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poorlittleyaoyao · 9 months ago

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There aren't horses in cql?? In what direction cql takes that scene?? Again why there aren't horses 😭😭. It's very cool in the novel

CQL has very few horses in general! One of the best things about Fatal Journey to me, a former Weird Horse Girl, was that the Nie soldiers ride horses. I vaguely remember Wen Chao riding a horse with Jiaojiao en route to Xuanwu Cave, and there are occasional background horses here and there, but other than that CQL has minimal horse content--presumably because horses are expensive and dangerous and if they had the budget/patience for that, they would've spent it on having more human extras so the supposedly epic battles have more than like 20 people in them.

The archery contest in the show takes place in the wake of Sunshot as a precursor to the Phoenix Mountain Hunt. The young masters who aren't sect leader all line up to try their best at archery--but then! Ominous cellos play as master of ceremonies Jin Guangyao beckons forward some guards who lead out a row of shackled Wen prisoners who are clearly civilians to stand in front of the targets as an added obstacle.

Jin Zixuan steps forward and successfully shoots a target.

WWX then blindfolds himself, shoots like 4 arrows at once, and hits bullseyes with all four of them, forcing an end to the competition because nobody could possibly beat him.

I dislike that scene for SEVERAL reasons. Firstly, it's cheesy; it's another instance of showing that WWX is soooOOOooOOOoo cool by having him demonstrate an implausible protagonist skill we will never see again. Secondly, it makes every single other character look like an asshole, but I don't think it intends to do that. Everybody present sees these terrified, malnourished prisoners led out in in chains, and some of them make vaguely perturbed faces, but nobody actually objects to it. Someone pointed out to me when I grumbled about this scene previously that WWX's trick shot is potentially an act of resistance since it frees the prisoners, and I can get behind that interpretation; however, the framing of the scene centers the Coolness Factor above all else, and there's no moment of WWX acknowledging the prisoners as people that would've been a nice setup to his actions re: the Wen remnants later (since, IIRC, he meets up with WQ later in the same episode).

More importantly, though... in the novel, from what I understand, the question being grappled with is when and whether retribution is justified. The Wen remnants are not all civilians and some of them directly profited from WRH's regime; WWX's opposition to their mistreatment (and NMJ et al's rejection of that opposition) is more complicated. In CQL, it is established VERY early that WQ and WN are from a separate branch of the Wen clan and were also oppressed by WRH, and it is this branch who comprise the majority of the people WWX rescues. We also have two instances establishing that the Jin sect is imprisoning and executing noncombatants. In the first, LXC expresses concern at Nightless City that there are non-cultivators among the prisoners, and extracts an assurance from JGS and NMJ that civilians will be imprisoned but treated kindly (after which we immediately see JGY order a mass execution on his father's orders).

In the second, WWX and LWJ personally witness Jin Zixun and his men firing arrows at a group of Wen prisoners (A-Yuan among them) and intervene.

So by the time we get to the archery competition, WWX, the Twin Jades, and NMJ have all witnessed and objected to Jin mistreatment of Wen hostages... and yet none of them has anything to say about the very public use of hostages as archery props, except for WWX and his trick shot, I guess. NMJ, known for being honorable to a fault, has nothing to say about JGS breaking his word. LXC, known for his kindness, has nothing to say about a public display of cruelty (overseen by his bf, no less!) that he himself already spoke against. LWJ, who never attended a gathering he didn't immediately exit the second he decided it wasn't the vibe, stays put, does nothing, and also apparently didn't mention Jin Zixun's target practice to anybody with decision-making powers. Later on, these three men will have very little to say when it's time for the cultivation conference to discuss WWX establishing the Burial Mounds settlement. (LWJ speaks up to defend WWX from allegations that he spoke ill of JC, LXC half-heartedly states that WQ and WN seemed nice enough when he saw them at Gusu, and NMJ is adamant that all Wens be punished as collaborators.)

Meanwhile, this all makes Jin Zixuan's lack of knowledge about JGS's atrocities as Chief Cultivator seem... pretty damning. JGS using JGY to do all his dirty work while keeping Jin Zixuan shielded from it all is a huge deal, and being transparently seen as a tool rather than a son is a core component of JGY's bitterness. In the novel, from what I understand, Zixuan really has no idea about the secret demonic cultivation research or anything. In the show, however, Zixuan is RIGHT THERE, WITNESSING THIS ARCHERY CONTEST HIS DAD IS SPONSORING. He is therefore aware that something fucked up is going on! And his response... is to participate in the contest? To shoot an arrow with no further objection or questioning, even though he's the only young lord present who doesn't have to fear retribution from JGS and doesn't have formative memories of his parents getting murdered by WRH? Okay. Cool cool. (Meanwhile, sweet little JYL claps happily when he does a good job, and claps even MORE enthusiastically when WWX does. GIRL, THERE ARE HOSTAGES.)

Honestly, the only people for whom I find this scene interesting rather than frustrating are JGY and JC. JC looks both deeply uncomfortable and DEEPLY STRESSED OUT when he sees WWX step forward; he looks so relieved when all WWX does is shoot some cool arrows, and it's a good little glimpse into the awful choices JC is soon going to have to make now that he's the political face of Yunmeng Jiang. JGY is racking up villain points here, obviously, but in a way that at least is compelling; it's politically prudent for him to go all-in on harming the Wen to prove that he has no lingering ties to his former employers. For everyone else, though, it's got ramifications and all of them are Not Great!

Granted, I don't feel as if the show wants you to think about it too hard. I think they wanted to include the archery contest since it's in the book (and contains a Wangxian flirting moment that they can get past censors), and they wanted to also establish WWX as super cool, JGS and JGY as super bad, and the Wen remnants as helpless victims. It's not that deep. Unfortunately, I am here to OVERTHINK.

#the archery contest encapsulates a lot of CQL's story-related shortcomings I think #tbh I'll give a pass to da-ge too bc (lack of concern about JGS or JGY going back on their word notwithstanding) at least he's consistent #he has to be talked down from going scorched earth earlier so the imprisonment is already a compromise #also he does this big ol' excited seal clap when applauding WWX's shot that makes me laugh every time

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whetstonefires · 1 year ago

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Hi, I'm currently writing a fic and would like to ask for advice about the characterization of a slightly darker Lan Xichen. When he is in seclusion, in the midst of despair and grappling with feelings of anger, bitterness and resentment what do you think would be his lesson learned from everything? How would his actions/personality change particularly concerning his decision making as a leader? Would he become more manipulative/ruthless like jgy even while fully disavowing his choices? Thanks!

Okay so I do have a lot of thoughts about this!

Because there's a whole list of issues Lan Xichen has to unpack, and the deepest is in fact not the betrayed anger, or even grief or guilt, but having to reevaluate who he even is.

He's spent 13 years thinking Lan Wangji was the fuckup and he had tried hard and done everything right. Like, not flawlessly, there were all those people and even his sword brother he couldn't save and Lan Wangji he couldn't protect from himself, but still. He'd done it. Complex political and personal reality successfully navigated. Worst errors evaded. Not Like His Father.

He spent about 15 years (that's so much time!!!) having his most intimate personal relationship be with someone who was lying to and using him, and who (because he killed him!) he will never even be able to ask which parts were lies.

His entire decisionmaking system is wrecked. For him to come out of this cruel, with the confidence to do vicious things to others for some goal, he would have to somehow construct a new belief system, a basis for his convictions, that is even more narrow and sharp and coldly implacable than Jin Guangyao's was. Or at any rate more inflexible.

I don't think he's capable of this. He's like 40 years old! He's spent that whole time trying so, so fucking hard to be good, to be fair and kind and just even where these conflict with one another.

And what he has for it is a shattered decisionmaking base.

There's only so far a person can change themselves, even if they try to start over from first principles. And he doesn't have any real motivation to want to be really harsh, even if he doesn't want to be so soft anymore either.

If he had to knit himself back together under these circumstances and go forward and perform desperate feats, the way Jiang Cheng had to after the first time he broke (not as profound a break, not once he got his core 'back' and could resume most of his prior identity elements, but still the permanent damage is visible) I think Lan Xichen could get pretty dark.

If he was being forced to make constant life-or-death calls in a violent atmosphere and he didn't fucking trust himself but he knew his gentleness and his mercy and his desire to believe the best of people had been so utterly weaponized against him and those under his keeping before, I think he'd start making a lot of kill calls. He's capable of that, after all. He was a major war hero, flying from front to front, pulling asses out of fires.

He has killed lots of people! And commanded people he cares about into battle! He has the stomach for that kind of thing, when there's cause.

When Lan Xichen accepted massacres under the period of ascendancy of the Jin, let the Chang and the He and even the Wen remnants be wiped out and then erased without justice or remorse, he was using that same wartime stomach for necessity, and then trying to patch things over and let the world be peaceful, be healed.

Hide it until it stops hurting anymore. That's his basic methodology for things that it's too late to mediate.

And I think because that smoothing and that kindness and that looking-away-from-conflict are the parts of his failures most distinctive to him, as a person, they're the parts he would react against with the most violent distrust. And he'd need to lock down on his uncertainties and suppress them to function, which does not do good things for your judgment. So a Lan Xichen fresh from those traumas who had to fight a war could get pretty brutal. He could ramp his ruthlessness up by pretty rapid degrees.

If he did, he'd be doing it while leaning away from manipulation, going as direct and uncompromising and fierce as possible. (In imitation a bit of Nie Mingjue.)

If he wound up leaning away from ruthlessness hard enough he might accidentally become pretty manipulative, by way of trying to never actually force his will on others since he doesn't trust his own judgment, but I think that's a pretty outside chance. He's not actually a very subtle person and I think he's too old to really learn, and under the circumstances he'd probably be more insecure about hinting than demanding things. If he comes out too early and is overly centered on shame, maybe.

I don't think he could get as bad as Jin Guangyao no matter which direction he went, because he wouldn't be all that sneaky about it, his goals would still be for the sake of groups of people rather than himself alone, and he wouldn't have the confidence to totally refuse to take outside input on his choices. He also just gives a shit about other people, by instinct. All that puts some caps on his scope of villainy that jgy did not have.

Although under the right circumstances, with the ruthless route, he could get pretty volatile about taking advice, reacting unpredictably against attempts to gentle or redirect him as Dangerous Manipulation Again.

You could do a fantastic AU with that actually, with betrayed, hardened, trying-so-fucking-hard unstable Lan Xichen flipping out at a Lan Wangji who's trying to rein in his excessive brutality against like, suspected traitors. Like that's a role reversal you could make work by pulling the right trauma strings and it would hurt so good. Put Nie Huaisang in as a witness to an episode and really layer things up.

But I find it hard to imagine him going that way in seclusion. Taking all the pressures off a person in a mental health crisis is something you do for a reason. He is in there so he won't be forced to make decisions when he doesn't feel qualified anymore, as much as to hide from his shame and wrestle with the grief.

Putting the crisis-haver in solitary confinement is not actually a good idea! That will generally make many parts of the problem worse! Even with the ability to come out if he decides to, and even though privacy sounds like a good idea, isolation is a bit much.

But he's going to break a different way if he's alone with no responsibilities, and only himself to do anything for or to.

The most likely way for his seclusion to go bad, if it does, is self-destruction. That could look a lot of ways, and might or might not kill him, and if it does could do so at basically any speed.

