#into one untamed master masterpost

[canary3d-obsessed]

Master Post - The Untamed

All of my CQL original content! This consolidates & replaces my previous CQL masterposts. 

You MAY repost any gifs or images from ANY of my “Restless Rewatch” posts as long as you credit me (Canary3d) or my blog (@canary3d-obsessed) somewhere in your post or comment. For non-Restless Rewatch images, please ask me first. (If you’re using Tumblr’s weird gif feature there’s no need to ask because that embeds a credit and it’s impossible to tell if it came from a RR post or not). 

Restless Rewatch Gifs and Memes

part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 |part 6 (Jiang Cheng) |part 7 

Restless Rewatch Full Posts

Now also on AO3: Restless Rewatch: The Untamed by Canary3d

I’ve updated these links with gaps between the A and B parts, so hopefully they will work properly in the phone app, unlike before. If they’re still not working, please drop me a note, thanks!

Ep 41 (part one) and (part 2) and (part 3) (NEW)

Ep 40 (part one) and (part 2)

Ep 39 (part one) and (part 2) and (part 3) 

Ep 38 (A) and (B)

Ep 37 (A) and (B)

Ep 36 (A) and (B) 

Ep 35 (A) and (B) 

Ep 34 (A)

Ep 33 (A) and (B)

Ep 32 (A) and (B)

Ep 31 (A) and (B) 

Ep 30 (A) and (B) 

Ep 29 (A) and (B) 

Ep 28 (A) 

Ep27 (A) and (B)

Ep26 (A) and (B) 

Ep25 (A) and (B) 

Ep24 (A)  and (B) 

Ep23 (A) and (B) 

Ep22 (A) and (B) 

Ep21(A) and (B) 

Ep20 (A) and (B) and (C) 

Ep19 (A) and (B) 

Ep18: (A) and (B) 

Ep17 (A) and (B)  

Ep 16: (A) and (B)  

Ep15 (A)  

Ep14 (A) and (B)  

Ep13 (A) and (B) 

Ep12 (A) and (B) and EXTRAS 

Ep11 (A) and (B) 

Ep10 (A) and (B) 

Ep09 (A) and (B) 

Ep08 (A) and (B) 

Ep07 (A) and (B) 

Ep06 (A) and (B) 

Ep05 (A) and (B) 

Ep04 (A) and (B) 

Ep03 (A)  

Ep02 (A) 

Ep01 (A)

Restless Writing Prompts 

Clipper’s Guide to The Untamed

Mo Dao Zu Shi Adaptations Available in English

Parallels

I love digging into the many, many visual, stylistic, and thematic parallels in The Untamed.

A cave, a baby, a fever 

Wrist Holding: Parting & Reunion

The Blurry Sword of Doom 

Bichen at Wei Wuxian’s Throat 

The Honor of a Glance (more of a “see how time changes things” than a parallel, exactly) 

Troublemaker (ditto above) 

Letting Go

Arm Holding on Mount Yeet - Gif Overlay Challenge

Protective Lans

Putting Lan Zhan to Bed  

A Gentleman’s Revenge

Answer Me

When the Man Comes Around

I Am Leaving

You Touch It You Buy It

The Sky is Vast and the Earth is Wide

Pay It Forward

Wen Ning’s Boat Rides

(Here’s a cut so I don’t kill your dashboard)

Holding on/Letting go

Don’t Cry

Having a Spat, Yunmeng Style

Like Father, Like Son

Let Me Carry You

Never

Great Idea, Thanks Bro

Assorted Gifs & Memes & Stuff

Mood: Serious

Lan Wangji Watching Wei Wuxian, Episode 33

Wei Wuxian screaming with Xiao Zhan’s voice 

Rainy Argument 1 | 2 | 3 

Rainy

World’s Second-Worst Party Guest

Wei Wuxian is here to  make you feel better

Yu Ziyuan’s daughter

If you don’t trust me, how can you help me?

Do You Want Revenge?

Wei Wuxian Blindfolding Jiang Cheng

Contemplating the Future

Which unlucky family’s place did you take?

Hands, Episode 16

Zidian Beatdown

A Man Should Have Scars

Trauma Survivor Wei Wuxian

Mood: Neutral

Reciting the Lan rules at the Wen indoctrination

Question and Answer Time

Lan Zhan, do you like rabbits?

Right in Front of Lil Apple’s Apple Salad 

Jiang Cheng and his facial expressions 

Besties

Wei Wuxian wants you to know: you’re awesome

LWJ looking at WWX

I adore you//Fucking hell

Color Palette Challenge

Blindfolded

The many loves of Wei Wuxian

Significant Glances

Flute Fixing

Study Time in Yiling

Single Plank Bridge (Untamed/Yanxi Palace)

Soft Papa

WWX Jumps into Battle

Wen Siblings @ Burial Grounds

Flower Boys

Flower Boy Nie Huaisang

Fisherman Nie Huaisang

Kicking Your Ass: Teen Edition

Kicking Your Ass: Adult Edition

This Beautiful Hothead

Mood: Silly

The Adventures of Paperman 

New Problems Have Appeared 

Let’s have a cooking sequence but make it terrible 

That Twitter/Tumbler Meme but it’s CQL 

Reactions to Sisi’s Story, Ep 45 

Wangxian Communication

The Untamed as Dear Prudie Letters 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 

Curses, cockblocked again

The Tuber of Disappointment 

Wei Wuxian & Wen Kexing

Wen Qing and the Lan Nymphs

No Time for Necromancy

When the landlord says it’s ok to repaint

How did you express the pain (WOH spoiler!)

The Untamed as Psychology Today Articles

Voice Actor Wang Kai Yelling at Xiao Zhan

Half-Incorrect Subtitles

Wangxian Brothel AU 

Nie Mingjue Yells Merry Christmas

Wei Wuxian making out with his Lunch

Wei Wuxian x Unnecessarily Erotic Drinking

Nie Huaisang Reporting In

Strong Hanguang Jun

Jiang Cheng’s Purple Jammies

Wei Wuxian searches Xue Yang

Adolescent’s observation

Failmaster Lan Qiren

Oh No He Noticed

Super Regularly

Oh Crap! Act Normal!

Emergency Hairpieces

Acceptability Review Meeting Episode 45/46

Acceptability Review Meeting Episode 45

Fanvids

Drinking, Drinking, Drinking

Xue Yang/Dandy Highwayman

Fight Moves/You Spin Me

Wei Wuxian/Not an Addict

Fanfic

Fractured Spirit (Warning: EXPLICIT)

Other Stuff

Adoption meta

[ancientstone]

Random Untamed Alchemist Thoughts: Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng being Brothers™ Edition

Masterpost

~

“WEI WUXIAN, YOU IDIOT!” A voice bellows down the streets of Central.

A tourist startles, blinks, and then gulps at the sound of crumbling architecture. 

A passing local sighs and walks over, patting them comfortingly on the shoulder.

“Don’t worry. That just means it’s Tuesday.”

~

In-jokes. So many in-jokes. And the problem is because Jiang Cheng can’t really do subtle body language anymore, all their in-jokes are word related, which is fine until Nie Mingjue is in the middle of a debrief and the two start giggling because he said the word “calculate.”

Nie Mingjue wonders if that’s what young people find funny these days. He worries about his brother becoming a teenager.

~

Wei Wuxian, 3am: Hey, Jiang Cheng?

Jiang Cheng: Hm?

Wei Wuxian: Where do babies come from?

Jiang Cheng: .....you’ve gotta be kidding me.

~

It’s not an uncommon sight to see them tucked away in a corner of a train, Wei Wuxian with his tongue sticking out as he carefully paints along the back of Jiang Cheng’s arm. Jiang Cheng watches him silently. They are in their own little world.

~

A mistake with a room booking accidentally names Wei Wuxian the untrained alchemist. Jiang Cheng makes it his life mission to use it at every possible opportunity.

~

Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng both believe Lan Xichen and Lan Wangji are unnatural. No brothers should get along as well as they do - It’s strange! Stop being so nice to each other!

Unfortunately, for their entire childhood the Lans are the only other pair of siblings they know (their village is small, okay!), so they spend years second-guessing themselves, asking are we the weird ones? Should we not bicker as much as we do? Oh no, do we get a bad grade in Sibling? Not helped by their brilliant, sweet, gentle sister, who’s existence just adds fuel to the confused fire.

It’s only when they go to Central that they realise that, hey, we were right! The Lans are the odd ducks!

The Lans receive a postcard detailing how Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng watched two kid brothers wrestling in the street with great interest, signed off with a TOLD YOU SO!

The Lans are bewildered.

~

Wei Wuxian, 4am, the same night: But...People say it’s to do with stalks! And they must be involved because it’s called the birds and the bees, right?

Jiang Cheng: I’m going to knock you out in a minute.

~

They are both masters of deflection, to a fault. Unlike Ed and Al, who, while it hurts, will open up and have raw emotional conversations, both together and with other people, Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng...are not like that.

Wei Wuxian deflects with humour, pouting, and whining, doing basically anything which will slide attention away from what is his biggest regret in life, and the thing that causes him an insane amount of guilt. I’ve mentioned before that he ignores his own trauma, stating that Jiang Cheng has suffered worse, and he will very literally bury all his unhappy emotions and plaster a smile on his face.

The mask does crumble, occasionally. Often it’s behind Jiang Cheng’s back, when no one can see him. Think this scene in fma brotherhood (spoilers and animated blood/gore/body horror - skip to 0:12 to miss it), only Wei Wuxian keeps up the act instead of crumbling like Ed and Al.

Jiang Cheng keeps up the act too, only his act is different. 

He gets angry. He huffs and scoffs and grits his figurative teeth about anything and everything. His front is a facade of grumpiness wrapped up in a spiky tin can. And because he doesn’t have an expressive face, it’s so easy for him to push forward this confident image of someone who will break people’s legs if they get on his nerves.

And, to be fair, he has always had a temper, he has always rolled his eyes and grumbled about his brother’s antics. This isn’t out of left field. But what people, minus Wei Wuxian and the Lans, don’t realise is that behind all that he is shy, and awkward, and insecure as hell. He doesn’t know what he’s meant to do with this body - does he get excited about getting his proper one back? That just hurts Wei Wuxian. Does he accept it and own it? But that just makes him scary and then people never talk to him like a human. He’s confused, and lost, and doesn’t dare ask his brother for fear of making him spiral in his own guilt, so Jiang Cheng just sort of exists and hates it and lets his gruffness do the talking for him.

They’re both a mess.

~

The fact that they are not blood brothers has never mattered in any way, except for one vital moment.

The moment they tried to bring their sister back.

They don’t share DNA. They don’t share genetics. When they were placing the ingredients into the centre of their transmutation circle, they’d only used Jiang Cheng’s blood, in case they accidentally started pulling Wei Wuxian’s dead family back.

Then they failed, and Jiang Cheng was taken, and Wei Wuxian had to fuse his brother to a suit of armour, without any way of knowing if his blood, his different, non-related blood, would work.

He has never told Jiang Cheng this. But when he fused Jiang Cheng’s soul to the armour, he was doing so blind and running on pure adrenaline. He got lucky, the fact that they aren’t related didn’t matter, only the seal and the exchange did, but there have been many nights, usually when Wei Wuxian is alone, where he’s stared at the ceiling and wondered, what if my blood hadn’t worked? What if nothing happened? What if I lost Jiang Cheng, too?

~

Jiang Cheng works very, very, very hard not to resent his brother.

It’s something he never voices aloud to anyone, but there is a small line of jealousy that fractures through him, whenever he sees him eating nice food, or holding their nephew, or stroking Lan Sizhui’s pet bunny. He wants, so badly, to be able to feel and taste and smell things again. And Wei Wuxian is not a subtle person, when he finds something amazing he puts his whole body into its praise.

Jiang Cheng is always at his moodiest on the days when he wants.

~

Jiang Cheng, on the phone to Lan Xichen: Hey, so, random thing.

