#but mainly i am full of love for wangxian

[phagechildon]

Randomly thought of this while showering.

A modern Wangxian au where someone framed Wei Ying, making it look like he was responsible for a big fire(explosion) at a Christmas Party that all major companies were invited to. Yanli was severely injured, but okay.

Since then, Wei Ying hid in the shadows, trying to find who or what organization was behind it. Everyone assumed he ran away, not wanting to face punishment.

Years later, Lan Zhan, an on-duty (undercover) officer tracked a suspicious person to a museum. Just as chaos breaks out, someone slams into him, knocking them both down. It's a woman with ankle-length auburn hair and a face full of makeup. Her eyes are honey-comb in color, but her expression is full of shock.

She looks familiar.

Heart-achingly familiar.

Instead of chasing after the suspect (at this point the fire alarm is going off, proof that someone set it off to escape as water is spraying from the sprinklers), he instead chases after this woman who's now running away from him. She kicks her heels off, even so, Lan Zhan should've been able to catch her. There's only been one person he hadn't been able to catch.

Finally he catches the woman, mainly because her feet are now bleeding from the streets. He pins her to the wall, makeup half washed off from the sprinklers, wet hair sliding off, revealing a wig.

They're both out of breath, exhausted, yet Lan Zhan pulls the wig off, seeing long dark brown hair in a flattened bun.

"Lan Zhan, who knew you'd turn out to be so pervy?"

That voice - his entire soul froze in disbelief.

Wei Ying. This was without a doubt Wei Ying, the one he had fallen in love with, the one who had falsely been blamed, the one who went missing eight years back. His cheeks were sunken in, an obvious sign of lack of nutrition.

And his voice, so recognizable, yet so much softer and lighter than before.

"Wei-" Said man pressed a finger to his lips, glancing nervously around them.

"They're probably listening. Would a strong, strapping man like you escort this feeble maiden home?" Lan Zhan rose an eyebrow in disbelief, only making Wei Ying smirk more. "It's the least you can do for making me lose my shoes!"

.... there was so much he wanted to say, so much he wanted to comment on, but Wei Wuxian was very intelligent. If he said someone might be listening, he was probably right.

"Apologies. I mistook you for someone else." Not a lie. He didn't know who this was when he gave chase.

Without hesitation he swept Wei Ying into his arms, carrying him bridal style. A deep (adorable) red stained those pale cheeks as those eyes fluttered in disbelief, revealing a little bit of his natural silver eyes now that his contacts were slightly askew.

"A-ah, you don't have to carry me! Put me down!"

"No," he simply said, tightening his grip when he felt the other squirm. "I am doing as you asked. I'm escorting the feeble maiden who shouldn't be on her feet."

Lan Zhan follows Wei Ying's instructions, driving him to a shady looking bar that's three stories high. Normally he would assume his friend just wanted to drink, but this felt different.

They enter through the back, the kitchen staff looking up at them in shock. Wei Ying let his hair loose, waving to everyone and - was he using sign language?!

The employees sign back, looking both worried and relieved.

Eventually Wei Ying whispered "there's stairs to the left," and he carried him up to what looked like a large living room. Someone was playing a piano, a walking stick propped up against the wall near him, and a child slept peacefully on the couch. Wei Ying motioned for him to go up the next set of stairs, leading him to a small den that had been transformed into a room.

"When did you learn sign language?"

"Ahahaha, well, there's a lot you don't know about me, Lan Zhan." And it was true. All around the room were Styrofoam heads sporting different kinds of wigs, both male and female. Dozens of non-prescription contacts boxes were tossed all over. Clothes were thrown haphazardly in one of the corners, forcing them both to sit on the bed. This obviously wasn't Wei Ying's first time wearing a disguise.

"I saw a suspicious person go through an employees only door the day of the party, and instead of saying something, I ran after them. They noticed and ran, which made me give chase. He ran by the kitchen and hit a switch, and everything went black"

"Why didn't you tell that to the police?"

Wei Ying blinked up at him with a sad smile. "You think I didn't?" Lan Zhan didn't understand. The responding officers were good friends of theirs, people who have been friends with their family since they were little. They knew Wei Ying. Might not have been fond of him, but knew he would never do such a thing. Yet Wei Ying wouldn't lie about this either.

"They nearly killed me, Lan Zhan. They hunted me down, even used their damned hell hounds. They wanted me dead so they could pin the whole blame on me without further investigation. That's when I met them, my new family."

Wen Qing and Wen Ning were out shopping when someone tried to rob a now blind Wen Ning. Unable to stand by, Wei Ying swooped in and stopped them. After that, they kept running into each other. Eventually he learned the Wens had been at the same Christmas Party and Wen Ning had suffered a nasty head injury, resulting in blindness. Hearing he was searching for the one responsible, they teamed up.

From there, they gathered their savings and bought this rundown building, turning it into a bar. It brought them business and income without the attention. They also got to chose their hours. Most of then Wens who stayed with them had disabilities such as being mute, blind, or deaf.

"It's... been a long time since I've had a long conversation like this." Wen Qing was fine, however she was hardly home, always taking shifts at the hospital to give them a steady income when the bar was slow.

Lan Zhan, against Wei Ying's protests, helps clean and wrap his feet, agreeing to work together to find the one responsible and clear his name.

"He knows I'm on his trail. He's planning something, something big. We can't let him succeed this time."