If it doesn't just become an inward spiral of destruction but also is bad, though...let's see. He could still come out paranoid. Yeah. Having lost his faith in the ability and will of people to be good.

The most obvious way for this to turn ugly out the gate is that he reverses his previous arc (that's one of the reasons this doesn't strike me as probable) and instead of leaning toward 'wangji was right and i was wrong; i have to interrogate all my biases harder and reconsider my definition of acceptable sacrifices and listen to him' he looks at wangxian, and his brother's conviction that this notorious villain was always good at heart, that his crimes were mostly under duress, or exaggerations and lies, that he means well and mostly meant well, and wants to be better and to put all that behind him...

And remembers that's the story Jin Guangyao told him.

#ask #hoc est meum #Anonymous #mdzs #lan xichen #meta #mental health #characterization #like my understanding is that's a lot of the reason he DID extend wwx and lwj as much latitude as he did #because he had such firm principles about not judging people by their pasts #because he chose to trust jgy's stated good intentions over the implications of his record #and he was so fucking wrong

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asingularshieldmaiden · 1 year ago

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I study international relations at uni and was thinking about what if everyone worked in the government? This is aus government based because I am Australian but could be applied to foreign equivalents

Jiang Cheng works with/for dfat - minister for foreign affairs perhaps or minister of trade? Or a higher up in dfat (department of foreign affairs and trade) - a public facing role I think fits jc a lot and he would absolutely roast people during question time (jc is very theatrical and question time is about the theatrics)

Wwx works for defence - I’m thinking an international focused agency (Geospace for the science, or ASIO) or the military opposed to a domestic one like the federal police (leaks secrets/whistleblower?) - strictly stops working for the government after getting (resurrected? - disappears after being pursued by the government and reappears with different name and documents) - this makes it gnarlier when Jiang Cheng sees him because Jiang cheng is a government official who’s job is tied to what Wei Wuxian leaked and could ruin his reputation and job, which is why wwx distanced himself from him

Jin Guangyao prime minister: Jgy doesnt wear hats more than a regular person he just wore a silly hat once and now the papers have designated that to be a key feature of his caricature (a la Alex downer and fishnet stockings or Tony Abbot and budgie smugglers)

Lan Qiren: speaker of the house - has to rally everyone like kindergarteners and point out how when people successfully or unsuccessfully wave the rules at each other

Sect leader yao is the random independent: very public spectacle based and says a lot of words that don’t mean very much/are too crazy and people are like “thanks for your contribution” before moving on. Magically keeps his seat because his voters are as crazy as him, has become a permanent fixture of parliament and doesn’t seem to be leaving anytime soon

Nie Huaisang is appointed as the PM after Jgy is internally overthrown as the leader of the party. Meant to be one of those temporary appointments with the goal of crashing and burning until the next election however manages to stay on for 2 more terms by being elected in his own right. manages to actually do a good job

Jin Guangshan shat himself in McDonald’s

#the untamed #mdzs #jiang cheng #wei wuxian #jin guangyao #this is a super random au and it isn’t really fleshed out at all #I just think these kind of fit these characters #may add more in the future #super random assortment of characters as well lol #lan qiren #this is less about real world politics and more about how I think roles would match certain characters #or tidbits that are very minor features of politics #politics au #nie huaisang

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fincalinde · 3 years ago

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☕ Lan Xichen is also the best

Too right he's the best. This is certainly not an unpopular opinion and I wholeheartedly agree. To complement the JGY post let's look at four key examples of exactly how great LXC is, with a couple of digressions regarding characterisation pitfalls:

- His consideration for others. LXC isn't just a kind and gentle person but also a thoughtful one, and he treats everyone with respect. For example there is the famous teacups scene, where LXC is able to set an example and get others to feel embarrassed by their own behaviour in a skilful way that does not make the situation worse for JGY. I've seen attempts to depict this particular quality result in an LXC who 'over-explains' by pouring an abundance of assurances over JGY and explicitly saying he wants to make JGY feel comfortable; or perhaps he'll qualify everything he's saying because he's worried JGY might misunderstand him and take offence or be hurt. It's always clear the intention is to show that LXC is considerate, but there's a danger of it lacking finesse and coming off as insecure and over the top.

- His moral relativism. LXC understands that everyone lives in different circumstances. He does not hold people to impossible standards but he also does not throw up his hands in the face of an unjust world and cease to pursue justice. He operates under the constraints of being a clan leader with heavy responsibilities, and understands that others also have their own constraints. He is concerned with intentions but does not give a free pass solely on that basis. JGY's wish to be good when he is forced to do evil under WRH and JGS is not sufficient on its own; LXC factors in the good JGY does under his own power.

- His love for his family. LXC acknowledges how harsh his childhood was, but he loves and respects LQR and works effectively with him. Even when LXC is so traumatised by grief and doubt that he cannot successfully deliver a simple speech, he attempts to do as LQR wishes and carry out some of his clan leader duties. He is a beloved and respected clan leader. He is the ideal elder brother, and he continues to love and support LWJ even when LWJ behaves in a way that would get him expelled or executed in any other sect. He spoils LWJ and is incredibly attentive to his needs: LWJ mentions lotus seeds and LXC gets him lotus seeds; the loquat incident in Caiyi Town; the fact that LXC is the only one who can read LWJ's expressions; and so on.

Bonus paragraph here, but this is why I'm not sold on depictions of LXC where he constantly dotes on JGY. We know what doting LXC looks like because he does it with his didi, and we do not at all see similar behaviour from LXC with JGY. JGY is the one who dotes on LXC, not the other way around, and JGY is the only person in LXC's life who is attentive to his needs in this particular way. While LXC does nice things for JGY and isn't accepting all this generosity without giving anything in return, there's not really any textual support for characterising LXC as doting on JGY or secretly desiring to dote on JGY. In fact, to circle back round to LXC's love for his family, part of the way in which JGY dotes on LXC is indulging the way LXC dotes on LWJ and making exceptional allowances for him in turn.

- His sense of humour. LXC's gentle ribbing of LWJ is sweet and charming and he has a tendency to be playful with those he knows well outside formal situations. He teases a furious NMJ before he finds out NMJ is angry because of the incident at Langya, and he and JGY of course have their little 'xiansheng' exchange over the guqin. When writing LXC it's important to remember to include that mischievous streak.

This post is sponsored by Lianfang-zun of the Lanling Jin Clan. 🥇✨👍

#ask #anonymous #lan xichen #i kind of got into the spirit of the thing with the characterisation advice #people can write lxc any way they like of course #i'm not going to go into anyone else's space and tell them what to do #roquen meta

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paradife-loft · 3 years ago

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JGY fic self-promo for JGY day! <3

Unfortunately I don’t have any new material to post this year, but I figured I could at least do a link roundup of some of the JGY fic I’ve written previously.

This isn’t everything I’ve written involving him, but it’s basically a sample platter of either the writing of mine that I like best considering my current perspective on his character, or that I find most unique among fic that I’m familiar with overall.

---

the orchard and the soil - semi-fix-it AU for Xiyao, centered around the premise of LXC getting his own pseudo-"Empathy" session with NMJ's corpse at Jinlintai, in between JGY returning his jade token to the Cloud Recesses and the second siege of the Burial Mounds. epistemic gaps and unreliable memories, trust, grief, the question of justice, duty, and mercy, and a slanted remix of the Guanyin temple conversations (but in private this time). (M, 8k)

your kingdom built around me - an AU where acute and chronic hanahaki disease exists within the MDZS setting and all of the socioeconomic stratification it entails. Xiyao dealing with public and private perceptions, status difference, family legacies, what love means to each of them, and how to have difficult conversations with each other. (M, 15k. also note: author is insufferably aromantic and takes a very social-constructivist approach to the entire concept of hanahaki. take from that what you will.)

Worth and friends of empty graves - a pair of JGY and Jiang Cheng-by-way-of-Jin Ling relationship studies, set pre- and post-ascension to Jin-zongzhu/Chief Cultivator respectively. two disfavoured sons, the difficult emotional territory of their status as Jin Ling’s remaining family; a little bit of politics. canon-compliant, CQL timeline. (G & T, 1.7k & 2k)

Thrown Open Windows - fluffy youngish Xiyao relationship dynamic study at Jinlintai. a little bit of flirting, teasing, and navigating the newness of having a peer who truly wants to know you as a person. (T, 1.5k. if you get the Vienna Teng reference you probably already know the general mood :P)

what it was that made you weak - A-Yao can be a little gothic as a treat? CQL relationship/characterisation-based AU with a lonely JGY taking care of his successfully-controlled fierce corpse!NMJ during a vulnerable moment at night. (T, 650 words)

Due - sad, whumpy deathfic for your emotional masochism needs. even once he’s reached the inevitable end, JGY goes down fighting. (mostly) CQL canon-inspired, because I love collapsing buildings on people. (T, 1k)

Calibration - The Borgias-esque Qin Su/JGY AU, in which JGY is terrified for his son in the face of political opposition to his rise to power, and Qin Su is his loving, steadfast rock and sounding board. (T, 900 words)

Interstice - soft, sleepy Xiyao morning sex, exploring my headcanon about JGY not always wanting to be touched and some low-key D/s vibes. (E, 1.2k)

a shield for tender parts - Jin Guangyao finally has the opportunity to steal away a bit of time to be a very good and understanding xiao-shushu for his confused and tired nephew. contemplative character/relationship study set just before JGY becomes Jin-zongzhu. (T, 600 words)

#Jin Guangyao #xiyao #that time James wrote fic #no good things for the poor sad cultivators #incest mention #(just bc one fic is JGY/QS)

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canary3d-obsessed · 3 years ago

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Restless Rewatch: The Untamed, Episode 26, part two

(Masterpost) (Other Canary Stuff)

Warning! Spoilers for All 50 Episodes!

Content note: This episode has a lot of lightning, but this post does not have lightning flashes--I’m using mostly stills for those parts, or I’ve snipped out the unfriendly frames before giffing.

Qing-Jie

Having successfully ruined Jin Guangshan’s party plan to get the Yin Tiger seal, Wei Wuxian dashes off to tell Wen Qing where her brother is. She hops up to hit the road with him, but then sorta-faints because she’s starving. In a rare moment of tenderness between these two, he catches her and gently sits her down again.

Normally they’re busy out-toughing each other, both before and after this moment, but right now Wen Qing is openly vulnerable. Wei Wuxian responds to that, predictably, with all of his kindness and with his usual slew of unwise, impossible-to-keep promises.

As she eats the bread he’s brought her--a parallel to an important piece of bread in his early life--he says they have to believe in Wen Ning’s survival. Cut to: Wen Ning, not surviving.

I mean, yes, yes, he’s only mostly dead, but he’s never going to be fully alive again, so.

24 Hour Party People

Back at the party, Jin Guangyao, deliberately, I think, goes to offer his pops a drink while his pops is still super furious and looking for someone to take it out on. The servant lady is like, better you than me, pal, and helps JGY get his drink ready. Pops, predictably, knocks the drink onto Jin Guangyao.

(more behind the cut)

Lan Xichen is standing by with a hanky and a face full of worry. Lan Xichen is so Lanny that he thinks JGY needs to go change clothes after getting clear alcohol spilled on him, rather than just letting it evaporate and smelling pleasantly of booze for the rest of the evening like a normal party guest.