Lan Xichen, having pulled an all-nighter to finish automail, very tired, would like to sleep please, why are you ringing me at 6am?: Yes?

Jiang Cheng: Wei Wuxian, because he’s a dumbass, asked me where babies came from. And of course I know, why wouldn’t I? Everyone does! Haha! But for the sake of, like, explaining it clearly to him, my stupid brother, how would you explain where babies come from?

Lan Xichen: .....I have discovered the reason why people drink.

~

[p-h03n1-x]

Hey! Thanks for making such an informative blog also I wanted to ask do you have a masterpost of all the interviews featuring ggdd???

Thanks for your help!!!

Hi Anon! I’m glad to know you find my blog informative.

Your question is a very good one. After so many years of being in the fandom, it never really occurred to me to create a master list of their joint interviews. And for that, I appreciate your question because it has given me the opportunity to put one together 👏👏👏

Here’s what I can share with you in response to your question - master list of GGDD joint interviews. I assume you meant interviews where they’re together. If it’s solo for each, that list will be miles long 😀

I tried to organize based on the timeline, picked the ones with English subs and full length versions instead of short clips and I tried to use mostly YouTube videos too. Hopefully, it won’t be restricted in your region and you can watch these clips

August 2018

Bazaar interview on set

Tencent Livestream Interview on set (not completely sure which month this is but it’s taken during filming)

Sina Interview on set 1

July 2019

Sina Interview at HQ

Backstage Interview with the Untamed Cast

Day Day Up Backstage Interview

Click here for the Twitter link, cut in 5 vids due to Twitter limitations. If I find my bookmark with the full length vid, I will update this or upload a new post.

Just allow me to add this funny anecdote.. has GG ever been addressed by his pet name Zhan Zhan in any interview? I think only in this TTXS interview...

August 2019

Bazaar Bonus Edition released Aug 2019 (includes Bazaar on set + Bazaar Photoshoot interview)

Happy Camp Skit (ok I know it’s not an interview per se but they’re like being asked to repeat the skit so let’s make it count, shall we?) here’s the VIP BTS version. I love this because this has the ‘old cow eats young grass’ moment

While the episode aired Aug ‘19, highlights of that episode was released again Oct for VIP subscribers only. There’s no sub in MGTV app, but here’s one from Twitter

The Untamed Launch Event in Beijing with Haikuan and Fan Xing

Highlight Interview

September 2019

Thailand Fan Meet Inteview by Bazaar

HotPot TV interview during Thailand Fan Meet

Untamed Thailand Press Conference

And the rest are compilations, like one stop shop collection of interviews

The Untamed 1st anniversary 160 minutes Interview

The Untamed Thailand Fan Meet Interview (WeTV)

The Untamed Summer Memory Interview

101 Reasons to love the Untamed promo

Here’s another good compilation video of select scenes in various interviews, 20 minutes long

And that’s it Anon.. while I started this post saying I am happy you asked this question, now I am ending it by saying I feel sad..

It’s been more than a year since they had a joint interview. I mean sure, there’s no reason now because they don’t have any joint projects, but still, it would be great and I look forward to the day that I’ll see them again together in the same frame for an interview

[eirenical]

eirenical’s original content masterpost

OK, so I figured it was about time I started one of these, especially given the fact that my old tag post is so outdated, it’s not even funny.  This is going to be a work in progress because I have a LOT of content to sort through and I will probably start with just linking the big tags, but... we have to start somewhere, I guess?  ^_^

(Note: These are also going to be in backwards chronological order from newest to oldest, and there are going to be repeat posts, especially in the parts that are split by fandom, because those are search links, not tags.)

My meta: #eirenical.meta; #eirenical’s tag meta

My writing: #eirenical.fic; #snippet; #eirenical writes things; #eirenical.headcanons; #writing meme answers; #original fiction

My Edits:  #eirenical.gifs; #eirenical.videos; #eirenical.photosets; #eirenical.photos; #eirenical.screenshots (screen recordings); #eirenical.screencaps

My Fanmixes: #eirenical.fanmixes

(Note #2: I have never been able to figure out how to make tumblr links work on mobile.  None of these do.  Sorry.  :P  If you want to use any of the links in the masterpost on mobile, just open them (or the master post) in a mobile browser; then they should work just fine.)

And behind a cut for the fandom specific stuff, I think.  ^_^

Anime

Gundam Wing: Fanfiction

C-dramas | K-dramas

Granting You A Dreamlike Life: Fanfiction | Gifsets | Meta | Tag meta

Guardian: Fanfiction | Gifsets | Meta | Tag meta | Photosets

Hotel del Luna: Screenshots

The Lost Tomb 1: Fanfiction | Gifsets | Tag meta

The Lost Tomb 2 | Explore With the Note: Fanfiction | Gifsets | Tag meta

The Lost Tomb Reboot | Reunion: The Sound of Providence: Fanfiction | Gifsets | Tag meta

Mysterious Lotus Casebook: Fanfiction | Gifsets | Meta

The Untamed: Fanfiction | Videos | Meta | Tag meta | Photosets

Movies

Flatliners: Fanfiction | Gifs

A Knight’s Tale: Fanfiction

Ladyhawke: Fanfiction

The Mighty Ducks: Fanfiction

Rise of the Guardian: Fanfiction

Rocketman: Fanfiction

The Secret of Roan Inish: Fanfiction

Star Wars: Fanfiction | Meta | Tag Meta | Gifs

Musicals

Book of Mormon: Fanfiction

Hair: Fanfiction

Jesus Christ Superstar: Fanfiction

Les Miserables: The Calendar | Fanfiction | Photosets | Gifsets | Meta | Fanmixes

Newsies!: Fanfiction

Next To Normal: Fanfiction

Tommy: Fanfiction

TV Shows

The 4400: Fanfiction

Being Human UK: Fanfiction | Gifs

Law & Order SVU: Fanfiction

NCIS Los Angeles: Gifsets

Once Upon A Time: Fanfiction

Power Rangers: Fanfiction

Saved by the Bell: Fanfiction

Teen Wolf: Fanfiction

Vikings: Fanfiction

[korpikorppi]

Miscellaneous posts 2022 masterpost, part 1

Links to stuff I made in January - April 2022 (excluding the posts mentioned separately in my pinned post and most posts at @1000wangjis) to try to keep things in order somehow 🤔. Latest one on top, will be updated.

The First Jade of Lan (LXC in ep 6)

My garden bunny (non-CQL)

Two non-CQL posts ("korpikorppi logo"): 1, 2

Look son, this is how you do it (LWJ conjuring Wangji in ep 29)

Hanguang-Jun calling "Mo Xuanyu's" bluff, 3/? (MDZS manhua edit)

Lotus Wind Wine (Wei Wuxian, ep17)

Lotuses in the Burial Mounds (a tiny bit of meta)

"Oh shit... Wei Ying!" (Lan Wangji, ep32)

A master class in dramatics (Nie Huaisang in ep40)

Interruption (the Wen sibs interrupting a Wangxian Moment in ep29)

Xuanli (Jin Zixuan getting it right in the end, birthday post)

Unnamed swords: Nie Huaisang's sabre and other Nie blades (sword meta)

Hanguang-Jun with bangs

Blog rec: How peaceful is Lan Wangji?

I've found the way to save Jiang Cheng (WWX and WQ in ep17)

Lackey (the Nieyao confrontation in Wen Ruohans throne roon, ep41 empathy)

Serendipity (Lan Wangji's birthday post)

No drinking in Cloud Recesses (the Wangxian punishment scene, from Special Edition ep2)

Triple Trouble (WWX, JC and NHS looking very guilty, single screencap)

Wang Yibo and Xiao Zhan, black and white bts edits

Silly little Picrew portraits of Wangxian and 3 Zun

Touch (the Songxiao tragedy, Yi City)

Song Lan (a single screenshot edit from Yi City)

What you leave behind (Lan Sizhui's birthday post)

Hanguang-Jun calling "Mo Xuanyu's" bluff, 2/? (MDZS manhua edit)

A bathing beauty (LWJ in ep33)

Hanguang-Jun calling "Mo Xuanyu's" bluff, 1/? (MDZS manhua edit)

That sword, what is it called? -Whatever.

Indoors + light (some beautifully lighted scenes in the Untamed)

[artistsfuneral]

Agape - Part One I

[one] [two] [three] [four] - [masterpost]

[or everything here on ao3]

.

Jaskier travels alone to the coast.

Jaskier travels alone to the coast. He walks down the Dragon Mountains with anger seething in his stomach. He spends some more time in Kovir, visits the capital Lan Exeter before he takes a ferry to Luton. He accompanies a lovely Baroness and her husband to Yspaden and the anger is long forgotten. He meets many old friends and acquaintances on his way, but no witcher crosses his path. He doesn't question it.

He still sings about them, about the Wolves of the Blue Mountains. The songs are well known and loved, they made him famous. It would be stupid not to sing them and quite frankly, Jaskier likes the attention they attract. The Baron and Baroness he stays with like them too and who was he to deny them of his talent?

It's an early morning, the sun is still rising over the rooftops of Yspaden and Jaskier is sitting in an alcove, windows open, when he hears the cry of a seagull. The bard stops his soft strumming and looks up at the sky and feels his heart ache.  He lets out a even softer sigh as he watches the flock of seagulls fly away. “You will leave, won't you?”

His head turns around just to see the Baroness sit up in bed, white linen sheets falling down and revealing her naked glory. She's a beautiful woman, with untameable curls and a crooked nose. The golden light of the morning sun idyllically dances on her skin. “I think it is time,” he says and smiles. He stands up to collect his clothes that are strewn all over the floor of the master bedroom. Beside the Baroness, her husband stirs under the covers. “Take the horse, the gray one. Pegasus or something...” Jaskier nods his thanks and kisses them both goodbye. There is nothing chaste about it. “Write us, Jaskier. We will be waiting for your letters,” the Baroness makes him promise, before she falls back into bed with a dreamily sigh.

Jaskier travels alone to the coast. He rides to Roggeven on the gelding he has been gifted and follows the river Duppa to the ocean. The autumn sun warms his chilled blood while the sound of crying seagulls becomes more and more frequent. When he finally reaches the sea and his eyes fix on a small town by the shores, he feels like he can breathe again. He can't remember the last time he had thought about Redania as beautiful.

Fischerskutter is small and not often visited. More fishermen than shepherds and more shepherds than farmer. The people eye him warily at first, take notice of how he clutches a blanket around his shoulders because he has no warm cloak and that he carries a lute instead of a sword. With half of the coin he has left, he pays for a little cottage further out, although the alderman warns him about the sea-maidens that come to the dunes in summer (Merpeople, Jaskier knows better, but doesn't comment).

The abandoned cottage is... rustic. It needs a lot of love, but to Jaskier's absolute joy it once belonged to the local huntsman. The rest of his coin is used by the bard for materials and a beautifully crafted, long hunting bow.

He’s always been good with a bow; his family’s private hunter had taught him when he was just a boy. Now he uses that skill to survive.

He spends his days working on the cottage and wandering through the seaside tundra and it's overgrown, rocky cliffs. After four days he locates the wild boar territory and after two weeks he knows how to navigate safely between the cliffs to reach the hidden woods. There, between the natural hot spring and it's warm water beds, still grows a meadow, where a herd of greater stags and does winters.

The town’s people are glad for the extra meat and the thick furs he sells them. In return he gets food, drink and hospitality. Life is hard and easy at the same time. The days are exhausting and the cold weather is harsh on his health. He misses Oxenfurt and it's ever-warm halls, when he shivers in his woolen tunics and fur coats. Still, whenever he makes his way into town, he is greeted with a warm smile and even warmer food. He even gets to play his lute, when it's the alderman's nameday and they all meet in his house for a little feast with his family.

It is nothing like he had imagined his life. That’s why it is so perfect, he thinks.

Since he arrived in Fischerskutter he goes by Julian again. The flashy troubadour Jaskier has no place in the little town. When he was younger, he had changed his name often, but he had been Jaskier for such a long time that it felt foreign to be someone else again.