And so Lan Zhan escorts a beautiful woman around town, one who's mute (which is so ironic since Lan Zhan couldn't get him to shut up when they were growing up), and when Wei Ying feels mischievous, he arrives at meet up locations in a different wig and a completely different kind of outfit, giggling as people start spreading rumors that Lan Zhan has turned into a player.

That's all I have so far XD Hope you guys like it! Just a shower idea

[alexbutrandomthoughts]

Can I ask something? I love reading fanfics, and most of them are non canon mlm couples from shounen series.... Why do you think there are many shipping from sports and battle/action anime (I'm not complaining)? Sometime I even enjoyed it a bit more than reading from canon mlm couple stories or BL manga/manhwa....

Also, why do you think there are quite a lot of fanfics from wangxian, hualian, bingqiu (eventhough all of them have canon mlm couples)? I love reading their original stories and still want to read their fanfics, what do you think? I mean, most fics are of non canon couples (like from Haikyuu, BNHA, JJK, BSD, etc), but the couples above have a lot of fics eventhough they're all canon couples, why do you think is that?

Oooh that's an interesting question. I am not really good with putting my thought into words, so this might turned out to be a mess, but I'll try anyway.

I suppose when it comes to sports anime, you kinda have nothing else to work with, i mean people have done more with less, shipping is mainly done for fun "what if" scenarios, like your little doll house where you put everyone in any situation and see it play out. Often in sports anime you have a lot of tension between characters, be that rivals on opposite teams or their own, and the stories tend to focus on that quite a bit, so people naturally would be curious if there something more going on.

Of course those relationships can be strictly platonic, i mean i firmly believe that majority of couples in Haikyuu could be just friends in canon (except bokuaka those are gay even canon i will die on that hill) but that doesn't stop me from enjoying the fics where they're romantically involved, and i think romantic/sexual tension can add quite a bit of nuance to a relationship, which can be explored in a fun way (for example, haikyuu manga spoilers ahead: Hinata moving to Brazil after high school, how would that impact his relationship with Kageyama if they were in love with each other?)

With Shonen battle anime it sorta similar. You always have those two characters who are either best friends or rivals or enemies, or all of them. Again people have done more with less (i mean crack ships are a thing) and also Shonen genre being notoriously known for it's inability to write good female characters, let alone good female love interests (looking dead in the eyes of Naruto and mha). Like what do you expect from fans, when the character's supposed love interest is such a one dimensional cardboard and all mc can say about her is "Oh she's so beautiful and smart" and then said mc turns around looks at his "bestie" and spits out "he is like a sunrise, beautiful and inspiring, so full of color. I feel like he's the only one who sees me for who i am, he understands me completely and i want to fight by his side for the rest of my life" like what do you want from us. Write a good female character that have good chemistry with the mc and I'll ship it bro u r the problem.

I actually also get the feeling when you enjoy non canon ships more than bl ones.

Insert the "gay rep be like "i like a boy.... but I'm a boy!??!" Meanwhile queerbait be like "you used corruption believing in me? How beautiful" copy-paste.

Let's be honest when it comes to those non canon ships, fans do most of the work, cuz nothing is set in stone it gives people room to create and fill in the gaps. The most famous example being Marauders and All The Young Dudes fic. Fanfiction is the product of pure passion and love people have for the stories, i mean Fanfiction authors don't even get payed and they produce absolute masterpieces that will be and are better than most "modern" literature.

There are also examples of ships that are basically canon but it never said outloud, eastern animation is far more unforgiving when it comes to queer couples, especially if it's a mainstream show (look me in the eyes and say satosugu are not gay, like this is not case of fans being fans they're straight up homosexuals istg, OR SKK LIKE BRUH C'MON) but i digress.

I think my earlier point explains quite well why ships like hualian or wangxien have so many fics. Fanfiction is ultimate culmination of a person's love for a story, people adore those characters and their relationship so they want to see them more, see those silly or not so silly scenarios of "what if".

What if Hua Cheng found Xie Lian before he ascended the third time? What if Lan zhan saved Wei Ying from dying on that night? (I haven't read the third mxtx story but u get the point)

Or maybe they just want to write something that happened after book ended, or what if they lived in modern times? What if it's a universe with no gods/cultivators? What if they time traveled? What if all three books existed in the same universe? The list goes on

All these things drive people to write and create, which is why they have so many fics (that's what i think anyway)

You absolutely should read the fics! You can hit me up and i can give u couple of recommendations for hualian and wangxian, i have quite a bit of those.

[neverdoingmuch]

when people call wangxian a boring ship i want to gentle reach out, cupping their cheeks in my hand, look them straight in the eye and ask if they read the book. did they miss the way that wwx’s presence helped encourage lwj to develop his own passions and opinions outside what he was taught to have? did they miss the way that lwj was the first person who was ever wwx’s equal and challenged him like no one else but still saw wwx as human, as fallible and worthy of protection? did they miss the way that all of their “relationship drama” stemmed from the fact that: a) lwj genuinely acted like he hated wwx in his first life and wwx was never shown any different until it was too late and that wwx could never afford to take the time to work through his own feelings even though they were clearly there bc he was so busy just trying to stay alive and he just wasn’t ready for a relationship and b) the fact that wwx’s closely guarded secrets and insistent pride and confidence that he could handle himself even though he was barely holding on combined with lwj’s moral rigidity and unwillingness to change or adapt meant that they were constantly at odds? did they miss the way that their growth together as love interests and independently (inspired by each other or just by themselves) is some of the most wonderfully written arcs ever, creating dynamic characters who progress in a way that wholly and completely suits them? did they miss the way that even when they were at odds, wwx and lwj still cared enough spend time together and check in on each other? did they miss the way that wwx, who has never been the first preference and has always been left behind alone, marries lwj, who welcomes him into his life and his family full-heartedly and puts him and his happiness above all else? did they miss the way that wwx does the same? did they miss the way they parallel their own parents’ and their relationships and how they have to overcome the legacies/trauma of their parents as well as themselves and they do it because they’re such a good couple? did they miss the way that wwx and lwj genuinely love each other and cherish each other? because that last point alone is more than what half the ships in this fandom canonically have. 

