#like I think this all makes perfect sense to WWX

[cerusee]

Great tags from @amedetoiles

Hey so am I like the only one who picked up on the parallel between Madame Yu and Jiang Fengmian’s last words to Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian?

Because this is what Madame Yu does:

She hugs and kisses Jiang Cheng, then turns around and tells Wei Wuxian to protect him at all costs

And this is what Jiang Fengmian does:

He strokes Jiang Cheng’s head, then turns to Wei Wuxian and tells him to protect Jiang Cheng

I cannot stress enough that these interactions happen within five pages of each other. Like, Madame Yu is harsher with Wei Wuxian than Jiang Fengmian is, but these are fundamentally the same things. They comfort Jiang Cheng like parents, then they order Wei Wuxian to protect their son.

I’ll never really believe the take that Jiang Fengmian saw Wei Wuxian as a son and favored him over Jiang Cheng because when it came down to it, these were his last words to them. He may have been kinder to Wei Wuxian than Madame Yu was, but fundamentally he never saw him as any more of his own son than she did

[buniibloom]

tw for yapping + opinions pls don't jump me but i've been rereading mdxs and i wanna yap sobsobs

Y'know I partially like Lan Wangji, a little. Cause he seems like an overall interesting character....to a degree anyway.

If I'm being genuine, I suppose the only reason I even tolerate him as character is solely because compared to MXTX'S Hua Cheng and Luo Binghe, his life doesn't revolve fully around Wei Wuxian if that makes sense? Like he helps people and all that because he wants too and not because his love interest wanted that? I could be wrong though I usually skip all his scenes for Wen Ning and everyone else lmao

Idk something about him is...not okay for me. Like I said, he's tolerable but if I have to be honest I genuinely cannot bring myself to like him because he's so. Urgh.

I usually like enemies to lovers but the way he hates (?) Wei Wuxian in the flashback sequences is so....not okay with me ngl 😭 like I knew they were endgame before I picked up the series but still, the way he acted and treated Wei Wuxian was very much the same reason why I don't like Mu Qing much. Not necessarily actions as it is the personality and LWJ is such a dick in my personal opinion.

Yeah fine he likes WWX later on but he's still. Uck to me. Idk why people like him more than Jiang Cheng 😭 Jiang Cheng has flaws and feels like an interesting, realistic and fleshed out character but Lan Wangji is...a Gary Stu I think. Never done a single thing wrong, is so utterly perfect....idk I cannot stand characters like that. Even THE Gary Stu my sweet Binghe had his own flaws and problems but Lan Wangji just exists. Right there.

If I'm also being honest I absolutely despise him because of the smut scenes. It could simply be due to the translations though because apparently the English translation isn't too accurate? But still even so...

1) Homie I know you regret it but why did you still kiss a guy blindfolded just like that without warning? That's so fucking weird. IDGAF if you're the male lead because genuinely no offense but if this was a girl doing that literally everyone would be mad because "consent is key". AND IT SHOULD REMAIN SO D:<

2) That dream sequence chapter....why are you fantasizing about forcing your (younger) self on (younger) Wei Ying...and why would you also fuck while watching your younger selves fuck?? Is that not weird?? Even SVSSS's smut scenes which made me uncomfortable (I'm pretty vanilla with stuff like that) felt better than...THAT.

I don't like wangxian and I just. I don't like LWJ. I'll tolerate him but I dislike him a lot. He's so basic. Basic ass bitch. 😭 Why are you as the male lead so basic. Look at Binghe. Look at Hua Cheng. They're male leads and aren't so...basic. and annoying. Bleghhh

-- I'm adding the correct tags this time so plsplspls do not jump me if you like wangxian and LWJ. I still like the ship but the only way I can tolerate them is if Lan Wangji is a bottom because somehow he's better like that.

[chirpycloudyrobin]

Previous || Masterlist || START || Next

it's in the dead of night when wei wuxian meets hua cheng and xie lian again right in the middle of the jingshi

to wwx, hua cheng was. hm. how shld wwx describe him ?

",,, dad ,,,?"

"... do i LOOK—"

okay but in all seriousness wwx never wouldve fully pieced his soul together back in the burial mounds in the amount of time he did without hua cheng and xie lians help. so hua cheng is kind of like wwx's ghost dad ? maybe ? and xie lian's his ghost/god mom who gently coaxed his soul pieces back together while hua cheng glared at him for stressing his husband out

anyways

wwx gets scolded pretty badly for immediately jumping into shenanigans not even a day after his emergence from the kiln. hell, his injuries from the decade-long brawl probably havent even healed yet and does he even have a decent grasp on his new devastation ghost abilities yet ?

the scene in the jingshi truly looked like two parents scolding their unruly child for scampering off at the first opportunity despite being barely an adult in age

wwx is not three this time around, thank u very much !!

they talk abt the demonic left arm from mo village and how it has garnered the attention of the heavenly capital because apparently it belonged to someone who was supposed to ascend to the upper courts but their soul was chopped up before they could get their heavenly calamity.

huh, wwx thinks. what the fuck happened while i was in mt tonglu

hua cheng warns wwx to be careful bc the heavenly capital is sending two local deities to investigate the demonic left arm on the non-mortal side of things and he doenst want xie lian to be worried for wwx

(hua cheng is absolutely worried for him too, wwx is very sure)

"pls dont get urself punted into jail ur gnna stress out gege and if u stress out gege ill-" "ill be fine ! ive got thee hanguang-jun w me lol !" hua cheng raises an eyebrow at the thought of a mortal cultivator guarding a ghost king. one of the best of his generation, sure, but still a mortal. wwx pouts at him, "u cant judge me ur protecting a whole thrice-ascended god"

after all the serious talk was done (and insane inspection of wwx's [surprisingly perfect] human disguise), hua cheng hangs around to watch wwx make a fool of himself.

his pseudo-dad is enjoying his torment apparently. he'll tattle on him to xie lian later for sure.

