the juniors that getting poisoned is good because it’s an experience they can talk about when they’re older. By that measure, Wei Wuxian has had the best life of anybody ever.

They find a creepy house with a creepy lady who has corpse lines on her neck, which is as good as things get here in Yi City, so Wei Wuxian talks his way in.

He’s very polite but he shows the juniors that he’s got the door blocked with his foot so that he can push his way in if necessary.

Sizhui lights a candle and all of the kids freak out when they see the full-size paper servants hanging from the rafters, even though paper servants would be a pretty normal thing to see in their lives, and they are all, like, professional ghost and monster hunters.

Wei Wuxian, looking fine as hell, steps into the creepy lady’s room to ask her permission to use her kitchen. He notices that she’s working in the dark and sees the lines on her neck, but he’s not prejudiced against corpses so he doesn’t comment. He uses his beautiful hands to thread her needle for her before going to cook fire congee for the juniors.

Soundtrack: As Tears Go By, by Marianne Faithfull or by The Rolling Stones, take your pick; There’s Got To Be a Morning After by that girl in The Poseidon Adventure.

Further Reading: The “Now” of Wolf Thought is a reference to Elfquest, which is an awesome comic book series that launched back when I was a teen. You can read all of them for free at Elfquest.com without registering or anything.

Bonus: Beautiful Hanguang-Jun

#restless rewatch the untamed #the untamed gifs #yi city #wangxian #canary3d-original #the untamed #ep36

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tanoraqui · 1 year ago

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☔ for the ask game? (idea you're not sure you'll write, if the emoji doesn't come through)

☔Is there a fic concept you have that you'd like to just explain and share because you're not sure you'll ever write it? If so, what is it?

I kind of dropped out of the MDZS fandom like a rock after finishing my novel-length longfic, and the fic I most regret leaving unwritten is a bullet-point au in which Jiang Fengmian just cannot find his friends' lost son, he gives up, so Wei Wuxian grows up entirely on the streets, scrounging his way to enough cultivation education to invent demonic cultivation (because that's still the kind of person he is), and JFM assuages his conscience a little by inviting a different random clever basically-an-urchin - Meng Yao - into Jiang Sect.

Highlights include:

Meng Yao: wow the obvious fault lines in this family make everyone so easy to manipulate- wait, am I being offered real affection and trust? That's...fine.

Meng Yao trying desperately to hide his background, but he goes to visit his mother when she's ill. Jiang Cheng follows him, because Meng Yao is his best (only) friend, and Jiang Yanli follows Jiang Cheng to make sure he doesn't get in trouble, and then (JYL steps on JC's foot to stop him from saying the first thing that comes to mind) they both react with compassion and sympathy rather than scorn to Meng Shi and her profession. Meng Yao experiences several more Real Emotions.

Teen rogue cultivator Wei Wuxian just kinda. invites himself. to Lan Summer School, on the strength of Cangse Sanren's name. JFM is delighted when he hears, encourages JC to befriend him (Meng Yao: [jealous cat hisses]) and would have invited him home at the end of the summer...if WWX didn't get himself expelled halfway through for punching Jin Zixuan's smug face.

He also crashes Terrible Wen Summer Camp. Gets stuck in a cave with Lan Wangji, etc.

Wei Wuxian has kinda been a Batman-esque vigilante in Yiling (moody, dramatic, clad in black, fights ghosts and also bad guys). When the Wens move in, he shifts to being a more actively anti-authoritarian Batman-esque vigilante. Wen Qing is annoyed. Wen Ning is enamored.

The Wens attack Lotus Pier, because they were always going to attack Lotus Pier next. Jiang Cheng does get his golden core torn out. Wen Ning rescues him, because Wen Ning is always a hero even if Wei Wuxian isn't immediately present. Meng Yao decides it's time to do what he does best...so he promised Jiang Cheng that he'll be back, then goes to the Nightless City and says, "oh golly gee, I, second disciple of Jiang Sect, am so defeated and humbled by the mighty Wen! Can I please join, oh magnificent masters?"

Meanwhile, Wei Wuxian has rescued Lan Xichen (this is gonna get him so many bonus points with his sexy law-abiding nemesis LWJ) , and then gotten himself thrown into the Burial Mounds for snarking at Wen Chao...which is a lot like throwing Brer Rabbit into the briar patch

Sunshot Campaign! With no golden core, JC can't really rebuild Jiang Sect, but he gets reliable intel from a man on the inside and he humbles himself enough to ask Wei Wuxian for tutelage in talismans, and of course you'd literally need to tie him up to keep him from going out and kicking ass.

Wei Wuxian is peak Yiling Patriarch because it's the right thing to do. (LWJ: Come back to Gusu with me (so I can aggressive cleanse your spirit, then maybe dick you down so hard that neither of us can movie for a week))

AFTER THE WAR: Jin Guangshan dramatically recognizes war hero/Wen Ruohan-slayer Meng Yao as Jin Guangyao, his son and new sect member... and Meng Yao, having grown up with the absolute Ride Or Die nature of Jiang Sect, and with more intimate knowledge (via JYL's engagement and YZY's friendship with Madame Jin) of how much JGS sucks, says, "Thanks but no thanks, I will be staying with my sworn brother and sect leader Jiang Wanyin to rebuild Jiang Sect."

It's just about his ambitions, okay! He'll FUNCTIONALLY be Sect Leader; Jiang Cheng literally doesn't have a golden core! (Though he's still absolutely first-rate in swordwork and his talismans are fucking superb. The thing about Jiang Cheng is that he will rise to the occasion, always.) Also, that 'sworn brother' thing was not agreed upon in advance; Meng Yao totally publicly backed him into that corner - in which he didn't mind being. Jiang Cheng is pretty damn sure he's getting the better of this deal, and he's kinda right.

Between JC's prestigious name and insane levels of personal dedication, MY's people skills and equally insane (but slightly more calculated) levels of personal dedication, and JYL securing a very favorable loan from Madame Jin, they hella get Jiang Sect back on its feet.

Meanwhile, WWX has again refused to go with LWJ to learn "proper" cultivation or anything else...and JGS is seeking power, and abusing Wen prisoners of war...

Wen Qing comes to Lotus Pier, finds Meng Yao, and says, "Please help save my brother. We helped save yours. You owe us this much." Meng Yao, being Meng Yao, thinks, I do rather owe here, but this is politically delicate... Who can I foist this off on whom I don't mind seeing torn apart by every righteous sect... and forwards her to Wei Wuxian.

Who does his righteous Wei Wuxian thing

There's a big dramatic meeting of sect leaders & etc about this, in which JGS beats his war drums, etc. etc. Meng Yao feels slightly bad but not, like, that bad. Wei Wuxian tried to steal his brother when they were teenagers, and again while MY was away during the Sunshot Campaign, so he probably deserves to die.

Afterwards, JYL with her unerring Older Sister senses pulls MY (and JC) aside and hisses, "A-Yao, what did you do?"

