#granted he also feels guilty bc it was his spell but still

[buffyspeak]

not enough is said about how by 1.03 merlin literally tries to reveal his secret/sacrifice himself to save gwen. like. i feel like the focus often becomes how funny it is that he literally reveals himself and arthur is like 'lol he's lying' which is also great. but literally. he's known gwen for a couple of weeks at most. he is ready to die for her. me too, merlin.

[atlasshrugd]

ok. let me see if I can express what I’m thinking.

cordelia and xander’s relationship to me at first was a crack ship, and it seemed intended to be. but then it started to grow on me. i started actually caring about them as a couple and liking how their relationship developed. the rivals to lovers to s/o’s was cute. i started to like cordelia for more than just her comedic relief.

then, season 3 happened. not only do they not act like a couple (which they never rly did, but at least they used to have some sweet moments), they put in the mf CHEATING storyline. xander’s attraction to willow was sudden like a bus crash. it came out of nowhere and made no sense. both willow and xander were in good places in their relationships, and this was when we realised that cordelia’s feelings towards xander were deep and real (which she has never experienced). she admitted that she loved him, she said she would always stay with him when she thought he got turned into a creepy fish creature, she had photos developed of him and them that she stuck in her locker. meanwhile - xander’s feelings remain stagnant. he has no scenes where he admits his feelings for cordelia or even speaks kindly about her. pretty much, we’re led to believe that he doesn’t care as much about cordy as she cares about him.

AND THEN, during the whole freak show of willow and xander’s cheating, willow tries to resist xander because she knows it is wrong (trying to find a spell for it etc.) but xander doesn’t seem to show any restraint and only seems remorseful bc willow is remorseful. he is the one who makes all the moves even when willow says not to. and he doesn’t feel guilty about it the way willow does.

this culminates in them kissing AGAIN after being kidnapped by spike only to be found by cordelia and oz (who also deserves better), and then cordy falls and gets IMPALED by a fucking wooden stake. fucked up, but she survives, and then XANDER ASS comes to the hospital with flowers and an explanation. but before he can, cordy says to stay away from her, which is understandable. but what does Xander do? does he show genuine remorse (at cheating, not at being caught)? does he make a genuine apology for cheating and stringing her along even when he didn’t have deep feelings for her? No. He leaves, and we don’t get any scene where xander expresses any genuine feeling towards cordelia, not even in his many voicemails. And this is the writers fault, and their blatant mistreatment towards the character of cordelia (and the actress).

and ik cordelia can be a bitch and that in s1 she was sort of a bully, but she literally gave up her popularity, friends, and social standing to date xander publicly. he didn’t have to sacrifice anything and totally took her for granted. not to mention he decided to date her when he was STILL in love with buffy and had feelings for willow.

and then the next episode? xander BLAMES oz and cordelia for walking in on them and blaming them for cheating bc “they were about to die so it would be the last kiss” ??? like??? what??? I wish he was joking but you could tell he actually believed it. and when everyone found out he cheated, everyone alienated her and mocked her.

the moral of the story is: cordelia/xander deserved better, cordelia and oz deserved better, xander and willow SHOULD feel bad and guilty, and that s3 characterisation is all over the place.

[a-very-fond-farewell]

The forbidden crack! Untamed prompts: 20/?

CLAMP AU [Wei WuXian & Mo XuanYu are twin brothers edition]: “Yiling BABYLON”

[the reverse!TokyoBabylon au nobody asked for]

[ok. hear me out. I know it sounds weird but. hear me out. this is my second prompt based on a CLAMP work and it will sound far fetched but...trust me. the original manga is named “Tokyo Babylon” and it involves twins of a renowned family of magicians/exorcists working to solve mysteries in their town + a forbidden love between one of said twins and a man belonging to a rival family.]

[reasons why I thought of this prompt based on such source:

1). I know. I am aware. It would have made much more sense to have the Twin Jades of Lan be the exorcists of the situation. but Mo XuanYu deserves to go on adventures as well and, also, the twins in CLAMP’s manga are much more easygoing than the Two Jades so. artistic license. sue me.

2). I wanted Lan WangJi to be ruthless and cold blooded against his will.

3). in this prompt of mine I had to twist a couple of things but.............spare me.