but for now wwx focuses on getting out of there !! and mxy too !! he wonders if the kid is doing okay in the guest quarters. he hopes hes not bored

wwx's attempts to get himself and mxy kicked out of the cloud recesses by scandalizing the shit out of lwj fails spectacularly (what the fuck lwj is EVEN MORE RIPPED than the last time he saw him what the-) and he spends the night in a body-bind spell on lwj's body and he ??? cannot make sense of the entire thing

he can still hear hua cheng's cackles into the next morning

but thats fine because a while later the mingshi is going crazy with resentful energy and wwx's ghost instincts are like "FINALLY SOME GOOD FUCKING FOOD (literal) (hes been craving to eat resentful energy)" and he barges into the room, plops his ass down, and does an impromptu duet w lwj

the arm is subdued. wwx was able to feed without drawing anyone's suspicions. the mystery is getting uncovered bit by bit because the hand is pointing to their next destination

wwx leaves mxy in the care of the lan sect while he and lwj go out and solve this murder mystery

absolutely nothing is going to go wrong ! :D

[laylamae1930]

Why is it that everybody always projects Lan Xichen as loving Wangxian's relationship and always supporting Wei Wuxian. Like I understand having an AU and the fact that Xichen is always this smiley social person but seriously. Nobody ever really talks about the fact Xichen didn't like Wei Wuxian, saying the iconic quote "the only mistake he ever made was you."

I might just be reading too much into this but think about it. LXC saw LWJ as this perfect student and his lovely little brother. Yes, we saw how much he loved WWX and how he improved his satisfaction with life. But to LXC, LWJ seemed perfectly content before he met WWX. All WWX did was cause LWJ trouble. He was the reason why LWJ got whipped 33 times and why he was so sad all the time. Looking at it like that, it would only make sense that LXC would come to dislike WWX. Sure, he might come around eventually after seeing just how happy he makes LWJ, but I just can't convince myself that he (LXC) would ever actually forgive him or fully support him.

Not even to mention all the rumors about WWX and him practicing demonic cultivation. LXC probably thought WWX was trying to corrupt and defile his little brother.

Idk man, it just kinda irks me with how much I don't see people recognizing or talking about this at all. Its not like I hate non-canon AUs, on the contrary I love them, I just wish I saw more people acknowledging this ever actually happening.

[fixielixie]

you know what i always find funny when it comes to how people perceive jin guangyao's actions in the novel, like he truly was powerless to everything that happened and u cant really blame him for the actions of others when we all know jgy wasnt a good cultivator so he couldnt rely on that to secure his position (like wwx whom everyone loves to compare to jgy) especially in a place like the jin sect so he had to play dirty. jin zixuans death i think is the clearest example, if jgy wanted to get anywhere he needed him dead, but jzx absolutely couldn't be killed in any sort of suspicious way bc the blame would automatically fall onto jgys head so it had to be undeniable. so jgy had to have played all of his cards right in trying to set up everything; the perfect circumstances for jin zixun to offend su she, probably leaving the curse out somewhere su she could find it, stirring the pot the it had to have been wwx (maybe he didnt even need to do this), the ambush and then mentioning the entire ordeal to jzx just late enough that hopefully tension would be high by the time jzx, already established as a bad people person, came onto the scene. it was still up in the air, jgy couldnt make wwx kill jzx, but he could craft a scenario where the chances of it happening were very high and he just got lucky. like this absolutely sounds like something jgy would do, the man faked suicide to get out of trouble, surely this was easy in comparison.

jgy trying to absolve himself of having influenced any of this at the end of the novel is very in character to, his core belief is that anyone who dares to speak too loudly, or freely speak their mind or pushes back against the majority is just gonna end up being scorned, and it makes sense why he thinks that, it's all he's ever been taught or known of the world- him benefitting from this is what he considers to be fair, considering it's gonna happen anyway. hes someone who has learned to never be courageous or daring, so he instead cuts down the type to speak out bc of some twisted type of revenge for every time the world did it to him.

jgy and wwx are the complete opposite in this regard, bc no matter how many times wwx is thrown down for speaking up for what he believes in, he's gonna get back up and fight back and he has always been like that. wwxs strength as a character is his resilience, and jgys weakness is his cynicism

[muqingapologist]

it’s kind of funny how i put off reading scum villain for so long after reading and consuming adaptations for mdzs and then reading tgcf. im not really a fan of the fan-service sex scenes in danmei because it just takes me out of the story emotionally, and i had a friend warn me that this was pretty much the case with svsss. but like….not so much? at least not the main story.

to back up, my first introduction to any danmei media was watching the untamed. i fucking LOVED the untamed. it consumed my every waking thought for like a solid month lol. it’s actually hard to describe in hindsight just how captivated i was by wei wuxian and lan wangji. and because i loved it so much, i chose to wait for the english translations to be officially released instead of finding unofficial versions online. in the meantime, i “read” tgcf (skimmed) for the first time (bad idea. i finally reread it though last month for real and damn. not quite relevant though). anyway, when i finally got to book 4 of mdzs, well i knew there was the infamous bathtub scene coming, but i underestimated how much this scene would just…cheapen the entire story for me. and this is my own fault, i know, for taking the untamed so much to heart and not being prepared to engage with such different characterizations of the two characters i adored so much. like nothing could’ve prepared me for the fact that lan zhan was actually a nymphomaniac who was determined to have rough sex with wwx every day…it just made the story feel less meaningful to me. it took away the gravity it developed for me.

so knowing how the sex scenes in mdzs affected me, of course i was skeptical of svsss based on what i’d heard. and well maybe it’s because svsss was so tonally different from mdzs and tgcf, and maybe because i knew something very graphic was coming, but shen qingqiu and luo binghe boning to save the world at the end of the main story actually made…perfect sense?? like it wasn’t even really supposed to be romantic at all and yet it felt 110% more earned and necessary than the scenes in mdzs. which was just really surprising to me.

anyway i don’t make this to start mdzs vs. svsss discourse but more so just to discuss my thoughts on the two as someone who doesn’t particularly enjoy gratuitous sex scenes and reads mostly for romance and plot (personal preference!). i still love mdzs and it’ll always have a special place in my heart, but watching the untamed and getting attached to that version of the story first definitely gave me unrealistic expectations for the source material.

im just rambling about this because im curious if anyone had a similar experience with how they read the mxtx novels? also in discussing the novels, im not giving tooooo much weight to the extras.

i’ll add another probably unpopular opinion that the lack of explicit content in tgcf (ik, due to censorship) actually worked in its favor in terms of emotional impact for me.

so yeah i just wanna know what people out there think of sex scenes in mxtx and their gratuitousness and how that affects the novel for you!!!