JGY launches into a criticism of Wei Wuxian, which Lan Wangji listens to very carefully, frowning. Lan Xichen, Nie Huasang and Jiang Cheng listen as well, and don’t speak up.

A Clear Conscience

Then Lan Wangji *literally* steps out of his brother’s shadow, and speaks in defense of Wei Wuxian. This right here is Lan Wangji’s turning point, as far as I’m concerned. Xichen is gazing at JGY, totally on board with JGY’s spin of the situation, and his shadow falls away from Lan Wangji’s face as LWJ steps forward.

Lan Wangji says, isn’t what WWX said true? JGY puts on his customer service smile and says that the truth isn’t something you’re supposed to go around saying out loud.

I’d like to say this is what’s wrong with cultivator society but this is really a universal human thing; every society has rules about upsetting the social order, and they are very frequently at odds with basic compassion and morality.

Nie Huaisang and Jiang Cheng stay silent but Lan Xichen goes and throws Wei Wuxian under the bus carriage, saying his character has changed.

Lan Wangji nods decisively at this, and bows to Lan Xichen, silently asking permission to follow Wei Wuxian. Lan Xichen grants permission, telling Lan Wangji to do his best. Lan Xichen probably thinks he and Lan Wangji are in agreement, in this moment, but that nod of Lan Wangji’s was nothing of the kind.

That nod was Lan Wangji agreeing with himself; he is going to try to bring Wei Wuxian back but he is also going to listen to him. Meanwhile Lan Xichen is tying himself in knots to appease Jin Guangyao. The divergence between the brothers will just grow, from this point onwards.

Lan Wangji leaves to go follow his boyfriend conscience, while Jiang Cheng continues to silently listen to the commentary of others, and gets so mad he crushes a wine cup.

It Was A Dark and Stormy Night.

Wen Qing and Wei Wuxian arrive at the prison camp, and the first person they encounter is Granny, with a defaced Wen Banner in her hand and Wen Yuan on her back.

Whenever I read a meta or a fic that talks about how the juniors are so sweet partly because they are “untouched by the war” I want to point to this moment. A-Yuan endures an absolute truckload of war trauma by the time he’s four years old, and while Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji both deserve a lot of credit for saving him at great risk to themselves, Granny and Uncle Four are the first heroes of A-Yuan’s story. His kind, mellow personality has a lot in common with theirs.

This is followed by an eternity of Wen Qing running around asking if anyone’s seen her brother. Eventually Wei Wuxian gets tired of this and gathers the guards together, threatening them with Chenqing.

He doesn’t need to play it; just holding it up has every Jin dude instantly kneeling and scared.

The guards send him and Wen Qing go to a giant field of corpses, where Wen Qing runs around checking to see if any of them is her brother. Wei Wuxian starts off kind of detached and angry, but eventually snaps out of it, tucks away his flute and starts helping her to search.

Wen Qing finds Wen Ning, mostly-dead with a lure flag speared into his belly. Wei Wuxian grimly takes in the situation from across the field of corpses.

When he arrives at Wen Qing’s side he sees this talisman in Wen Ning’s hand.

This is the talisman that Wei Wuxian made for Wen Ning back in Gusu summer school, before the war. It’s the one that Wen Ning was wearing at his waist when they met up after the massacre of Lotus Pier. It’s supposed to literally protect Wen Ning from having his spiritual consciousness snatched, as well as being a symbol of Wei Wuxian’s sense of responsibility for, and affection for, Wen Ning.

Wei Wuxian, understandably, loses his shit at this point. Less understandably, he is about to decide that the best way to express his sorrow and rage is to re-animate the corpse of his friend, right in front of the corpse’s sister. Like, seriously, dude. Dude.

Ghost General

This super-questionable decision leads to one of the most badass sequences in the show, which is unfortunately chock full of lightning flashes, so not everyone can watch it. Wei Wuxian and his flute and swirls of resentful energy come marching out of the darkness of the corpse field, back to the guards.

The guards have decided to slaughter all of the prisoners and then run away, which would be a good plan except they should really have skipped right to the running away part of things. When Wei Wuxian accuses them of killing the prisoner in the corpse field, they claim that the Wens have a habit of falling off of a hill and dying. Wei Wuxian can relate.

At this point Wei Wuxian summons up Wen Ning 2.0, ultra badass edition, who comes flying through the air with his odd, straight-armed fighting stance and cool solid-black eyes and rock-and-roll hair.

Soundtrack: *Four Sticks*

Wen Ning proceeds to whale on the guards and scare the shit out of his relatives.

Then Wen Qing shows up and begs Wei Wuxian to stop. She explains that Wen Ning is only mostly dead. Like, if he was fully dead would she be okay with this?

Wei Wuxian tries to reel Wen Ning in and realizes that he is not actually in control of Wen Ning. Ok, see, right from the first day of Wen Ning 2.0, WWX is aware that his control is iffy. Why does he think he’s going to be able to control him later?

Anyway, this is where we learn Wen Ning’s grown-up name is Wen Qionglin. Wei Wuxian yells this name, and Wen Ning looks up like a cat hearing the “food noise,” and then proceeds to get control of himself.

This is such a nice symbolic moment, that will be replayed later in the temple, when Wen Ning saves Jin Ling from Baxia.

Wen Ning has a remote-code-execution OS vulnerability throughout the story; his soul is at risk of being stolen, and he is magically controlled by Wei Wuxian, Xue Yang, Su She, and Baxia. Meanwhile Wen Qing, Wei Wuxian, and random kids on the street mostly treat him as a child, despite his clear adult capabilities. Wen Ning’s journey in The Untamed is at least partly about asserting his full adulthood, and his ability to overcome magical control is directly connected to that journey.

After getting Wen Ning to chill, Wei Wuxian calls the floating resentful energy back into his own body, which looks about as comfortable as swallowing a burp.

On the plus side, apparently resentful energy keeps your hair dry even when it’s raining.

Wei Wuxian should take a page from the guards’ book and slaughter all the Jin witnesses to this situation, but he decides to be the better person and let them live. They go running off down the road, where they encounter Lan Wangji and give him the 411, saying that Wei Wuxian resurrected dead people.

Meanwhile Wei Wuxian collects Wen Qing--half-fainted, again, in an echo of the start of their journey--and collects the Dafan Mountain Wen group, who are hiding, wisely. When they see Wen Ning, Uncle Four and some others start to freak out, but Wei Wuxian tells them that fierce corpses are cool, and they all grab horses and mount up.

Where Are You Going?

Lan Wangji is waiting for them, nonconfrontationally indulging in some visual poetry while he waits.

In a show where every prop is exquisitely, carefully designed to enhance our understanding character, his Gusu-toned umbrella reveals surprising red and yellow threads woven in, right above his eye line as he looks at Wei Wuxian.

Wei Wuxian speaks first, saying “you came to stop me?” Lan Wangji doesn’t answer, but asks him where he’s going. Then Lan Wangji warns him that he’s about to abandon orthodoxy forever, if he follows through.

Wei Wuxian challenges this idea of orthodoxy, asking if Lan Wangji remembers the promise they made together, back in Gusu. It’s worth noting that they both appear to think of it as a co-promise, even though Lan Wangji didn’t speak aloud at the time.

The conversation will continue in the next episode, because what’s better than a rainy romantic cliffhanger?

Soundtrack: Four Sticks by Led Zeppelin

#the untamed #the untamed gifs #wangxian #wen ning #restless rewatch the untamed #canary3d-original #my gifs #episode 26

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lansplaining · 2 years ago

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Unpopular opinion: JGY and NMJ belong with each other (shippy or not) more than either of them belong with LXC and the canon narrative reflects that. That’s why they end up in the coffin together while LXC is left in the living world.

ooOOOoooOoOOoOooooh

I am a xiyao shipper but I also love picking apart narrative structure so this is hard for me!!!

I'm getting myself stuck on the idea of "belonging" and who decides that and what that means. Morally? Socially? Narratively? Something something, in the end Jin Guangyao surrenders to being the person that Nie MIngjue thought he was and that may mean that they "belong" together, having been the ones to successfully define who the other is (JGY a conniving murderer, NMJ a mindlessly violent revenge-seeker)-- but he achieved that ending by ultimately saving Lan Xichen's life, which Nie Mingjue would never think he'd do, so--?

Certainly NMJ and JGY's lives ended up (against their will...) revolving around one another in a way that neither of them did with LXC. Is that "belonging" or is that just... how their lives ended up? Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian (and Yanli) thought they "belonged" together, and maybe they did, but that didn't happen. Wangxian seem like they "belong" together, but it took the miracle of a second life for it to actually happen. Does JGY belong with the Jin, or back at the brothel? Did Wei Wuxian ever belong with the Jiang, or did he belong on the streets? --I'm getting sidetracked, but I think I've sort of vaguely made my point. "Belonging" isn't a word that quite meshes with my feelings about how the world of MDZS/CQL works.

I think LXC's survival is much more a reflection of his narrative relationship to his brother and father than to his sworn brothers, really.

#meta #jgy #nmj #i love this question thank you

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no--envies · 3 years ago

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The destruction of the Tiger Seal and Wei Wuxian’s death

A really popular theory in the fandom is that WWX died destroying the Tiger Seal, either because of an explosion of all the energy it had accumulated or because trying to destroy it affected him to the point that he couldn’t control the resentful energies anymore. This theory often implies the destruction of the Tiger Seal was a relatively fast process and that WWX started to destroy it when the sects besieged the Burial Mounds, because he didn’t want it to fall into the wrong hands.

However, the novel explicitly contradicts this theory:

It wasn’t as though Wei Wuxian, after forging such calamity, had refused to destroy it. However, creating the thing had been difficult enough; destroying it was every bit as difficult, and demanded an incredible amount of his time and energy. Moreover, by then, he already vaguely sensed that his own situation was precarious, and sooner or later, everyone would turn on him. The immense power of the Yin Tiger Tally meant that no one dared touch him while he was wielding it—thus, Wei Wuxian kept it, for the time being. He only split the tally into two, so that anyone attempting to use it would first have to put both pieces together. Furthermore, he decided never to use it without thinking carefully through the consequences.

In all, he only ever used it two times, and both times, it shed rivers of blood. The first was during the Sunshot Campaign, and after the second time, he finally found the determination to destroy it. One half, he completely obliterated. But before he was able to finish disposing of the other, the Siege of the Burial Mounds descended upon him. He had no control over the events that followed.

(Chapter 30, Fan Yiyi translation)

This passage is very clear: WWX had completely destroyed the first half of the Tiger Seal before the siege happened. At the time, he was in the process of destroying the second half, but then he died and couldn’t do anything about it anymore. It’s also stated that destroying the Tiger Seal required an incredible amount of time and energy, which was one of the reasons he hadn’t decided to destroy it earlier.

Given the amount of resentful energy the Tiger Seal contained, it’s not surprising that both creating it and destroying it were such difficult processes. Even a much less powerful object like the bell WWX had made for JL took a long time to create:

Wen Ning, “Young Master, is this what you’ve been making for the past month or so, when you were shutting yourself in the Cave on days upon end?”