When a snowstorm surprises him on a hunt, he doesn't make it back to his cottage. Three days he stays with the baker and his pregnant wife, Magdalena. The first day he spends shivering next to the fire. On the second day he helps Magdalena to deliver her twin babies, while her husband panics next to them. She calls the little girl Alicja and her brother is named Julian. Julian cries a bit, when he's allowed to hold the boy.

From then on she declares him family. Everyone starts calling him Julek.

The name reminds him of his home back in Lettenhove; Of his old bedroom with the big windows, of his siblings that are Melitele-knows-where now and it reminds him of his mother. For the first time in years he can see her in his imagination. It's an old memory of a summer day spend in the woods. He must have been very young, because she smiles down at him and the sun catches her hair and gives it a golden halo. He can't remember the color of her eyes.

In those moments he wonders what he is doing in Fischerskutter. Why he hasn't gone back to Oxenfurt for the winter, or why he has left the warm alcove in Yspaden that morning. Then he hears the seagulls cry and smells the salty air and he can breathe again.

TAG @jaskiers-sweetkiss @squirrelartz @terrenis @rubyqueen819 @watchthewolvesfall @daelwen @seralyra @storm-cloud-dancer @alexerion @digililly @flippinfricks

wazzup? the first part is already on ao3 but I decided to post it on tumblr in smaller sections to make it more readable - tell me what you think?

[spell-cleaver]

"Woah." Ahsoka murmured, her eyes wide in wonder, as she watched Luke in deep meditation, items floating around him as he was so deep in the Force his abilities outstretched his body. Vader in that moment had entered the room from the other side, pausing to take it in as well.

Previous parts on the masterpost here!

"Woah," Ahsoka murmured, her eyes wide in wonder, as she watched Luke in deep meditation, items floating around him as he was so deep in the Force his abilities outstretched his body. Vader in that moment had entered the room from the other side, pausing to take it in as well.

She smiled slightly to herself, watching the way Luke mindfully kept a hold of the datachips; the slight furrow of concentration in his brow; the way his signature pulsed and flared with every tug of wind that tried to pull the items out of his orbit. Even the sudden intrusion of Vader's harsh breathing, echoing through the arched pillars of the lake house to where Luke was seated on the patio in the back, couldn't break him from his spell. The Force had him in its grip; it wasn't letting its son go.

She'd been wary, when she started training him, that she wouldn't be able to teach someone of this sort of power. All too well she remembered Anakin during the Clone Wars, pulling off feats no one could imagine until they'd seen them, his power bright and sparking and untamed. It had been exciting to be around him, never sure what he was going to light up next, and she'd felt her own sense of the world expand vastly under his tutelage.

She'd never thought that one day, she would be training his son.

Especially not when the dark pillar of fire that his Force presence had become was hanging over her shoulder, watching.

She glanced at the chrono—Luke had been at this for two hours now, sitting still and sinking into the Force so easily it almost alarmed her, wondering how often Palpatine had forced him to sit still and be silent, how often he'd been forced to instinctively draw on his power to keep him alive and well. This was highly impressive, and Luke had been at it long enough; it was already clear that his connection was deep, true and abiding. It was time for lightsaber training.

So, heedless of the slight jolt Vader made towards her, as if he was trying to stop her from interrupting his son's peace, she stood up and walked forwards to place a hand on his shoulder.

She didn't bother calling his name verbally; there was a good chance he wouldn't hear her. Younglings were never quite skilled in balancing a deep submersion into the Force with paying attention to their mortal senses.

Instead, she just reached for the core of his presence, bright enough that it was almost painful for her to look at; she wondered how in the stars Vader managed it. Perhaps he enjoyed the pain, so long as he knew it was his son he was regarding.

Luke didn't come, at first. Ahsoka frowned, huffed; Obi-Wan would've known what to do, here. He'd trained Anakin, the Chosen One himself—he'd have known how to deal with this sort of power.

Or perhaps the fact that Obi-Wan had trained Anakin was precisely why Vader didn't want him training Luke.

She latched onto Luke's presence again, tighter, and tugged more fiercely. Come back, she broadcast, though they didn't truly have a master-apprentice bond to draw on, yet. It still did the job.

Luke came back, surfacing towards the material world the way he'd swum for the light dancing of the surface of the lake when they went diving that morning. He opened his eyes, flexed his hands and smiled faintly at her, letting the items hovering around him—a vase of flowers, a belt, a hat, datachips, even a footstool—sink to the ground gently.

It was then that Ahsoka realised Vader had vanished from the doorway.

"How did I do?" he asked.

She pursed her lips, though her smile didn't fade; it was an odd expression to wear. "It wasn't a task that can be measured in successes or failures..." she said carefully. "It's a spiritual thing, a repetitive thing, impossible to do wrong or right."

Luke nodded, though she could tell he didn't understand. Not really. The concept of failure was hammered too hard into him.

"But you did very, very well," she admitted softly. "You... you are very naturally skilled at all of this. I don't know what I was expecting when I came here, but it wasn't you. You're amazing." She reached out to touch his face; slowly, at first, then when he didn't flinch back she brushed her thumb against his cheek. "The only other Force wielder I've seen with your sort of skill and power was..."

She trailed off after a moment, not sure if she should say that.

But Luke seemed to pick up on her thoughts anyway, and his eyes lit up. "My father?" He cut his gaze to the doorway where Vader had stood—perhaps he had known he was there, then, and they'd connected in the Force in a deeper way than Ahsoka would ever understand—and his akk pup eyes lost a hint of their excitement when he saw it was empty.

Ahsoka nodded. "Yes. Your father. You've got exactly the same sort of power he had."

"That's..." Luke blinked. "Impossible. I'm—"

"Extremely powerful, and skilled. I couldn't ask for a better student." She ruffled his hair. "Now, you've been at this for hours, so I suggest we take a break now—and then I'll see you for lightsaber practise by the lake this evening?"

"Are you going to throw me in the water again?"

"Of course I am."

He huffed, and she laughed—but she didn't miss the way his gaze cut to the door again.

"Go find your father," she told him. "He was in here lurking earlier. He's probably got even more praises to sing than I have."

Luke nodded, and left to follow him. Ahsoka sat back on the patio, watching the sun creep towards the horizon, and smiled to herself.

Luke was doing so well.

Send me the first sentence of a scene from this AU and I might continue it!

Beginning | Previous | Next

[mdzs-overthink-athon]

Adaptations - Part 14: Don’t we all have a little WWX in us?

(Masterpost)

This scene appears in:

Mo Dao Zu Shi novel Chapter 10

Mo Dao Zu Shi manhua Chapter 25

Mo Dao Zu Shi donghua Episode 2

The Untamed / Chen Qing Ling drama Episode 2

In this scene, Jiang Cheng returns and learns Wen Ning was summoned. 

He is now positive that “Mo Xuanyu” is possessed by Wei Wuxian. 

He goes after him with Zidian, which has the power to remove possessed spirits, but is initially blocked by LWJ. 

WWX screws himself by running away from LWJ’s protection and thus gets whipped anyway.

Ouch.

-

More under the cut

Anyway, when there’s no change in “MXY” after being whipped by Zidian, the others try to convince JC that he’s wrong, and WWX has such good taste he wouldn’t possess someone like MXY. 

In the donghua and manhua versions, WWX obfuscates by capitalizing on MXY’s reputation as a cut-sleeve. 

His plan is to make JC and LWJ both so annoyed that they’ll leave him alone. It backfires delightfully.

I do also just want to note this manhua panel which caused fangirl me to drool all over myself:

Meanwhile in CQL world, the snowflakes censors couldn’t handle this last exchange, so instead we get Lan Jingyi mouthing off and making JC uncomfortable by reminding him about how he originally killed WWX

This poor tormented motherfucker.

Then we get a really weird segue where the camera angle on WWX gets all distorted and we’re supposed to understand that we’re travelling baaaack in tiiiiime (SFX: echo)

And this is where I begin banging my head against walls in the process of creating each post because I will be trying to reconcile four deviating plot lines in my head. Wish me luck!

So basically this scene is about a couple of different things for me:

Zidian

We saw Zidian before, but there’s increased focus on it here. You could say it’s the star of this scene in a way. It is cool and symbolic and full of personality (and purple!) so some of my criteria here is based on how Zidian is portrayed.

Manhua:

First off I love the motion and SFX here. We get a good feel of action despite the fact we’re looking at static images. I also love the lightning effect. Over all, masterfully done. 10/10.

-

Donghua:

Here, the more impressive shots of Zidian are more symbolic - the lighting and effects are still masterful, as is the framing, but the true beauty to this is that Zidian is used as a symbol for JC’s burning rage. Look at that furrowed brow of furor. Contrast with the reasonable, all-business expression in the manhua above. Which do we think is more JC? 11/10. 

-

Drama:

Here, a similar thing is done with Zidian symbolizing JC’s rage. The visual effects are quite nice as well, given it’s live action. The live action format, though, makes it less possible to really show those sweeping strikes at the perfect moment the way the donghua and manhua do. 9/10.

-

WWX being a brat

Of the many faces of WWX, this might possibly be my favorite. In this scene, he has the opportunity to be extra mischievous. First he is eluding discovery and capture, and then he’s (at least in the manhua and donghua) actively trying to extricate himself from the situation by pissing everyone off.

-

Manhua:

Here is WWX heckling JC from behind his donkey, and doing some expo for us, the readers on why the whip didn’t separate him 

(I don’t know what xianshe means, but XR translates the novel version as “I was forcibly given this body”)

Then here he is trying to be “disgusting” by flirting with everyone

Manhua!WWX is once again just a bit too cute and pretty to pull off the mischief I want to see from him here. I do like to see him hiding behind things / people though, and he’s clearly trying. 7/10.

-

Donghua:

Here’s WWX gloating smugly to himself about why Zidian didn’t work:

Here he is declaring his (fake (for now)) crush on LWJ:

WWX is super devious here and I love it. The little smug closed-mouth smirk is what does it for me. 10/10.

-

Drama:

This one is a bit different as Drama!WWX largely plays it straight (pun intended), and focus is on the other characters. Here’s WWX being miserable and sad b/c he was whupped, while LWJ glares:

Then incredulous JC demands:

Then I guess we are prepared for fisticuffs? (from safe behind glaring LWJ)

Yep so I’m honestly not sure what’s going on here but it’s cute and definitely cements the relationships between these three. 8/10.

Overall, we have manhua: 17, donghua: 21, drama: 17

My personal fav: the donghua. The portrayal of Zidian as both a symbol of rage and a vehicle of pretty purple lights is top-notch, and mischievous / fake-flirtatious donghua WWX delivers. 

-

P. S.: I want to thank all the very patient followers who have stuck with me so far and even reblogged some of these ridiculously long posts of mine. I will now be attempting to put most of each post under a cut, so they don’t clog up everyone’s dash so much. I should have done this earlier, but a year or two back, tumblr erased some of my lengthy essays that I placed under cuts, and I have had a debilitating fear of including a cut in my posts ever since. Like other random tumblr malfunctions, it seems to have since evaporated and I’m left wondering if it was my imagination or possibly user error. Anyway I just wanted to thank you for your dedication in interacting with my posts even though they were so long as to be rather rude :)

(Source: manhua) (Source: novel translation) (Source: donghua) (Source: drama)

[sparrowwritings]

Writing Challenge Day Four: Waste

Day Three -- Masterpost -- Day Five

“Just what do you think you’re doing?”

Rose froze in place. She quickly pocketed her stolen goods before turning to face her mother. “Nothing.” Basil’s advice whispered to her and she kept her gaze steady, as if she really was telling the truth.

Cadence Highbottle narrowed her green eyes. There was a tense moment where Rose was sure she was going to get her haul taken, when the older halfling just gave a deep sigh. “I don’t have time to deal with your shenanigans today. If you’re going to cause trouble, do it outside of the house.” In Rose’s shock, she realized that her mother’s long, blonde hair was done up in the elaborate braided hairstyle that she wore when there was business to be had that day. She literally didn’t have the time to scold her daughter. 