Do they end up saving the day? Is Wei Wuxian just destined to doom himself with his particular combination of pride, self-neglect, and blithe refusal to play by everyone else's rules? I never actually decided!

#ask meme #my fic #mdzs #jin guangyao #meng yao #wei wuxian #the untamed

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unknown-ladies · 1 year ago

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hmmm ok for the how hot is that caracter post. lan wangji. My beloved

He looks so pretty to me! His face is nice and he looks like he'd make a good portrait subject for an artist! I wouldn't say he's someone I'm personally into, but I can definitely appreciate his face being nice. Bonus points for him having a bunny rabbit.

> "How hot is this character?" Ask Game.

#Ask Games #Ask Memes #lan wangji #addmorephones

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thebiscuiteternal · 3 years ago

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Ahahaha, after telling Nonnie I was gonna post this, I completely forgot to actually post this and just left it sitting in drafts. Whoopsie. So! More little snippets and such from my twitter.

- Everybody mocks the sect descended from butchers until a boar demon the size of a city grain warehouse goes down and nobody else can deal with the carcass because it’s just too fucking big. By the time the thing has been taken apart and properly dispersed, the entire jianghu has had an Awakening to the fact that Some People (even the small cute one) are at their hottest when mostly covered in demon blood.

- Bitty!Huaisang tags along with his brother on some sect business to Yueyang and while he and his minder are eating lunch in the markets, he notices a street kid staring at the food like a starving wolf. Without thinking, he puts a plate of duck buns in easy reach and watches it and the kid vanish. By the end of the day, he’s practically forgotten about the whole thing, distracted by other stuff. But even more bitty!Xue Yang has just found himself a mark.

- Thinking about Nie Bros and how Huaisang decided early on that annoyance and exasperation were better than condescending pity and started playing up his lazy behavior to cover for his body’s failure to keep up and how Mingjue knows this, but has to make himself believe that Huaisang could do better if he actually tried, because otherwise he would constantly be swamped with guilt over the fact that he will inevitably be leaving his sickly brother to handle the sect.

- AND ON THAT NOTE, thinking about the fact that for all Huaisang is considered a pathetic cultivator, literally none of the adaptations have him “showing his age” more than cultivators who are supposed to be leagues more powerful than him, and even the novel just describes him as being pretty. Therefore, thinking of the possibility that all his desperate efforts to find Da-ge’s missing body pieces and/or soul wound up strengthening his golden core considerably (and he was Not Happy when he realized this) but no one noticed because he was that effective at keeping up the hapless idiot act.

- Rule 63!Huaisang where literally none of the Nie family dynamics have changed and everyone else is very ????? about it. Some Rando: “Shouldn’t your brother be getting you married instead of throwing a saber at you?” Huaisang: “Have you met my sect?”

- Nie-er-furen and Lan-furen were both yao, but Mama Nie was a cat and Mama Lan was a rabbit. Therefore, when the older brothers tried to introduce Nie Huaisang and Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan’s new instincts went “Predator!” and that is why Nie Huaisang has bite scars.

- Mo Xuanyu escaping Koi Tower and going to live with the (extremely grudgingly acknowledged) Yiling Wei sect, featuring Wei Wuxian being an absolute gremlin about his disciple’s crush on Nie Huaisang while still oblivious/in denial to Lan Wangji’s crush on him. WWX: “Follow your dreams and get your man!” MXY: “...Okay. So when are you gonna take your own advice and let Hanguang-jun court you?” WWX: “Haha, what? That’d never happen, Lan Zhan likes girls.” MXY (to NHS later): “So my sect leader might actually be an idiot.”

- Wei Wuxian in a Number Five situation. Fucks up an experimental talisman and winds up chucked into an apocalyptic future (maybe even one demonic cultivation caused?) and is trapped there for decades before being slung back into his "just started raising corpses" age. Bonus points if it is a zombie apocalypse, but he doesn’t realize it because what evidence he was able to find pointed to the Sunshot Campaign having lost, so when he gets back to his present time, he starts working even harder at building up enough of an army to fight the Wens...

- So my personal headacanon is already that all of Jin Guangshan’s kids look more like their mothers than him because he doesn’t deserve anything good. But. Imagine the emotional/social fuckery if every single one of his bastards had at least some of his features, while Jin Zixuan is a male carbon copy of Jin-furen.

- The assumption that the original soul would be obliterated during the body sacrifice ritual was just that: an assumption. Wei Wuxian doesn't realize this until the first sect conference after Guanyin Temple when he sees his own reflection glare at him and then wrap the exhausted-looking reflection of Nie Huaisang into a reassuring embrace as the man discusses something or other with a minor sect leader.

aaaand everything else I was thinking about pulling over would be long enough for their own “Things I will probably never write” posts, so that’s all for this go round!

#mdzs #nie huaisang #nie mingjue #wei wuxian #mo xuanyu #lan wangji #ideas

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veliseraptor · 4 years ago

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top five smiling moments in The Untamed

answering this made me realize how many good smiles there are in this series. there are a lot of good smiles. feel bad for some of the extremely good ones I’m leaving out (including every time Wen Qing smiles in particular, she has the cutest smile and it doesn’t show up all that much).

but anyway here’s a selection of five personal faves

1. End of series Wei Wuxian.

Did I almost learn to gif to answer this ask because screen stills did not fully capture the degree to which this smile is perfect? Maybe. I’m just a little too lazy to do that (yet). Anyway!! I have gone on record as saying that I really like the fact that CQL ends the way it does and a big part of that is this shot here because it really is just...transcendent. The slow turn! And then his smile that grows all the way until his eyes scrunch shut and it just warms up his whole face and - yeah, it’s extremely quality. I can only imagine I’m getting the same warm-fuzzy feelings that Lan Wangji probably is at this point.

2. Xiao Xingchen’s little head-shake smile at Xue Yang.

Look, you knew there’d be Yi City on this list, and this smile is just - augh! I mean, all Xiao Xingchen’s little smiles are so cute but I’m particularly fond of his “you’re too muuuuuch” smiles at Xue Yang (and a-Qing!). I love watching them come easier and more often over the course of the flashback, too. And this one in specific is another one where I wish I could’ve gotten the gif because it comes with this little hitch of a laugh, too. And I don’t think this one specifically gets the little “you’re too muuuuch” head shaking, but it’s definitely kin to the one(s) that do. The warmth! The fondness! The sense of the potential for unbridled joy in this daozhang! It’s perfect and he’s wonderful.

3. Lan Wangji’s startled little smile at the rabbit lantern.

I thiiiink this is the first time we see Lan Wangji smile? And (like all his smiles) it is so, so, striking.

(I mean that about all his smiles. I knew I was going to have to put a Lan Wangji smile on here and the only trouble was deciding which one I was going to use.)

But yes! Just - his sheer delight, his surprised pleasure at seeing this lantern - with a bunny! for him! - is so much. And then of course how quickly he panics about it. But yeah, the way it warms up and softens his whole face and how much younger it makes him look...