Wei WuXian, “That’s right. As long as that nephew of mine carries this bell around, not a single creature whose level is just a bit too low can even think about getting close to him. You can’t touch it. It’ll probably leave you affected for some time as well if you do.”

(Chapter 76, ExR translation)

If a bell that could only protect a person from the weakest creatures took a whole month to create (I assume because a lot of energy needed to be stored in it), how much longer would it take to destroy an immensely powerful artifact like the Tiger Seal, which could even surpass the power of its creator and didn’t recognize a master? We’re talking about something that was forged from a piece of metal that had accumulated resentful energies for centuries and WWX himself admits making it into a usable tool was a long and difficult process. Even destroying just a half probably required a lot of time to gradually dissipate all the resentful energy that was stored in it. Since we know the siege happened three months after the bloodbath of Nightless City - and considering WWX probably had other things to do in the meantime, like strengthening the defenses of the Burial Mounds for the attack he knew would come sooner or later - he had enough time to successfully obliterate one half of the Seal and start destroying the other one. Before he could completely destroy the second half, the sects arrived to besiege him and he had to focus on protecting himself and the Wen remnants.

Moreover, the process of destroying the Tiger Seal didn’t only require a lot of time, but an incredible amount of energy as well. By the time the siege happened, he was probably already exhausted. This would explain why he received a backlash and lost control of his army of corpses, since we know demonic cultivation is affected by the mental state of the one practicing it. Besides, seeing JC - the person who was once like a brother to him - lead the siege meant to kill him and destroy everything he was fighting for didn’t help his mental state at all. All of WWX’s guilt and grief at the time were already a lot to bear, but knowing that his former shidi hated him so much that he took part in the siege as the leader must have shaken him quite a bit. We don't see him sad often, but one of the few times we do is when he gets reminded of JC's role in his death while he's watching a group of kids impersonating them in a game based on the Sunshot Campaign (chapter 32).

I think WWX did what he could to protect the Wen remnants, but his exhaustion combined with his unstable mental state made him lose control of his demonic cultivation and receive a backlash, which led to him being torn to pieces by his own ghost army and dying in a really gruesome way.

The fact that he died because his cultivation method backfired and he was torn to pieces by the corpses he could no longer control is stated in the novel multiple times:

“Rejoice, rejoice! Say, which hero dealt the finishing blow to the Yiling Laozu?”

“Who else could it be? His disciple-brother, Chief Jiang Cheng of the Yunmeng Jiang Sect! [...] Sect Chief Jiang killed his own disciple-brother and destroyed his lair for the good of us all. The Burial Mounds are gone!”

[...]

“But that’s not what I heard. I thought one of his evil tricks backfired and he was shredded to pieces by those ghosts of his. Some say that they bit and tore at him so viciously that by the end of it, his body was no more than a slurry of flesh and bone dust.”

(Chapter 1, Fan Yiyi translation)

After a moment of silence, Wei Wuxian said, “What else have you heard?”

“Jiang Cheng, Clan Chief Jiang, brought people to encircle and besiege the Burial Mounds. He killed you, sir.”

“I have to clarify this. He didn’t kill me. I died because one of my techniques backfired.”

Wen Ning finally lifted his eyes and looked at him directly. “But, Clan Chief Jiang, he clearly—“

“It’s impossible for someone to walk on a lonely, single-log bridge safely and soundly for an entire lifetime. It couldn’t be helped.”

(Chapter 43, Fan Yiyi translation)

Jin GuangYao, “It is true that body sacrifice cannot be proven, but whether or not he is the YiLing Patriarch can. Ever since the YiLing Patriarch had received the cultivation backlash and been torn to dust by his ghouls on the top of the Burial Mounds, his sword was collected by the LanlingJin Sect. But, not long afterwards, the sword sealed itself.”

(Chapter 50, ExR translation)

Some of the things that were said about the first siege - like that JC had dealt the fatal blow to WWX - were untrue, but since the backlash is something WWX himself confirms we can safely take it as a fact. Also, a lot of people were present during WWX’s death and witnessed it with their own eyes, so they knew how he died. JGY, who described WWX’s death as him being “torn to dust by his ghouls”, was probably one of them since the Jin Sect was on the frontline as one of the main forces.

In my opinion, WWX started destroying the Tiger Seal not long after returning to the Burial Mounds. What finally made him decide to eliminate such a dangerous artifact from the world was the bloodbath it had caused at Nightless City. He had originally resolved not to use it unless it was really necessary, but he ended up activating it when he wasn’t clear-headed at all, in a moment of extreme desperation and grief after his whole world had crumbled, his beloved shijie had died and everyone condemned him and blamed him for everything that had happened. He wasn’t proud of all the people he had killed and didn’t want something like that to happen ever again, so he finally resolved to destroy the most powerful weapon he had, which until then he had kept as a deterrent to discourage others from attacking him, since he sensed that sooner or later the cultivation world would turn against him.

He knew perfectly well that destroying the Tiger Seal would leave him in a more vulnerable position (though he still had his demonic cultivation to protect himself and the Wen remnants), but he chose to do it anyway because he knew it was the right thing to do. Such a terrible artifact couldn’t be allowed to fall into the wrong hands under any circumstances, and he knew his own fate was sealed since the sects had already labeled him as the scourge of the cultivation world and sooner or later they would come to besiege him. Instead of perpetuating the cycle of violence, WWX chose to willingly put himself in a more precarious position, but it wasn’t the destruction of the Tiger Seal itself that killed him. It was a series of circumstances that his decision partially contributed to.

#mdzs #mdzs meta #wwx #wei wuxian #wei ying #yin tiger seal

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whetstonefires · 2 years ago

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Ooooof and oh yeah! Leaning into the psychosis angle offers a lot of character interest too, for sure. I just excluded it upfront because I wanted to circle in on the homophobia as emotional and narrative leverage, and particularly the internalized homophobia.

Either way, the key starring role in this take remains Jin Guangyao with his sorrowful, just-disappointed, reasonable-authority figure face on, as he gently gaslights the everliving daylights out of Mo Xuanyu.

I bet he cribbed some of his delivery from the way Lan Xichen talks about Lan Wangji.

(Sidebar what exactly do you think they said to one another, in those private confabs, about their respective experiences of the Problematic Gay Little Brother scenario? I wonder how that impacted lxc's initial reaction to lwj suddenly bringing a-yao's fucked-up disgraced younger brother home with him lmao.)

An interesting thing I'm seeing in the notes is there's a breakdown between people who feel that the consonance between the Mo Xuanyu attempted incest allegations and Jin Guangyao's marriage situation makes it seem more like he's the one who put that element out there

(because it's something that's extremely prominent in his own thinking, so it makes sense he'd think of that as a powerful avenue of ruin, and would project it out onto other people)

versus people who think it's less likely

(because he's already fucked up about the topic and wouldn't want to encourage anyone to connect him with half-sibling incest, even in the negative).

Because tbh I think we're both right; both versions are very strong, they just rely on different beliefs about how jgy thinks, both of which have foundation but neither of which can be positively confirmed. That's great, I love that.

Personally I think jgy would get a huge power trip out of knowing he's now in a position where he can suggest someone was sexually improper toward him and everyone will rush to blame that person and exalt his propriety in contrast.

I think playing that out successfully would give him a huge boost to his sense of security, and is actually in line with the kind of stunts he pulls to self-soothe.

But I don't rule out the alternative, and it picks up different parts of the themes about reputation and homophobia and society and how it leaps to assumptions based on preconceptions, if jgy set out to ruin the reputation of an eccentric Known Gay and the public took that and spontaneously projected Shocking Sexual Misbehavior onto that person without his encouragement. So, also good.

So like, I’m pretty darn sure Mo Xuanyu did not actually make a pass at Jin Guangyao.

For several reasons, like for one thing hitting on your own actual brother who is also your boss is genuinely insane behavior, in a way nothing else we know about the guy actually matches, other than his reputation for being crazy which mostly seems to originate from the same point as the sexual harassment allegations. which tracks because even with rampant societal homophobia, that’s such a crazy thing to do people would question it if it didn’t come paired with the information that he’s insane.

Then there’s the fact that if that had actually happened, there’s basically no way master spin artist jgy would have let it get out, because actually experiencing that would trigger his sense-of-uncleanliness issues so hard.

But what we see is that somehow Everyone Knows that it happened, but also that Jin Guangyao totally didn’t tell anyone, because he’s too merciful and kind and respectable. It just mysteriously leaked somehow that this private scandal happened.

(Also, to step up a meta level, the gay goth kid who was never quite accepted into his own family and wound up self-destructing was in fact guilty of the homophobic allegations spread by the powerful man who manipulates reputation for personal advantage? This is not the kind of story where that would be true. The thematic dissonance is too much.)

The only way it’s believable that mxy made a move on jgy is if jgy spent a long time maneuvering him into it, hinting and deniably flirting and just generally being maximum skeeze, just a huge elaborate incestuous honeypot, just to bait a ‘ruined reputation’ trap. Which makes no sense at all.

I don’t think jgy is necessarily above that kind of creepy grooming behavior but I do think he would hate it, and definitely wouldn’t resort to it when sowing rumors would work just as well. and expose him to less risk.

So Mo Xuanyu didn’t do it.

So what we’ve got is that Jin Guangyao systematically obliterated this kid’s credibility.

No one would listen to anything he said after being expelled in that sort of context, especially anything against Jin Guangyao, whom he now has obvious motive to smear. This was a preemptive strike against some kind of leak.

It’s exactly the kind of thing jgy would do–it targets individual vulnerability, leverages the weak points in Mo Xuanyu’s reputation into gaping chasms, in a way that associates jgy with scandal but makes him personally look better. also shows signs of jgy projecting his own issues onto others. The MO fits.

And his motive is easy to construct: Mo Xuanyu had had access to his secrets, such as Wei Wuxian’s manuscripts and probably a lot of the other ugly shit. And Jin Guangyao needed him silenced, due to some thing or other, but as with SiSi didn’t want to have to kill him.

(A fascinating thing about jgy as a villain is the moments where he yields to sentiment pretty consistently contribute to his destruction.)

But then we come around to: so why didn’t Mo Xuanyu sic Wei Wuxian on Jin Guangyao, then?

In cql wwx does have a curse cut for jgy, to keep him in the plot and create an additional open storyline to resolve, since viewers are gonna be denied romantic catharsis, but in cql the homophobia plotline isn’t there because all the gay is censored, and mxy allegedly hit on qin su instead. which is less utterly unhinged to do though still big wtf.

In the book, mxy summoned the Yiling Patriarch just to kill the Mos. (Which he didn’t even do lmao.)

So I’ve always been sort of poking at that, like if you’re destroying your own soul to get revenge, why spare the person who deliberately ruined your life?

Even if he had done the thing, it was weird! Maybe even weirder; if you’re in a headspace where making sexual advances anyone should be able to predict are unwelcome seems like a good idea in the first place, there’s a pretty good chance getting punished for them isn’t going to make you think you were in the wrong. Otoh there is a zone where he could have done it, gotten the backlash, cleared his head a bit, realized it was fucked up to do, and therefore not held a grudge in that particular direction, but it’s still weird. (And also he definitely didn’t do the thing.)

But if he was so angry, why was he not angry at Jin Guangyao? Who definitely kicked him out of the Sect, all else aside?