Before the girl could scamper away, Cadence grabbed one of her arms firmly. “I mean it, I don’t want to hear even a squeak while the meeting’s going on. Understood?” 

She squirmed a little, but eventually relented. “I got it, mom.”

“Good. Now where’d the other rascal run off to...” She muttered to herself. The minute that her arm was released, Rose took off to the nearest exit that led outside. 

“What took so long?” Neola complained as Rose made her way to the border between the Highbottle and Beddye vineyards. Even accounting for dodging Willow, her dad, and the other workers in the fields, Rose was still late for their get together. There was a hole in the fence that separated the land--too small to be noticed by anyone on either side, but just big enough for a young halfling to crawl through. This was how one of the Beddye children was able to be on Highbottle land despite the ongoing rivalry between the families. 

“Mom almost caught me while I was going out.” She reached into the pocket of her dress and pulled out one of the pastries she had grabbed from the kitchens. “Got us a snack, though.” 

Neola rolled her eyes, but accepted the flakey, sugary treat. “She’s good at catching you, but not that good.” After spending a moment to eat and then lick her fingers, she asked the important question. “Think the fort’s still safe?”

“It’s gotta be. I saw Jack going out there with old blankets just yesterday.”

“Uuugh.” The shorter halfling girl dramatically leaned against the sturdy fence separating the land. Her curtain of auburn hair somehow stayed perfectly straight. A harsh contrast to Rose’s far messier bob of wavy brown. “I know we gotta share it since he’ll blab if we don’t, but if I wanted to be around a baby I’d bring Tezor along.”

Rose couldn’t help but giggle. “Don’t tell him he’s a baby to his face, he’ll just pout. And c’mon! He can be fun!”

“His dog can be fun, more like.” Neola pouted. Despite her complaints, she allowed herself to be taken by the hand to the fort. 

Said fort was really a collection of scraps of wood put together as a small, vaguely square shape. It only resembled a building in that there were four walls and a couple of planks used for a roof. It was hidden among the bramble of as-yet untamed land that the Highbottles owned and thus all of the children who knew about it (all three of them) knew it wouldn’t live for very long. Still, there was a far shorter trek to the flimsy construction than there was to the cave at the edge of Vineshade that Neola and Rose stayed in most often. As a bonus, the girls could really pretend they were adventurers hiding out from all sorts of imagined baddies. If they were sitting down and ignored the sounds of workers in the field, that is.

Just like Rose had mentioned, there were indeed old blankets spread out on the floor of the fort as the girls made their way inside. Even the appearance of Jack and his puppy Spot were things that the two of them expected. What neither of them had predicted was that Rose’s older brother Basil would be there.

He gave a wide, lazy grin and waved at the girls. “Rosey! Neola! Care to join our party?”

Jack looked up from a paper he had been scribbling on and gave a dopey smile himself. “Yeah! Come join our party!” Spot, hearing how excited his master was, sprung up from his curled up position to bark his approval.

Rose blinked several times in confusion. “Basil? What’re you doing here?”

“What’s it look like I’m doing?” He took a couple of other pieces of paper and set them and some charcoal in the middle of the room. “It’ll be a tight squeeze, but the four--I mean five--of us should be able to hide out in here. Plus, we’re playing adventurer.” 

“I’m a ranger!” Jack announced, proudly holding up his paper. On it was a crude drawing of what appeared to be an older Jack, with something large and with four legs and spots that must have been a bigger, older Spot. “We’re out hunting goblins!” The dog barked again and got down on his forepaws and wagged his tail.

“Well, resting before we go hunt goblins.” Basil indicated the fort. “Can’t fight them when you’re too tired.” 

“You’re just saying that ‘cuz you’re gonna go sneak off and kill them yourself.” Jack frowned. “That’s what rogues do.”

“True! But! They can also wait for their party in case things go wrong. We wouldn’t want *that* right? So resting’s a good way to make sure the party’s all going to be safe.”

While the young boy contemplated his older brother’s logic, Rose finally got over her shock enough to realize what he was doing. “Weren’t you supposed to be at that meeting that mom’s going to today?”

To his credit, Basil’s lazy grin turned sheepish. “I didn’t really see the point in going. Feels like a waste of time when Reed’s going to take over when mom di--” He stopped himself, glanced at Jack and then clearly switched words. Both he and Spot tilted their heads at the same time. “Decides to step down. And Willow’s happy enough to keep up the vineyard forever, and Melody loves all the hard lifting work, and mom clearly wants YOU to be in charge of our marketing.” Rose made a face at that. “I know what she wants me to be, but I’m not so sure that that’s what I want to be, you know?” He stared off into the middle distance as he finished speaking. 

Rose wasn’t sure what to make of it. There was a ring of truth to everything he was saying that hit her in a way that she wasn’t sure she liked. It felt...familiar, almost. She just hadn’t been able to put her feelings into words before. Before she could think too hard about it, Neola finally spoke up. “You’re already the best prankster around, Bas. You don’t need to be anything else.”

He blinked and then laughed like he wasn’t bothered by anything at all. “True! Very true!” He tapped at the papers on the floor. “You still haven’t told me what you’re bringing to the party, girls!”

Jack, his wide coppery eyes having refused to move from his brother until now, snapped out of his stupor. He also grinned, glad that the serious moment was over. “Yeah, we need more people! There might be a lot of goblins!”

Neola plopped down on her knees next to the paper nearest Basil and took one of the pieces of charcoal to get started. “I think I’ll be a fighter or maybe a wizard.” She paused in her sketch and frowned. “Do you think it’s possible to be both?”

Basil shrugged. “Maybe? We’ll work it out as we go.”

“What about you, Rosey?” Jack looked up at the still standing girl. “You wanna play?” 

There was a lot churning in her head. What Basil said, her own feelings about her place in life, anything to do with adventuring...and then her eyes met her older brother’s. There weren't a lot of things that all of the Highbottle siblings shared, but Rose had a similar shade of brown eyes as Basil. So when he smiled and they warmed up considerably, she knew that her own were doing the same and she felt a little better.

“Yeah, I wanna play.” She sat down on the blanket with a plop. “So ranger, rogue, fighter/wizard...you guys are missing a healer.” Rose took her own piece of charcoal and started drawing. “I’ll be the cleric.”

[canary3d-obsessed]

Restless Rewatch: The Untamed, Episode 24 part two

(Masterpost) (Pinboard)

Warning: Spoilers for All 50 Episodes!

Arguing

After enjoying a tense  afternoon with Lan Xichen, Wei Wuxian comes home to enjoy a tense evening with Jiang Cheng. He pauses in the doorway as he takes in Jiang Cheng’s mood and decides which metaphorical mask he will put on to interact with his shidi. As someone who grew up with explosive people, I find this routine very familiar. 

Wei Wuxian is always carefully playing a role as he interacts with the people in his life. Clearly he has read the classic sociology text The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life and is using it as a how-to guide. We see him do this same calculation over and over, in which he reacts internally to a situation, comes to a decision about what persona to inhabit, and then dons that persona. It’s a typical abuse survival tactic and...it is exhausting. 

This is why I think his leaving to be alone for a while in Episode 50 is a good thing. Being alone isn’t better than being with someone else, usually, but for Wei Wuxian, who is (by Episode 50) assured of love but not sure where he belongs in his own life, being by himself for a while is going to be the best thing for him. He can learn how to just be a person, instead of constantly trying to mold himself to fit everyone around him. 

For the current tense situation, Jiang Cheng is polishing his sword, which, incidentally, is slang (in English, not necessarily in Chinese) for masturbating. Which makes their conversation about how frequently it needs doing kind of a hoot. “One time a month should do,” per Wei Wuxian. 

Jiang Cheng yells at Wei Wuxian--fairly, really--for being drunk all the time and not working on clan tasks. Then he responds to a hug attempt by shoving Wei Wuxian and knocking him down. JC asks WW if he’s too drunk to manage his spiritual power. Now, we know that he doesn’t have any spiritual power to manage, and that’s the main point of this interaction. But it also shows us something else about their dynamic. 

This was just a quick hit, and when it takes WWX out, JC asks why he isn’t responding with spiritual power.  Which means that apparently *every* time Jiang Cheng gives Wei Wuxian a shove or a shoulder check, or strikes him--like he’s been doing constantly since Episode 3--he’s putting spiritual power behind it. That’s...really harsh. 

Jiang Cheng wants Wei Wuxian to fight back, and Wei Wuxian can’t; this is a big part of why their relationship breaks down. Casual blows loaded with spiritual power are part of their vocabulary, and Wei Wuxian can’t speak that language any more, even for basic defense. He’s literally not safe having simple interactions with Jiang Cheng now, because he’s secretly disabled, and Jiang Cheng is casually injuring him whenever he gets too close. 

(more after the cut!)

This time Wei Wuxian has had enough, and raises Chenqing to Jiang Cheng, who immediately backs off. Jiang Cheng has seen that thing in action, not just on the battlefield, but in a small room full of whatever remained of Wen Chao when they were done with him. He takes this as a serious threat, and backs off, disturbed and puzzled and hurt.

Jiang Cheng thinks the change in Wei Wuxian is coming from apathy, not from disability, and so he misunderstands it over and over.  Think of a friend saying “whatever, I’m sick of arguing with you, do what you want.”  Jiang Cheng is very ready to feel rejected, and not at all ready to look at Wei Wuxian’s behavior and try to actually understand it. 

Crying Over You

Wei Wuxian bails and goes to see Jiang Yanli in the ancestral hall, where she is polishing a name plaque. I turned the gamma way up to see whose it is and...I dunno. This character might be 江 (Jiang), I guess?

Jiang Yanli is the only one of the trio who knows how to mourn properly, in that she is taking some time to sit and be sad. Mourning the dead--both ritually and just in the emotional sense--is as important a part of reclaiming Lotus Pier as the training of disciples and having good times on the lake.

She asks him about his fight with Jiang Cheng and he says he’s used to fighting with him. Jiang Yanli asks him if he’s tired of living there, and Wei Wuxian deflects and deflects, saying “it’s my home, where else would I go?” and that if Jiang Fengmian hadn’t adopted him he would still be begging in the streets. He says “no matter what happens, I won’t leave Lotus Pier,” which is not an answer to her question.

It’s also not true. Like so many of his promises, it’s an expression of his wishes, with no space for the surprises real life is made of. He promises her that he won’t be reckless again, and asks her not to be mad at him. She says she can’t be mad at him, and then they share a flashback about Jiang Fengmian finding him on the street. This is a story, not a memory; Wei Wuxian can’t remember but he remembers her telling him about it. Jiang Yanli wasn’t there, in the moment. So this is her telling the story as it was told to her, probably by Jiang Fengmian. 

Flashback Time

In the flashback, picky salad-hating Wei Ying is out on the street, looking for food in a cartload of pretty okay scraps. I mean, yeah, skip the tomatoes, but most of the greens look fine.  

He’s found and fed by Jiang Fengmian, who recognizes him and decides to take him in. 

Within a couple of episodes, we will see Wei Wuxian paying this favor forward, saving someone he finds starving on the street. Just like Jiang Fengmian, he's going to upset and disrupt his family in order to help someone for whom he feels a deep connection.

During this flashback we get a look at Jiang Fengmian’s sword, and it is a beauty. 

What is Love

As the flashback ends, Wei Wuxian is smiling, hearing Jiang Yanli tell this touching story of starvation and orphanhood. She tells him he was born with a smiling face, and that he never minds much about sorrowful things; no matter how bad the situation is, he is always happy. Way to reinforce that metaphorical mask he’s wearing over his deep, deep despair, sis!

They talk a bit about Jiang Cheng’s bad temper.  Then Jiang Yanli says now that her parents are gone, they three are the closest in the world, and he responds by putting his head down on her knee and theatrically saying he’s hungry. But he’s crying for real, and so is she.

