#maybe it really is a trap
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He’s not expecting that. He didn’t think Shiro would hand out private details, but he really didn’t expect him to ever date a cop either. Or sleep with. Ichigo only recalls Shiro scorning any kind of authority, especially the few times they’ve interacted with law enforcement. Ichigo’s never had any real animosity toward the police until they put his dad away. And it doesn’t matter that he knows Shiro dating a cop isn’t related to his situation at all, it still feels like a stab in the back. “You’re right. Why would he try to kill you? You probably pay him well.”
Ichigo crosses his arms, tempted to roll over. That might’ve been a little low. But also a little deserved.
Back to flirting. Ichigo ignores it the same way he used to back when they first met. Only, now he knows it’s not just suggestive banter to throw him off balance. Shiro is probably serious. “I’d like it if you got back in the car, yeah. But I’d settle for you wearing protection and not standing out in front.” It’s not like he’s being paid to be agreeable. Not like Shiro’s boyfriend.
He huffs an almost laugh. “Not a chance.” Shiro already has enough money and power to wreak havoc, as if Ichigo would introduce him to a small, private army.
He isn’t quite grinding his teeth yet, but he also doesn’t have to keep Shiro happy anymore. “Like you need to remind me. That’s just about your life motto, isn’t it?” Now he does roll onto his opposite side.
His eyes coast to the side to find Ichigo, but he doesn't actually turn his head. He can't tell if Ichigo is genuinely asking, or if he's implying he thinks Shiro's wrong. Or maybe he's just trying to figure out who Shiro's screwing around with... Except that implies jealousy and Ichigo wants nothing to do with him.
He shrugs. "He's a cop." Not that he'd succeed if he tried to arrest Shiro. Shiro's pockets run deep and so do his connections. He sells to half the force. "I didn't know that when we first met, but I figured it out quick." And he chose to see him again anyway.
There's enough alcohol buzzing in his system that he catches that ire, but in a lazy, mostly unbothered sort of way. He's usually a pretty happy drunk, as long as he's not too drunk, and right now he's hovered right on that perfect plane. "I'm already a target. I'm gonna be a target the moment we roll up. Unless you thought you'd hide me in your car the whole time. Only way that's happening is if you're in my lap to keep me there."
Ichigo sounds so exasperated already and it hasn't even happened. He snorts. "Good, it sounds fun. I love a good mess. You'll have to introduce me to 'em when we're done." He highly doubts Ichigo has any intention of damage control, let alone damage control that stays out of the way. Ichigo has always enjoyed a good fight and being right in the middle of everything. "I'll jump in where I see fit, if I see fit." It's his nice way of saying no one can tell him what to do.
#whitemoon#tsp activity check#Okay#okay I can see this working yes#i love these ideas#what if we go with the second more believable idea#then we just tweak ichigo’s perception of it#Ichigo thinks it’s the first thing but its actually the second#shiro having a real reason not to show wouldn’t even need to be that drastic then#what if Isshin got arrested and it’s legit#someone showed up at the clinic and he killed them in self defense#maybe they were looking for Ichigo and found the girls inside#but shiro is already under suspicion or he’s been detained etc#so Ichigo’s big plan is to take the blame himself and confess#maybe even clear both shiro and Isshin all at once#and Shiro refuses back him up#shiro could have his own reasons for not agreeing#maybe in reality he just doesn’t want to be anywhere near people that could use it as an excuse to lock him up longer#maybe he thinks arresting Isshin on flimsy charges when he was defending his home is actually a trap for him#maybe it really is a trap#or they already want to arrest him for Yhwach related stuff like you said#maybe its all of those things#but he doesn’t admit that he’s scared#he just tells Ichigo he won’t send him to jail and doesn't show and lets Ichigo think whatever he wants#though holy hell Ichigo would have yelled so much#shiro would’ve gotten no peace from him all the way up until his dad was convicted and then it would’ve just been silence and tears#do you think that could work??
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au where SQQ does undergo the 'qi-deviation' and is 'changed' but in reality the twin of Shen Jiu, Shen Yuan made a comment one day about how all Shen Jiu did was bitch about his martial siblings. Never one to turn down a golden opportunity,
Shen Jiu: bet
And so the twins decided to switch lives!
The qi-deviation is just so they can explain away any differences of temperament and so sj can hightail away easier.
Shen Yuan: this is going to be so easy
(spoiler. it wasn't)
Between useless sect meetings that could've been not even an email but a text message, reading fifteen different preteens attempts to sneak in dick jokes into their poetry assignments, the head cook alerting him to the fact that they've somehow run out of rice??? They're the greatest cultivation sect??? How does that happen???