[shamelessemoartlover]

I really hate how I always become obsessed with ships where two people are childhood friend and the two of the genuinely respect,care or balance off each other so they basically feel like soulmates in my eyes I WANT IT SO BAD 😭 KNOWING MOST OF THESE WILL NEVER BE CANON SO DOES THAT ME TO THAT I WILL NEVER FIND THE PERSON OR CAN'T BE WITH THEM anyway I see love my definition of love is having mutal respect, admiration and you can just balance off each other wither you friends or not even if they have hurt you in the past if they show there trying to change there ways for themselves and you though words or actions I believe that with actions its more important because you can honestly make up those words vs doing things I honestly that shows you at least care about them or may love them depending on the relationship and people I stated this for mainly in bkdks case and a couple of other ships because I know I may get backlash for shipping them because its "abusive "even though katsuki is atoning for his past actions and the other ships that may cause backlash I believe that those characters show they have cared for the people am shipping them with at least more than others in their respected shows from my prospective and if they aren't childhood friends aren't what I've said earlier at all in this paragraph they just a crack ship or rare pair that are a really funny and cute dynamic from what I feel like they would act with each other in yakunoya ,kensato , lachambers, satogou and chailei case I like them a lot because even though most are rare pairs I believe they are really cute and have mutal love respect care and Adramtion for each other I think they can tell each other almost anything if not anything and honestly could be soulmates in how they are written / protraied in the mangas, the novel, the animes ,the movie , the series from how I see them with my definition of love wither platonic or romantic.

BUT ANYWAY I fricken love you can tell I have a huge ass obsession on all of these ships and which ones am obsessed with at the moment like deadass it turned to a long ass rant about the things I ship if this post does well then I make full on post about all of my ships to crack ships to otp ships and explain and analyze the ships and if this post doesn't ooh well am still going to do it because I think it will be fun and some of these ships really so need more content on here and other platforms I have.

#kensato #satoken #wonderduo #bkdk #bakudeku #eddeddy #keneric #kenman #yakunoya #noyayaku #wangxian #cardcaptorsakura #satogou #hiroguel #higuel #lachambers #cailei #hwapyungxyoon #reddie #ships #obessions #tumbler #otps #fandoms #ededdneddy #haikyuu #pokemon2019 #theuntamed #thebody #standbyme #erased #bigherosix #coco #theguest #southpark #mha #myhero #reddie #it #stephenking

[yiqiie]

wangxian fic rec list

y’all knew this was gonna happen at some point alkdjasld 

i’ll put this under a keep reading so it doesn’t clog up everyone’s feed! i have created a full summary of basically all my bookmarks and am slowly writing reviews so take a look at that if you would like hehe 

this post is mainly to track my favourite fics but it will be constantly updated!  

here is the summary: notion fic rec page (i spent so long on this omg but it looks pretty :))

something to make your heart ache

series: long way home by @idrilka 

angst, fluff, smut, multi-chapter, post-CQL 

honestly one the best fics i have ever read; it captures the pining and the longing so perfectly and we get a wangxian marriage and domestic wangxian in future chapters so basically the perfect fic to soothe your heart post-CQL

and so my heart beats wildly by lily_winterwood 

angst, fluff, smut, multi-chapter, modern AU 

THIS FIC IS INSANELY FANTASTIC; the attention to detail is absolutely incredible and i really respect the amount of effort it would have taken to create this universe (basically modern cultivation); also the pining is just ASLKDJ 

your heartbeat across the grass by fakeplasticlily 

angst, fluff, smut, modern AU 

footballer!LWJ + photographer!WWX literally enough said; this was the first fic i read and it was the one that dragged me down the rabbit hole of wangxian angst, i literally needed 3 days to properly function after reading this 

series: forget everything, but the flowers and my love for you by leffy

angst, fluff, smut, mutli-chapter, modern AU

the first part of this ENDED me; it’s just such a nicely written fic with just the right amount of angst but we also get a domestic wangxian and they adopt [redacted] so it’s just NICE OKAY I LOVE THIS FIC also the smut is A+++++

shadows in the sun rise by @glenflower

angst (so much omg), fluff, post-CQL 

this angst killed me, like if you want something that really makes your heart just ache and ache this is the one; but it’s also unbelievably sweet and really shows how well wangxian know each other and how good wwx is to lwj ;;;