4). the aesthetic bro. the drip.

(which is to say I wanted WWX and MXY to wear the fanciest/most atrocious 80’s/90’s style shit possible. it would have made much more sense for WWX to be the one designing the clothes bc he totally would, but I let poor MXY have his fun with this. also they are both adults in the story)

5). yep. that’s basically it.

anyway, enjoy!]

[under the cut babyyy]

*

Fast paced is the existence of what hides festering the darkness and gray areas of the world, especially in a city like Yiling, where spirits of every kind haunts the realm of the living looking for retribution and vengeance. Neon lights flickering aimlessly in the night as mysterious happenings attract the attention of many. Be it a vending machine suddenly dripping blood from every crevice and nook, or a hanged body making its appearance in a public toilet downtown.

Night after night new ghosts slither through the cracks of reality and slip into this world. Like oil stains spreading out in the endless ocean, rotting away in the corners of Yiling, forgotten and free to gather as much resentful energy from every living source as possible day after day. Making it impossible for the residents to sleep peacefully ever again.

Among such chaos a family was allowed to prosper and shine: the Sanren Clan, household of indisputable fame in their approach to grant peace to the dead. Powerful exorcists as they are, they developed a new kind of purification ritual over centuries of serving the emperor, to the point nobody can rival them in the matters of the underworld. Head of the clan is Wei WuXian, twenty-five-year-old grandmaster of demonism with an eye for the occult and a genius mind to aid him in his endeavors. His twin brother XuanYu, although lacking the spiritual energy required to perform full exorcisms alone, was gifted with a talent for memorization and array design that is unrivaled in the entire nation. Despite being born from a lesser known branch of the Sanren Clan, their incommensurable assets were deemed worthy of attention by the elders and they were allowed to participate in night expeditions since they were children.

But the life of a master of the dead is rarely prone to peace and Wei WuXian fears the day his spiritual energy will give up on him and let him be devoured by the souls under his care. Techniques like “Empathy”, for instance, require him to be briefly possessed by ghosts in order to understand how to help them cross the bridge between the two realms; while demonic possession drains his body as well as his memories in exchange to grant a spirit an outburst through his very body. His twin brother worries for him and tries his best to allow them to live normal lives, insisting they live separately from the rest of the Clan to enjoy their youth.

After all, the Wen Family protects them from harm and Wen Qing herself has suggested for other members of the Clan to take over Wei WuXian’s workload whenever possible, so not to overwork him to death. Hence, ever since Elder BaoShan granted XuanYu’s request, the twins, along with their bodyguard Wen Ning and personal physician Wen Qing, have tried to live relatively normal lives as any other young adult their age. Spending their days playing board games and going shopping, visiting new art galleries and practicing sports.

The bond between Wei WuXian and his brother is so deep the eldest knows he is transparent to XuanYu and that no lie will be strong enough to convince him that everything is fine. So he lets his younger brother do as he pleases, helping him around the small clothing design studio where XuanYu works at even if they are rich and technically don’t lack money at all. He also accepts to live in a minuscule apartment with him and their two friends just to indulge his “need to live like normal college students for once”, even if none of them are enrolled in university. Wei WuXian enjoys the little things his brother is determined to give him and tries to relax by day... knowing too well he has to work by night and channel resentful energy for corpses and spirits to peacefully pass the threshold of the otherworld.

The fact that they also made a new friend in the last year is also one of the reasons XuanYu seems so keen on letting his older brother live outside of the Sanren estate. A quiet man in his thirties named Lan WangJi who works as a veterinarian nearby their apartment. XuanYu has noticed for a while how kindly the man treats Wei WuXian, how fondly he answers to the other’s teasing and jokes, how invested he looks in the younger man’s wellbeing. It would be cruel to separate them.

Certainly, the fact that the Lan Clan is known for harvesting assassins since the beginning of time would be a hindrance to their friendship, and the elders would definitely order the twins to go back home. But, since Lan WangJi doesn’t seem interested in following such bloodied path, XuanYu indulges his brother and plays along with every joke and trick, insisting how little the veterinarian fits in the Lan Clan at every opportunity.