Anyway, two of his Hall masters eloping together and taking an extended honeymoon (he's happy for them, but. Who's going to teach those classes now??? Him. Apparently.), sect politics and his 'martial siblings' barely even attempting a farce of civility or courtesy AND his guqin strings needing to be replaced and restrung ?
Shen Yuan is sorry 🙏🙏please come back🙏🙏🙏
Cue the allotted period of switching ending and Shen Yuan dramatically throwing the fan on the ground as Shen Jiu rolls up and goes "thanks for the vacation didi"
#then it was shen yuan's turn to bitch about their martial siblings#all of cang qiong in the background:#we've been bamboozled#there are two funny thing you could do with yue qingyuan: one. he knew the whole time and totally went#“should we check for possession by making Xiao 'jiu' drawing hong jing? of course. infact. we should use ALL of the possession detecting#artifacts we have. for safety purposes.“#“sect leader why are you mailing a letter that says 'hope you're enjoying your vacation -love qi-ge'?”#or two: he's fooled as well and just thinks he's projecting his desire to see the tiny xiao yuan who he and xiao jiu lost all those years#ago again. and that the grief of loosing shen yuan is what changed shen jiu into the man that he is today#so that maybe loosing his memories. also had him loose that grief. and that maybe underneath the weighty mould of the past. shen jiu and#xiao yuan really were alike after all#svsss#svsss au#svsss parent trap au?#shen yuan#shen qingqiu#shen jiu#original shen qingqiu#yue qingyuan#cang qiong#cang qiong mountain sect peak lords#realizing i forgot the second option was supposed to be funny#there are so many errors in my spelling and punctuation its not even funny. ignore it please i am procrastinating on stuff
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The princess is sleeping in her tower tonight
Good night sweet princess!
#What would snake Rapunzel do#She has no hair#She could let down her tail#but i mean#She's basically free from the tower then#like oh#i guess she isn't trapped there she just lives there#well okay#maybe she has a magic golden rattle that's really really long#lol#I choose to believe that isn't Sakura's tail but that she has two really long noodle arms#and a really long neck#what a creature lol#don't tell her i said this she'll judge me
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Was going to write a little ficlet to go with this, but. Vaccine tiredness is killer.
A little bit of art for the FOP Nature au by @bunnieswithknives. I cannot recommend checking it out enough.
#art#my art#fop nature au#fop#fairly oddparents#fairly oddparents a new wish#fop a new wish#fopanw#fop dale#dale dimmadome#he deserves to die in a dimmaditch#body horror#blood#candy gore#Anyway the concept behind the ficlet was going to be basically about Bramble#(because im a dirty little bitch who shoves their oc where they don't belong)#setting up traps in the forest with the intention of not catching actual deer#but rather the rogue fairy disguised as a deer that the fairy council had warned her to be on the lookout for (aka Flowers)#The Council doesnt really give a shit about Bramble or her forest#they just want to make sure Flowers isn't COMPLETELY unsupervised after the Dale Incident#So anyway Bramble does catch something#and its certainly not a real deer#but he's pretty damn sure it isn't another fairy either#(idk why Dale would be in the forest I guess maybe he just went looking for Flowers to fix this and freaked out and got lost? idk)#Anyway none of that is actually canon to the au ofc it was just in my head#and it gave me an excuse to draw a fucked up deer man so like what else could I ask for
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i love my Basketbot Portal AU
#Basketball is Chell and Robot Flower is Glados#i think GB would be Cave Johnson and TB is prob just her assistant.. and Puffball would be the Turrets (because she sings so beautifully)!!#maybe Flower is Caroline?#The plot would change a bit too... this AU is more like a role insertion and not a complete perfect run of Portal/Portal 2#Basketball would still be trapped by RF to do tests and she would try to get closer to Robot Flower and try to fix her#Basketball is really smart... i think she would admire Robot Flower's innovation and creativity even if shes Evil... they looove each other#they would totally fall in love and date in the end trust#in the end i think Basketball would try to code the personality spheres off of her#maybe each personality sphere could be a character... like Intelligence Core = Pin (cake) or Book (smart and knowledgeable)#Space Core = 8 Ball (in the sense that they both have a fixation on one thing... Space and 8 yknow?)#Morality Core = Teardrop..... or actually maybe Pie? shes apathetic and i think it would be cool#Curiosity Core = Liy or Pillow... in a sense? before her huge killing spree thing i think Pillow was the very curious and experimental type#im not completely sure for Wheatley... ill think on it#omg if you read all this thank you sm ive been thinking of this for literal months#btw please tag me if you make art#bfdi#portal#basketbot#basketball x robot flower#basketbot portal au#key rambling
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It's always funny to me when in an lu fic the chain is offered bananas and don't accept them. Like, you're offering these high energy adventures free food?? Fruit they'll have never even heard of before??? A ridiculously expensive imported good at best?? AND it boosts your attack?