Lan Wangji smiles are treasures each and every one of them but this one does stick out for the fact that it is the first real glimpse of him we really see of a different personality, and a warmth, behind the icy exterior.

4. Jiang Cheng smile-crying at his siblings in episode 20.

This is another one where I was like “I know I’m going to have to include a Jiang Cheng smile, I just know it, but which one am I going to do” and I had to land on this one because the way Jiang Cheng looks at his siblings breaks my heart every time and just his...yeah, smile-crying! He’s so happy here, he’s so relieved, everything is fine now and Wei Wuxian is home and they’re together again! Everything will be okay! Or at least significantly more okay than it was!

This is just the face of a kid who loves his family and wants them together and is just overwhelmed with feelings he cannot really express, while no one is looking at him. He just loves them both! So much! And it kills me. Baby. I love you.

5. Xue Yang’s absolutely stupid besotted little smile(s) looking at Xiao Xingchen.

yes I know he is dead in the first one, what of it, he’s going to be fine any minute now.

Anyway though!!! I feel like I could just say “Xue Yang’s smiles, all of them, from these to the most unhinged ones” but I hard moded myself about picking one specific mood of one, and...yeah. Just. look at that face! look at him!!!! having a whole feeling and he’s not putting on a face, nobody can see him, nobody knows, but there’s just this absolute...augh. Adoration, is the best word for it, I think. This is Xue Yang’s ‘you are the only (other) person who matters in the whole world!!!’ face and it absolutely murders me.

I just want to grab his face and be like “THAT FEELING, HOLD ONTO THAT FEELING AND DON’T BLOW THIS FOR YOURSELF” but it’s too late, he kind of already did, and this is why I’m always crying about Xue Yang.

BONUS MENTIONS TO:

every time Wen Qing smiles (as mentioned above)

Lan Wangji’s staircase smile

Lan Wangji’s drunk “I like rabbits” smile

Lan Xichen’s various ‘fuck you’ smiles

Jin Guangyao’s nervous dimple smile.

#ameliarating #conversating #so many good smiles #the sad queer cultivators show #top five meme #xue yang #wei wuxian #lan wangji #xiao xingchen #jiang cheng #a post full of treasures i love very much

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autistic-lanzhan · 4 years ago

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Some headcanons about Autistic Lan Wangji that I've been meaning to write for a while but I finally am after seeing @chi-zi 's exquisite Wen Ning headcanons

• constantly masking. Is unable to show obvious autism traits in public if he can possibly help it. Like it looks like he never has meltdowns but it's just that he literally can't if anyone else is around; he just has to go very still until he can Exit the Situation and then as soon as he gets back in private he Melts Down Big Time. Nobody but Xichen and eventually Wei Ying must know about this.

• Very hypersensitive sensory-wise, which is why, for example, he only eats bland food, even by Lan standards.

• for the love of god don't touch him without permission. Lan Wangji is not responsible for any damage that may occur to persons who touch him without permission. He's gotten very good at just straight-up dodging people trying to touch his arm or shoulder in the middle of a conversation

• thrives on routine, which why a Certain Person constantly disrupting his routine and doing things he doesn't have a prescribed response for ticks him off so much

• talking is hard and trying to put words in some kind of order on the fly is harder so he relies heavily on social scripting, which earns him his reputation as a Polite and Formal Person. Also one-word responses and "mn"s

• also if I'm remembering the novel correctly, he tends to respond affirmatively to questions by repeating the question back as a statement, which idk may be a Chinese syntax thing but it's also an echolalia thing for some people

• gets overwhelmed easily by multiple people talking at once, thus his liberal use of the silence spell

• understands sarcasm in theory but that doesn't mean he has to approve of its use

• How To Do A Eye Contact???? Uhh just look at their lips. Oh no the loud unpredictable kid has pretty lips

Hold on to your hats folks because I'm about to talk a whole bunch about stimming

• loves to stim with water. Adores the cold spring. As a child he was constantly sticking his hand in creeks and fountains and shit and then wiping his wet hand on Lan Xichen. The feeling and sound of running water is one of his go-to calming/grounding stims

• see also: the feeling of rain falling on his face (;_; I'm sorry I didn't mean to make this sad)

• *puts bunny in lap as pressure stim*

• *puts husband in lap as ultimate pressure stim*

• likes rubbing his thumb over Bichen's hilt/the little patterns on its sheath, bonus points for being subtle and socially acceptable

• slight levels of sensory overload and/or emotional levels of distress = clenching his hands, either around Bichen or just in a fist

• a bit more distress = subtle, rapid handflaps, hidden inside his sleeves. If he isn't wearing sleeves that hide his hands this is going to be a Problem (see first bullet point) so he makes a point to wear outfits with long sleeves as often as possible

• very distressed = rocking and flapping his hands near his face. Obviously he wouldn't be caught dead doing this in front of other people tho so he's gotten very efficient at removing himself from situations so he can go calm down

• on the flip side, may I present for your consideration: happy rocking Lan Wangji

• assorted all-purpose sensory regulation stims: pacing, petting rabbits, humming, shifting his weight from foot to foot, touching his face/lips with Soft Fabrics, just touching nice textures in general, smushing self against the wall as a pressure stim, tapping his fingers on his face

#the untamed #mo dao zu shi #Oh no these are all just MY autism traits oops #mine

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aconstantache · 4 years ago

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top 5 bjyx moments

LARA I have stressed over answering this and your other asks and as a result have come up with these v long, v not-top-5 lists IM SORRY TO EVERYONE:

top 5 bjyx moments

- I know this is not a single Moment but everything to do with yibo trying to get xiao zhan to eat more. The multple instances of him having to cajole and coax and whine about it. Bonus points for xz feeling bad about accidentally hitting yibo with a tassel and being bribed into eating. BONUS bonus points for that one bts where yibo is filming him and xz tells him to go away so he heads over to ji li for two minutes and hands over the camera; and when we’re in ji li’s POV he follows yibo who heads straight back to xz. THE NARRATIVE OF IT ALL - their v long back and forth on a boat - xiao zhan singing ‘lay me down’ by sam smith to yibo / yibo not being able to stay away from his throat???? am i allowed to talk about this???? - that one interview where xz calls yibo a puppy - THIS - the lived in-ness of their dynamic. This has happened before and it will happen again

HM to several other classiques like the official bts clips of yibo yelling at various points, whenever they sing wuji and yibo comes up from beneath the stage and they gaze fondly at each other, yibo coming to sit at that special awards table at the 2019 tencent awards and bowing to everyone except xz, at that fanmeet when the host started talking about thin waists and yibo was like SHUT UP ABOUT WAISTS, the bts where they talk about bondage and xz very genuinely flutters his eyelashes, every time xz let himself get manhandled..............

top 5 wangxian moments (this is impossible!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