爱不释手; never let me go by yiqie 

angst, fluff, light smut, post-CQL

THIS FIC *mindblown* like genuinely wow what a well-written fic, i literally stayed up till 2am to finish reading this it was so captivating; basically wangxian are husbands (but not really bc ????? they are dumb) and it’s a fantastic case fic that just makes your heart whole again 

hunters seeking solid ground by @attilarrific

angst, fluff, smut, post-CQL

if you want something that makes your heart break for wwx, this is the one; it deals with some pretty heavy themes of PTSD and trauma but it’s so beautifully written and it features domestic wangxian (who aren’t together but like they’re together) and i just come back to read this one again and again 

something to soothe your heart 

a settling into his bones by walking_through_autumn

fluff, light smut, post-MDZS

THIS ONE RIGHT HERE GUYS; this was a recent read of mine and it’s so perfect, domestic wangxian at its peak, just them being husbands and dealing with the past together and then just being in love even more 

your heart, two doors down by @neiljortsens

fluff, modern AU 

*slams fist on table* GIVE US THE DOMESTIC WANGXIAN WE NEED; guys this is so fluffy i cannot i literally live for domestic wangxian being husbands (but not husbands) and this is literally that; also dad!WWX gives us all life and we thank the writers who give us this gift 

facilitated diffusion by chinxe 

fluff, modern AU 

in wangxian being dumbasses we trust; LWJ bby use your words pls but asldiajsd this is just a cute short sweet fic that makes my heart feel whole again after all that angst 

i hope that you will come and meet me by feyburner 

light angst, fluff, smut, post-CQL

DOMESTIC WANGXIAN STRIKES AGAIN; pls wwx use your words stop being a dumbass but this fic just makes my heart go 🥺it’s so beautifully written and the pining just is argh my heart ACHES 

something yet to learn by glitterbombshell 

light angst, fluff, post-CQL

ANOTHER DOMESTIC WANGXIAN (can you tell this is my thing???) but wwx teaching the baby lans is something i want to see every single day for the rest of my life it’s so wholesome and it fills and soothes my heart; also lwj being proud of his husband is my new kryptonite 

sleep in your bed by copperwings 

fluff, smut, modern AU 

WANGXIAN BEING DUMBASSESS AGAIN; wwx finding every opportunity to tease lwj is my favourite thing and lwj finally taking the initiative to just KISS wwx to shut him up is just *chef’s kiss* 

from me to you by @lynxxed

fluff, modern AU, social media 

THIS FIC IS ONE OF MY ALL-TIME FAVOURITES; perfect use of social media to convey how dumb WWX truly is, but it’s just perfect pining and wholesome fluff wangxian being boyfriends is just always welcomed 

it’s the little things, you see by geraldinegrenadine

fluff, modern AU

WWX BEING A DUMBASS WE LOVE; dad!WWX + teacher!LWJ is the pairing i never knew i needed in my life but i’m so glad that it is omfg, domestic wangxian strikes again in this fic 

one good thing by @glenflower

fluff, light angst, modern AU

this was one of my recent finds! i absolutely love the concept and premise behind this fic + wwx being a chaotic mess without realising lwj is there is literally what wakes me up in the morning, i’ve probably re-read this fic way too many times by now oopsie 

something to make you laugh

the simplest way forward by harriet_vane

fluff, smut, light angst, modern AU

wwx reaches peak dumbass in this fic and that is not an exaggeration but we love him for it; lwj pls use your words sweetie but honestly i LIVE for this fic it’s so wonderfully written as well and incorporates all the other characters really well 

not just netflix and chill (or lan zhan's lack of grasp of euphemisms) by misscam

fluff, light smut, modern AU

CUTE, SWEET, WHOLESOME everything you would ever want, someone pls save lwj the poor bby, but this is just something short and sweet to soothe your heart from all the angst in this list hehe 

grace and a tender hand by feyburner 

fluff, modern AU 

wholesome, tooth-rotting fluff and the complications that come with first dates BUT IT’S SO CUTE wangxian being boyfriends is the aesthetic we live for 

[magpiefngrl]

Do you think people taking issue with the noncon/consent exploration in mdzs are people who mainly read fanfiction? I'm wondering because I've recently read both atonement and the world according to garp and I found both interesting and good reads even when I morally disagreed with the main characters actions or opinions, whereas in fanfiction I often look for 'canon fix its'. All my favorite mdzs fics are about people making amends. Maybe for some reason people want mdzs to be an explicitly queer fanfic version of the untamed? Idk, I think what I really want is to read a full-blown thesis on fandoms

Hi anon and apologies for my late reply.

The short answer: I don't know. I have to say, first, that I'm mainly on the periphery of the mdzs/cql fandoms (who congregate on twitter), I haven't made many new fandom pals, and I keep seeing posts about drama that has happened somewhere somewhen but never the actual drama. I keep missing all the wank lol (seriously, tho: fandom wank can be very illuminating as to the attitudes of the fanbase)

In short, I'm not very knowledgeable as to the prevalent fandom mentality and why people might complain about the consent issues, but if I were to make some assumptions, this is what they'd be:

Firstly, the topic itself. Consent is a sensitive topic, it's a huge trigger for many, and it's understandable that some people don't want to read wangxian's con noncon kink or a dub con kiss or anything similar. Which is perfectly fine, they should stop reading a narrative that explores consent throughout in order to keep themselves safe.

But my gut tells me that you're right, though, in that many of the people kicking up a fuss about the consent issues of mdzs are mostly people who came from cql; in other words, people who have watched the subtle version of wangxian romance, and are used to fanfic or published romance novels like Carry On etc, and expect something similar. They expect romance. Porn. The kind of sex you read in fanfic or in the romance novel section of KU, which is meant to arouse and titillate. When I began reading MXTX's novels, I also initially assumed they'd be like fanfics: a story with a canonically queer pairing posted on internet? It was also my own assumption, come to think of it.