[hamliet]

Your MXTX metas are the only thing keeping me sane while I’m bedridden with COVID, lol. Anyways back to the question. What do you think Wei Wuxian’s most prominent character flaws are? While I personally believe he’s a good person, I often feel like people try too hard to portray him as almost perfect and in the right in every situation he’s in, when he doesn’t by any means have to be and in fact shouldn’t be for the themes of the story to make sense.

OMG I hope you feel better soon!! I've had Covid and it suuuucks.

I think his most prominent flaw is essentially that he doesn't think he matters. Which is ironic because on the surface, it comes across as "isn't that a good thing, to focus on others?" Or as "but it only hurts himself!"

Not true, though. MDZS takes a really nuanced look at the individual and society, and while it warns against groupthink and encourages people to make up their own minds, it also warns against cutting yourself off from human ties and relationships. WWX does exactly this.

In thinking he doesn't matter, he can push people too far without realizing what he's doing because it's just him, he doesn't matter, so whatever he does won't actually affect them. And in thinking he doesn't matter, he sacrifices himself again and again and again without realizing that this is hurting the people who love him, like Jiang Cheng and Jiang Yanli.

Wei Wuxian's other flaw is pride--that he thinks he can control things that he ultimately can't, because he's just a human being. Human beings have impact and make a difference, but they can't control outcomes. Clearly, this is what led to Jin Zixuan's death.

I often feel like people try too hard to portray him as almost perfect and in the right in every situation he’s in, when he doesn’t by any means have to be and in fact shouldn’t be for the themes of the story to make sense.

Yeah, I feel like this is the case a lot in the fandom, and The Untamed's censored adaptation also meant that they had to scrub away a lot of his flaws. The donghua even more so. So, people are inclined to lead with that framing, when in reality the entire story is founded on the idea that no one is entirely right all the time, or entirely wrong all the time either.

[temporoom]

yessss!!! though about hg mdzs au: wei wuxian and jiang cheng being a mix of katniss and gale and peeta and jiang yanli of katniss and peeta and prim. because wei wuxian accidentally getting jin zixuan killed via friendly fire/jiang yanli getting on the battlefield and dying/being Very into gruesome deaths because they need to pay (way more than jiang "why waste time?" cheng) is very gale to me. katniss and peeta are also there - he's ready to die for his siblings (little does he know so are they :З), he can be very kind, he's one of the "stars" of sunshot campaign. then there's jiang cheng and leading the wens away, being tortured (heey peeta), whom wwx sacrificed his core for without even knowing about the first one, jiang cheng who somehow 'found people before wei wuxian showed up, the heir of almost entirely massacred sect, who doesn't have any experience or power to stop jgs from being all "chummy" with him ((realised he and haymitch actually. share a "all my friends/family are dead" sort of trope too. rip)). and then there's jiang yanli, who's the eldest daughter who had to take care of her younger siblings and is the soup enthusiast and is not a cultivator but still is in the camp, trying to help, who is in love with someone who completely misunderstands her ((lwj: #relatable)), jiang yanli who's soft spoken but will verbally murder you if you bully her brother(s), who was going to have an arranged marriage with someone she loved and then ended up marrying that someone when the engagement was no longer real.

yes yes yes!

I don't think we can do an exact 1:1 with hunger games and mdzs (because of course they're not the same stories) but I think they share a lot themes. Most notably, I totally agree with how you mention that there's some Gale in both Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng because they definitely went full Gale during the sunshot campaign in the sense that they adhered the idea that when met with violence you must answer with violence: the end justify the means. But where Jiang Cheng fully becomes Gale while Wei Wuxian strays to become some sort of Katniss is with the Wen remnants. Because just like Prim dying, Wen Ning dying is the cold shower Wei Wuxian needed to realize how gruesome perpetuating the horrors of war is. They needed to fight, but they didn't need to continue the violence. Meanwhile Jiang Cheng is still stuck in his hatred, and he understands that what's happening is wrong, but at the same time it feels right to him due to his own beliefs and experience.

Funnily enough though, Lan Wangji makes a perfect Peeta because despite his suffering, he sincerely doesn't want to perpetuate the violences of the war... But since he is a pacifist at heart, he also turns a blind eye to it, and that's what Wei Wuxian's death teaches him: that it's by ignoring the problem at hand that we nurture it. Just like Peeta calling for a ceasefire in Mockingjay (though we still don't know if he was truly thinking it or if he was pressured by the Capitol).

I really think that MDZS is thematically that close to the Hunger Games, though with a more morally grey protagonist.

But to go back on the AU! The 1:1 isn't so much about the characters than about the thematics, with Lan Wangji representing pacifism and Jiang Cheng War. And in that sense Jiang Yanli, Jin Zixuan and the rest of the Jian Clan and the Wen remnants serve that same thematic purpose. (As in, who are you ready to sacrifice for the sake of revenge and who are you ready to tolerate for the sake of pacifism). Funnily enough, if we consider they are in some sort of equivalent to the Sunshot campaign, that means that Wei Wuxian protecting Wen Qing and Wen Ning is akin to Katniss protecting her preparation team. But I digress.

[sonik-kun]

What?! There's period typical homophobia and sexism in a BOOK SET IN ANCIENT TIMES?! SHOCK! HORROR 😱😱😱😱😱😱

Seriously though stop applying MODERN standards to historic settings in books. You just sound silly.

Learn to separate our standards from the past and you'll appreciate the characters and themes of the book better, I promise.