- The feeling of walking on a single plank bridge til it's dark doesn't feel so bad; confessing your love via a deeply depressing callback while surrounded at swordpoint - SAID DEPRESSING CALLBACK. The sheer amount of intense longing when lwj leaves the burial mounds. My cup runneth over. So good, so painful - Rabbit Lantern Scene. Lwj’s being so soft, so acquiescing, so helpless @ the force of wwx’s smile. And wwx drifting until he sights lwj and his face transforms. ugh!!!!! - EPISODE 46. I know this is not a moment; it is an entire episode but I HAD to include lwj letting wwx eat the lotus seeds AND imo the gc reveal is also A Wangxian Scene and then also the little tussle with jc beforehand. The whole thing is so good and I can’t pick one scene soooo I won’t! - Nobody Puts Baby In A Corner aka wwx drinking for lwj (I’m always saying this is my favourite scene so it’d by hypocritical to not have it here) - wwx tending to drunk lwj (specifically the ‘all these years, you looked for me?’ part and tucking him into bed) - PIGGY BACK RIDE TENDER WHISPERING

I appreciate that this is really not 5 but I have abstained from including several other favourites: ‘LAN WANGJI’ / ‘WEI WUXIAN’, soulmates, all lwj’s tiny smiles over his lil’ family in ep 50, their date in yiling, etc etc. And then I didn’t even include any scenes from the novel (the temple confession, ‘if he catches me i’lll-’, ‘his life is in my hands’, YOU CAN TRY NOW TO SEE IF I WOULD REJECT YOU OVER ANYTHINGGGG)

top 5 pandemic reads (I’m going to take this to mean ‘what are the best fics I’ve read since the pandemic bc while I read loads from march 2020 to summer-ish, I’ve really struggled to get back into reading actual novels since watching cql. I also originally thought this said 2021 so this is a list with those v specific parameters):

- yesterday, tomorrow (bjyx. MY FAVE!!!!!!!) - A Match in the Making (wangxian) - swiss cheese theory (wangxian sequel that i love more than the original) - Many happy returns (wangxian! transcendental power of love!) - Across the Universe (bjyx)

WHEW. CLEARLY I HAVE TOOOOO MANY FEELINGS ABOUT THIS

#ask #laralaralara

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neverdoingmuch · 4 years ago

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I just really love Two Person Love Triangles and Identity Porn. So, maybe a You've Got Mail AU? Or a superhero AU when one of them falls for both the masked hero and the secret identity?

because i love both of these aus i’ve written both!! but they’re pretty long bc i wouldn’t be me if i didn’t plot out an entire fic so the superhero au is here.

as for the you’ve got mail au, i went off and watched the movie for the first time and i am delighted by your taste anon,,, the au works so well!!

(okay for some reason tumblr won’t let me indent my bullets so idk how to fix that so big rip)

so we have lan & sons books, a company that prides itself on providing cheap books for everyone to read. think less evil corporation and more we wanted to provide easily accessible books for all people and ended up getting really rich off it

mr lan dadman was meant to be in charge but he ran off and lqr stepped up until lxc was old enough to take over and now lqr just kinda assists lxc when he needs help and does some other work

lqr is definitely the old guy who had a letter thing with this one woman who was enchanting but instead he was chatting to cssr and she was shameless

anyway lwj works as *random high up job that joe fox has* and his best work friend (and real friend) is jin zixuan

jin zixuan is the heir to some coffee franchise and the two families have a deal which is why you have the cafe inside the bookstores

we gonna give lwj some friends

as for wwx, his mother owned a bookstore, the burial mounds (why did she name it that?? idk she probably told bssr that she wanted to call it that as a joke and bssr tried to call her bluff so she ended up having to call it that a la suibian)

anyway he grew up with his mother and grandmother and they left the store to him (idk what happened to them?? maybe they just retired and are now travelling the world while wwx gets to have the bookstore)

now for the actual plot!!

lwj and wwx met on omegle an instant messaging site and now exchange emails. wwx goes by yiling patriarch and lwj goes by hanguang-jun bc we want that flavour

so they’ve been emailing for years and they never share any personal information - wwx knows that hgj has a pet rabbit but not hgj’s name or his job

as for the significant others?? idk let’s pretend they don’t exist.

wwx’s best friend nhs, who writes a column for so-and-so, always just comes over to his place and now he’s semi moved in and wwx isnt really sure why he’s here but he is.

lwj just vibes bc i can’t see him putting up with a patricia unless his uncle forced him to. even then he’d probably just be ~mysteriously~ gone while she’s home

maybe he has a really annoying pa who thinks its his job to come over and like make him breakfast. it’s su she,, it has to be

so wwx goes into work one morning and wen ning is waiting outside as he always is, ready for him to open and then like ten minutes later wen qing comes in and lastly granny wen comes in

why do they work together?? idk?? granny wen and bssr were close and so the wens and wwx kinda grew up as siblings? yeah i like that let’s go with that

so when cssr decided to go travelling wwx gets left with her store and he kinda knows how to run it but also he doesn’t have enough staff so he ends up hiring the wens (except granny who’s mostly there just to hang out with her family)

bonus: a-yuan always come to the shop after school and wwx gets to recreate the childhood he had with his mother with a-yuan. when the store closes wwx and a-yuan just twirl and twirl until they get too dizzy to stand up and then they lay on the floor and discuss their favourite book they’ve read this week. it’s very sweet

okay so the next day lwj gets to babysit his cousin/uncle/nephew/idk-how-they’re-related-person lan jingyi who is like eight or something?

they go out and hang at a festival and lwj does not buy him a goldfish bc i was very stressed by the way they treated the goldfish in the movie but he does get him balloons and a stuffed toy and plays all the games with him

eventually they’re walking back and see that the small bookstore near the new lan bookstore is hosting a story time so they go inside

lwj walks in and he’s immediately taken by the atmosphere of the store bc that place was absolutely beautiful and then he hears this voice and follows it around to the back of the store to see the most gorgeous man he’s ever seen in his life sitting on a kinda too small chair with a princess hat? cone? thing on top of his head

he’d planned to stay for like one story and then take jingyi home but he ends up staying for the entire book and it’s definitely not because the guy reading the book smiled at him once or twice

after the story time ends, lwj is reluctant to leave so he ends up letting jingyi pick a bunch of books and looks at a few fancy first edition books with wen qing

and maybe his mother used to love collecting books - the old ones with the yellowed pages and beautiful pictures - and that’s why lwj helps out with his family business,, bc he wants everyone to be able to have books like that (never mind that all their books are like mass produced and lack any sentimentality & the staff dont actually care about the books)

anyway he sees wwx help jingyi pick out books and lets him borrow his handkerchief when he sneezes and lwj’s like oh nooo he’s good with kids too so now he has to talk to him

so he goes up to buy the books and wwx’s telling jingyi about how much he likes daisies and lwj just blurts out “can i ask what your name is?” and wwx blinks but then smiles and is like i’m wei wuxian, but you can call me wei ying, and i own this store. what about you? and lwj is like wangji, you can call me wangji

wen qing takes one look at lwj and the way he’s staring at wwx and goes you’re going to come back aren’t you and lwj is trying so hard not to just run away so he just ignores her but then she mentions something about lan books and he’s Panicking and jingyi almost says that he’s a lan and lwj just kinda guides him over to a table and then goes back to flirt talk with wwx

anyway wwx ends up going on this big tangent about books and what they mean to people and the whole when you read a book as a child it becomes a part of your identity and who you’re going to become the way nothing else does (and lwj remembers his mother and her books) and then he apologises for going on and lwj is mentally going marry me, but he ends up calling wwx and his mother shameless

but it’s okay!! wwx & cssr are proud of it!