Lan WangJi and Wei WuXian already met in the past, during a mission at night when the latter was barely eighteen and a spirit had just ceased possessing his body, leading him to the culprit of their murder. Lan WangJi had just returned from yet another purge, his fingers still holding the guqin string he had used to cut the throats of his Clan’s enemies. Tired and bored of that life, Lan WangJi found Wei WuXian’s presence refreshing for the small time they spent together on Yiling Bridge that particular night. Even if the boy looks out of it after being possessed, carefree and kind, gentle. Impressed with the younger’s ability to empathize with evil creatures, Lan WangJi made a bet with the boy: that they would meet again in the future and that if, after spending one year together, he were to fall for Wei WuXian, he would stop being a killer and leave the Lan Clan for good.

The only thing Wei WuXian remembers of that night was that he revealed his real name to a stranger on a bridge at night, and that now someone in that town lives knowing him as Wei Ying, not Wei WuXian grandmaster of demonism. So he’s always looking for that person, hoping to meet them again, unaware of the truth, believing to have developed feelings for someone whose existence resembles more a dream than anything else.

Now, one year has passed since the day Lan WangJi has entered the twins’ lives and things have changed. Demons and spirits have become more aggressive over the last few months, whispering to Wei WuXian to get them the revenge they deserve, corrupting his mind with persuasive words and violent acts, making his blood boil and his memories fade night after night. After one particularly long mission XuanYu takes his older brother to Lan WangJi in a fit of panic, asking him to help. Blood is gushing out of Wei WuXian’s eyes, ears, mouth and nostrils; the situation escalated almost to the point of no return, now that even Wen Qing is unconscious and has been taken to safety at the Sanren estate by Wen Ning himself. The demon asked for a price too high, shaking Wei WuXian from the inside out to the point he inadvertently pushed Wen Qing out the way and made her hit her head.

But the sight of human blood awakens something in Lan WangJi, something he had tried to forget about and suppress for months the moment he had met Wei WuXian for the second time in his life, one year ago. Something falls in place and as he watches Wei WuXian regain consciousness he breaks one of his arms and tries to kill him.

XuanYu defends his brother with all his might, throwing talismans to the older man’s face until one of them catches him off guard and blinds him in his right eye.

Lan WangJi is forced to escape, but not before XuanYu is able to cast a spell on him. For as long as he will live, XuanYu will always know where Lan WangJi hides and no amount of spiritual energy will erase the trace.

Dragging his sobbing brother back to the estate, XuanYu reveals what happened to Elder BaoShan, feeling guilty for having trusted a Lan despite the warnings. Elder BaoShan tries to heal Wei WuXian’s injuries and make the early signs of qi deviation regress at the best of her abilities, but in doing so she sacrifices her spiritual energy to the point of losing her sight. Wei WuXian, traumatized by Lan WangJi’s betrayal, has a flashback of that mission from seven years ago and realizes the person he was looking for is the man who introduced himself as Lan Zhan.

Heartbroken, Wei WuXian falls in a coma and XuanYu lets the resentful energy overtake him to the point he decides to go look for Lan WangJi and seek revenge himself. He dies in the attempt and the bond with his twin brother breaks, the backlash so strong Wei Ying wakes up and immediately knows his baby brother is no more.

Assuming the worst, he takes his time healing before deciding to look for Lan Zhan himself and kill him for erasing XuanYu’s existence from the face of the earth.

*

[spoiler, MXY was killed by the Lan Elders to keep their location a secret and they used LWJ’s unconscious body as bait to lure him out while he was consumed with resentful energy. in this case LWJ is innocent.]

[lesdemonium]

1 and 11? Also I really liked the mom and the kids, and the baby was so cute and small. The dad was a little strange, but he also came down to hurriedly ask me some questions while he was working, so like I kind of get it. ☀️

sorry this took so long! i got it like right before i went to bed, and it’s hard to link things from my phone. but i’m so happy to hear that!! i hope it all works out and that it’s a good fit!!

1.  are there any fics that you wanted to leave multiple kudos for, and were disappointed when you could only leave one?

the power to cancel his captivity - by kageygirl

"Thrown out already?" Geralt asks, and sees the bard shaking his head from the corner of his eye.

"Hardly! But a wise bard knows when to leave the audience wanting more."

"I've never met one."

"One what?"