From what I've seen, the romance is the key re: consent (the dub con kiss, the incense burner extra etc) because few, if any, have made similar complaints about the non-consensual golden core transfer, which is the only massively and unarguably noncon instance in the whole series. I've seen excellent meta about it, but not the vehement reactions and hate that the sex scenes have gathered.

The number of fans who began reading danmei recently (and I'm including myself here) must have quadrupled since the success of cql. It's a niche, very niche genre that became almost mainstream, and of course there'd be friction. The success of cql plus other adaptations brought a lot of people that prob wouldn't read danmei or enjoy it. Which is fine to not want to read it, it's fine to dislike the genre, as it's fine to explore new genres and discover new things but many fans, imo, came with the expectations mentioned above. That it's cql but with hot sex. Fans of the novel mdzs are (I'm speculating) people who are comfortable with a highly nuanced book about many weighty themes incl. consent, and prob read similar books which all seem to feature hugely messed up characters and grey morality and be angsty af, so I'd be surprised if the original danmei fans were the ones complaining about a rape fantasy in an extra.

As for wanting to see different things in fanfic, well, that's what fic does, isn't it? It's pure wish fulfillment. You write about the ship you think should be together, or happy endings for the ship that didn't get one, or the yunmeng siblings reconciliation that we all wished we'd see, or Wen Qing being alive etc. It's what we didn't get. I love reading this in fics but I also loved the actual canon story. If I read books that remind me of fanfic (in that everything is neat and orderly and people are being their Best Selves and make few, understandable mistakes for which they immediately apologise), I don't actually enjoy them. I relish the Atonement angst (read this ages ago; should give it a reread), but if I were to read Atonement fanfic, I'd like a happy ending, you know? I get different things from fic than I do from novels, but a lot of people read only fanfic and perhaps they think that's how stories are.

I've rambled on and on. As I've said, I am just a lurker in this fandom. I assume others might have a better understanding of why people have whined so much about the noncon elements of a novel nobody forced them to read. (i'm being salty bc most of the times people complained about this they were also incredibly dismissive towards the author and the genre to the point of coming across as culturally insensitive and racist. Lots of bad faith takes, basically.)

I'm also fascinated by fandom ecosystems---I'd love to read a good thesis on the mdzs/cql fandom too.

[qinghe-s]

GETTING TO KNOW ME

i was tagged by @melodious-tear ♥

why did you choose your url?

i feel like that’s obvious to anyone who’s followed me for, like, two days. i know where my heart belongs. besides, the aesthetic of cql!qinghe fucks

any side-blogs? if you have them, name them and why you have them.

well, this. i also run @masseffectcaps although i haven’t posted in a few months; i probably will again once i get my hands on the legendary edition. i started it because original default female shepard didn’t get the respect she deserves from bioware especially. don’t get me started on this bc i will not shut up. i have a lot of feelings.

@celestecraft used to be popular on mineblr; i went on a lot of adventures while playing with a small group of friends and wanted to save them in some way + sharing a hobby is fun. in the past i also had a fairly well-known lgbtq+ blog and a terry pratchett-centric one but that was years ago and my energy to keep up with providing things for others (rather than just enjoying myself) waned.

how long have you been on tumblr?

t...twelve years by now... oh no

do you have a queue tag?

nah. i used to, on my personal, but i almost exclusively post things through the queue so it doesn’t feel like it matters.

why did you start your blog in the first place?

i was lured into this fandom because a good friend of mine played a character based on him in a d&d oneshot and i was immediately and helplessly charmed, saw this gifset a little while later and told her “this. this will make me watch your show” and, well.

it started consuming enough brain space, especially as i was reading the book, that it made sense to keep it contained rather than expose my original followers to this endlessly when they come for — actually i don’t know. pretentious aesthetic and me being gay over star trek women (well, janeway, mainly) and crying over mass effect?

why did you choose your icon/pfp?

that woman is wife city to me. it was nhs previously because... baby

why did you choose your header?

it matches my blog background on desktop. that’s it. it’s for the aesthetic.

what’s your post with the most notes?

on this blog it’s probably this one of me calling lwj a bitch (honorific). i believe this wangxian fic i wrote for vday is a close second. (a couple of my gifsets of nie mingjue looking beautiful are gaining though which is very pleasing to me)

i also have a few posts that have reached the thousands on my mass effect blog, but i don’t keep track of those anymore.

how many followers do you have?

five hundred... something. six hundred? who knows.

how many people do you follow?

a couple of hundred? many are lgbtq+ resource blogs that post very infrequently though, so my dash generally isn’t that cluttered

have you ever made a shitpost?

a couple! i’m not all that funny (perk of being my friend is that you’ll always be the funny one, it’s the main service i provide) but the bitch!lwj one and an outofcontextyaoi text post edit.

how often do you use tumblr each day?

ehh, depends. some days i’ll only check in at night and refresh the dash once in a while when doing other things, other days my brain requires constant input and i’ll open the app on my phone every hour. there is no average.

did you have a fight/argument with a blog once?

yeah, but not here. i pissed a lot of people off a few years ago when i expressed my opinion on sexist portrayals of women in video games in general and mass effect specifically. my opinion was sexism = bad and some people decided that i was wrong and it’s empowering to put career soldiers in styled hair and a full face of makeup for the sake of marketing, actually, while male characters get to have weathered faces and grey hair. it was a fun time. (it was not)

how do you feel about ‘you need to reblog this post’?