Unfortunate as it is, the novel's society does have what we consider today as bigoted standards. But to them, homosexuality for example, was not the norm. In MDZS, it was unusual, in fact, hence everyone other than wangxian's reactions towards it. (Even then, WWX had his own confusion and, in a sense, bigotry towards it, which I mentioned in a previous post. And that brings me back to the PERIOD TYPICAL STANDARDS of the book's setting which ALL the characters subscribed to in some way!!)

The characters are therefore acting on the morals OF THAT TIME PERIOD.

As uncomfortable as it is, stop holding characters to our standards. Oh and whilst you're at it, let people interpret characters however they like in FANON.

Would also like to add that even fanon aside, JC himself is 🏳️‍🌈 coded, regardless of what the author says. As such, it is completely understandable how some LGBT fans like and latch onto him and headcannon him as such.

See the jealously he has towards anyone talking to WWX and his zero interest in women. Plus his reaction to seeing WWX with LWJ and the fact he never married.....

Yeah. Makes perfect sense why LGBT headcannons of him would exist, especially if you read into how the gossipers in the book literally described his relationship with WWX.

To act as though the LGBT headcannons of him are nonsensical is, in fact, nonsensical in itself for these reasons. Just admit that you're going by your own bias towards JC and go. Because the LGBT HCs whether he be gay, bisexual, ace or a combination of some isn't as big of a reach as you think it is if you read into the character. And it explains how a lot of ace fans have latched onto his character and those still questioning their sexuality too because they may still be in an environment where it isn't safe or welcoming to come out yet (quite like the setting in MDZS).

Consider internalised homophobia exists, and can apply to some MXTX characters is all I'm saying and ultimately, let people enjoy their headcannons fs. It isn't hurting anyone. But remember that your shitty, biased opinions are!

[erivroom]

MDZS Shapeshifting Cultivation AU plans

this is mostly just a note for my future fanfic writing, because I have a lot of fic ideas surrounding these ideas and plan to link this post in their notes. posting this publicity for any feedback (pls i beg any ideas) and if anyone wishes to use this as well for fics go ahead!!

Non-cultivators do not have animal traits. These traits come through by learning shape-shifting cultivation.

Not only is it extremely difficult to learn to hide their traits, it is extremely rude to do so for many reasons. The main and biggest reason is hiding your traits as a cultivator is like a big “fuck you” to your ancestors.

While there is A LOT of genetic factors, that is not always the case. The genetic factor is usually just upon the main clan families. A cultivator can never gain traits from the main clans, so they are seen as mythical beings even within this universe.

For rogue cultivators it’s USUALLY random, and can even be from the outer clan types. This is because somewhere in their family tree far back there would have been someone from this clan.

Cultivator children born within a main clan branch have their animal traits from a very young age, and they do not typically change beyond a FEW exceptions. If these changes ever happen, even to outer branching families it’s seen as negative, as they have “abandoned” their clan.

Qishan — Wen family are wolves, outer branches are based on house dogs

lmao wwx is scared of dogs it’s perfect

Wen Rohan — Black wolf (like a Tiangou)

Wen Chao — Brown wolf

Wen(Zhao) Zhuliu — Asian Black Bear, often confused as a dog bc he was taken in by the Wens and all that

Wen Ning — Siberian Husky

Wen Qing — German Shepherd

Wen Yuan — Rabbit (??? i’ll explain it in the fic. maybe. maybe it’s better to just leave it a mystery LMAO)

Yunmeng — Main Jiang family wild/big cats, otherwise house cats

Jiang Fengmian — Leopard

Yu Ziyuan — Spider

Jiang Cheng — Lynx

Jiang Yanli — Tiger

Wei Wuxian — Black Fox

Wei Changze — Maine Coon

Lanling — Main Jin family are Peacocks, otherwise birds

Jin Guangshan — Peacock, normal coloring

Jin Zixuan — Peacock, normal coloring

Jin Guangyao — Peacock, white coloring

Qin Su — Peacock, Red coloring, was thought to be a phoenix so… yeah that. happened.

Mo Xuanyu — Peacock, Charcoal/Black colored, often called a crow to belittle his heritage

Jin Ling — Qiongqi

Xue Yang — an actual crow

Qinghe — Main Nie family are Qilin, others are other horned beings (deer, moose, sheep, ect.)

Gusu — Only main family are Dragons, others are bunnies (how does this make sense? it doesn’t but it just is how it is.)

Also, eastern dragon, not western. Wormji.

Lan Wangji’s mother was a White Long-tailed weasel.

Other

Song Lan — Black bat (it’s funny bec–)

A-Qing — a mole

Baoshan Sanren and her disciples become Nine-Tailed Foxes through cultivating. One of if not the only exceptions to changing attributes the cultivation world has ever seen. Nobody knows how it’s done, and only her disciples have ever become nine-tailed foxes.

This pisses off the Wens no doubt, because they think as canines the Nine-Tailed Fox should belong to them.

Cangse Sanren was a grey nine-tailed fox

Xiao Xingchen was a white nine-tailed fox

Fics based on this post

none yet, I’ll add my links when I post them though if anyone else uses this post and wants me to add their fic link feel free to let me know!

You can use the ideas in this post without credit, I’m fine with it ^^

[sillygoofyqueer]

*checks phone*

*sees new chapter of Three Blades*

*falls out of chair before clicking as fast as possible*

Where do I even begin?? Everything is perfect!! I’ll start from the beginning and work my way through.

Hua cheng and E-Ming have The Best sibling relationship and I love every second of their interactions. Love how they playfully argue. It’s clear they know each other very well. I also love how seamlessly they switch dynamics from a petulant 8 year old to a calm teen assessing the situation.

Speaking of relationships, it’s interesting how seamlessly Hua Cheng and Luo Binghe work together. I guess that comes with the territory of knowing each other for decades if not centuries. The concern they have for WWX immediately after seeing him is so cute. I hope you know I am squealing SO HARD over here.

Hua cheng after learning Wwx is the wielder of the 3rd blade: *shocked pikachu*

Once again I am left wondering why WWX is in a graveyard because, well, yeah. Also still wondering what Wwx gave up but I’m assuming that will eventually be answered. Right??