And then I looked at the passage in Jin sect where we swap to Jin Ling’s pov and he tells us one of the few first-hand things we hear about Mo Xuanyu: He thought Jin Guanyao was the most amazing person in the whole world. He adored him.

And being betrayed and rejected by him didn’t turn that into resentment. Even though he resented the other side of his family enough to want them gratuitously murdered.

So you know what I think happened?

I think Mo Xuanyu thinks it was an honest misunderstanding. That Jin Guangyao, his idol, falsely concluded that his gay little brother was creeping on him based on a misinterpretation of his admiring behavior, and was appropriately revolted. And that Mo Xuanyu doesn’t blame him for it. He blames himself.

He went back to his mother’s family to rot genuinely feeling like the ruination of his life was his own fault for being creepy. And died like that.

Because of that, to a considerable extent. How can you bend any of your will to saving yourself, to getting out of an abusive situation and seeking a better one, when you don’t think you deserve to be saved?

Fucks me up.

#mdzs #meta #jin guanyao #mo xuanyu #hoc est meum #homophobia #ableism #gaslighting #jgy is a fun type of schemer #specifically because he's not reliably a rational actor #so you get all this Personality intruding into his schemes

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guqin-and-flute · 4 years ago

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ok but if jiang cheng gives jin guangyao a jiang sect clarity bell he's going to be so confused and shocked and then probably cry. for days. this family wants him! on purpose! not even as a disciple but as part of the family itself! and they're all accepting him intentionally! and publicly! he's not going to be able to handle that at all.

Anonymous said: Yanli is pregnant, about to give birth and JGY is so anxious and nervous. It's his first kid! He doesn't want to do anything wrong, neither for this child, nor for Yanli, nor for her brothers. He's going crazy. As time went by, the more involved with the affairs of the Jiang sect he became, but now, in the face of the birth of his son, nothing was enough to soothe his nerves. He was genuinely going crazy. So JC, WWX and JGY bonding time!!

(WONDERFUL, anons! I’m putting these two together because it felt right! This is a trip and a half to write because I came into it going ‘this is fluff!’ and JGY came into it going ‘this is torture’. Did you know that having nice things is untenably terrible? Cause I didn’t until I consulted JGY, but this seems to be the case)

[First post/fic of the Peony to Lotus verse. Set after these posts]

Jin Guangyao hated when his thoughts became too much to ignore. It should not happen, he should be able to package this anxiety into a neat little box like every other thing that had ever made his hands shake and get on with his business but here he was, gripping the edge of the window sill tight enough to make his knuckles ache as he simply fought to breathe.

A-Li was far enough along, now, that she spent most of her time bedridden, radiant and tired and soft and patient and--

Sometimes, he would come to himself realizing he was smiling over something ridiculous Wei Wuxian had said, or the way that A-Li looked in the sun just then, or A-Yuan clinging to his leg and he wouldn’t have meant to and it was so fucking awful. And he had no one to discuss it with, not even A-Li, not even Er-ge because they would have no idea what he was talking about. Because they had had the practice of their whole lives to bear the weight of putting their heart into other people and letting them run around and do what they would with it. Soon, he would have a child. A child.

He already had a wife, and he had felt the uncomfortable stretch of accommodation in his bones when he had realized, with deep terror, that he actually loved her. Deeper still, somehow, when she had loved him back. Then Wei Wuxian had elbowed his way into His People--when had he gotten people? When had that happened?--then Jiang Wanyin, then Wuxian’s little A-Yuan. Lying in bed next to a gently snoring A-Li, staring at the ceiling above, painted in the slow, light ripples from the lake, he had quietly realized that even Wen Qing and Wen Ning would leave holes within himself he would be able to trace in their outlines, were they taken from Lotus Pier.

It had taken him quietly confessing to Lan Xichen the depth of his anxiety over the pregnancy, his gentle chuckle, his hand on his cheek as he assured him that he would be an excellent father that Gods! Gods, he was one of them, too! One of His, living there already, before he even knew to look. How had he not known? When had he filleted his heart in such a manner and with what knife so sharp that he hadn’t even felt the sting? Was it supposed to be this easy to lose yourself in others? The last time he had been a part of anyone, she had died in his arms on a whorehouse bed, whispering about a man who had never come back to collect his token, his son. Her son.

Jin Guangyao blew out his breath, rocked from heel to the ball of his foot as if limbering up for exercise, trying to expend the buzz of anxious energy that crawled under his skin, excise the slow panic that had been building these many months.

Wen Qing had said it was going well. That everything was normal. Back pains and knee pains and trouble sleeping were normal.

A child.

Pushing away from the sill, he shook his arms out at his sides as he turned away from, then back to the window when the nausea within him bloomed, bid him to grab something, hold something, anchor himself against the current of this emotion. He wrapped his fingers back around it, put his head down and closed his eyes, breathing deeply. He was supposed to be meeting Jiang Wanyin in the Hall of Swords. He was going to be late.

There was no reason for this. There were duties to attend to, things he must do, errands he must run. A-Li had said she felt fine. They had a while, yet; weeks. Days.

Days and he would hold a baby. His baby. Their baby. Made from them, of them, out of them and into the world where it could grow and think and laugh and run and leave and die--

A harsh, clamped down sound left him as he squeezed his eyes tighter, tucked his chin down lower as he rocked back again, stretching back from his arms, feeling the burn down the backs of his legs. Focus on the physicality. Focus on the feeling. Accept the inevitable; what was done was done.

Bring in a life to the world and you bring in a death. How equitable, how balanced. How insane.

How was he allowed to do this? How could someone like him who had never dreamed of fatherhood past a vague, uninterested ��perhaps’ of a future just...choose that? How on earth could someone like him be allowed to make another human and be tasked with its health, it’s happiness? What did he know of happiness, having had so precious little of it?

Well, until now. And there lay the problem.

For here he was, in a place he thought was exile but was, in fact, a seeming paradise unlike any he had known, full of ease and warmth and love and it was worse than he could ever have possibly imagined because he was used to the struggle it was supposed to have been. Had always been. Was going to have been. His goals had never been about comfort and love but about safety and what was owed to him. He was a Jin, therefore he would be a Jin--he would work to become it at the expense of everything and everyone else because it was the place he belonged. If he could get there, if he could be recognized, it would be Right. Not necessarily good, not necessarily comfortable, but Right. Safe.

And now here he was, miles and miles away at Lotus Pier, amongst Jiangs and Wens, lilypads and lotuses, and he was happy. Not necessarily Right. Not necessarily...Safe, in the most concrete of definitions. The scorch marks at the base of some buildings, the abundance of tablets in the shrine told how nebulous such physical safety might prove to be. The Jins had the money and numbers for that safety. But ask him--ask him, don’t ask him, please--whether he now wanted that or this and his hesitation would betray decades of his life, his promises to his mother, his plans.

And it was all transient. Able to be taken and broken in the beat of a heart. Lanling was supposed to have been forever. Yunmeng was supposed to have been a setback, a roadblock, a stalling, a breaking, a dying of a dream. How on earth had this hidden in the folds of that? Just burst into being with no intention? How had this happened?

It wasn’t as if he hadn’t thought of these things throughout A-Li’s pregnancy, hadn’t spent many a night pacing throughout the walkways of Lotus Pier, taking care of this or that at some godsforsaken hour where he would sometimes cross paths with a cheery Wei Wuxian, wiling away the wee hours of the morning on less focused pursuits. But these thoughts had been successfully contained and filed away, not unearthing themselves in the light of day when other obligations required his attention.

They would grow louder when he saw A-Li’s belly, when he lay his cheek on it in bed and felt the restless life within push back against him, but they were still containable, kept at bay by the sheer joy that lit his wife up whenever she caught him looking at her. She was infectious with it, her excitement to usher in this new person seeming so clean and pure and delightful through her eyes. And he could see it--of course he could--the joy in the idea of a little one who came out loving you, would only ever know loving you, if you did it right--

And that. And that made his stomach churn and his hands clench, made every uncertainty that had ever used his ribs as a ladder to his throat scream in chorus because it was if you did it right. There was no plan to cover everything. No contingency that caught everyone, in all cases. And there were so many ways to fail--in little ways, big ways, catastrophic ways.

When this tumble of a thought started, it was nearly impossible not to be crushed beneath its roll, the parade of every man he had ever seen in the brothel of his childhood playing across the backs of his eyes, accompanied by the ever present absence and then terribly wounding reality of his own father. How could he not be like them? What treacherous part of his own psyche did he have to avoid so he did not wound this child the ways he had been? Could he?

Could he only wait, without a plan, without warning, for the time that he would bring harm to his child, whether through action or inaction? He would go insane. He would absolutely lose his mind.

He felt as if he was already.

He pushed back from the window again, hard, swung himself around and set off for the Hall of Swords. The sun passed hot on his face through the windows, brief bands of cool striping over when he reached the edge.

Jiang Wanyin was seated on the lotus throne with Wei Wuxian perched insolently on one of it’s sleek petals, both looking down at something in Jiang Wanyin’s hand. “Hello, Jin-gongzi,” came Wen Ning’s hesitant voice from his side and, wound as tight as he was, Jin Guangyao had to clamp down his startlement and instead offer a smile and nod to the man that moved as quietly as a ghost.

“Good afternoon, Wen-gongzi. Jiang-zongzhu. Wei-gongzi.”

“Sooo formal,” Wuxian drawled, spinning Chenqing through his fingers with a grin. “Come here, we’ve got something to show you.” Eagerly, he hopped down, then hesitated and turned back to peer at him closely. “You alright?”

Jin Guangyao flashed a smile he knew pressed in his dimples and stuffed down every part of him that shook. “Perfectly.” When he approached, Jiang Wanyin traded a knowing, poorly suppressed smile with both Wei Wuxian and Wen Ning beside him and held out his hand.

In it was a tiny silver bell set on a long purple tassel, the knotwork fine and intricate, hung with a little jade lotus above it. The Jiang Sect’s Clarity Bell. Since it seemed to be what he was intending, Jin Guangyao accepted it with a smile and polite nod as he brought it closer to study, absorbing the engraving of the lotus petals on the metal, the clear chime that rang out when it moved. It was a beautiful little thing and it took him half a moment to realize that this was them seeking his approval for a gift for his child. The spread of his smile became slightly more real and he tilted his head. “Ah. It’s beautiful, Jiang-zongzhu.” A bit long for an infant, he added silently, but they will grow into it, certainly. “Very lovely.”

“Uh...mn,” Jiang Wanyin answered, the way he had started doing when he was unsure of what just happened and when he glanced up, he caught him sharing a befuddled look with Wei Wuxian.

“Wow. I dunno what I was expecting, but not that,” Wei Wuxian laughed, putting his hands on his hips and shaking his head as if he were puzzled.

Jin Guangyao let his placeholder smile emerge, holding the pleasantness in place while his mind whirred, attempting to piece together what had gone wrong. Was he supposed to be more excited? He could certainly do that. “I appreciate it very much,” he elaborated, stroking a finger down the sleek tassels in obvious admiration. “The workmanship is incredibly intricate and lovely. A-Li will be very pleased and I’m sure it will serve our child well.” Perhaps it was supposed to be of bigger consequence--but if that were the case, wouldn’t there have been more ceremony?