my dashboard is carefully curated and i never see those posts. are they still common? because they suck. don’t guilt people into caring.

do you like tag games?

mostly, yeah! sometimes they require energy i simply don’t have but i also think they’re a nice way to interact without having a direct conversation

do you like ask games?

i’m a lot less fond of those, personally. the chain letter type in particular.

which of your mutuals do you think is tumblr famous?

a lot of them are well known in the fandom actually! which makes me question why they follow me but i am always flattered

do you have a crush on a mutual?

oh absolutely @evakant since we decided we were willing to die for each other after one conversation. wenzhou levels of love happening here.

i’m gonna tag already-mentioned @evakant because reasons but also some people i see in my notes a lot but haven’t talked to — feel free to ignore but also let’s be friends ♥

@shippingsavesmylife @radishsizhui @ahatfullofwords @inappropriatewenning @whateverthemoonhasalwaysmeant

[veliseraptor]

Who is your favourite character in The Untamed and why? Oh, and what is your take on Lan Wangji's character?

God anon, the thing here is that my answer is basically “I love everyone in this bar!”*

*other than, like, three people

There’s just so many characters I have such good feelings about. I tried to top five it but I kept ending up with six or seven instead and then remembering more characters that I love. I just have a whole lot of feelings. I mean, the thing about me is that my true love when it comes to characters is “emotionally dysfunctional people with terrible lives” and that’s basically what we’ve got going on here.

But I guess if I’m picking a few:

1. Wei Wuxian. I mean, I walked into this show because of him and I walked out of this show with a new adoptee (this one). There’s so many buttons getting hit here, and it’s not just “evil flute music sexy” or “narrative kink for stories about the way that the stories people tell about people shape a person” but it is also both those things.

Like, if ever someone gave me an introduction designed to make me go ‘oh, this one’s mine now’ it’s...well, both number one and two on this list.

It’s just...watching that opening scene, and then two episodes later getting slingshot back into the past with someone who seems completely different, and watching those cracks grow and form with each hit he takes...is really good for my narrative kinks.

But also...he’s such a determined-to-be-good boy, he’s such a conciliator in all of these ways that make me feel things, I’m always a sucker for someone who is self-destructive while not always realizing that they’re being self-destructive, who has this particular type of selflessness that becomes self-immolation and also leads to a whole bunch of collateral damage. I have a thing for people who are desperately hiding their dysfunction because they don’t want anyone to know that they’ve got any.

Like. He’s such a mess. He’s got a big heart and a lot of love to give and he’s an enormous fucking mess. And like. The family issues? The self worth issues? Just a whole bunch of things designed to hit me right where I live. 

And evil flute music sexy.

2. Xue Yang. I know myself well enough that sometimes I can look at a character and within thirty seconds of their introduction go ‘oh I’m going to like this one’ and 90% of the time I am right and that is what happened with my new favorite gremlin. Yes he is terrible, I love him and I want him to have nice things. 

This was true before we got to the Yi City arc and I was like. oh thanks for hitting me in my dysfunctional fucked up ship feelings, show, I needed another one of these! Which, I mean, I did need one, because I always do, but hoo boy. 

I just...love a deeply feral and absolutely ruthless murder bastard. The sheer level of “fuck it” energy coming off him all the time. The absolute commitment to the psychological destruction of his nemesis slash boyfriend. The psychological fuckery of spending many, many years trying to resurrect the nemesis slash boyfriend you drove to suicide. The weird murder friendship with Jin Guangyao. (Friends help you be complicit in the murder of two of five sect leaders!) 

I love it. And him. That Good Shit.

3. Lan Wangji. Possibly this is like. Transitive property of character love because I love Wei Wuxian so much and obviously Wei Wuxian is fucking head over face in love with Lan Wangji, so - but also I just think he’s a very good boy?? He’s a disaster gay primarily passing as a functional gay by virtue of not talking enough for people to notice how much of a disaster he is. He’s spending a good half the show having a whole-ass moral existential crisis, which while I don’t find it relatable I do find deeply endearing. 

And just. I’m always going to be a sucker for ‘character who has a whole lot of emotions but doesn’t want anyone to know’ and that’s very Lan Wangji. He’s just! Very good. I am thinking about the scene with him drunk later in the show and that especially just makes me want to grab him and hug him only he wouldn’t like it. 

I don’t know, he just gives me a lot of very squishy feelings where I want to tell him that he’s good and it’s not his fault that his boyfriend went over the literal edge.

4. Jin Guangyao. It’s funny because on my first watch I didn’t notice him all that much for a while (I was busy! having Wangxian and sibling feelings mainly, especially the latter tbh, and some bonus ‘adopting a new horrible gremlin’ feelings), and then we hit the Nie Mingjue flashback episode and I was like. oh shit I love you. you’re coming home with me now. 

I mean, that’s not totally unexpected, I am weak to characters who are a) schemers b) have a lot of shit going on with identity and perception and c) do a lot of really certifiably horrible shit, and I just. pocket sized murder kitten and he belongs to me, I will continue to call him Jiggy forever but that is only because he is yet another of my terrible sons

5. Lan Xichen. Another character I was like - warm and positive toward through my first rewatch and then at the end when he was completely shattering was like “oh hey I love him now.” And then also seeing people in fandom talk shit about him and going “oh hey I love him more now.” 