Then he decides to ask her why people fall in love, basically, and claims that he does not have anyone in his heart. He says there’s no need to like a person that much, that it’s like “haltering your own neck,” according to Netflix. Let’s have a look at that figurative language for a second, and what’s missing from the Neflix translation. 

What he says is (as near as my qhanzi.com skills can make out) “這不就是自己給自己脖子上套犁拴韁吗” which Google tells me means "Isn't this just putting a plow on my neck with a rein?" The part of the image that’s missing from Netflix subs is the plow, and the hard labor and animal servitude involved in pulling a plow. This isn’t a pro-romance image.

He’s clearly thinking about Lan Wangji when he lies about having no-one in his heart, but right now the yoke that he wants to escape has nothing to do with Lan Wangji. The person he’s harnessed to in a team, the person who he labors with, the person he wants to escape, is Jiang Cheng.  What’s chafing his neck is the promise he made, to stay and serve as one half of a pair, when he can no longer pull his weight. 

Busted

Speaking of Jiang Cheng, he is hanging around outside the shrine, listening to the conversation. Wei Wuxian busts him, pointing out not that eavesdropping is bad, but that it’s bad for grownups. Jiang Cheng points out that he’s the master of Lotus Pier so he’s allowed to go anywhere he wants.

(I love how he looks framed by this giant lotus behind him)

We Wuxian has another of those moments where he assesses the best approach to Jiang Cheng before responding. 

Then he picks a fake fight with him about soup.  Yanli comes out and tells them both to grow up, saying that JC is losing his demeanor as clan leader. He jokingly fixes his already-perfect robe ad they all have a chuckle.

Then Jiang Cheng reminds Wei Wuxian of his promise for the millionth time, and Jiang Yanli goes to make soup for the millionth time. As soon as the boys see that she’s gone, the smiles drop right off of their faces. They’re both performing their typical relationship dynamic for Jiang Yanli.

Being Reasonable

The brothers repair to the main hall, and stand behind the lotus throne looking out of this complicated wall/doorway thingy, while they talk about Jiang Yanli and Jin Zixuan. 

Jiang Cheng is being mature and sensible here, trying to give Jiang Yanli what she wants and also explaining very, very basic political stuff to Wei Wuxian, who is too caught up in his hate boner for JZX to want to think about the bigger picture. He also thinks that Jin Guangyao is a nicer person, but Jiang Cheng says that nice doesn’t matter.  

Wei Wuxian is getting a full head of steam going about what a jerk JZX is, when Jiang Cheng makes him actually stop and think, by pointing out that it’s not for them to forgive or not forgive Jin Zixuan’s past behavior; it’s up to Yanli.

Wei Wuxian sees the reasoning in this, and starts to say he can’t understand why Yanli chose to like this person, but then he stops himself and goes through a rapid series of thoughtful, uncomfortable expressions. 

Perhaps he’s realizing that he himself has chosen to like an infamously stuck-up, fancy cultivator, albeit one with no soup-related character deficits.

Library Time

The stuck-up cultivator in question is currently in the Cloud Recesses library, where he has snuck into the forbidden books room, against his uncle’s express command, for the purpose of helping Wei Wuxian. The forbidden books room is an entire basement floor of the library; it probably has more books than the not-forbidden part of the library, since the main floor needs space for the restrooms, circulation desk, and copy machines.

(Did OP photoshop the Wangxian-in-the-Library porn picture onto Lan Wangjis’ book? She did.)

A couple of other Lans come along and see the main door unlocked. The lock is a big fish that probably uses magic for locking; it definitely doesn’t use a key. One of them steps in the doorway, glances back and forth without walking through, and does not check the secret door to the forbidden vault. Gosh, how did Su She and/or Jin Guangyao  ever manage to steal secrets from this highly secure location, wow.

Lan Wangji hears the Lan disciple on guard duty say “don’t tell Hanguang Jun about this!’ and has a series of microexpressions that might indicate some kind of feeling about simultaneously being a rule breaker and a rule enforcer.  

Boat Time

We end with an idyllic scene on the lake in Lotus pier, where a new batch of disciples is harvesting lotuses and learning the opposite of boat safety. 

Jiang Yanli and Wei Wuxian are having a good time, and seem utterly carefree; both of them are good at living in the moment, or faking it. 

Wei Wuxian thinks, in voiceover, that it seems that it’s not so hard to go back to the old days. Uh...ok.

Except he’s hiding a massive secret and these replacement kids are not the same juniors he used to hang out with, and he can’t actually teach them cultivation, since he has no socially-acceptable magic power, and everything is about to go to shit in the next episode. But you gotta take your joy where you can, I guess. 

Note: There are a lot of questionable effects in The Untamed, but there are also beautiful scenes like this one, which looks like a Maxfield Parrish painting. Compare with the BTS below and you can see what a good job the VFX team did in bringing this lake to life. 

[spectraspecs-writes]

Dantooine - Chapter 38

Link to the masterpost. Chapter 37. Chapter 39.

A/N - I have been handwriting chapters, and so I may finish them a while before I type them. I still have to finish the next chapter, so it may be a bit. But you’ll get some Revanasi fluff for your trouble.

@isquirtleinyoureye thank you for being a reader, you get a tag.

---------------------------------------

“Rena, you did it!” Carth says to me. His face is so soft with a smile. What did I do? Must have been good. “I’m so proud of you!”

Mission hugs me. Canderous nods in my direction. Even Bastila has a proud smile. Whatever I did must have been really good, but I sure as hell don’t know what it was. “Thanks,” I say, even though I don’t have any clue what’s going on.

“You did good, kid,” Canderous says, clapping my shoulder with his big hand. 

“Well done, Rena,” Bastila says, “The Republic is indebted to you.” Okay, cool, helped the Republic.

They all gather to congratulate me, but then I see Carth out of the corner of my eye. He sees me looking, and gestures for me to follow him just like he did last night. So I politely excuse myself and go. “Oooh!” Mission squeals, the same way she did before, laughing. Carth gives her a strong glare but that’s it.

He pulls me into the engine room and pulls my lips to meet his. Not expected, but it doesn’t feel unwelcome either. The fingers of one hand entwine themselves in my hair. The other rests gently on my hip. I kiss him back. He wraps some of my hair around his fingers, which gives me the biggest goosebumps, and I melt. He leans me up against the wall, and I wrap my arms around his neck. This feels so war. So nice. Soft bunny man finally being soft.

The lights turn off in the main hold. And that’s enough to shake me loose for a bit. “Carth?” I ask, as he moves down my neck. He moans softly, a question. “I think there’s something up in there.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he moans softly, and he kisses my lips again. Now he’s sort of holding me to the wall, but it’s not too hard and it doesn’t hurt so I let it go - if I need to get out I can.

The room gets cold. Too cold - did the engine break down? But Carth kisses just the right spot and my eyes close in ecstasy and a soft moan escapes my lips. Even as a new set of footfalls pounds across the deck, I can’t help but enjoy this.

Then the footfalls stop. The room feels like ice. Even Carth. “I’ve finally found you.” The robotic voice brings even Carth back into the real world, and we look. A man with no jaw, and blue tattoos across his bald head.

“Malak,” Carth says, almost in a whisper. He lets me go and steps towards Malak. The Dark Jedi pulls out his lightsaber and activates it. But Carth doesn't even reach for his blasters.

I pull my swords from their scabbards. “Carth,” I say, trying to get his attention, “Get behind me, step back!” 

Ad he stops. And says, “No.” No? What the hell do you mean, no? And he turns back to me. “I don’t think I will,” he says, looking into my eyes.

His eyes are blood red.

Something jolts me awake, thank God that was just a nightmare! That was too intense. Mission looks over at me - she was already up. “You okay, Reen?”

That’s a new nickname. “Yeah,” I say, almost gasping, “Yeah, it was just a nightmare.”

“You were tossing and turning a lot last night,” she says. 

“Yeah, I don’t sleep well,” I say, like I’m used to saying, “Have we landed on Dantooine yet?” 

“Yeah, about thirty minutes ago. Big Z went to go find something to eat, which is typical of him.” She pulls her shirt on. “I think Carth’s outside checking on the ship, if you want to go see him.”

“Why would I want to see Carth?”

“Well, you kept mumbling his name, for a little while there,” she says, and she grins playfully, “I figured, uh, maybe your dream got a little, uh…” And she smiles even bigger.

Yeah, I can put two and two together. “Never you mind,” I say simply and playfully, but seriously enough that she lets it go.

“I think Bastila was looking for you, too,” she says, “Something about the Jedi, I’m not sure.”

“I’ll see if I can find her.” I stand up, throw on my vest and sword belt, and head out.

Don’t think about Carth, don’t think about Carth, he didn’t have a super-passionate make-out session with you and then team up with Malak. It’s fine. It’s fine. He’s just checking out the ship the way pilots do. Talking to Bastila a little.

Ooh, a droid shop! Maybe I can sneak away and go check it…

“Rena!” Bastila calls to me. Damn it, she caught me. “I’m glad you’re awake.” Yeah, she must have been in on my dream like she was the last time, stupid Force. She could have left well enough alone. “You seemed restless.”

At the same time, Carth and I say, “Yeah, I don’t sleep well.” (Or, Carth says, “yeah, she doesn’t sleep well,” but you get the idea, we said it at the same time, it was somehow creepy and cute at the same time. Get past it, Rena, it was just a dream.)

“Right…” Bastila says slowly, but then she gets back on topic. “I have spoken briefly with the Council; they request an audience with you. We should go at once.”

I start to follow her, but then Carth stops us. “An audience with the Jedi Council?” he asks, “That's pretty unusual for someone who isn't even a Jedi. What's this about, Bastila?” Is he trying to protect me from something? That is so cute… and totally unnecessary. But still sweet.

“I'm sorry, Carth,” Bastila says, “but I cannot tell you. All I ask is that you trust in the Force and the wisdom of the Council.”

Carth sighs a little. “Well, I don't like being left out of the loop, but I'm not looking to get you in any trouble with the Jedi Masters. We'll do things your way for a while.”

Bastila nods at him, then turns back to me. “Come, they are expecting us. I will lead you to the Council chambers.” And she starts walking off.

The droid shop calls me closer. “And where are you going?” Carth asks me playfully, and a little rhetorically - he can see the sign that says Aratech Droids. He doesn’t even let me stammer out an excuse. “The droids will still be there when you get back form the Council - go.”

I grin. “I’ll let you know what happens later, if I can,” I say, and he looks grateful for that.

I follow Bastila through the Enclave into a large circular chamber. Four men stand there, waiting for me, a human, a little frog-like man, not a species I’ve ever seen before, another human, and a Twi’lek. I slowly enter the chamber, I don’t want to presume anything, but the Twi’lek sees me and smiles quite welcomingly. “Ah, so you are the one who rescued Bastila,” he says. (To my surprise, Bastila doesn’t puff up, bristle, or even roll her eyes.) “It is appropriate you are here. We have been discussing your rather special case. I am Zhar, a member of the Jedi Council. With me are Master Vrook,” - he gestures to the human beside him, who looks very gruff and displeased - “Master Vandar” - the frog-like man gives a small nod - “and, of course, the Chronicler of our Academy, Master Dorak.” The human at the end of the row smiles politely at me. “Padawan Bastila I am sure you are already familiar with.”

Zhar, Vrook, Vandar, Dorak. Might take a little bit to get all those names. “Hi,” I say, “Nice to meet you all.” Wait a second, something he said. “You said I was a special case…”

“Bastila tells us you are strong in the Force,” Zhar says, he’s the Twi’lek, “We are considering you for Jedi training.”

She said I was too old though, I thought? Do I even want to be a Jedi? I mean, they seem so stuffy. That’s not really my style. It would be cool to use a lightsaber, but it’s a sword like any other, just more glow-y. Do I really have to be a Jedi to have one or use one? The Force is cool, sure, but evidently I can already use it, it just needs polishing. I can figure that out. “I’m not sure about this,” I say honestly, because I feel like they can sense my misgivings.