Wei Wuxian snickered again, very clearly at him, and even Jiang Wanyin grinned, tilting his brother another one of those infuriating looks that, at present, was sending irritation skittering down Jin Guangyao’s spine. Usually he had the patience for their antics, but with the background noise of his fear, it was a bit much.

“Jin-g-gongzi,” Wen Ning spoke up again, the hint of a smile in his voice. “It’s for you.”

Jin Guangyao looked back at him, uncomprehendingly blank. It’s for him. What was for him? The bell? The bell was for the Jiang Sect--

His head jerked back around to stare at it again, his fingers closing like a vice around the smooth flow of the tassels. For him. It was for him. “But….” choked from him without warning, so he snapped his mouth shut and simply...stared.

“Oh-ho, that’s a new one. What does that one mean?” Wei Wuxian leaned down in his peripheral, the indistinct blur of his face cut with the white of his smile.

He could not answer. That burning, trembling fear was bubbling up his stomach, his throat, his spine until it throbbed in his temples and sinuses.

“--figured it was about time, I mean, considering how long you’ve been here and all--” Wei Wuxian was saying breezily in the background, but Jin Guangyao felt the cold weight of Wen Ning’s gentle hand on his arm like gravity, pulling him back to this room.

“Jin-gongzi, are you alright?” he asked, softly.

Wei Wuxian stopped at this and the brightly colored forms in the corners of his eyes drew closer, reached out to touch him as well, his shoulder, his arm. “Hey. Hey, Jin-xiong, look at me.”

He did, because it was simple, because it was asked of him and when he did, Wei Wuxian blinked. “Wow. You really didn’t know, did you?”

“We have one for the baby, of course,” Jiang Wanyin added in from his side, as if that was even remotely the problem. “It’s smaller, but….”

They seemed to be waiting for him to say something, which at this moment seemed absurdly impossible. It was for him. For him. Without asking. Without begging. Without having to bow and scrape and kowtow and….

They wanted him. They wanted him. They wanted him.

He opened his mouth to say something, anything but all that came out was a strangled, shaky, “Ha….” that squeezed shut at the end as his stupid fucking traitorous ill-behaved throat closed and he, all at once, had to crouch down to stop the spinning in his idiot head, burying his face in his knees. There was a hand on his back as he sucked in a shuddering breath, then another on his wrist as someone crouched before him but he couldn’t look up because his eyes were dripping unsanctioned tears onto his purple robes and the clarity bell rang out sweetly with every ridiculous tremor of his hand.

He didn’t want this. A child. A family. He couldn’t want this because he wanted this and if he wanted something, it would hurt to be taken away, it could tear him, it could kill him. He wasn’t big enough to have this many People huddle inside of his chest. He hadn’t enough heart to go around.

But they wanted him anyway. Not out of obligation or guilt or political savvy or because he had done something so exceptional it could not be ignored but because they did. Him.

Help.

At least he had always cried quietly. The one blessing in this whole ordeal. If he couldn’t control his damn self, at least he wasn’t wailing like...an infant. A baby. His baby.

Gods, what in the hell was he doing?

“Should we get A-jie?” was muttered and he surged to his feet, startling Wei Wuxian stumbling back a few steps.

“No!” he gasped, allowing his hand to clamp onto Wen Ning’s supportive wrist so he didn’t topple over. “No, no, don’t bother A-Li, I’m fine, I’m--”

“You’re definitely not,” Wuxian interrupted with an incredulous laugh. “Did we break you? Is it bad?”

“Is it bad?” Jiang Wanyin echoed, quieter, more uncertain from his side and Jin Guangyao shook his head, tried desperately to latch back onto his control.

“No, it’s not. It’s...um….” That stupid quaver spoiled it again as his gaze landed back on the bell, innocent and fine, resting on the backs of his knuckles from where it sprouted through his grip. His face crumpled anew, this time a little softer, at little less wildly transporting, but still fully out of his control and dammit, shit, and fuck. This was stupid. He was stupid. This didn’t need to be happening.

Wen Ning gently patted his back as he covered his face, trying in vain to stifle this absurd, unceasing flow that seemed to come from deep within him as every part of him writhed, knowing he was being seen doing this. Knowing that he could not stop. That this weakness was….

On purpose? A small, helpless part of him was asking repeatedly. Did you mean to do this? You know everyone will be able to see if I wear this, right? This is on purpose?

A stupid question. An obvious answer. The reasons for which eluded him.

“If it upsets you so much, I could take it back for you,” Wei Wuxian teased--obviously teased--while reaching out and in the most terrifying motion he had ever made, Jin Guangyao jerked the bell away from him and pressed it to his middle. He hadn’t even meant to do it.

He needed to leave.

“No. I’m fine. I...thank you. Thank you for this, I….” He looked over at Jiang Wanyin, saw the alarm and furrowed bemusement in his face and managed to force out, nakedly. “I’m...having a difficult time...absorbing this.”

“Well, that much is clear!” Wei Wuxian exclaimed, clapping his brother on the shoulder. “Look, Jiang Cheng! We’ve made him speechless! Took the silver tongue right out of his head and turned it into a bell.”

“Are you...happy?” Jiang Wanyin asked, hesitantly.

Jin Guangyao was not so certain--was happiness supposed to burn like this? Dredge your deepest depths without mercy? But he could not lie and say that that small voice hadn’t now transmuted into simply chanting mine mine mine mine mine. He needed to absorb this. He needed to be away. It was wrong because it was not Right--but when had Right ever made him so warm? Golden. He swallowed and took a deep, shuddering breath, stifling the steady swell of tears with immense difficulty. “I think so.”

“You are so strange,” Wei Wuxian grinned, throwing his arms around him and Wen Ning. “Here, I’ll put it on.”

When he cheerily plucked the bell from Jim Guangyao's frozen grip, Jiang Wanyin shot his brother a scowl. "Don't you think I should be the one to do that?"

"I don't see you shifting yourself to, so it's my job as oldest brother to welcome him in," Wei Wuxian announced. "Deal with it."

It all seemed so wretchedly possible as he knelt down before him and gleefully manhandled his belt around, as Jin Guangyao just...let him, staring down at him in a daze. A life here, raising children--happy children with a happy wife and happy brother-in-law's and happy sect-mates. Happy. Ephemeral. Delicate. Unprotected.

“There,” Wei Wuxian proclaimed as he rose again, wrapping his arm around his shoulders again and thumping his chest affectionately. “Now you’re officially one of us. It was all Jiang Cheng’s idea, to tell you the truth.”

It was all Jin Guangyao could do to take an iron grip of his throat’s functions, look up at Jiang Wanyin’s nervous smile and ask in a tight, small voice. “You’re sure?”

While his smile turned slightly sour with puzzlement, the Clan Leader gave a huff of amusement. “Of course I’m sure. What kind of question is that?”

“Congratulations, gongzi!” Wen Ning beamed eagerly, bobbing his head. They all looked at him with wide smiles. Now knowing smiles. The knowing that he wanted to hate but couldn’t muster more than a prickle.

When Jin Guangyao bowed, deeply, they scoffed and the tiny bell hung from his belt gave a little chime. Still smiling, they watched him go and he blindly made his way back and back and back to his room. To A-Li.

She was reading on the bed when he burst in and she blinked up at him. “Oh! Are--” her eyes went to his hand, clutching the slim silk line that connected to his belt, and her worry melted away into beaming excitement. “So they did it? They made me promise not to be there. Here, come here, come here, you.” She held out her arms and he shakingly made his way to the bed and practically collapsed within them, burying his nose into the softness of her as she wrapped around him.

Here, he was safe. Here, he could ask. “Is this alright?” he whispered, voice choked again. “Is this allowed?”

“Is what, A-Yao?”

He clenched the bell in one hand and laid the other on her stomach, both still trembling as he shook his head, encompassing all of it, everything, anything here.

“Oh, love,” she crooned into his hair, stroked his face. “Of course.”

And here, against her, in the quiet and the safety, he let the tears come again as the pressure threatened to burst him--let himself weep, either in joy or grief, for all the things he now had to lose.

#Jiang Sibs: let us love you! JGY: [writhing like a ferret in a trap #screaming] NOO HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME #He's fine he'll get over it :)#I'll write an actually cute fic with him and the baby at some point #ACTUALLY CUTE JIN GUANGYAO YOU ARE G O I N G TO BE HAPPY IN THIS VERSE #JUST DEAL WITH IT #Peony to Lotus #My fic #my stuff #text #yaoli #Anonymous

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miyu-hyperfixates · 4 years ago

Text

About Jin Guangyao & Nie Huaisang

Recently I have been thinking about JGY and NHS’s dynamics and about how JGY never saw NHS coming even though he knew that NHS was smarter than he looked like.

One of the reason is of course arrogance and pride. But, I think that in JGY’s defense NHS might as well be his worst natural enemy. If a blind spot had a form then JGY’d would be distinctively NHS-shaped. And here’s why:

《 Their core personality traits and beliefs 》

While JGY is very familiar with acting weak, vulnerable and so on to manipulate his ennemies (both from a physical and emotional point of view), he had never not even once appeared less smart than he truly was.

I think it never even occurred to him that people would act dumb (in the long term) or incompetent to deceive people because it clashes fundamentally with his whole existence.

Think about it. If JGY had shown less competence than he had, would he have managed to attract the attention of NMJ and be promoted (regardless of how bullied he was)?

If JGY had been anything short of super-competent would he manage to enter the rank of WRH? If he had not managed to prove himself and maintain such level of hyper-competency would he manage to keep playing spy by WRH and staying alive ?

If JGY had not been so convincing would he manage to kill WRH and crawl his way to his father’s grace? And even then, if he had shown the slightest amount of failure or incompetency he probably would have been kicked out of Jinlintai. If he had not maintain that high-competency could he manage to keep his position as chief cultivator?

For JGY incompetency and failure to do his designated jobs doesn’t just mean a small wound to his pride. No most of the time for most of his life it meant death or being kicked out.

So for someone who lived such a high-strung and stressful life, where his next breath, his next warm meal was entirely reliant on how competent he was at his job... how could it ever occur to him that someone could act incompetent on purpose?

Maybe if it had been for a short time then he might have been suspicious and notice but NHS acted this way for 10+ years... who would willingly lower themselves that way for so long, especially if they had the weight of a whole sect on their shoulders?

This is just fundamentally clashing with who he is as a person that it is no matter NHS could sneak on his blind spot. One of JGY biggest mistake was probably not to realize that having no ambition doesn’t mean not having any motivation.

《 JGY’s bias towards the elite 》

I thing JGY had encountered a certain amount of smart/competent/strong people in his life. And while he is naturally weary of physically strong people, he probably view them as less threatening than smart people.

Likewise even among the smart, he probably differentiate between ‘book smart’ and ‘street smart’. Of which JGY stands easily at the top of both. However the kind of smart that’d allow you to survive/thrive is definitely the street kind.

Even if he were aware of the fact that NHS hid his intelligence and cunning, he’d probably expect it to lie within the realm of “book-smartness” and not even the useful kind but the ‘useless’ kind of intelligence directed towards poetry, arts etc.

So of course how could this pampered young master, whose hardest struggle growing up had been on thinking how not to get drag on the training field by his big brother, ever be able to compete with JGY in term of street smartness? Comparatively WWX and XY, because of their background, make way more of a threat than NHS could ever be in JGY’s mind. And that’s because he grew up prejudiced towards the rich and the elite.