Yin yu being the only one with enough sense to not only have them set up a medical room but also manage finances is amazing. I am curious how much he pays himself. Part of me is like, ‘he probably cares for them a lot and it’s probably not that much.’ And the other part of my brain is like ‘he has to deal with all their BS. He is paying himself handsomely.’

I hope you know I was cackling throughout the ENTIRE Chenqing and Suibian interaction. They are absolutely insufferable around each other and it’s amazing. Part of me wants to see them united against a common enemy (*cough* the ones who buried Wwx *cough*) because they both care a lot for Wwx so I kinda wanna see them go feral on whoever hurt him. In the meantime I will enjoy whenever they get reunited with wwx and them fighting the urge to kill each other.

Xin Mo is Tired™️ and I feel a little bad but also he had to know something like this would happen with Suibian.

Speaking of Suibian, she had a different name??? Did Xin Mo and E-Ming??? Or is that just a suibian thing?

Wwx waking up like “am I dead? I was supposed to be dead. Why am I alive and in a bed???” Is priceless. Even more priceless is Wwx thinking E-Ming is HC’s child.

Was that a Shen yuan mention I saw?? I heard they were friends but it’d be funny if they were roommates. Like, Shen yuan barely leaves his room and if he does it’s for food, forced human exposure or to rant At Length about novels. So for weeks WWX has LBH and HC going in and out of an apartment they share until Shen yuan is randomly eating in the living room and Binghe walks in and promptly trips over his own feet. Cue later interrogation of WWX by LBH. Idk, just thoughts.

I feel like the fact that WWX’s spiritual veins being reconstructed is important but I can’t tell how just yet. Maybe having to do with his golden core and all that? Idk. Too early to tell.

Love how wwx is nonplussed by literally waking up 4 days after being buried alive and his only comment is ‘guess I missed lunch with my friends :/‘

As always Four, I wish I could give more kudos because your fics always make me ~feel things~. Please remember to take care of yourself and take breaks.

Luna, you make me go feral. Hey. Hey honey bun (/p). Let's start blabbing. Hua Cheng and E'ming are the most sibling siblings out of the siblings. If that makes sense. However, sometimes E'ming says the most in depth things in his eight year old form and Hua Cheng will bully him instantly by being like "oooh, little baby trying to be smart?? Shut up." And just shoves him from any elevated space possible. I link it back to whenever my youngest brother tries to argue with me and I'm just like "You can't talk back to me, you're like..five." (he isn't). When E'ming is in teenager form, Hua Cheng is more likely to pick him up and dangle him around a bit, before dropping him in a general direction and seeing what he does. Luo Binghe and Hua Cheng have spent centuries upon centuries practically living together, of course they bond and are such close besties (family) that their swords (who expected to have to sort of manipulate the bond to make them feel like family ((like the previous god trio))) kind of watch in relief and awe as they do. When Wei Wuxian comes in, he's obviously in a dangerous situation and it's like...an almost instantaneous Protective™ reaction because oh my god tiny little teenager (not a teenager) is our missing friend (brother) and is bonded to our swords' missing partner (sister). They'll be even more Protective™ friends (older brothers) as they get to know the baby through his personality and are like..."ohh yeah, baby brother." Hua Cheng learning that this almost-fully dead teenager (young adult) is the third wielder: Somebody come pick up their definitely traumatised son before I adopt him into my not family- I dunno what you're talking about, Wei Wuxian's just chilling...in a graveyard....after almost being buried alive........usual stuff for a guy like him!! And, I swear on all that is holy (my life), you will learn what he sacrificed. Eventually. I've had threats (/j) of people coming to my house so they can find out what it is. You'll find out in due time. There are clues, alright? I swear. I prommy. There's a clue right from the first chapter. I pwomise. When I get to Yin Yu's perspective, it's going to be the most underpaid yet overpaid worker dealing with his maddeningly rich bosses having insane problems that he shouldn't be dealing with but is because he loves those guys. Until the new 'boss' comes in, causing a brawl between spiritual weapons and is the most rabid "working-class guy who's out of his depth in this new role" ever. I can't wait to explain it more. The way he pays himself varies wildly depending on how he's feeling: "Oh, I don't want to take advantage of their kindness, I love it here" *watches Hua Cheng sob violently into a portable Dianxia statue as he tries to sign off on the taxes agreement because there was another unsuccessful search* "...I'm giving myself a raise." Suibian and Chenqing are like two cats who hate each other, hissing and scratching - however, the moment Wei Wuxian is in view they're like little angels, kicking each other whenever he turns away. They actively curse each other out, even in weapon form, just having constant back and forths whenever Wei Wuxian's even lightly distracted. Xin Mo finally understands what headaches are and is constantly suffering trying to keep the two under control like the good older sibling that they are - they do understand that Suibian is Like That™ because they're certainly...interesting - while E'ming watches them all end up brawling because of course Xin Mo resorts to fighting to fix things as a former war god's sword.

I like to think of Shen Yuan's friendship with Wei Wuxian as 'this guy I tried to give money because I thought he was homeless is actually pretty cool and I let him stay at my apartment occasionally. We go to cafés together and he enjoys my bitching.' But I will not rest until I have Luo Binghe tripping over his own feet at the sight of this ragged nerd.

Wei Wuxian has woken up in this strange room and he is this close to losing his mind, but he falls back on COMEDY when he's confused. He isn't usually this trusting but Hua Cheng has answers and a son sword child thing that Wei Wuxian can respect. And hey, all I'm gonna say is that he's used to being in precarious situations. He's more worried about disappointing his friends than himself. He's also secretly extremely worried about another person (**cough cough** foreshadowing **cough cough**)

[phneltwrites]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to other writers. Spread the self-love~ 🫶🏻

💚

it's tempting to pick the long fics because they took the most work and have the most Stuff in them (themes, narrative experimentation, whatever) so i want to think a little more widely about the stuff i've written.