And then on my rewatch just like. Loving him even more because...yeah he makes some poor choices sure but he’s also just full of such...warmth and generosity? Like, this is a guy who, in a world where everyone is leaping to conclusions all the time, is like ‘maybe let’s not leap to conclusions and give people the benefit of the doubt sometimes, you guys.’ And I like that in a man. It seems like he’s almost compensating for everyone else by going maybe a little bit overboard.

But when did “characters making good choices” be something that qualifies anyone for a favorite of mine? The answer is never.

Also I deeply appreciate his commitment to Lan Wangji and by extension his position as the Founder of the Wangxian Fan Club (co-founder with Jiang Yanli, I’d say, but I think he did get there first). And his consistent expression of exhaustion through the whole thing. Characters who need and deserve a nap: Xichen, and not just the depression one he’s taking post-canon.

6. Jiang Cheng. Didn’t see that one coming but in retrospect probably should have! I’m always going to have emotions about emotionally dysfunctional people with inferiority complexes who have a whole lot of feelings but only really know how to express one of them. Also just like. The entirety of the relationship between Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng was designed to hit me right in the place where I live and boy howdy did it succeed in leaving me hurting a lot for them both. 

And just. This boy is such a disaster! He’s miserable! Everything in his life kinda sucks and he’s not helping himself and definitely not dealing with any of his issues at all! I feel like he needs a nap and a five year hug in the worst way.

But also like. All my love for Wen Qing and Wen Ning both? I’m acquiring more Jiang Yanli feelings on the regular? The entire Yi City Disaster Crew is gold and their dynamics are *chef fingers* amazing? I love all of the juniors but maybe especially Jin Ling so much???

(I do not have as many Nie brother feelings, but I feel like I could get talked into them with very little effort on anyone’s part, especially with Nie Huaisang. I already have feelings about the NHS/JGY relationship, so.)

like this is very much one of those pieces of media where I’m like ‘yes maybe I have latched onto these two characters most but G O D I love them all so much, taking them all home with me for therapy and hot chocolate.”

[razberryyum]

The Untamed/陈情令 Rewatch, Episode 4  (spoilers for everything)

(covers mainly MDZS chaps 13 and 14)

WangXian meter: 🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰

(a 🐰 is earned every time there is a WangXian scene or even when they’re just thinking of each other…more than one 🐰 can be given based on the level of WangXian-ness in a scene)

I loved and enjoyed all of Wei Ying’s “Notice me Wangji-senpai" moments in this episode, but my favorite has to be the one above: the way he tried to play off Lan Zhan totally ignoring him by blaming the other man’s hearing makes me laugh out loud every time I watch this episode. It’s just too adorable. Even though Lan Zhan is clearly still annoyed with him, I like how it’s also obvious that Wei Ying is slowly but surely burrowing his way into his psyche and taking hold there by either not leaving him alone or just being himself which is ample to constantly draw Lan Zhan’s attention to him. It‘s as if Lan Zhan’s life was a calm pond and Wei Ying was a beautiful, lively carp that suddenly decided to just jump into his waters without permission, taking liberties by swimming and splashing around, basically causing ruckus in every corner of his pool. Naturally, Wei Ying’s actions perturbs Lan Zhan to no end at first, but at the same time, he is also leaving an undeniable impression, so that eventually, when this carp leaves Lan Zhan’s pond, he can’t help but constantly think of Wei Ying and even miss his disruptive presence, thus naturally paving the way for the escalation of his affections that follow later on.  

Whereas with Wei Ying, I think he simply enjoyed irritating this fuddy-duddy at first, but eventually, his light-hearted teasing probably became just a little more meaningful and he started looking forward to getting a reaction out of Lan Zhan because it provided him with genuine joy and satisfaction, until those feelings grew into just joy from being around the other man and interacting with him.  

Ultimately that’s a big reason why I love their relationship: the development and progression of their feelings for each other makes a lot of sense to me. The phrase “opposites attract” has never been more applicable in terms of Wei Ying and Lan Zhan, but at the same time, they still share enough things in common—such as their moral code and belief system—that makes them absolutely just perfect for each other.  I can imagine a future for them right from the start, whereas with other couples in stories, regardless of their sex, I’ve had difficulty believing they should be together other than because the plot requires them to be. I think the drama really succeeded in showing us why it’s completely logical that these two people would be drawn to each other, that they almost can’t help but be drawn together, by actually showing us all these little precious moments between them as they occurred, which the novel for the most part only described in an after-the-fact manner. While subtlety has its merits too, I do appreciate the more clearly illustrated path The Untamed decided to take for WangXian.

Along those lines, I also appreciated how CQL chose to show us the first time Lan Xichen and Jin Guangyao met and their instant connection. Honestly, when I first saw this moment…

I immediately thought they were going to be a couple too, like Wei Ying and Lan Zhan, and I was totally on board, until I found out from reading comments here and there that I shouldn’t be because this ship was bad news. I was disappointed of course and even tried to withstand its alluring call for a while, especially after reading the book and finding out exactly why this wasn’t a ship I wanted to board since it was on a one-way ticket to hell and heartbreak basically. But the drama just made it so damn hard to resist, and before I knew it, I was lowkey hooked.  Much like with WangXian, I was surprised at how much the show was getting away with in terms of XiYao:

I mean, big bro Xichen totally stroked Meng Yao’s finger there, right? First time I saw that, I remember rewinding a few times just to check and and make sure and if it’s just an optical illusion, that’s a damn convincing trick. Amusingly enough I thought at first Wei Ying was seeing the same thing and was reacting in disbelief to that moment, until I realized from his angle, there’s no way he could have seen that small gesture and he was just responding to that (ugly) incense pot.  