“Don’t worry,” Zhar says to try to reassure me, “I am confident in your ability to learn.”

“Master Zhar speaks out of turn, perhaps,” the displeased-looking human says, he’s Vrook, “We need indisputable proof of your strong affinity to the Force before we would even consider accepting you for training.” That’s fair.

“Proof?” Bastila repeats, protesting, “Surely the entire Council can feel the strength of the Force within this woman... and I have already related to you the events that took place on Taris.”

“Perhaps it was simple luck,” Vrook says. I get the feeling he trained Bastila, they seem to have a lot in common.

“We both know there is no luck,” Zhar says to his colleague, “There is only the Force. We all feel the power in Bastila's companion, though it is wild and untamed. Now that this power has begun to manifest itself, can we safely ignore it?”

“The Jedi training is long and difficult,” Vrook protests again. He’s not in my corner, is he? “Even when working with a young and open mind. Teaching a child is hard. How much harder will it be for an adult to learn the ways of the Jedi?”

This is all happening so fast. And I still don’t know if I want to be a Jedi in the first place. I need time to think this over still. But I sure as hell don’t like being underestimated. “I think I’d do okay,” I say. Trying to sound confident in myself, but Vrook doesn’t buy it and he isn't impressed.

The other human, Dorak, is a lot more supportive, even though he’s still neutral on the matter. “Traditionally the Jedi do not accept adults for training, though there are rare exceptions in the history of our Order. But you are a special case.” What the hell is it about me that makes me a special case?

“I agree with Master Dorak,” Vandar says, the frog-like guy, “Many of our own pupils are leaving the Jedi order to follow the Sith teachings, we need recruits to stand against Malak!” (The name sends a chill down my spine. Rena, stop thinking about the damn nightmare.) “With Revan dead…”

“Are you certain Revan is truly dead?” Vrook interrupts, ��What if we undertake to train this one, and the Dark Lord should return?”

“We should discuss this matter more fully in private,” Vandar says. He seems to be the one in charge, because Vrook relaxes a little. “Bastila, you and your companion must go. This is a matter for the Council alone.”

Bastila bows a little. “As you wish, Master Vandar,” she says, “We shall return to the Ebon Hawk and leave you to your deliberations.” She guides me away and soon they’re out of earshot.

I finally release all the air I’d been holding in. “You seem apprehensive,” Bastila asks me, “Is something wrong?”

“No one ever asked me if I wanted to be a Jedi,” I say. 

“You don’t?” she says like she doesn’t believe it.

“I don’t know,” I say, and I shrug, “But I would have liked to have been asked, is all.”

“I understand,” she says. I feel like you don’t, actually. “You have lived a relatively independent life up to this point. I can see why you might think this is a choice rather than the simple continuance of your path.”

Well, this sounds like it’s about to be a load of bullshit, but let’s hear it anyway. “As a scout, your life must have been one where every curve in the path could mean dangers or unknown obstacles. In the long run, such decisions would have little significance, but in the short term they were critical to your survival.” Well, that’s wrong - if I chose wrong it could have meant a loss of supplies, a malfunctioning droid, a scuffle with a wild animal or a fight with someone who decided we didn’t need to be there and would only be satisfied with violence. That’s a lot of long-term significance. But go on. “Being a Jedi is not a choice in that sense. Many Jedi have fallen to the Dark Side, as the Masters said. Even a single Jedi could turn the tide of the war, lead to victory for the Republic.”

“Or it could make no difference whatsoever,” I interject.

She’s not happy with that, but she does acknowledge it. “True. But even forgetting the war for the moment, having this training could have significant impact on your life.” More bullshit, perhaps? “So far, your skill in the Force has led to events unfolding in your favor. But it’s entirely possible that if you go untrained, you could use your abilities to hurt others by accident. Or worse, you could be corrupted by the Dark Side and deliberately hurt the people you care about.”

“I think I’m stronger than you think, Bastila. I could resist that kind of ‘corruption.’”

“That confidence could easily lead to your downfall,” she says, “The Dark Side is a risk for all of us, no matter how strong we feel we are.”

“Bastila, all you’re giving me is a shit-load of ‘maybes,’” I finally stop her, “The fact of the matter is, I didn’t sign up for this. Force or no Force, it’s still my life and I can decide whether I want to go through with this shit or take the Hawk and meet up with the fleet somewhere. And you’ve given me no incentive to stay. Come back when you actually have something certain.” And I leave her in the corridor.

“Hey,” Carth says to me as I storm back into the Hawk, “what happened with the Council?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

[k-odyssey]

Masterpost

of every kdrama I ever posted about in alphabetical order (yes some of these only have the one post)

Angel’s Last Mission: Love

Are you human too?

Because This Is My First Life

Encounter | Boyfriend

He is Psychometric

Hello My Twenties | Age of Youth

Her Private Life

Hwayugi | A Korean Odyssey

Just Between Lovers | Rain or Shine

Life

Lovely Horribly

Memories of the Alhambra

Ms Hammurabi

My Absolute Boyfriend

My First First Love

One Spring Night

Pretty Noona Who Buys Me Food | Something in The Rain

Prison Playbook

Radio Romance

Rich Man Poor Woman

Romance is a Bonus Book

Search: WWW

Switch

The Beauty Inside

The Package

The Secret Life of My Secretary

The Smile Has Left Your Eyes

Thirty But Seventeen | Still 17

Touch Your Heart

Twelve Nights

What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim

Wok of Love

Also Son Oh Gong Sundays have a tag

Cdramas

Ashes of Love

Le Coup de Foudre

Legend of Fuyao

The Untamed

Others

Bleach

Master in the House

The Lovebirds

To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before

Music

Research

[ladyloveandjustice]

So! Guess who just spent a lot of time fixing up her Utena reviews!

I removed all the broken images and even replaced some of them. I also fixed the broken Rot13 links and added a header in BOLD about how to descramble the spoilers at the top of nearly every post, added some fact corrections, and, most importantly, I cleaned up some small parts of the reviews that bothered me for being too simplistic/not gelling with my changed opinions. It was really only like two or three posts so I definitely didn’t get everything, but still. 

I’ve also collected everything in a master post, including the ungarbled spoiler posts for easy access. I’ll post that shortly. First, however, I have one post I forgot to do an ungarbled spoiler version of the first time around, so I’ll be posting that, then the masterpost linking them all.

The post I changed the most was the  end of the movie post, where I added some more nuanced commentary. You can see the new text below the cut:

So, Anthy stops clinging to the dead past and she and Utena band together and DESTROY HER BROTHER AND THE OPPRESSIVE SYSTEM THAT BINDS THEM! Anthy and Utena were dead in this world, but now they’re alive in the outside one.

The world outside looks rough and twisted, untamed. It doesn’t have that system supporting it like the world of Ohtori does, and there are no rules or roads. But Utena and Anthy can build "new roads”- they can make their own path.

I should note while Utena and Anthy’s journey is definitely partly about challenging oppression and throwing off a system that subjugates them, It’s also an intimate story about growing up. Again, as children, we often cling to the rules and systems and LIES that we’re told protect us, the ones that keep up complacent and constrained. And part of growing up can be realizing we can reject those rules, we can pierce through the lies and see everything for what it is, even if it means having to fend for ourselves in the wilderness of the adult world.

A big reason the outside world is so twisted, according to Ikuhara, is because represents adulthood, and all the danger and terror and uncharted territory that comes with that. You can’t remain innocent in a world like this. He said in the commentary

The wilderness is a large, expansive place, but a complicated one. I wanted to show how they would dare to enter this world with nothing. Wearing nothing. Many ask why I made the last scene like this. As for why, I myself don't really know. But, I suppose it has to do with how I used to look at the world and society when I was a teenager. And that's reflected here. These are probably the sort of visual images I had in my teens. That is, the adult world is not pure. And anyone with a pure heart would not be able to live in an adult world. So, if that's the case, I felt that I didn't want to become an adult. But then I wondered if it was okay, taking it to that degree. Not sure. In that sense, the last scene was meant to honestly reflect the true feelings I had when I was in my teens. So, that's the kind of scene I want young teenagers to see before they head off into society. There's a part of me that still thinks that I'm living here in a desolate, adult wilderness.

Anthy and Utena had been stuck in a sort of eternal childhood/fairytale, desperately trying to maintain their “purity” and clinging to their fantasies and narrow prince/princess archetypes and limiting roles for women. They sacrificed their freedom for “innocence”, for the comfort of childhood and the comfort of being controlled. But their feigned innocence was actually willful ignorance, and  they can no longer cling to fantasies and stay stuck in the same place like the living dead. They allow themselves to face the twisted, unknown wilderness of adulthood, and they leave everything from their past behind.

They come in, completely vulnerable, wearing nothing, facing this world with a (literally) naked honesty. They won’t shield themselves from the truth anymore. They bare their whole selves. No pretenses, no shame. A pure heart can’t live in the adult world? It’s inherently a bad, corrupting place? They’ll see about that. They’d rather be their whole,free, true selves in this corrupt world than stay stuck in some nostalgic, oppressive lie for the sake of some false purity. They have to trust that they have the strength and power to take responsibility for themselves and determine the course of their own lives, to face down corruption head on and find a way though it, maybe even a way to destroy it, instead of pretending it’s not there.

So this is a movie where the love between two queer women destroys an oppressive system, where they conquer their abuser, defy the idea that they need to remain stuck in childhood to maintain their pure hearts. They face adulthood, and all its scary challenged, with honesty and open hearts and determination to create a better world, leaving the lies they were fed behind. Their love frees them, empowers them, and destroys that which holds them back. Two women kiss, and it is treated as the ultimate triumph. The signal of the start of a new life, a new world. Their happiness, their freedom, their story.

Women loving each other can save them. It can change their worlds and change THE world, it lead to the possible salvation of the world. That’s what I personally take away from this and I believe it’s a very strong message. It fills me with such  joy. It’s so rare to see a movie so completely celebrating the power and ability of queer women to thrive in their adult lives and determine their fates, that shouts they can conquer those who would hold everyone down and destroy all limiting roles and systems of subjugation. Where their love is framed as a beautiful thing that strengthens these women, as something that can cut through a corrupt world and even save it. But this movie goes all out. We can bring the world revolution.

 I love this movie.

[korpikorppi]

Miscellaneous posts 2021 masterpost, part 2

Links to stuff I've made in May - August 2021 (excluding the Untamed costume posts and the Untamed collages and most posts at @1000wangjis) to try to keep things in order somehow 🤔. Latest one on top.

No excuses, just Wei Wuxian's gorgeous face (during the 2nd siege of the Burial Mounds)

It's not always easy to be Jin Zixuan (the confession scene in ep25)

We three brothers stand here today to take an oath (3 Zun tragedy)

Oh look, it's purple! (JC and Zidian, single screenshot edit)

Like Da-ge, like Er-ge (JGY's type?)

Hanguang-Jun's newest head-piece (crack)

JC, WWX and LWJ at the Chang residence (kinda funny)

The single plank bridge (Wangxian goodbyes in the Burial Mounds, a bunch of screencaps, some text)

Wangxian word clouds (visualisations of the names Wangxian call each other in the Untamed)

Like fathers, like son (reblog of the earlier "Like father, like son" post with an image of WWX standing with Suibian added to LSH and LWJ)

LWJ and JC trying to stab WWX in the face (parallel screenshots)

LWJ edit #150 (reblog from 1000wangjis, Kneel! for Hanguang-jun!)

Could I be forgiven (XY in black and white, birthday post)

In this lifetime (WWX's morning walk in the Cloud Recesses)

I used to see you as my soulmate (single screenshot Wangxian edit)

Battle couple (Wanxian being two sides of the same coin in the Nightless City battle, b&w)

Wei Ying dearest, no! (WWX, having bad ideas about Bichen, crack)

LWJ edit #136 (reblog from 1000wangjis, LWJ with eye makeup)

How to be (cool) like Yiling Laozu

Ummm. A slightly n-s-f-w Wangxian edit from ep42.