Bad Thing Twice (Not Me, Todd/Black). Ohh I love Not Me so much. What a fantastic show about a group of people taking down the biggest billionaire in Thailand. The main romance is great, the gang is fantastic, it's beautiful to watch... and then right at the end the most perfect best friends to enemies ship appears. otp of two guys who keep trying to kill each other over ideological differences but can't because they love each other so much. So then I wrote 64k to take that friends to enemies and add on a ...to lovers. One of my faves because I got to get into some themes that I love, like how and when to compromise, what to do when the love is real but the situation is hard. Also because I don't see anything glamorous or admirable in being rich and I wanted to wallow a bit in how much money fucks things up.

Say All That You're Feeling (MDZS, wlw wangxian). lesbians!! Genuinely the process for writing this was just coming up with a big list of all the things that I thought would be hot. lwj woodworking. wwx making leather bracelets and then playing with the leather bracelet on lwj's wrist. But then ALSO this fic is about comphet. Stage 2 comphet. Stage 1 is 'is it possible to like girls???' Stage 2 is learning to be ok with experiencing attraction. It's scary to be horny! It's vulnerable. And there's so much baggage around unwanted attraction and being predatory but like. it's beautiful and fun. We all know a useless lesbian who is like 'idk if that was a date or just friends' and I'm always like WELL did YOU say if it was one or the other?? and they never do. Useless. But also we've all been there so this is like, a fond and generous read on that situation (i hope)

Retrieved from Impossibility (Leverage, Eliot/Parker/Hardison). Possibly the most Me fic I've ever written. Android Eliot desperately clinging to his humanity, Parker's fierce sense of what's okay and not, and Hardison being so smart and caring and also into robots. I love books about cognition and humanity and agency and I also am very weak to a trope about heisting a person so they can be free, so.

Falling Til Four in the Morning (MDZS, wangxian). I sure do love a hyperspecific AU. Like this, technically, is a coffee shop AU, however it's set in the 90s and wwx aspires to dotcom and lwj works in radio. I researched so much for this fic and nothing makes me feel better than people in the comments say it captured the vibe of the era. In case anyone reading this has read that fic and wondered: wwx disassociated himself from the Jiangs because he was doing AIDS activism and it was communicated to him that he was shaming them.

Standing in Sharpening Wind (Game of Thrones, Jon/Tormund). A fave cause I think the setting comes through clearly, which is always something I'm working on. I feel cold in the spaces in the sentences. I can't believe I never had any fic writing inclination for this show until the end of S8 pissed me off SO bad. Not even the point of this fic but Brienne/Sansa forever I can't believe that show fucked me so bad. uhh anyway yeah north of the wall vibes, some culture clash stuff, Tormund pining like an idiot, lots of fun for me to write

[whumpbby]

I think my problem with LWJ is that I love him in his teen years and when he’s being stuck between protecting WX and his clan, but I find his grown up version unappealing. I liked him being conflicted and having to make serious choices with consequences. I don’t like him leaving his brother alone after his own traumatic conflict without even looking back. Hell even WX in the extras asked LWJ if they should check on his brother to which he just kind of shrugs. I hate that it feels like any loyalty he had to anything outside of his relationship with WX has evaporated. He’s not like other MXTX leads he has someone else who needs him that he’s ignoring and it just feels wrong, especially with how tortured we saw WX and JC’s separation was for them both. He goes from an interesting character to a blank lover and it’s a down grade.

Yep, that's kinda my opinion too.

I actually love him in the Gusu-arc. He's so weirdly repressed and helpless to make this strange boy make sense! To make his own feelings make sense! He struggles with himself and his feelings and what he knows should be appropriate way to deal with it, but somehow isn't. I cheered and cackled when the porn book happened to him and his virgin eyes!

And then he just...stops being that. He turns into a Love Interest and that's his whole role.

Does he have friends? Does he have duties in CR he has to preform? Is he the first disciple?? Does he even talk to anyone there at all apart from his brother and his young ward???? Like, where is your life Lan Zhan? You're meant to be the half of the main couple, where is your life??

After the Nightless City, JGY took control of the richest sect around, got married, got and lost a kid and did some murdering. Nie Huaisang was inventing a cruel and unusual punishment for the murderer of his brother, and failing at running a sect. JC built a sect from the ground up and raised a kid. What have you been doing, Lan Zhan? Apart from going around and fighting stuff, and being a periodical dick to JC, what was his life about in the time he apparently 'got over his loss'?

I wrote before that I wish these years between his seclusion and WWX being back were spent by Lan Wangji on regaining his standing in the sect and the respect of the Elders. That it would be amazing to see him facing the choice of getting his place back or 'here we go again' with Wei Wuxian. Wei Wuxian who, as far as Lan Zhan knew, didn't like him all that much.

Does he go back to his stoic life or change it all on the man he fell in love with as a boy? Is he the copy of his father after all - trailing after an uninterested person to soothe his own feelings? Does he slowly start to figure your that while his crush is not perfect, a lot of things just went very wrong for everything to go to shit so badly and he doesn't want it to happen again? Does he think that while his brother is in pain, he still has support of their uncle and the clan, while Wei Wuxian once more chose to walk alone and he wants to follow???

Give me something ffs!TT

I'm not gonna lie, nine out of then times I prefer Lan Wangji in fanfics than in the canon. The writers usually add character he is solely lacking in his post-ressurection iteration.

[helendamnationx]

Swinging on by to say thank you for your incredible tags and commentary on my comic [130]! I am nodding at you rapidly and sagely.

(I also really appreciate you mentioning how the kink aspects of wangxian genuinely do add on to what their dynamic is supposed to convey. It's a continuation of a very critical conversation about opening the parts of yourself you see as flaws to the other, and realizing that it can still be seen and loved. I think a lot of people on both sides of the kink debate really miss that aspect! Tucking your amazing analysis into the hall of fame so it stays cozy.)

!!! <3<3<3 I feel very cozy right now, thank you!

The thing is the kink is really SO reflective of their dynamic and so ripe for analysis.