and then yada yada lwj buys the kinda expensive books and ends up awkwardly shepherding jingyi out of the store

cut to the next day when the lan book store opens properly and lwj ends up telling lqr about how he met wwx and lqr is like >:/ the son of that shameless woman,, how terrible,, it’s okay he won’t be a problem for long bc they’ll be driven out of business. which isn’t the response lwj wanted but lxc seems supportive enough if a bit concerned about how it would work with them as business enemies

business is already bad for wwx and it’s barely been a week since the lan store opened and he’s pretty bummed out but hopeful that maybe it’s a fluke

then nhs invites him to some fancy dinner with him bc wei-xiong they’re all so boring and smart and have opinions, please don’t make me have opinions so wwx gets dragged along

he ends up talking to lwj at the bar bc how could he not talk to the man who’s standing in front of all that fancy alcohol and getting some fruit juice. (he’d get water but lwj has had to put up with su she all evening so he needs something stronger)

anyway they chat and it’s pleasant but then after wwx gets approached by someone who’s like wow im surprised you’re talking to lan wangji and wwx is like lan?!

cue their passive aggressive argument around the food table complete with caviar and a turkey knife.

now bc it’s lan wangji,, instead of making scathing comebacks he just makes like factual and to-the-point statements that end up being really bitchy (or does he intend them to be that way? it’s a mix of both of them tbh but in this case he’s definitely being bitchy on purpose) and wwx is spluttering bc that boy does not stand up well against hot and mad people

nhs ends up coming over and defusing the situation but wwx makes a point of stealing the rest of the caviar off lwj’s plate before leaving

lwj ends up ducking out early as well to avoid su she and emails wwx that night at like 9:45 bc the guilt of being so rude kept him up late and yllz is like oh no that’s so sad ): but impressive! i wish i could zing people,, my brain just turns off the second i need to make a comeback

creative liberties,, wwx is good at teasing but not being genuinely mean? lets go with that

anyway now we get the delightful montage of wwx hiding behind cheese displays and lwj walking out of coffee stores with a newspaper covering his face as they try to avoid each other

when wwx gets in the wrong line at the supermarket lwj comes over and kinda glares the checkout woman into submission and gets her to let wwx use his card which wwx is really conflicted about bc why would he help me?? and once again angry lwj = hot lwj

a few weeks later wwx ends up asking hgj for help bc business isn’t getting any better but refuses to give any details and i refuse to have lwj watch the godfather so lwj just straight up messages him and is like tear that bitch apart

and so wwx decides to tear that bitch apart and asks nhs for help. nhs, fan of the arts and small businesses and local culture, is 100% down for it and writes a scathing article about lan books and how they’re destroying all the aforementioned things nhs cares about

it ends up getting a lot of traction and people show up to protest and wwx even goes on television

lwj ends up seeing the news coverage on the matter while he’s at the gym with jzx

jzx is 100% the guy who goes to the gym just to apathetically walk on the treadmill while lwj jogs

he sees the interview with wwx and lwj is like he’s not this nice in real life and jzx is like you met him?? and lwj is like mn. then jzx is like i bet he’s not as hot and lwj is completely silent but his ears are bright red and that’s how jzx knows that wwx is just that hot

also?? lwj goes on tv and says like three words and he’s kinda annoyed how the news decided to spin that but he also said like three words so what did he expect?

but, despite all the publicity, sales don’t get any better so wwx is like fine can we meet in person and lwj is like sure

he brings jzx along bc he doesn’t know the way there, it’s not because he’s nervous and kind of in love with yllz, it’s because he doesn’t know how to get to the cafe. (it’s two blocks from his apartment)

anyway jzx is like oof man it’s seems like yllz is wwx but he is that hot so not all is lost and lwj is like yikes no not happening im not going in but he also feels bad about standing wwx up so he ends up going in and sitting down in front of wwx

and lwj is like wei wuxian, all this publicity will do nothing to save your business and wwx is like lan wangji who do you think you are (or however that scene goes) but instead of lwj being asked to leave wwx decides he’s not gonna chicken out first so they end up spending like two hours having the most aggressive cup of coffee and chat he’s ever had

lwj is exhausted but he also refuses to give up

but then wwx spits something about how lwj is some cold, heartless suit who doesn’t actually care about or appreciate books so how can he possibly dare to think that he’s better than wwx and that hurts bc lwj had thought that he’d been doing exactly that so he leaves

anyway the next morning wwx is moping around the bookstore bc he didn’t get stood up, he swears. am i not cute enough he moans to wen qing and she’s like your hgj doesn’t know what you look like. but what about my personality? is that cute enough? and wen qing eventually manages to grit out that yes it is cute enough

wen ning comes in and is like are you okay? you got stood up? that’s good! your date might have been the rooftop killer xue yang! he got caught last night! and wwx is like i wish, i just got stood up like a chump

so they ignore each other for a few weeks bc wwx is very hurt and lwj doesn’t know what he’s going to say but wwx ends up caving and emails hgj about how guilty he feels and how even though wwx probably means nothing to lwj, he’s worried that maybe he did hurt lwj and also please hgj i still want to talk to you

now hgj never says a lot, he’s always really succinct and direct but this time he takes the time to write a proper apology. it’s not an explanation bc he doesn’t want to give this up, even if the yllz he thinks he loves is the wwx that he hates, but it is an apology

the next day wwx goes to lunch with granny wen and finally dares to ask her whether it would be okay to shut the store down. he doesn’t want, of course he doesn’t want to, but he doesn’t think he can afford to keep it open. granny just tells him that it’s okay and that if the time has come, the time has come

we don’t have to worry about wwx breaking up with anyone, so he just goes home and asks nhs if he can have some space and nhs quickly packs his stuff and goes home. as he stands in the doorway with his last box of stuff he tells wwx that he’s sorry and wishes he could help more and wwx sends him this tremulous smile but manages to hold it together until nhs leaves and then he cries and cries

the next day he goes back to work and tries to stay bubbly and cheery even as he sees all of his shelves slowly being emptied and people who haven’t stepped foot in his store in six months are telling him what a shame it is and how they wish it didnt have to come to this and wwx is internally screaming

he manages to stave off any actual screaming but when he closes up that day he ends up going to the children’s section of lan bookstore and just as he had thought, none of the staff care about the books, none of them know any books and he ends up recommending a series to some young mother

lwj, who’d spotted wwx and come over to see if whether he was here to pick a fight, comes to the awful realisation that maybe wwx is right about his store lacking heart