Not ONE of these idiots would ever turn down something new and interesting to eat at least once. They'd be all over those bananas and immediately get dubbed yiga and I'm honestly surprised no one has used it in a fic yet 🤭
#I know it's for plot reasons but it really shows the author's hand lol. 'just a quick bit of standard suspicion now move along we have more#Interesting things to do'#Again I get it it's always funny to see them fail the vibe check and get plied with a random fruit#There could be a fake out where they ask for the bananas and while everyone's panicking they go 'I've never had one before I'd love to try'#Or someone brings up kohga and they're like who???#But you could make a whole fic out of the chain getting mistaken for yiga and getting chased out of everywhere that's heard the news#And them travelling around trying to clear their name when they don't even know what happened.#Heck maybe they figure it out when the yiga mistake then in disguise too XD!#Also featuring as many Wild assassination attempts as you want. Like he's hunting them down but he travels faster than news#Spreads so he's rarely on time and can't set traps#And the 8 of them keep fending him off but he's really got the upper hand and DEEPLY unhappy#I'm just saying it'd make for some EXCELLENT scenes and I know y'all in the LU fandom like your misunderstandings#The chain strolling along in faron like yum these are delicious we gotta stock up while we're here#And in the tree above them wilds eye's twitching#loz#legend of zelda#linked universe#lu wild#lu chain#loz fic#fic ideas#fic prompt#loz link#loz lu#yiga clan
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TRAPPED [ Error ]
Previous • Masterpost • Next
#zu art#comic#trapped#error!sans#core!frisk#blueberror#underswap!sans#us!sans#swap!sans#undertale#undertale au#utmv#haphephobia... as the refusal to check things for the fact of their existence? ;w;#it wasn't planned but I really wanted to draw An Anime Character Going Insane trope XD#the scene with them bypassing Error would look cooler in move... maybe I'll animate it someday *w*#thank you guys so much for 15 800+! (〃ω〃)#UPD for 15 900+?? (O_O) you guys are so fast! XD <3
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2023 Brazilian Grand Prix - Sprint - Fernando Alonso
#yknow i thought maybe id get immune to his insane level of attractiveness from this weekend after posting so much#but these had me going: 'WHAT THE FUCCCCKKKKKK' super hoarse LMAO#im so confused at him. he was very cute and angelic in the earlier interview and now he looks like this???? unfair.#theres something about a man trapped by the sleeves of his racesuit....#okay anyways this should be my last work of the day actually#i have to go do a school thing so i shant be online...probably#BUT AH NO SERIOUSLY ITS BEEN SSO FUN YESTERDAY AND TODAY!!!#like it really is a reward after suffering thru all his races since zandvoort basically#but mostly cota and mexico killed me but this wknd has reminded me how fun racing and f1 can be#thank you everyone for being so fun hehehe#fernando alonso#f1#formula 1#2023 brazilian gp#we do a little bit of f1
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This is their dynamic in s2.
#arcane#jinx arcane#caitlyn kiramman#plz accept my ugly meme#caitjinx#it's a ship that's incredibly interesting bcuz it will never happen#i also really like how unsubtle the poster is#caitlyn is the one whose image is trapped and fractured under the string of her grand conspiracy#she's trapped under obsession with finding jinx#with capturing jinx#all the while jinx maybe be pinned but she's more free than caitlyn is here#the most devastating thing jinx cud do to caitlyn is tell her that she hasn't been thinking about her since the rocket#or the temple fight#just to drive her up the wall
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from @/elfbotanist on twitter who is posting from trick's bluesky; they elaborated a bit on exactly what the intention of the solavellan ending is
#honestly#this is a lot more sad than i originally interpreted it#i was like oh they can leave if he confronts his regrets like rook did#but it doesnt seem like that is the case?#maybe it is a possibility but he has to stay there to study the blight that is also trapped there?#honestly i love this ending the more i sit with it#but the more i sit with it also the more it hurts#i was expecting him to die and i was really prepared for that#but this is tragic in a way i wasnt expecting and its got me so fucked up#its beautifully poetic#the trickster god who freed slaves and trapped tyrants allowing himself to be trapped#to make up for everything he has done#for him to return to the fade after being forced into the physical world#for him to follow mythal into the physical only for his mortal lover to follow him back into the fade so he wouldn't have to be alone#lavellan giving up her life for this makes me sob#i love her i love this its so fucking bittersweet i could die#and with what tay said about a dalish keeper's role being to guard everyone from the dreadwolf#thats exactly what shes doing but because she loves him she is helping hold him accountable#i genuinely cannot stop sobbing this is so insane#i cant believe they managed to absolutely bamboozle me like this because i did not expect something so tragic#well played trick weekes.....#solavellan#solas#veilguard spoilers#dragon age the veilguard spoilers#da:v spoilers#dav spoilers
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the peak of ninjago media is the story mode of the ninjago world in lego dimensions - bc the ninja are only on screen for literally 2 seconds before they go right back to watching batman & friends torment the other competitors in the tournament of elements.