《 NHS & JGY are two different types of masterminds 》

If you’re familiar with TV tropes and especially the Gambit tropes then I’d describe JGY’s plans as strongly lying in the Xanatos Gambit areas (with now and then a hint of Batman Gambit). Basically what it means, is that JGY is the type of mastermind who plays chess. He’ll look at all the outcomes and try to plot things so that no matter what outcome ends up happening he’d still win one way or another.

And while he can more or less improvise when things go sideway, it’s pretty obvious that it is when he has to make hasty decisions that he tends to make a lot of mistakes.

NHS’s plans are of the Gambit Roulette kind. In other words, his plans mostly rely on luck and chance occurrence. He had absolutely no way of knowing that MXY would succeed in resurrecting WWX, and even if MXY did, NHS had no way of knowing that WWX would be curious enough to investigate the case of the possessed arm, he had no way of knowing if WWX and LWJ would manage to find all the other body parts and successfully find discriminating facts about JGY...

So basically what NHS was doing was planning stuff one step at a time. He didn’t need to have a whole plot with thousands of contingencies, he just needed to be nearby where the whole chaos was and try to nudge things in the direction he wanted. Therefore... How could JGY possibly predict NHS’s moves when probably even NHS didn’t know what he would do at that time?

In other words, while JGY is busy analyzing and trying to predict other people’s moves like they were merely pawns on a chessboard...he can’t predict NHS’s move at all because NHS is playing a whole other game altogether.

NHS is basically playing Texas Hold’em Poker, with his two starting cards being WWX and LWJ... Then he’d look at the cards start to appear one by one (calculating the odds, weighing whether he’d be able to get a good combinaison throwing chips here and there to bluff his way out), and hoping that at the end he’d get a better hand than JGY.

So yeah that’s probably why JGY never really stood a chance against NHS.

And while we’re on the game analogy, I’d like to make an aside here to talk about the juniors, who are probably NHS’s natural enemies (just as NHS is JGY’s).... They’re like those wild joker cards that keeps randomly popping for no reasons whatsoever, causing mayhem and chaos ... [especially Jin Ling haha]... And you’re not really sure if they are helping or making everything worse. And so NHS’s approach to dealing with those unknown wild cards was like “If you’re going to cause trouble and pop up anyway, then rather than having you appear out of nowhere and ruin everything, I’ll be the one to lead you there so that you stop surprising me!”

[I hc that this is one of the main reason NHS lured the juniors to Yi City, because he didn’t want to get blindsided by them popping out of nowhere and nearly dying again... like that time at Mo village or in Qinghe... (And he was probably laughing his ass off at JGY, when Jin Ling randomly appeared at the temple and he probably was like “See? That’s why you fail at masterminding! Always expect a dumbass kid with no self-preservation skills whatsoever to appear when you expect it the less!”)]

#mdzs #cql #the untamed #nhs #jgy #nhs & jgy #character study kinda?#the mantis vs the canary vs the ducklings #and somehow the junior quartet appeared again #mine

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inessencedevided · 5 years ago

Text

The Untamed, episode 48 - watching notes

I've got more tissues prepared because Yunmeng bro feelings always hit me HARD and that's where I left off last time

I find it kinda sweet that lwj is defending Wen Ning

It makes so much sense for Jiang Cheng to immediately bring up his old resentment cor the way his father treated then up. It really all goes back to that. The feeling of being always second best, both to his father in comparison to wwx and to wwx in comparison to lwj. And while wwx sacrificed his core because he thought of himself as inferior to Jiang cheng (not in skill but in worth), to Jiang Cheng it comes off as him once more playing the hero :/

All in all THESE IDIOTS NEVER LEARNED TO PROPERLY COMMUNICATE

Also the way Jiang cheng says "then what am I?" Reminds me a lot of the way he grieved for his core

You know what fucked me up most during this whole conversation?

Because that's it. He can't! 😭

He still loves wei Wuxian and he can't understand why wwx never chose him. Why he chose to protect lwj and the wens when he knew it would endanger their clan. And from that perspective, I get it. I feel like to Jiang Cheng, his clan is everything. It's only natural. He is the (future) clan leader and he was raised that way. It was always going to be his responsibility and at the same time, he always had this very clear cut role in their society.

But wei Wuxian? He loved their family and he did feel at home at their clan, but he was still very much an outsider. Madam Yu hated him, people kept calling him a servant when it suited them and told him to mind his place as such when he spoke up. He could emphasize with the outcasts of society because he himself never truly left that outsider status behind either!

Which left him and Jiang Cheng in opposing positions with no way of understanding the other's point of view

... while still loving each other

😭

Because all they were in the beginning, was two boys being brothers 😥

Which leads me to the conclusion that, once more, the true enemy of this story isn't any single person, it's society.

Okay, sorry that this essentially turned into meta. That's probably not what you're here for, but as thus show comes to an end, I have FEELINGS and THOUGHTS and I need to get them out 😅

I have another rant in my head on whether or not I think wwx was right in transferring Jiang Cheng his ckre without telling him, but I'm holding that in for now 🙈

That I'm sorry. From BOTH of them. 😭

THAT'S GROWTH!!! 😭😭😭

Wei Wuxian saying that it's all in the past now made me cry. So. Much. Because it's an ending. It sounded to me like he wanted to wipe the slate clean. No promises. No betrayals. Start anew. And ... I'm not okay 💔😥

Hey Nie Huaisang. Welcome to the party :D

Um ... what's happening?

Are they ... burning?

Jin Guangyao played with fire and got burned or what kind of metaphor is this?

I'd be about as good as nie Huaisang at hiding my reaction in that situation, tbh ^^

This is the weirdest hostage situation I have ever seen, with everybody just running around sind no one even guarding the hostages

The hell is in that tomb? 😳

Wait ... nie Mingjue was the headless corpse? And okay, the head is obviously seen back on here but ... how did it get there so quickly and WHY is Jin Guangyao surprised?? Wasn't he in possession of the head??

I.am.confused

Poor Huaisang :'(

And poor Jin Ling. He's learning quickly just how fucked up his family is 😬

*dramatic thunder in the distance*

👆 favourite trope of mine :D

It's an oldie but a goodie

Wwx understands something I don't ^^

Also nice to know that even when they're both without powers lwj will still protect his husband 🥰

Okay, so ... someone put the body there. The same somebody who orchestrated everything else

WHO??

Omg, I love how wwx plays at Jin Guangyao's paranoia by essentially manipulating him as he did others and then turns to lwj, with a little shrug and a half smile like

CAN I PLEASE GET 50 EPISODES OF THESE TWO SOLVING MONSTER OF THE WEEK MYSTERIES TOGETHER? 😭

So they FINALLY thought it was a good idea to actually restrain their hostages. Genius!

Wait ... Su She has that hole curse, too?

OHHHH

He was the one who cursed Jin Zixun???

I hadn't even thought about the fact that that was still an unanswered question! 😱😱😱

Jgy telling wwx that they were always going to end up on opposite sides is SO interesting and betrays a level of self-awareness I would not have afforded this guy

The thing is, su she raging at lwj for this is really the wrong address. Not because what he says isn't at least partially right (lwj was born into privilege and there is a stark disparity in how clan disciples and peripheral disciples are treated), even in the lan clan, but not BY lan Wangji. He's the guy who knelt before his uncle and let himself, the sect leader's son, be punished alongside the servant's son.

It's fascinating to see Jin Guangyao's mask fall

And his view of wwx is even more fascinating

He deliberately used wwx status as an outsider to society in combination with his impulsive and righteous character to further his own agenda of setting his own status as an outsider

It's like the ULTIMATE Slytherin vs. Gryffindor story line 😁

Also SOCIETY IS THE VILLAIN!!!

I'm not gonna lie, Jin Guangyao nakes some good points. Not saying he's not a terrible person or that he's not responsible for his own actions, but still he's successfully identified a lot of systematic problems in the cultivation world 🤷‍♀️

... and then proceeded to horribly exploit them for his own benefit *sighs*

Very sneaky, Wei Ying. I don't know what you're doing it, but good job getting him to keep talking

Xichen really be regretting all his life choices right now

It breaks my heartba bot, knowing that they really did bond that first time they met. And Xichen believed in him ever since 🥺

As sorry as I feel for him, I'm pretty sure it's going to get worse 🙈

OH MY GOD WWX CAN CONTROL GHOSTS BY WHISTLING ALONE NOW?

That is simultaneously SO cool and SO creepy! 😱

And kinda hot

On a related note, I realized that wwx is basically a Necromancer Bard and now I really wanna play one

Ohhh, the sword ghost!

😳

Isn't Xichen without powers right now?

No!!!

Puh, su she didn't kill him

But now I'm confused how lwj can use his powers

Ohhh

He's got the stygian tiger amulet?

I'm missing some crucial bit of plot here because I fo not know how he could have gotten it

I mean ... Xue Yang had half of it right? So ... is it this piece?

HE PLANNED THE WHOLE THING ALREADY BACK THEN??? 😱

Or ... not the whole thing? I feel I'll have to watch the show again just to discover what Jin Guangyao even knew and when 🙈

The way jgy looks at Xichen, there us real affection and regret in his gaze :(

Still I did not see THIS coming

He does care for Xichen, doesn't he? Who always saw the best in him. Never once treated him as below him for who his mother was.

But I dont think lan Xichen will give him a second chance right now, tbh. Just from the way he acted, he looked like his trust was irreparably shattered 😥

Meanwhile...

Wwx is tired of your monologueing :D

I apologise for the weird mix of stream-of-cosciousness musings and half-formed meta musings 😅

Also all the typos ...

(And who sent the letter and hit the body??? 😭)

@sweetlittlevampire @fandom-glazed @elenirlachlagos @allhailthedramallama @luckymoony @kyrrahbird @i-love-him-on-purpose

Tomorrow I'll watch the jast two episodes and ... I can't quite believe it 😔

I'm just happy that I'm reading the book now and still got so much to look forward to there, otherwise I think l might draw out this show even longer

#the untamed #sophie watches the untamed #wei wuxian #wwx #lan wangji #wangxian #lan xichen #jin guangyao #jin ling #jiang cheng #nie huaisang

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touchmycoat · 3 years ago

Note

For HX/LQG, a modern!Au might work best, if only because the canons are so hard to mesh. Your B99 casting already seems like a plot. But if you don't want to write a cop AU, maybe a Leverage!AU - HX is out to ruin the person who destroyed his life, LQG is the hitter, HC is the grifter, HX is the mastermind, SY is the hacker, and LBH is the thief. XL is another victim of SWD and the client. No one on the team knows HX's also gunning for SWD for personal reasons.

EJLAKJSDNLFKJANSLDKF FUCKING HELL ANON YOU'RE GENIUS???

HX's been screwed out of everything by this invisible capitalistic force. He's not trying to be, but he's a little down in the dumps. He's a force of nature, but that doesn't change the fact that he's running through the shitty back alleys of the world getting into trouble and half on the prowl for vengeance, half hoping something would come down and kill him already.

XL's another entity running the same circles, though with a lot more ethics. HX has mixed feelings about the guy, but they interact sometimes. They do each other quiet little favors. They come to understand each other as good men, except XL's bottom line always holds and HX has a bottom line that he'll rip out with his bare and bloody hands the moment he figures out who's to blame for the death of his entire family.