he goes home that night and su she tags along even though lwj just wants space and the elevator breaks. he’s sitting there on the ground listening to his neighbour talk about reconnecting with family and the elevator button pressing dude talks about getting engaged and su she is just there whining about his job and the inconvenience and lwj goes fuck this. when the elevator starts working again he grabs his rabbit and goes back down to the ground floor, ignores su she’s shouts, and goes back to his childhood home

wwx gets stuck closing his store down. he looks around at the shelves and tables he’d grown up with and sees his childhood and a-yuan’s and countless moments he’s had with people he’s loved and realises he’s going to lose it all forever. he grabs the bell, the last thing he has left of the store and closes up for the very last time

in the meantime, lwj is living the high life. he hangs out with his bunny, gets to read pride and prejudice for fun and actually manages to get all the way through it and then his brother comes to visit

apparently he’d broken up with jgy bc he was gold digger-esque and had decided to run off with someone richer and lwj is like oh thats so sad ): anyway nmj is right there and he fills your heart with joy and lxc is like have you ever had someone like that? and lwj immediately thinks of wwx and is like fuck

his first order of business is to buy wwx’s shop bc it broke my heart that she didn’t get it back in the og movie and he starts filling it with books again. he buys ten copies of his mother’s favourite books and places them on the shelf by the door and then he sees a book that reminds him of jingyi so gets some of them and he sees a book covered in daisies and thinks of wwx. and slowly, slowly he’s building up his own library, his own store, and this time every single book means something and for once lwj looks out across the floor with pride and satisfaction

his second order of business is to apologise to wwx for being a dick. he buys some daisies and goes to his place and comes in and cooks soup for wwx. lwj apologises and tells him it wasn’t personal and wwx is like that’s not true, it was personal to me and it’s personal to a lot of people and lwj understands that now. he remembers the way he’d filled wwx’s store and left his own touch and bared his heart through each of those books and he understands. he doesn’t actually say this and just tells wwx that he wants to be friends

lwj considers coming clean about being hgj but he knows now that he definitely loves wwx and knows that wwx currently hates him but damn is it hard not to say anything when wwx is telling him how much he loves hgj

anyway he’s like organise a meeting again with hgj

i’d say it’s ooc for lwj not to come clean but this is the man who pined for x decades and just didnt tell wwx that his son was alive so like not ooc at all

so lwj decides he’s going to woo wwx as best as he can and organises to meet up with yllz and then goes and meets with wwx and they end up going to hang out and for some strange reason, even though wwx keeps getting stood up, he doesn’t seem to care too much. he keeps agreeing to meet hgj and when he doesn’t show is more than happy to spend the rest of his day with lwj

and slowly, they start to get closer. wwx takes a sip of lwj’s coffee and lwj buys him daisies. wwx brings him an interesting book and lwj tells him about his mother. they chat freely about hgj and lwj is happy for the first time in a long time

eventually lwj organises the final meeting. wwx is really confused about the place he picked but he’s hopeful that maybe this time hgj will show. after wwx and lwj’s farmers market date ends, lwj ends up asking wwx if he could love lwj and wwx is like you put me in such an uncomfortable situation. ie stammering and blushing and eventually going oh no ill be late and running off

anyway a couple hours later wwx finds himself standing outside his old bookstore and he refuses to look at it bc he doesn’t want to see what it’s become but then, through the open door of the store, a bunny hops out and over to wwx

lwj comes running out after it calling out its name (bichen?? flopsy?? rabbit?? one of them) and wwx looks up and is like oh,, it’s you, i’d hoped it was you and he’s all teary and lwj has a handkerchief that he’d embroidered himself (with gentians of course) and he’s like dont cry yllz and then they kiss and it’s beautiful

bonus: lwj takes wwx inside the store and shows him everything and explains the meaning behind every book that they’ve picked and then wwx does cry for real bc there is definitely an entire two walls dedicated just to wwx

do they open the store as a bookstore again and work together? does wwx end up writing books?? idk up to you. i like the idea that they open the store for story time and sell children’s books but lwj still works with lan & sons to get some heart in their stores and wwx works on his own books in his spare time

#Anonymous #mdzs #modao zushi #mo dao zu shi #wei wuxian #lan wangji #wangxian #cql #the untamed #asks #thank you so much for the ask i had a lot of fun making this!#let me know if you'd like anything else!!

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catravandece · 4 years ago

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Oh my god ok wangning au based on this incredible art by @alfheimr (cql canon cuz im most familiar w/ it)

Knowing that lwj would probably rather spontaneously combust than willingly return to koi tower it’s sizhui who comes back from a guest lecture at 11 years old and says “hanguang jun, jin ling’s family has a corpse chained up in the basement?”

A few days later said chained corpse shows up on his dads bed looking extra morose and tortured while lwj heals various cuts and pops his leg back into place

they try to keep sizhui away at first, stop his memories from triggering to protect him from the realization that the world he loves made him an orphan twice over. but the kid is doggedly persistent and after a few visits it seems like nothing will happen. lwj introduces wen ning as “someone who needs us”

(sizhui is newly seventeen when he makes the connection- this is wen ning. hanguang-jun was friends with the yiling laozu who controlled the ghost general. both hanguang-jun and wen ning act like they’ve lost someone they loved. sizhui dreams that night of a blurry, charcoal covered face feeding him soup but the hands are so familiar. he spends the next day in the cold pond and vows never to bring it up to either of them)

Wen Ning lives in a long forgotten shrine just inside the border of cloud recesses closest to the jingshi. it’s only big enough for a few mats and most of the roof tiles are broken but it’s safer than bringing wn to the jingshi. When they find out who the martial god is that the shrine was built for they take care to always make sure his idol statue has a white flower to hold.

in beginning visiting is mostly just sitting in companionable silence. its easier when hanguang-jun brings sizhui, who asks some hard to dodge questions but is content knowing his dad has a friend. wen ning helps him with talismans (all of wwx’s work that the cultivation world still dares to use).

wen ning makes a fire pit so at least lwj can have tea. maybe it’ll entice him to stay longer...

jin guangyao comes by soon after the stealing. he makes noises about visiting xichen but wangji sees his eyes darting around corners and past the treeline. A paper man trips the outer wards of the jingshi

lwj goes to the temple after escorting jgy out to find holes punched in every wall, broken tiles scattered over the floor and wen ning crouched terribly still amid the wreckage (a normal man would be heaving with sobs but wen ning is dead and can only smash out his feelings)

wangji sweeps everything into a pile and then starts playing his qin. he only plays wei ying’s songs. wen ning doesnt move for hours until he suddenly just falls over on his side.

wangji hadn’t known until then whether or not wen ning actually needed sleep. turns out he doesnt need it but can be persuaded into it

lwj lays out two mats and they sleep through the night (fitfully, wen ning reaches out in his dreams and grabs the front of lwj’s robes. lwj holds on to his wrist the rest of the night)