LWJ struggling with desiring ANYTHING, especially when his desires are Like That, especially wanting to tie WWX up and control him, and him responding to that internal struggle by being as careful as he can to not overstep any of WWX's potential boundaries or make him feel trapped, to make space for him to be himself, to give him whatever he might want while going out of his way to avoid any sense of obligation, and to never ask for anything for himself.

And WWX sees that, and feels gooey about it, and tries to get LWJ to learn that he's allowed to want things and ask for them. He's allowed, nay, encouraged, to want WWX. It's so. It's so!

And on WWX's side, it's the trust, the vulnerability, the safety, after all he's been through. Someone strong enough to take the burdens he's been carrying, to take control and be in charge and let him rest. Someone to overwhelm him with feelings so he doesn't have to think.

And on both sides it comes down to this: you should be kinder to yourself. Let me do it for you. You work so hard. Let me be your place to rest. Let's be each other's place to rest. And - letting me look after you is just as much a gift as you looking after me.

I appreciate your analysis so much! #It is a false ideal to live by to be disconnected from everyone. You can't be a person if you are perfect.

None of us are perfect. It falls flat to be reassured that we are, because we know better. But for someone to see us at our worst, see the rotten work and say "Not to me, not if it's you..."

[hetaoren]

A (probably rambling) Lan Qiren Appreciation Post

Ok, let me start by saying I'm fully aware that he isn't a "perfect" person. He is a human and comes with human flaws, however, I often find that he gets reduced to nothing but rules and anger, which in my opinion isn't fair. Many seem to forget all the things he has gone through and accomplished, seeing only a strict man obsessed with rules and filled with anger, a hindrance for his nephew and his husband. It's true that he is strict and does like the rules, just as he often appears angry too, but that's not all he is.

(Chapters the "facts" come from are ch. 64, 68, 79, 111 and 117.)

Anyway, let's start from the beginning. We all know Lan Qiren is the younger brother of Qingheng-jun (QHJ), the previous Lan sect leader. It's fair to assume that QHJ was trained and moulded to become a sect leader from childhood, becoming a renowned cultivator with an impressive reputation from an early age, so I bet everyone assumed he'd be a great sect leader, one who would fulfil his duty well. Then, at twenty, he suddenly announces his marriage and goes into seclusion, pretty much throwing all the responsibilities of a sect leader on his younger brother, Lan Qiren, overnight. At this time, LQR is at the oldest nineteen (though I hc him as 18), but since we don't know the actual age gap between QHJ and LQR, we can't know for sure how old he is. However, he is a teen that suddenly finds himself being a sect leader in everything but name. Not only that, he pretty much lost his brother too, since QHJ went into seclusion and unless he visited him there (if it was even allowed), he wouldn't see him.

Like this isn't enough, he becomes an uncle twice within a few years (here too, we don't know the exact age gap between LXC and LWJ, as well as how long after the marriage LXC was born). Although the babies are raised by others at first, they are handed over to LQR "once old enough to be taught and raised", so LQR was their de facto parental figure. And suddenly LQR has a sect to run and two sect heirs to raise and he himself is most likely still under 25. He also wasn't trained for this the same way QHJ was, but the Gusu Lan Sect still flourishes. Yes, it was most likely already doing well before him, but he continued that and also ended up becoming a renowned teacher. On top of that he raised two boys into becoming two of the cultivation world's most renowned members, and let's be honest, both LXC and LWJ are good people. If LQR was such a horrible parental figure, then I doubt both of them would've turned out as well as they do. I'm not saying he's doing everything perfectly (no parents or parental figures ever do), but he did well.

Yes, he was strict with them and the reason was how their mother's crime had caused QHJ to throw away his life (as well as abandoning his duty) and LQR feared his nephews might do the same thing unless he was strict with them. In other words, he didn't want them to do something impulsive that would then ruin their chance of happiness (and maybe because it might also lead them to lose the ability to be with their family, like for QHJ). It might not be the best way to show care, but for a Lan who saw his accomplished brother throw away everything for a woman that didn't return his love, it makes sense. He also wouldn't be the only uncle who shows affection through irritation and scolding, would he? (Yes, Jiang Wanyin, I'm looking at you.)

Another thing that's good to keep in mind is that we often get to see LQR from WWX's point of view, unless someone is speaking about LQR, and WWX is chaos, so obviously anything strict will appear stricter. I don't say that's necessarily the truth, but it might be good to keep in mind.

Let's continue to a less than happy part, LWJ hiding WWX. Firstly, it was LXC who fetched LQR and the elders out of worry, but LQR too was worried, albeit showing it as frustration. I don't think corporal punishment is okay, however in this world, it is and LWJ did severely injure 33 elders of his clan, in the view of that, the punishment does make sense. It also makes sense that LQR is the one sentencing the punishment, since it's only him or LXC who can do it and I believe that LQR doesn't want LXC to have to punish his own brother. I do not see this as LQR not caring about his nephew, as I know many do. I fully believe that whipping LWJ did emotionally hurt LQR, but rules are rules.

Time for WWX's return. As we all know, LQR falls into a coma after trying to play Evocation for NMJ's arm and LXC later states to WWX after they return from the Cultivation Conference that LQR has just woken up. I read somewhere that it was about a month between Evocation and the Cultivation Conference, meaning that LQR has been in a coma for 3-4 weeks. No matter your golden core, that got to take a toll on you, which seems to be true as he is the one leading the Lans during the second siege of the Burial Mounds and he "stood before the crowd, looking considerably more aged. There were even streaks of white in his hair." Yes, this might be due to the stress of finding out that one of his nephews is with the returned WWX and the other nephew is gone (in the claws of JGY), plus the fact that Lan Juniors have been kidnapped. However, if this were the case, he would've aged a lot during the Sunshot Campaign and the First Siege of the Burial Mounds. I firmly believe it's the resentful energy that put him into a coma that took its toll on him. Anyway, no matter why, here he is, maybe a week or so after waking up after a nearly month long coma, leading a group of Lan cultivators. And no, it's not just to fetch LWJ, because he shows care for those under his command:

"Lan Qiren hadn’t wanted to go in, at first. He would rather have remained outside and fought until the bitter end. However, he was not waging this battle alone—there were many Lan and Jin Clan cultivators under his command, and they were not the main force in the fight. He did not want to treat the lives of those disciples with such disregard. If there was a thread of hope for survival, he was compelled to seize it."