One day, XL brings HX a contact—Nie Huaisang. Says the kid just lost his older brother and is apparently getting completely screwed out of the family business. XL would help, but he has a prior obligation out of town, in Banyue, and so maybe HX can look into it? NHS has money, he can pay.

HX takes the case since he has nothing better to do (also, it was the anniversary of his little sister's death, and nobody would call him a soft touch but on occasion, his immense anger can lead to good deeds). NHS is sniffling and useless but the one lead he does have is an acquaintance, a friend even, who runs in the socialite circles, named Shi Qingxuan.

HX follows the lead, a.k.a. stalks SQX for a solid month. He realizes two things. 1) SQX knows way too many people, but among the hundreds he interacts with there's a solid handful of Bad Dudes, and 2) SQX almost definitely does not know it, the little fool. Why would a 2nd gen rich kid cross paths with the likes of Xue Yang? Jin Guangyao? The Palace?

So HX traces all the money back to one name: Shi Wudu.

In the process, he also finds the slaughter of his own family. Investments in bad pharma (killed HX's parents), willful negligence of workplace safety (poisoned and killed HX's sister), Ivy League schemes (stole HX's entire academic future), and of course the classic, being chairman for the insurance company that let HX's fiancee die. Like, you name it, SWD's done it. It was like SWD woke up, chose to play god one day, and said "screw this guy in particular."

And now it's fucking personal. HX heads out and collects the best people he knows for each job (it wasn't like he could clone himself, as much as he'd like to). They were all lone wolves, but that's fine, so is HX. He'd pay them an exorbitant fee for a one-time job and they could all be on their way.

The easiest one to get hold of was Shen Yuan, with the real shit internet alias that HX would never say, thank you very much. SY almost doesn't take the job the moment he hears it's a group effort (too much potential to exposure! people who do his line of work ought to stay anonymous as much as possible!), but HX simply tells him LBH, most famous thief of the criminal underworld, was coming. SY agrees.

HX reaches out to LBH after that and says hey, your favorite little partner on the digital front is taking my job. you want in? LBH immediately says yes.

For the hitter, HX's initial plan was FX or MQ, whoever responded first (and if he told each of them the other was thinking about it, they'd both respond within the hour), but SY goes "nah dude, just use my guy. You heard of Baizhan?" and everybody's heard of what went down at Baizhan so HX agrees. LQG is hired on, frowny and punchy and quiet, which was perfectly fine by HX.

That leaves their grifter. HX thinks about it, and tells the team they were going after one of. SWD's subsidiaries's subsidiaries. The guy in charge is called Pei Su. HX outlines something that looks like it will very much work, but at the very last moment, calls LQG in private, hands him a check with a ton of zeroes on it, and tells LQG to drop the ball in his leg of the mission. They were going to intentionally fail this job—the idea is, once XL gets word that they'd fucked up (and HX probably has to get injured a little), he'd feel bad enough to send his San Lang to their aid, and Hua Cheng's the best grifter HX knows, including himself.

But LQG just scowls and throws the check away, saying this is exactly why he doesn't take group jobs, all this bullshit underhandedness, take your nonsense somewhere else, he's pulling out (and probably convincing SY, and thus LBH by their web of causality, to go with him).

His dismissive attitude pings HX in just the wrong way. For a moment he understands that LQG is looking at himself the same way he looks at people like JGY and SWD—manipulative and full of political nonsense. He's so goddamn angry that he snaps about it.

LQG also tells HX that he, along with bingyuan, also already know that he's gunning for something else here. Why would fucking Black Water pull out all the stops for one tiny job? So until HX tells them what's actually going on, LQG is fucking gone.

HX tackles him to the ground. A brawling match ensues.

LQG may be a hitter, but HX is also very, very good. They kind of beat each other to a pulp, and LQG seems weirdly pleased by the end of it. "More honest than the shit you've been spewing," he scoffs.

As they sit there in the rented apartment-HQ, nursing their wounds, HX ends up telling LQG about his family. Not in an extended or pitiful way, just the facts.

"Was that so damn hard?" LQG complains. "So SWD must die. I'll throw the fight."

HX wasn't trying to be grateful here, but. But he can appreciate a staunch and straight-shooting man.

LQG throws the fight (but tells SY about the plan ahead of time), and they've almost "failed" the job successfully—when this dude in red suddenly appears. Speaks to the security in charge, drops a few important pieces of evidence. Resolves the entire situation with fake lawyer credentials. Pei Su is arrested. The man in red disappears.

HX takes the team back to HQ with gritted teeth, and is not surprised at all to find Hua Cheng waiting for them.

"If your plan was to emotionally blackmail Dianxia," HC says smoothly, "then think again. Black Water, you just made the biggest mistake of your life."

LQG is about to take point, but HX pulls him back.

"And what mistake is that?" HX monotones. HC just smirks and cocks his head to one side.

"You hired me."

#leverage AU #mxtx #sorry it took me so long to reply sldkfjnsdlf #but holy shit this is such a brilliant casting you're a genius #HC is about to be such a fucking little shit #and bingyuan are about to have the most disgusting office romance on the show #HX calls LQG out for pining #LQG's like stfu #they brawl more about it #and slowly slowly they fall in love #HX comes to look toward LQG as a moral compass #and LQG likes nothing more than someone who could wield him well #long post #(apologetic)

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valdrift · 5 years ago

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hi its 3am and i wrote down dnd au shit that im putting under cut bc its. long

pre-canon is mostly the same with minor differences bc d&d magic at play

jyl and jzx die but they're ok bc true resurrection baby. maybe it takes them a while to be resurrected bc, at the time, resurrection is a fairly new spell/VERY expensive (requires diamonds worth 25k gp in game)/no one was high enough level to cast the spell and also the spell is taxing on the caster/resurrection is taboo (not sure abt that one). anyways they live and raise jl :) jc is still angry but for different reasons and he's also Not As Angry and misses his brother. wwx doesn't know that jyl/jzx lived

wwx doesn't die. during the bloodbath of nightless city, he manages to destroy one half of the stygian tiger seal but before he can destroy the other, the siege on the burial mounds happens. he planeshifts to the 9 hells to escape taking the remaining half with him. such spells were completely unknown at the time and were of wwx's invention so ppl just assumed he died/killed himself. he stays in hell for 13 years (part cultivating his powers/part thinking he deserves it) before finally returning to the material plane thx to mxy

during those 13 years, ppl definitely try to reach him. BUT considering he's on another plane of existence, they often fail. communication spells like sending usually fail but Some do reach him, though he thinks he's just going crazy or it's just wishful thinking. (jyl successfully sends him a message like "a-xian? are you there? …well, wherever you are, i hope you're ok. i miss you. i love you. we all do. please come back." and wwx thinks it isn't real. he DEFINITELY cries when he finds out it actually was real and he wasn't losing his mind in hell)

REGARDING WWX'S POWERS: no one has done it like him!! forming a pact with a fiend was practically unheard of/extremely taboo and the fact that he managed to outgrow his patron in terms of power (lvl 20 baby) is something in of itself. wwx is like The First Warlock Ever and after his "death" many others tried to follow in his footsteps, however no one came even close in terms of power. xy maybe but fuck that guy lol

MXY LIVES!!! bc of reasons he manages to get his hands on a deck of many things from the jin vault (perhaps nhs had a hand in it :eyes:) and draws a wish card on the first try (Very Lucky). he uses that card to essentially wish a pact with the yiling patriarch into existence and over in hell wwx is like "hey wtf is going on" and pops into mxy's shed to see what's up

wq also lives!! jgs covered up her death and wn and her bust out of jinlintai when wwx calls

CURRENT-CANON:

mxy and wwx have a patron/ward relationship. wwx Knows he's not like his own patron and has no desire for mxy's soul or w/e so he's just "yea fine i guess i'll be your evil teacher :/"

wtf is wwx's patron anyway lol…..maybe it's a demon/fiendish entity that resided in the burial mounds that wwx formed a pact with to survive. it probably hangs out on another plane of existence and was partly responsible for his deteriorating mental state.

at mo manor, the mo family dies without mxy or wwx rlly having to do anything. mxy uses his fledgling warlock skills to help out the lan juniors with the arm. lwj shows up after and wwx's like AH FUCK and dips with mxy following after him

wwx uses mask of many faces to disguise himself in his humansona (bc like. he's a tiefling and also very recognizable, being the yiling patriarch and all no biggie) and has bonding moments with mxy. mxy realizes that wwx is not actually evil incarnate; he's actually a fucking dumbass ESPECIALLY when the man starts talking about lwj. (idk how this plays in but I want wwx to complain abt lwj like "i used to be taller than him, now we're the same height?? bullshit >:(" bc i am spreading my short lwj propaganda)

mxy and wwx run into jl at some point. wwx is like :'( when he finds out who it is, jl is a baby homophobe and mxy is like I Will Tell Your Mother to which wwx goes WHAT. BACK UP bc surprise, jyl's actually alive! while he's reeling with this information, mxy drags him away

at dafan mountain, mxy and wwx help out the juniors with the goddess statue. wwx summons wn and jc is like HEY WAIT A SECOND. he goes to hit wwx with zidian (still has the ability to knock possessive spirits but it also has dispel magic, not good for wwx's disguise!) however mxy deflects it with *fjord critical role voice* Eldritch Blast earning lwj's respect. anyways lwj takes both mxy and wwx back to the cloud recesses; mxy doesn't see what's the big deal, wwx is freaking out and Desperately wants to planeshift out of there but he has a ward now and disappearing like that would mean the jigs up considering no one else can planeshift

at the cloud recesses, mxy ditches wwx with lwj so the two can have a Talk to go chill. lwj is like "wei ying drop the humansona i know it's you" and wwx goes :O well. after, mxy comes back and is like "ok so here's the deal with the arm" and spills what he knows abt jgy and what he did and the 3 of them head off to get evidence

I Do Not Remember much of their whole like journey to piece nmj's body back together but it'd probably go much faster with mxy alive and knowledgeable to jgy's shit

wangxian are still gay and stupid

idk abt yi city but songxiao and a-qing get a better ending and xy eats shit

there will def be a yunmeng sib reunion.

POST-CANON:

pulling a page from cql, lwj is chief cultivator but only so he can like. actually do some good then once he's done dismantles the position or smth so he can live out his house husband dreams with wwx

wwx still goes on that journey so he can relearn what it's like to be a person in society and not someone hated and demonized. also he lived in literal hell for 13 years, dude needs time to process that. but u KNOW when he comes back, he's eloping with lwj

with all the pieces of nmj's body back together, nhs true resurrects him :)

NOTES:

wen clan are a mix of tiefling and human, with direct members being tiefling

lsz and ljy are human, jl is half-elf (half-triton), and ozz is a tabaxi (catboy rights!!)

wwx definitely used mask of many faces to entertain a-yuan in the burial mounds by disguising himself as whoever a-yuan asked. (disguises himself as lwj at their dinner date bc a-yuan said so and lwj is like Fuck…….He Would Make Such A Good Father…………)

#dnd au #OOF ok so n e ways #i gotta brush up on the timeline i do NAUGHT remember half the things that happened lol

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