Lwj was never resentful toward wen ning. Wen Ning kept wwx safe when wangji could not. Wen Ning is obviously in love with wei ying but at this point it’s a blessing to be around someone who doesn’t hate the love of lwj’s life. It takes a few days to get the words out (which wen ning spends constantly fearful lwj is gonna kill him for real for failing to keep wwx from dying, which would be just what he deserves) but lwj knows now to tell the people he loves what is important. So he doesn’t let this misunderstanding lie for very long

lwj feels guilty. even though he was enthralled, if lwj hadn’t intervened then wen ning could have spent this time in blissful ignorance, unaware of the miserable fact of wei wuxian’s death. but at the same time lwj is comforted by having someone to weather the grief with. someone else who loved wei ying (he doesn’t know it for a long time, but wen ning thinks the same)

one night wen ning follows lwj out on a night hunt. he makes sure to follow unseen- but ends up intervening when lwj takes on many more ghouls than he can handle.

wen ning understands that this is lwj’s coping mechanism, throwing himself into the chaos, but he’s already watched one person he loved drive himself to ruin so he does everything possible to keep hanguang-jun in one piece, physically and mentally

so they night hunt together. wen ning gets to help a-yuan grow up (although he’s walking on eggshells the whole time). every year he helps lan wangji make a fire outside the temple and they burn joss paper. the rabbits love wen ning possibly even more than they love lan wangji and like to chew on his robes (wen ning lets them bc he is a noodle)

the art happens here bc only healing around the bunnies

grief and moving on family ;~;

Bonus wangningxian

lan wangji would never let wn accompany him on night hunts when other sects are involved, but something about both jiang cheng and jin rulan and sizhui being at dafan mountain makes wen ning follow. he felt a major disturbance in the world just a few days prior. worrying never did wen ning wrong yet

he pretends to still be enthralled so the others don’t suspect wwx summoned him intentionally (of course he knows it’s wwx under the mask bc power of love and also nobody else is strong enough in demonic cultivation to control him)

when wwx asks next time they meet in yueyang, wen ning pretends to not know who broke him out of koi tower. he can save face for lan wangji that way. and besides, anyone can see that lwj and wwx are the kind of soulmates wen ning will never be to someone.

lwj lets it slip anyway while he’s wasted. wwx accurately guesses at wen ning covering for lwj but is still an oblivious idiot

after the golden core reveal wangji and wen ning both carry wwx away

wei wuxian wakes up in a boat with his head in lan zhan’s lap and his feet tangled with wen ning’s boots. theyre nice boots- like something lan zhan would buy in white

they go to the guanyin temple. wwx is thankful that wen ning and lan zhan have had each other all the years he’s been dead. he wonders aloud if sizhui would be friends with wen ning now that they’ve all met, because obviously wen ning didn’t know any of the juniors until yi city

this is getting long so everything else happens as usual, wwx still goes on his lonely mental healing vacation, he runs into sizhui and lan zhan and wen ning on a night hunt on his way back and realizes watching the three of them interact that they’ve already been 3/4 of a family just waiting for him to come back

and it was all Gay and Good the end

#it speaks #the untamed #mdzs #wangning #wangningxian #god just let me die on this rock #i have a lot of feelings about wangning as u can see #pls no more lwj being aggro jealous of wen ning #the emo about wei wuxian alliance

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noldorinsherlock · 4 years ago

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Hey, @thepineapplering, it’s your anon here, you inspired me to type up my essay. So I’ve been thinking a lot about the structure of The Untamed because at first glance it can seem a little all over the place narratively, which didn’t make sense because it is actually a masterful work of narrative. But then I noticed that the rain scene was at almost the exact midpoint of the series, and I started thinking about narrative turning points and 5 act structure a la John Yorke, and a lot of things started slotting together. Disclaimer: I haven’t actually read John Yorke’s book, I only know it through TJLC meta, so there may be errors in my understanding and I welcome feedback. So! Here’s what I noticed

While I do think The Untamed fits into five acts, they’re not evenly sized - Act 5 takes up the entire last third of the show, while Act 4 is like two episodes. However, they still fit the correct narrative roles. Here are the acts as I see them:

Act 1 - Study abroad year in Cloud Recesses, ending with the inciting action of Lan Yi giving Wangxian the Yin Iron and the two of them setting out their quest - down the rabbit hole, so to speak, but. hilariously literally.

Act 2 - Everything from the Yin Iron quest to Wen Ruohan’s downfall at Wei Wuxian’s hands. I dithered over this a lot because a lot happens in this segment but I still like the placement of the first battle at Nightless City in act 2 scene 3, so there we have it.

Act 3 - From the end of Wen Ruohan’s defeat to Jin Ling’s birth. I think this works well both in terms of Wangxian’s changing/developing relationship and the everything-else plot of realizing that Wen Ruohan wasn’t the only evil in the world, and that many of the “good guys” are complicit in horrific war crimes. The Rain Scene acts as both a turning point in Wangxian’s relationship and the moral thesis of the show - “is this the promise we made together? who is strong and who is weak?” and appropriately ends up being in act 3 scene 2

Act 4 - the shortest act, from the conflict at Qiongqi Path that results in Jin Zixuan’s death to Wei Wuxian’s suicide by cliff. The darkest point, where it seems that tragedy will prevail. The synthesis of the antithesis - Wei Wuxian couldn’t control it, he’s the Yiling Patriarch who drags everyone down with him in his destruction.

Act 5 - everything after the return to the present. Wangxian have (mostly) sorted themselves out and are brought back together. Wei Wuxian is largely exonerated, the real villains of the story (resentment, rumor, and thirst for power) are defeated for the time being.

So where does this leave us? This structure gives us a really interesting thesis-antithesis-synthesis layout. I see the initial thesis as young Wei Wuxian in the Cloud Recesses, carefree but mischievous, good-hearted but with hints at his interest in forbidden magic. The antithesis is the Yiling Patriarch, or at least the myth of him - deep in dangerous magic and resentful energy, “cruel and heartless” according to popular opinion, “resentful energy will harm your body, and your temperament more”. It’s the wrong answer to the question, because we know that’s not who Wei Wuxian is, but Jin Zixuan and Jiang Yanli’s deaths seem at first to give it truth. The synthesis, the correct answer, is Wei Wuxian returned to life - more or less settled, in control, and regretful not of what he was trying to do (protect the weak and stand with justice), but of the way he hurt people he cares about along the way. He’s not the teenager he used to be, and he’s not the Yiling Patriarch, he’s simultaneously both of them and a better version of himself than either of them.

I think this also explains Yi City’s placement in the final act. It’s act 5 scene 2, or, as I understand it, the antithesis of the synthesis. Songxiao has been a mirror for Wangxian since the beginning, but where it was once a hopeful one, it ends in tragedy. Lan Wangji’s obvious empathy and pain when speaking to Song Lan makes it clear that that could so easily have been them - one dead by his own hand, the other wandering forever in grief - but Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian got a second chance, a chance to set things right.