"A wise bard," he says, and glances over to see the bard's mouth flapping indignantly.

"I -- am going to let that go, because you're right, where are my manners." He ducks in front of Geralt as they step onto solid ground, forcing him to halt, and gives him a bow, no less graceful for being quickly executed. "Jaskier, troubadour, poet -- and barker -- at your service."

__________________________________

Geralt assumes the bard will wander away of his own accord. Eventually.

It takes a while to realize that's the last thing he wants.

julian - by vands88

Inspired by Spencer B’s ballet AU

Jaskier was a child prodigy who burned out before he was sixteen. Now he's going from job to job with no aim in life until he meets Geralt Rivia - the famously strong ballet dancer who has also fallen from grace after an accident that he still blames himself for.

Geralt sees a potential dance partner in Jaskier and maybe even a chance for redemption. Jaskier, meanwhile, just wants to get laid.

bright smiles and tired eyes - by wickedwitchcraft

Modern Au, Punk!Jaskier, Siren!Jaskier. Geralt needs a new roommate to help him pay rent. Jaskier answers his ad. Through a handful of circumstances and series of events… there’s bed sharing. And some angst. ...lots of angst, apparently.

comply - by queen of all corgis

“This drink, the mage made it. It is going to make you a good boy,” she brushed back his hair, too long nails trailing along his cheek. “But you cannot tell anyone. You cannot tell a soul about this drink or this spell. You don’t talk about it. You keep it secret.”

Julian opened his mouth to ask more and was hit by a pain he had never experienced. The boy cried out in pain and doubled over, arm wrapping around his screaming middle. His mother shushed him and pet at him until he was able to catch his breath.

“See what happens to naughty little boys who don’t listen?” Her voice was sharp. “I told you not to say anything.”

--

Jaskier was cursed with obedience as a child and has mostly learned to get by without others knowing. Geralt is not most people.

like glitter and gold - by beelieve

Everyone is more in Ard Carraigh: more beautiful, more tempting. Whatever one wants, the magic grants. Geralt could break through the glamour’s hold, should he so wish, but he knows the spell also protects him from the scrutiny of the other guests. They cannot see him truly bare. One look at his scars and his mutations—his faults—and it’s over. He dares not risk any suspicion regarding his place here. No, the magic will hold—he'll make sure of it.

(Or: Geralt attends a masquerade and catches feelings. AKA, the ten thousandth Witcher orgy fic nobody asked for.)

unseen - by nervawkward

Here, now, time holds no meaning for him. He exists only in this moment: an arrow let loose with careless fingers, hoping for a target. He cannot stop. Lungs heaving, thighs burning with strain, he cannot stop. Stop and he will be caught. Be caught and he might as well die. He has not fought this long and this hard to die now.

After the mountain, Jaskier is captured and experimented on by a Mage of Nilfgaard. Somehow, he escapes. Now if only he could bring himself to believe it.

time on my hands could be spent with you - by elegantwings

Yennefer laughs long and hard. “Darling, if Jaskier and I lived together for more than a week, they’d find our corpses clinging to the same scarf.” Geralt agrees with her but says nothing. “I think he should stay with you.”

“Yenn,” he growls.

“Oh come on, Geralt,” she sighs, “You can’t stay mad at him forever. And he needs somewhere to stay, you know he hasn’t lived anywhere long enough to even have an apartment in years. He gets on well with Ciri, and it’s just for two weeks. What’s the harm?”

The harm is, of course, that he hadn’t even apologized yet for that damn video. “Fine,” he says, instead of admitting it. “But I’m kicking him out if he pisses me off.”

***

When the stay-at-home order starts, Jaskier needs a place to stay, and Geralt just so happens to have a guest bedroom, and he gets along with Ciri, and there's no logical reason to turn him away. So Geralt swallows his pride, and pretends that everything is fine, and that Jaskier doesn't keep openly mocking him with each song he releases. Two weeks will pass in no time, and they probably won't even see each other. Probably.

there are DEFINITELY more, these were just the ones most easily accessible to me bc i either bookmarked them or subscribed to them. but all of these are AMAZING and i LOVE THEM.

11: ever read guilty pleasure fics?

ohhhh yes absolutely but bc they are guilty pleasure i’d uh.... rather not say what fics they were LMAO.