Jiang Cheng during the Sunshot Campaign

LWJ edit #127 (reblog from 1000wangjis, 4 seasons in the Cloud Recesses)

LWJ edit #125 (reblog from 1000wangjis, WWX fainted on LWJs shoulder at Burial Mounds)

To accomplish the impossible (Burial Mounds, Wangxian as WN regains consciousness)

LWJ edit #118 (reblog from 1000wangjis, LWJ carrying A-Yuan)

Wang Yibo with the bunny (behind the scenes)

LWJ edit #115 (reblog from 1000wangjis, LWJ's umbrella)

Qishan - Nightless City (Qishan Wen, Clan portrait series)

One might be inclined to think these two are in love (two Wangxian screencap edits from ep44)

On the stairs of Jinlintai (WWX, LWJ and the single-plank bridge)

Hanguang Jun (portrait for the start of Hanguang June)

Qinghe - Unclean Realm (the Nie brothers, Clan portrait series)

Yunmeng - Lotus Pier (the Jiangs and WWX, Clan portrait series)

LWJ edit #100 (reblog from 1000wangjis)

The Untamed OST (list of links)

The canonical top 5 of best-looking young masters, with flowers

Sandu Shengshou at Nightless City

3 Zun at Nightless City

LWJ edit #83 (reblog from 1000wangjis)

The relationship between Lan Qiren and Lan Jingyi (a little bit of meta)

YLLZ (Yiling Laozu WWX in b&w and red)

Wen Qionglin (un-undead? Ghost General, single screenshot edit)

LWJ edit #75 (black Lan Clan emblem, reblog from 1000wangjis)

Almost (XXC checking on XY's injuries in Yi City)

LWJ edit #70 (Chief Cultivator LWJ in pastel colours, reblog from 1000wangjis)

Our greatest strength, our heart (JYL birthday post, single screencap edit)

Part 1 January - April, 2021

[canary3d-obsessed]

Restless Rewatch: The Untamed, Episode 26 part one

(Masterpost) (Other Canary Stuff)

Warning! Spoilers for All 50 Episodes! 

I’m Coming Up So You Better Get This Party Started

The Lans arrive just in time to see Cousin Jin Zixun hassling Su She, and they wonder how he has the fucking nerve to come to a party that they are also invited to. 

Su she was invited by his new best friend Jin Guangyao, who deploys a full-on charm attack, wrapping Su She permanently around his little finger. 

Smoother than the Lanling weather that’s how he holds himself together Watch out, he’ll charm you 

Jin Guangyao grew up with women who earned their living by being charming, pleasant, and hiding their true thoughts from their clients, and he appears to have mastered this useful skill set. With Su She, he exudes confidence and authority, allowing the lesser man to bask in his attention.

With Zewu Jun he deploys helplessness and embarrassment, effectively controlling a man with much greater power than his own.

Lan Xichen confronts him about Su She's presence, and Jin Guangyao pretends he didn't know that Su She was ex-Lan. This seems super unlikely, given that JGY is good at collecting information that he can use to fuck with people, and also that he sheltered Lan Xichen from the Wens directly after Su She betrayed him.

Lan Xichen seems like he doesn't believe what JGY is telling him but then he decides to drop it, passive-aggressively saying that since JGY is uninformed, he's not guilty. Lan Xichen is actually assuming a lot here about his right to tell Jin Guangyao who to invite and who to shun, but JGY doesn't push back. Lying is so much simpler.

(more behind the cut!)

Su She wins for most unintentionally sarcastic-seeming toasting expression.

Jiang Cheng, Party Animal

Jiang Cheng arrives at the party, bringing his Jiang retinue and his bad temper. He super obviously casts around to try to find Wei Wuxian, who already told him he probably wasn't coming to the party.

Jiang Cheng is that guy who only comes to a party because the girl he likes said she was thinking about going, and then he spends the whole party saying "hey have you seen Mei Lin? She said she was going to be here but I don't see her."

Jin Guangyao formally congratulates Jiang Cheng on the Jiang clan's success in the hunt, and Jin Guangshan toasts him. As always, Jiang Cheng reacts to praise from authority figures like it's rain in the desert, smiling from ear to ear. He says that the Jiang Clan will donate the prey from the hunt to the other gentry clans. ...what?

Are we seriously saying that when these dudes go night hunting it's not just to remove dangerous bad stuff, it's for profit? 

Like, do they eat monsters? Wear their fur? Make leather from their skin? Carve jewelry from their claws? Is Jiang Cheng wearing a purple monster's skin right now? (There will be an art prompt at the end of this post)

Meanwhile, check out the way Nie Huaisang is looking at Jiang Cheng, wow.

Forecast: Hazing

Having gotten the single pleasant part of the banquet over with, it's time for the Jins to pick on the Lans. Cousin Jin Zixun goads Lan Xichen into taking a drink with him, knowing that this is (mostly) against Lan rules. Jin Guangyao tries to stop him by saying, hilariously, that it's bad to drink and fly on a sword, but CJZX waves this away and keeps pushing, saying that if Lan Xichen won't drink, it's an insult to him.

A random cultivator who is definitely on the Jin payroll backs him up, saying that teetotaling is for losers, and Captain Blowhard boisterously agrees. Loudly agreeing with powerful people is the Yao clan's signature martial arts skill.

Jin Guangyao looks embarrassed and helpless, which is, as mentioned before, his own signature skill. But he's just playing his own part in this piece of theater; everything happening at this party (so far) is happening for the benefit of the Jin Clan. Cousin Jin Zixun is an ass, but he's not actually a loose cannon, and Jin Guangshan is clearly enjoying the Lans' discomfort.

Why? This entire party, the hunt, everything he's done since the end of the Sunshot campaign, has been designed to increase and consolidate his power. His main goal is to get the Yin Tiger seal, but reducing the status of the Lans is also a good move for him. The Lans have been the strongest opponents to the use of resentful energy, and worked the hardest to conceal and contain the Yin iron in the past. If he wants to use resentful energy as part of his own cultivation, he needs them to chill. 

So this is a bit of a test; will they comply with the will of the larger group in order to avoid conflict, or will they refuse, which will allow him to label them as iconoclastic weirdos?. 

Lan Xichen takes a long look at his brother, who is expressing all sorts of emotions while keeping his face very very still. 

At a guess, he is thinking that this entire party is bullshit, that his brother's willingness to play along with these assholes is bullshit, that being viciously beaten for having a single drink in his life was bullshit, that Wei Wuxian not being here right now is bullshit.

Lan Xichen picks the "go along, get along" path, having his drink and using his magic skill of anti-intoxication to neutralize it, as he'd done previously when drinking with Wei Wuxian. 

Cousin Jin Zixun picks on Lan Wangji next, and since he cannot magically or even non-magically tolerate alcohol, there is a real risk to his reputation if he drinks. But Lan Wangji breaks rules when he feels like it, not when people tell him to. He pointedly ignores the offered drink while Lan Xichen looks worried. 

The rest of the party guests have a wide variety of reactions, none of them helpful, to these shenanigans. Jin Guanshan's son and heir watches with calm interest as the power dynamics play out.

All of this is actually not great strategy for the Jins. The Lans don't play little social games to gain power, because all that time they spend not drinking, not gossiping, and not doing other stuff? Is spent cultivating and practicing sword and musical battle forms. The Lan Bros are overwhelmingly powerful as individuals, and embarrassing them won't change that.

It's moot, ultimately, because Wei Wuxian chooses this moment to arrive.

Darkness Visible

Wei Wuxian actually made a big impressive stair-climbing entrance to Jinlintai a few minutes ago, with camera work echoing Lan Wangji's stair climb at the Wen Indoctrination Bureau from several episodes back. 

But nobody was around to see that, other than us, and when he appears at the party it's in stealth mode; he steps into the frame from out of nowhere, and drinks Lan Wangji's unwanted drink.

Lan Wangji responds by looking at him like this for the next several minutes.

Wei Wuxian doesn't have time for their usual sport of Extreme Gazing, though; he came for a reason, which is to find and rescue Wen Ning. He gets right to it, asking Cousin Jin Zixun where he's keeping him.

Jiang Cheng, who is the king of worrying about the wrong fucking thing, jumps up to try to stop Wei Wuxian from talking. Like, seriously, he's ok with the Jins trying to take his clan's special extreme weapon, but he's not ok with his head disciple being rude in order to fulfill a whopper of a life debt--Jiang Cheng's life debt, in particular--or being rude in order to preserve the clan's independence.

Jin Guangshan decides this is a good moment to bring up the Yin tiger amulet. Wei Wuxian pushes back, hard, pointing out exactly what Jin Guangshan is doing. He says he's setting himself up to be a new Wen Ruohan. 

Lan Wangji pays close attention to Wei Wuxian's reasoning here, and so does Nie Mingjue, unless he’s just trying to mask his confusion. 

Jiang Cheng is too busy being horrified to listen, apparently. Or he just doesn’t agree, preferring to be reduced to a secondary authority, rather than defy a primary authority.

Wei Wuxian is, of course, all about independence; he was literally born to be a rogue cultivator, despite being dubbed “patriarch” himself, not long after this. 

Let’s Go Crazy Let’s Get Nuts

Wei Wuxian gets tired of the scene and decides to lose his temper. He makes a show of being enraged, and he genuinely is angry, but I don't think he's out of control, this time.  

He acts like he's out of control in order to scare everyone, but he makes his points very clearly, reminding everyone that he has power they don't have, that he's good at killing, that he's not patient, and that his teeth are nicer than everybody else’s. 

Everybody in the room freaks out to one degree or another--except Jin Guangshan, who is apparently too pissed off to be scared.

It's hilarious that Jin Guangshan thought he was going to get Wei Wuxian to hand the Yin Tiger amulet over by creating a complex system of social pressure against him. Wei Wuxian's favorite way of responding to social pressure is to escalate it into violence, regardless of the consequences; he's been doing that at least since Gusu Summer School and probably a lot longer. Jin Guangshan should know this, given how many beatings his son has taken from Wei Wuxian over the years.

Wei Wuxian does a fantastically sexy scary, theatrical countdown, and Cousin Jin Zixun caves in and gives him the information he wants. It's worth noticing that even under threat of death, CJZX doesn't comply until he visually checks in with his clan leader. He’s genuinely a bad person, yes, but he’s a loyal soldier, which is what most of these clans value most. 

As soon as he gets what he wants, Wei Wuxian is perfectly, smugly, in control of himself again. Everyone in the room is still stunned and afraid, so Jin Guangshan has achieved that much, at least; nobody likes Wei Wuxian having the Yin tiger seal now, including Jiang Cheng. 

As he leaves, Wei Wuxian has one of those conversations with Lan Wangji in which everything is said in glances in the course of a couple of seconds. 

WWX: I love you, I have to leave you; I've got some shit to take care of and I won't be coming back to all of this. 

LWJ: I love you; I'm probably going to have to fight you; your funeral is going to be so upsetting

Wei Wuxian turns away from everyone, and you can see the weight settling on his shoulders, as he contemplates the choices he just made and the choices that are still ahead of him. 

Jin Guangshan, for the first and only time, loses his temper in front of everybody, literally flipping a table because he's so mad about what just happened. 

Art prompt: Jiang Cheng wearing an outfit made of a Chinese mythical creature. Bonus points if it’s a qilin. Bonus bonus points if Zhang Qiling (from DMBJ/Lost Tomb franchise) is standing next to him looking grumpy while Jiang Cheng wears an outfit made from a qilin. 

Soundtrack: Get This Party Started by Pink, Charm Attack by Leona Naess, Let’s Go Crazy by Prince. 

[canary3d-obsessed]

Restless Rewatch: The Untamed Episode 20, part three(!)