We also get symmetry between the two times Lan Wangji drinks: the first time, it’s at roughly the midpoint of act 1, the second time, it’s at roughly the midpoint of act 5. While the first instance ended badly, with both Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian being beaten for it, the second time gives us the delightful rooster scene. For bonus points, consider the other interaction between Lan Wangji and alcohol - when Wei Wuxian drank the very rudely offered toast for him. That takes place in act 3 scene 2, which means that the two times Lan Wangji actually drinks are symmetrical around it.

Other highlights: the Staircase Scene, the reveal of the story behind Lan Wangji’s scars, and the reveal of Wei Wuxian’s loss of his golden core, all take place in act 5 scene 3, which gives me a lot of emotions. And while this one is probably pure coincidence, I think it’s very funny that the Wen clan’s dungeon dog makes its appearance in act 2 scene 2, in the same position as THOB.

#the reason I didn't write this before is because I was formulating it for a non-tjlc audience and it was so much harder #if I'm writing for you all you'll know what I'm talking about better than I do anyway #I did put a fair bit of thought into dividing up what would go in each third of each act but I left the details out of this #wasn't sure if anyone would be interested

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canary3d-obsessed · 4 years ago

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Restless Writing Prompts

Need something to do? Here are all the (ridiculous) writing prompts from my Restless Rewatch: The Untamed series (so far - I will update every few episodes).

WARNING: SPOILERS for ALL 50 EPISODES!

Wei Wuxian invents a lie to cover up the gift he gave to his brother. Invent a better lie.

A giant animatronic dog spends a night with Wei Wuxian. Write the encounter from the dog’s perspective.

Baldur’s Gate III (Or DA:Inquisition, or Elder Scrolls) / Untamed Crossover AU featuring elf archer Lan Wangji

Wei Wuxian ties up Xue Yang and searches him. He says he’s not worried about his reputation. By the time the gossip about this reaches the ears of Clan Leader Yao, it has morphed into rank smut. Write the smut. For bonus points, write Yao’s horrified/titillated reaction to the smut, too.

Wei Wuxian’s parents died when he was young, leaving him homeless and alone. What happened? How did they die?

The rabbits from Watership Down stop by the Cloud Recesses in their quest for does for the new warren. They meet headband-wearing Lan rabbits. How does that go?

Lan Xichen meets Meng Yao, who makes a strong impression. What does Lan Xichen say about this in his next letter to Nie Mingue?

The Day I Discovered I Could Melt Your Fucking Core, by Wen Zhuliu

Why I Wear Socks to Bed (Drabble), by Jiang Cheng

When the Yin Iron Summer Road Trip ends, Lan Wangji is seen using WWX talismans as he travels alone. Wei Wuxian must have packed him a goody bag before he left. What else did Wei Wuxian put in his crush’s goody bag?

Lantern lighting & making wishes is a Lan Clan tradition. What do juniors Lan Sizhui and Lan Jingyi wish for when they launch their lanterns?

Nie Huaisang and Jiang Cheng explore Gusu together while Wei Wuxian is being punished in the library. What do they get up to?

That one time when Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji sat in the tea pavilion while all the juniors were night hunting: write Lan Wangji’s internal monologue.

Lan Xichen writes a secret nightly letter to his mother’s memory or her spirit (your choice), in which he confides about his day. What did he say after Wei Wuxian arrived in Cloud Recesses for the first time? May be written in flute solo form.

#the untamed spoilers #writing prompts #the untamed #fytheuntamed #cql #restless rewatch the untamed #canary3d-original

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x-i-l-verify · 5 years ago

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Thoughts on The Untamed after 10 episodes

So the first thing I noticed when comparing The Untamed to MDZS was that compared to the drama, MDZS moves at a breakneck pace. 10 hours into The Untamed, and we’re not even at the point we were at in episode 8 of a show with episodes half as long. On the one hand, this is a good thing; I appreciate that The Untamed just lets the characters breathe, with cute little moments and scenes peppered throughout that show the characters’ various relationships and quirks. Because of this, I feel like I know some of the secondary characters far better than I did in MDZS, especially ones like Nie Huaisang, Lan Xichen, Wen Qing, and Jiang Yanli.

However, the other edge to this sword is that The Untamed’s actual plot moves at a glacial pace compared to MDZS’. Multiple scenes seem entirely superficial or artificially lengthened to pad out the episode’s runtime, with the showrunners being particularly fond of the “characters stand/sit around and talk about Plot for minutes on end” type of scenes. And I don’t feel like I can just fast-forward those, either, because what if I miss something important? It really makes some parts of the episodes feel ponderous, and I wish some scenes had been cut or heavily edited to make the story - which still manages to be interesting beneath all the padding - more streamlined and tight.

I love the costuming and scenery, it’s been consistently gorgeous throughout and I can tell they spared no expense on that front. The cinematography is nothing mind-blowing, but it’s not bad, either, and some of the shots are flat-out beautiful.

What I do not love, however, are the special effects. The CGI in general is actually pretty passable in most scenes so it's normally not too distracting. Where things fall apart for me are the fight scenes, namely the wirework. It’s just... it’s bad. No other way to put it. It’s like watching a Peter Pan stage play with none of the suspension of disbelief you use for stage productions. Characters float weightlessly around in slow motion like they’re majestic birds in flight rather than in the middle of life and death situations, and there’s simply no urgency or feeling of genuine peril to almost any of the action scenes, because you’re simply too distracted by how fake and comical everything looks to get invested in what’s going on. I can’t help but think back longingly to the incredible action sequences in MDZS, to how fast and punchy and suspenseful they all were, and there’s simply no comparison. I really hope the show-runners get a handle on this aspect of the show soon, because shit’s going to get real very soon story-wise, and I don’t want the pathos to be ruined by sub-par action sequences. B/

I will say that when action scenes aren’t a factor, the acting has been consistently good through the 10 hours I’ve watched through. Everyone plays their parts consistently well, and the casting agency deserves a bonus for bringing so many talented and good-looking people under one roof.

I also feel like Lan Wangji’s character seems to be far more reasonable and less of a massive stick-in-the-mud like he was for the majority of MDZS. I mean, he’s still inscrutable and brusque, but I feel you can understand where his behavior comes from more here than in MDZS, where it felt he was just constantly rude and cold to WWX for seemingly no reason. WWX can occasionally cross the line from being a cute little shit to outright obnoxious in this version, so if LWJ is consistently Unimpressed with him, then it makes sense (though the part where he actually smiled at the rabbit WWX painted on the lantern was freaking cute af).

(See? CUTE.)

#The Untamed #XI Writes #aka XI Has Random Thoughts and Wants to Air Them #i know it seems like I nitpicked a lot but I am actually enjoying myself for the most part #it would just be so EASY to fix most of the things I mentioned which would bring the show up from good to great in my current estimation #which is what's frustrating #it's the current year and this is China there shouldn't be any reason why they can't invest in some good fight scene choreography #and realistic wirework #idk whether they're trying for a certain aesthetic or they blew all their budget on the costumes

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