As stated later, LQR is not a reckless man. He will do what the rules say is right and what will benefit the most people, even if he disagrees on a personal level (in this case wanting to fight, but knowing others might die if he does, since they would remain as well). He is also not so proud and petty that he won't let WWX speak his mind, instead he remains silent and listens. Many others would not.

He then again, despite probably not being in full strength since the coma and definitely not from all the fighting he's already done and without spiritual power, charges in with killing force to protect people when Su She breaks the barrier into the cave and the fierce corpses attack a again. Though this clearly comes with a prise as he afterwards coughs up a lot of blood and needs to mediate to regulate his breathing (and since LWJ is willing to give him spiritual energy, I have a feeling it's a tad worse than he wants to tell, but since his core is still sealed off, LWJ giving him qi would not help anyway, as LQR states himself).

Now to the aftermath of Guanyin Temple. He asks LXC what's the matter with him and LXC says he doesn't want to talk about it. LQR could press him, he probably could force him to tell him, but he doesn't. Yes he is angry, but the novel also declares that "both were now sources of worry" and it is after also saying that "neither of these two previously flawless pupils would heed him anymore", but I don't think it's just about smudged reputation or control that has him worried. I do believe he is genuinely worried that LXC and LWJ have thrown away their lives. The way he speaks and the way he's irritated with the situation shows signs of someone who acts with anger when stressed (similar to JC). I'm not saying this is the best way to react, but it is a part of our fight or flight reaction. We also can't forget that he did see his brother throw away his life due to an impulse decision and breaking the rules, a life that seems to have been generally happy before that.

And to end it all, after the family banquet:

"Wei Wuxian stroked his chin. If that was the case, they couldn’t blame Lan Qiren for punishing them like this. The man loathed wickedness in all forms. In fact, to be copying texts while doing handstands…they were getting off pretty light."

This is the juniors getting punished for going night-hunting with Wen Ning and if WWX thinks they're getting off pretty lightly, then they most likely are. To me this shows that although LQR adds rules and follows them, he does know there is a degree to them. He knows Wen Ning wouldn't hurt the juniors and that he isn't really evil or bad, but the rules state they shouldn't spend time with him, so he has to punish them, so he does so in a way that clearly is a punishment, but also not as harsh as it technically should be.

This became a long post. All in all, Lan Qiren is more than anger and strictness. He does not lack compassion, he does care about his nephews and I think people forget everything he has gone through and accomplished and that he deserves some more love and recognition (and not to only being the butt of the joke).

[hyperfixation-polls]

Okay so I’m not going to lie, I am a huge theater nerd, and one of my favorite things to do is imagine different sets of characters I like being theater nerds and performing in musicals! (Like Charles Xavier and Erik Leshnerr totally would kill it as Jean Val Jean and Javier! Like they just make sense in a production of Les mis.)

Currently in MXTX’s works I have two musicals that I feel like I fit certain groups, though not all the main characters are performers in the show, some may be audience members, or like the anonymous donor who sends outrageous flowers each night to the lead (*cough cough* hua Cheng).

So for TGCF, i personally feel like one of my favorite musicals, Jesus Christ Superstar just makes sense. Now like me start this with I’m not a particularly religious, I personally just really like the music! It’s so fricken good and it’s a super cool way to tell the whole story, you know?? And I feel like Jesus would most certainly be played by Xie Lian. (Just listen to gethsemane, like I just feel like it’s all a Xie Lian Vibe!) Now with a possibly controversial move, mu qing and Judas. But wait, people say that in the musical there are like gay undertones these two, so shouldn’t he be played by hua Cheng??

No. Judas spends like half the show arguing with Jesus and then betrays him, like hua Cheng couldn’t handle that, even if it’s acting he would just fall apart. No this role has to be Mu Qing. Mu Qing will argue with Xie Lian and calls him out, and did leave him eventually, which to many is a betrayal. So like yeah, those two just have the right energy. Now don’t worry I haven’t forgotten Feng Xin. He is Peter. The one who follows Jesus but when he is condemned to death, denies knowing him three times, and then sings a reprise of I don’t know how to love him (literally a song about not knowing how to love Jesus/Xie Lian). Like it’s just give Feng Xin. Now i feel like Shi Qingxuan would make a great mary Magdalene! Kind hearted and a good friend to Xie Lian, I vibe with this (if Hua Cheng was not the mysterious donor guy but was in the production, this is just about the only role I could see him playing! Let me know if you agree in the comments!)

Now Lang Qing Qui is totally pilot, ends up killing jesus/xie lian, but doesn’t want to, and is like I’ll be haunted by this forever.. I don’t think I need to say anything else. Now pei Ming is totally one of the other main high priest with Shi Wudu! (Don’t worry I’m not forgetting ling wen. Let’s all be honest, she isn’t an actor, she is totally the assistant director or stage manager, over worked, under paid, under appreciated, and yet completely irreplaceable. ) Now of course Qi Rong has to be here, and of course he would play King Herod, who sings a full flashy song making fun of Jesus/Xie Lian. And Jun Wu is the director who pushes Xie Lian and seems to be just a little too interested in Xie Lian.

Now my other musical idea is the lightening thief musical and mdzs! Wei wuxian would be Percy (if you don’t get why listen to good kid) wen Ning would be Grover (kind hearted and soft yet the protecter of percy/wwx, it’s perfect) and Wen Qing would be Annabeth (sassy, super smart, and sarcastic. It just fits!) Yanli would be Percy’s mom, Nie mingjue would be ares, Jiang Cheng is totally playing Luke ( you can’t argue you know I’m right), and Lan Xichen is the main director and Lan Wanji is the music director/Assistant director! Sorry that’s all I have on this one so far!