(Masterpost) (Other Canary Stuff) (Previous Post)

Warning: Spoilers for All 50 Episodes!

This episode has so much crucially important stuff in it I had to write 3 posts about it! Part one is here, part two is here. 

Don't Start None, Won't Be None

Lan Wangji has never had a real fight with Wei Wuxian before--remember, in their rooftop fight Wei Wuxian never even drew his sword. And since this is going to be a verbal fight, Lan Wangji is going to lose, badly. He's an elegant and articulate speaker, but he's not quick with words, and he speaks directly and sincerely. Weaponized speech is not his area at all, so he's pretty much bringing a knife to a gunfight. A guqin to a flute fight. Whatever. He tries to turn it into a physical confrontation, twice, but Jiang Cheng holds him back.

This throwdown is 100% about religion and orthodoxy; something that is fundamental to both of these young men's lives. Lan Wangji has made it his mission to be as orthodox as possible, doing shit like volunteering to be beaten for drinking when he didn't choose to drink. He's constantly overwhelmed by emotion, and the Lan rules are a source of regulation and safety for him. His emotions around Wei Wuxian are among the most overwhelming he's got, possibly only second to his feelings about his mom.

Right now his feelings are extra overwhelming. 

It's complicated because his relationship with Wei Wuxian literally started off with him punishing Wei Wuxian for heterodoxy. All that time they spent together in the library? Was because Wei Wuxian talked--JUST talked--about using resentful energy for cultivation. Which is precisely the ability he's just shown them, along with a style of killing enemies that's borderline evil and definitely, DEFINITELY unsportsmanlike.

So this is not, Lan Wangji is lovingly worried about Wei Wuxian and Wei Wuxian is pushing him away to avoid an uncomfortable conversation. This is Lan Wangji freaking out because his entire system of belief is being challenged and he's in love with the person who's challenging it.  

Wei Wuxian has shown up to the party wearing an International Mr. Leather tee shirt with a enamel pin stuck to it that says "I get my kicks on route 666" and Lan Wangji just. cannot. deal.  

Never Start a Fight But Always Finish One

Wei Wuxian has a couple of options here. One is to accept, kindly, that he and his friend can't be friends any more because of religion. In this option, in order to preserve his friend's comfortable sense of being right, he would have to tacitly accept that he himself is bad in some way, and allow his friend to keep having his value system, while walking away from him.  

The other choice is to hit so hard that he makes his friend feel really, really bad, and potentially rocks him off of his comfortable foundation. In the short term, the friendship breaks, but if it forces him to actually question his value system, it might lay the groundwork for a new, more accepting friendship.  Anyone who is queer with an anti-queer-religious best friend is probably familiar with this dilemma.

Wei Wuxian chooses the second option, and goes all in from the first moment, calling Lan Wangji "Lan Er Gongzi" and then upgrading to "Hanguang Jun" and even bowing. If it's possible to bow sarcastically, that's what Wei Wuxian is doing. Then he meets his eyes and sticks his chin out, essentially saying "how do you like them apples?"

(more after the cut!)

Lan Wangji's feelings are probably hurt, but he's too busy being mad to show it, and he goes straight to grilling Wei Wuxian, asking him about the killing, the talismans, and giving up the sword, all while Jiang Cheng stands by and wonders what the fuck is happening. 

Lan Wangji is making a fundamental error here, which is he's speaking as if he's an authority instead of as a peer. Wei Wuxian has only ever accepted one authority in his entire life, and that was Jiang Fengmian. Jiang Cheng is the one who, for a change, is approaching as a worried friend, while Lan Wangji approaches as if he has the right to call Wei Wuxian to account.  

Wei Wuxian won't answer his questions and is getting in his face, provoking him in a very quiet and controlled way, and Lan Wangji responds by just being really aggressive. It's interesting to see Wei Wuxian completely mastering his emotions while Lan Wangji is completely....not.  Wei Wuxian pushes harder, saying he's being rude, saying he's being a bad friend.  Which doesn't make any difference to Lan Wanji, who keeps pressing for an answer while Jiang Cheng wonders what the fuck is happening.

Come to Gusu

Wei Wuxian says he already explained, that it's complicated, it will take time to explain, so then Lan Wangji makes the utterly dumbassed demand that Wei Wuxian return to Gusu with him to explain it. What, exactly, is his plan? Bring Wei Wuxian to Gusu and have Lan Xichen (at the very least) and probably also Lan Qiren help him to convince Wei Wuxian that resentful cultivation is bad? How is that likely to work out? Let's have our own flashback, to that classroom interaction that led to the punishment in the library.

Lan Qiren: How will you make sure the resentful energy will only listen to you and not harm others? [Note: he's not wrong, Wei Wuxian] Wei Wuxian: I haven't figured that out yet ["details," as OP's dad used to say] Lan Qiren: If you did, the cultivation world would not allow your existence [i.e. we, the Lan Clan of Gusu, will kill your ass]

Lan Wangji probably doesn't think he's threatening Wei Wuxian with death by inviting him to Gusu, but he kinda is, if Lan Qiren was serious back then.  Lan Wangji is so upset and fearful that he's not really thinking clearly at this point. He loves Wei Wuxian and he's certain that cultivating with resentful energy will destroy him. [Note: he's not wrong, Wei Wuxian]  But Wei Wuxian is beyond fear. He's already been destroyed once.

Wei Wuxian rips on Gusu and then says, in a super-provocative way, that he prefers Yunmeng, which prompts Lan Wangji to say "don't joke around" as angrily as possible. 

This part of the interaction always confuses me because...shouldn't he prefer Yunmeng? He's actually from there and lives there and belongs there and stuff? He's just saying "I think I'll go with my brother" yet WWX and LWJ both act like he said he'd rather go to Demon City.

Lan Wangji takes a big step forward and Jiang Cheng blocks him while Wei Wuxian continues to act unperturbed and puzzled while holding his demon flute out in between them. 

Finally, FINALLY, Wei Wuxian calls him Lan Zhan, and asks him a serious question: What do you really want. Lan Wangji calms down for a second--although he keeps leaning into Jiang Cheng's sword block--and gets to the point, which is that the unorthodox path is dangerous, and harmful to his temperament.  

Kill one turtle together and you think you're the boss of me

So, these dudes are talking about 2 different levels of unacceptable cultivation, in this episode and the next few. Netflix translates these as "wicked tricks" and "crafty tricks," which both sound absolutely ludicrous in English, so I'm going to use my own preferred terms, going forward.  

I think what they are calling "Wicked Tricks," which includes spirit snatching and feeding people to the murder turtle on purpose in order to harvest their resentment could be translated as Heresy--adhering to a forbidden belief or practice; standing in opposition to Orthodoxy.  

Edit: After rewatching Episode 35, in which Nie Huaisang explains why their whole blade thing doesn’t count as “wicked tricks,” I’ve changed my mind about what to call this. NHS says that “wicked tricks” specifically involve the use of humans & human spirits (killing, sacrificing, etc.). Which means Necromancy is probably the better term for this particular type of cultivation, although it is still (also) Heresy. 

"Crafty Tricks," which is using resentful energy to raise and control already-dead people (ghosts and zombies) as well as just generally using resentment for basic stuff like beating Jin Zixuan's ass, could be translated as Heterodoxy--deviating from the accepted belief or practice, but not to the point of complete opposition.

Wei Wuxian laughs while Lan Wangji tries to be convincing, but since Lan Wangji is just repeating what he's been taught, he's not making much headway. Instead of saying "there's no exception throughout history" he could have, instead, gone with his own actual observations, such as "you are acting like a sadistic prick" or "you seem amazingly miserable" or "you aren't hugging your brother, what the fuck is that about?" But no.

Wei Wuxian responds to the charge of heresy by saying nuh-uh, and explains his methods, sort of, while going back to calling him Lan Er Gongzi. Lan Er Gongzi responds by actually literally yelling at him, and saying he's not allowed to decide for himself about what he's doing, as if the words "allowed to" have ever meant a goddamn thing to Wei Wuxian.

Temperament

At this point Wei Wuxian is done. He goes and gets right up in Lan Wangji's face and sticks a metaphorical knife right in his heart, smiling as he does it. "How do others know my temperament?" he asks; "and why should it be their concern?" i.e. you are not in my heart. 

This makes Lan Wangji so mad he calls Wei Wuxian "Wei Wuxian" for possibly the only time in the show, and he also flashes a whole bunch of angry teeth. (Gifset here). In a callback to the JFM-YZY fight back in Lotus Pier before the war, Wei Wuxian just calmly says "Lan Wangji" back at him, and then tells him to go fuck himself.

Jiang Cheng still doesn't understand what the fuck is happening, but this is a sentiment he understands, so he also tells Lan Wangji to go fuck himself, reminding him that Wei Wuxian is Jiang clan property and it's not the Lans' place to discipline him. Adding "and I'm not going to discipline him any way, look how good he is at killing people!"

Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji continue to stare into each others' eyes from a distance so close that it really should lead to making out, but they are both much too angry for that. 

Wei Wuxian is as cold as we ever see him, smiling as he silently confirms: I do not belong to you. Lan Wangji glares back, his anger maybe finally giving way, a little bit, to being hurt.

Finish Him!

Wen Chao picks this moment to wake up and crawl over to the trio, begging Lan Wangji and Jiang Cheng to save his life, since he presumably knows it's pointless to beg Wei Wuxian. Wei Wuxian turns around and gives him the EXACT SAME dead-eyed smile he just gave Lan Wangji, and kicks him.

Then he tells Lan Wangji to please leave so he and his brother can finish torturing this dude to death, and caps it with an official Jiang Clan eye roll.  

Lan Wangji, poor bb, just throws in the towel, and turns and leaves, the anger finally starting to leave his face and be replaced with something else...chagrin, maybe? Or maybe just softer anger, for the moment. 

After he's out of sight Wei Wuxian turns and looks after him sadly, all of the cruelty and hardness gone from his expression, while Wen Chao says "forgive me,"  possibly voicing what Wei Wuxian is thinking.

Lan Wangji walks out the front gate, troubled, and hears Wen Chao scream. He stops and replays the most pointed part of the fight in his head - the part where Wei Wuxian asked him, "who do you think you are?" Lan Wangji went into the fight believing he was completely right and was entitled to judge Wei Wuxian, but he's come out of it with his certainty shaken. 

Family Time

The Yunmeng brothers go to the ancestral shrine in Lotus Pier even though the whole "reclaiming Lotus Pier" scene doesn't happen until Episode 24. So apparently they just kind of sneak into the the shrine, and then sneak back out. Or, you know, continuity error.  Anyway Wei Wuxian is nothing if not adept at sneaking around death-related places.

Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng bow and offer incense. It's nice that the Wens didn't fuck up everybody's name plaques when they were in control of the place...or the tassels, candles, etc. 

Wei Wuxian quietly tells Yu Ziyuan and Jiang Fengmian that he did what they asked--taking care of Jiang Cheng and Jiang Yanli--and they can rest now. Nosy parker Jiang Cheng wants to know what he's saying, but Wei Wuxian just changes the subject. 

They talk about going to Qinghe for the final combat of the Sunshot Campaign. Wei Wuxian says that's why he returned, which...dude, you can't even pretend you came back to be with your loved ones? Ouch. Jiang Cheng doesn't really react to that, but he's happy when Wei Wuxian says he wants to see Jiang Yanli. Wei Wuxian wants to know if she's ok and if she's mad at him, and Jiang Cheng says wait and see, because direct answers are not the Jiang Clan way.

Jiang Yanli is helping tend to the wounded, and we see her telling a particularly fussy wounded dude to suck it up and stop complaining. 

When Wei Wuxian shows up she totally stops paying attention to the wounded dude so that she can smile at Wei Wuxian. 

He looks back at her tearfully, briefly managing to smile but then just trying to hold it together. He has been to hell and back, and doing his very best to hide it, but when he sees the person who loves him most--the person who will NOT spend 20 minutes yelling at him as soon as they see him--he starts to crack open.