After finishing the series, I have to admit I’m pretty much a full-on XiYao-shipper now, which is really out of character for me because I usually prefer ships with happy endings. I have to blame, or rather, give credit to the two actors portraying LXC and JGY (Liu Haikuan and Zhu Zanjin, respectively) for conjuring up these feelings in me because they had so much chemistry together, which honestly at times rivaled that of Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo’s chemistry. I just love how LXC’s expression softens every time he interacts with JGY and even from their first meeting, it’s obvious there were genuine feelings of respect and gratitude behind Meng Yao’s reaction to LXC.

Take the moment above as an example: the extreme admiration emanating from JGY after seeing LXC exhibit his fluting powers had to be for real since there was no reason to react just for Nie Huaisang’s sake. I can totally imagine hearts fluttering all around him as he looked upon XiChen with those wide, innocent-seeming puppy eyes of his. And when he bade his farewell to big bro later on in the episode, I loved how the camera lingered on LXC’s hands as Meng Yao moved away after saluting him, just to reiterate the intimacy of their brief physical contact.  

I also appreciated the small, seemingly trivial moments before and after he meets up with LXC in that scene, where Meng Yao is first ignored by the two male sect disciples walking by him and then later on by two female disciples. Contrast that with how LXC immediately praises Meng Yao and recognizes him as his peer from the get go, going so far as to refer to himself by his own name (“Xichen”) just to reinforce their equality, it’s no wonder JGY was instantly drawn to him. I would go so far as to say he probably fell for LXC right from the start; doesn’t even matter if it might be only in the platonic sense, man was smitten no matter how anyone chooses to categorize his feelings.

XianQing? No thank you

When I first watched this episode, I still had the stormy cloud of fear that Wen Qing would eventually be the love interest that comes in between Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji hanging over me due to some rumors I came across prior to even watching the show. As a result, every time Wen Qing and WWX would have a scene together, I would view it with trepidation as I was certain it was yet another building block to something undesirable, with the ultimate goal of mutating the relationship at the core of MDZS. If I’m going to be honest, I don’t think I was even able to rest easy until after Wen Qing’s passing and knowing for certain that the “danger period” was finally over, even though I had already grown to like her character. I still have complaints about how they altered her personality for the live action, but at least now, when I watch the scenes she shares with Wei Ying, instead of being filled with anxiety, I am actually more fascinated. I can still see the ghost of what Team CQL had initially intended with Wen Qing and WWX in a lot of their scenes together, before the fans’ uproar thankfully forced the producers to change their minds and stick with the source material.  This scene wasn’t one of those moments, but with revisiting each episode, I actually look forward to picking out which scenes were feeding into their ship because of the way they were shot and how the two actors were directed to perform during the scene, especially Meng Ziyi. I’m glad I can actually sit back and have fun with all of this now.  

XianNing? I can’t

I can see why some folks support this ship, and upon first viewing I thought this was a cute moment as well, but of course, I simply can’t go there since my heart already belongs to WangXian. And now, after having read the novel, all I could think about is how much I wish we got the archery contest at the Cultivation Conference. I’m glad we got to see it depicted in the donghua; it was as amazing as I hope it would be, but it’s a shame we didn’t get to see it in the drama. Since the producers had mentioned releasing specials of extra scenes that they couldn’t fit into the flow of the show, I hope the archery contest will be one of them. I don’t know where it would fit in in the timeline though…I guess it could happen while they were all held hostage at Nightless City, so the reason for the archery contest will have to be changed, but then maybe that’s the impetus for Wen Chao’s decision to force everyone on that dangerous quest to the Xuanwu cave: he’s so pissed off at losing at archery on his own turf that he decides to try to get all the sect kids killed.  Either way, I hope we get to see the contest in live action form one day.

Wei Wuxian is so smart

I loved this scene. I love how WWX schooled everyone with his inventive fourth reason. He’s so awesome. That’s really all I wanted to say about it.  

Random Bits of Randomness

I don’t think there’s anything wrong the color function on my tv, so please explain to me how that can be considered “purple” in any universe??

All I could think about in this scene is how disgusting that fish must have tasted cuz it looked awful, and I think Xiao Zhan even mentioned in an interview that it was gross. What probably made it taste worse was the fact that he kept on eating it from the stomach side, which can be really bitter. I think Wang Zhuocheng (Jiang Cheng) was eating it from the same side as well and I just can’t help grimacing every time I see this moment.

Odds and Ends:

I don’t really have any questions from this episode, but I did wonder if Wen Qing ever actually attended classes while she was at Cloud Recesses or did she just spend all of the time wandering the back hills, throwing her needles at barriers, cuz that’s not suspicious AT ALL. Unless I just happened to have missed her every single time in class, even though you would think it’s easy to spot her red in a sea of white…if that’s the case then I probably need to get my eyes checked.

Also, I wish we got to see Shijie draw her sword. She carried it around in the beginning, but I’m kinda bummed that we never saw her actually use it. I’m sure she is completely capable and would’ve looked just as badass as the boys.

And bless Uncle Lan for his brilliant idea of making Lan Zhan enforce the disciplinary action on Wei Ying, thereby allowing the boys to have valuable alone time in the library pavilion to further nurture their bond. In retrospect he probably regrets that decision, but as far as I’m concerned, that’s one of his best one he’s ever made.