giant portal and mysterious guests with a penchant for making chen a little TOO excited? normal day in ninjago! nothing to see here. nothing to worry about.
#art✨#ninjago#lego dimensions#jay walker#lloyd garmadon#kai ninjago#cole ninjago#wu ninjago#zane ninjago#lego batman#that plus the chronology issues (kai makes a possession reference and jay makes a skybound reference#as if they’ve already happened!! means i can pretend zane was just off getting snacks instead of being trapped in the dungeon :]#idk. maybe they let chen out of the departed realm for one day for good behavior and were just doing a tournament redux for funsies#who knows ¯\_(ツ)_/¯#THIS TOOK AGES BUT IM REALLY HAPPY WITH IT blease don’t flop
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Why do you think did Anya ask Jimmy to give Curly the meds when she knew what kind of person Jimmy was?
I subscribe to the idea it was because she couldn’t bring herself to force the pills on Curly the same way Jimmy forced himself on to her. That and a mix of it inducing nausea due to the pregnancy. Since she took care of him outside of that one task, I think it was more the sound of him struggling and resisting than disgust with him.
On a personal level, it’s Curly. She still likes Curly and seeing the one person that was just starting to hear her be reduced to such a suffering, vulnerable state. It hurts and it’s frustrating and it’s unfair and despite the med bay being her area, she doesn’t like hearing the pain inside it. She asks Jimmy in my mind because Daisuke is a bit too young, to eager in her mind to help, he could easily and accidentally make it more painful for Curly. Swansea is just to gruff but Jimmy?
Jimmy was Curly’s friend, best friend, closest friend. He knew him and vice versa. Of all of them he should be the most willing and best option to get rid of his pain. I mean, I don’t think it was with malicious intent. She knew how cruel Jimmy could be but Curly said it himself.
“He won’t try any shit with me.”
She clings on to that a bit, despite knowing it’s meaningless now. I think it makes a nice parallel to how Curly’s attempts to help just fell flat or made things a bit worse. She wants him to stop hurting but this way just brings a whole new type of pain. It’s so much more obvious the way Jimmy treats people with Anya cause he has no false pretenses with her. He makes her feel guilty for asking to do one thing similarly to how he guilt trips and twists words with Curly.
#like I don’t think Anya is purposely asking Jimmy so Curly can understand what she was going through#but she’s a nurse she sees the bruises and the way Curly has to look after Jimmy takes care of him#she was also his victim she can see in Curly’s eye the way he stares at Jimmy when he enters the room the way he squirms and whimpers when#she leaves it but she can’t see what happens she doesn’t know what he’s doing and its a sort of ignorance they share#Curly doesn’t blame her but it still hurts and the feeling is mutual and it’s tragic#like people make the characters a bit too purposely mean or malicious when a lot of the things they do are bad responses#to what they are trapped in like do people really think Anya is intentionally sicking her abuser on someone else let alone so vulnerable?#maybe she realizes what could happen but she takes a risk everytime she asks cause Jim gets mad and aggressive with her#maybe in the back of her mind it’s a distraction from her on to him and maybe a part of her she hates likes that it’s no longer her#but it’s never intentional not something she wants or feels a need to happen#mouthwashing#ask#anon#nurse anya#captain curly#anya mouthwashing#curly mouthwashing#jimmy mouthwashing#mouthwashing game
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Can you make the box smaller? Asking for... not the Lord
You mean this one? Well, I can, but it's really not worth it because, when it comes to tight spaces, after a point she kinda just...
…turns into whatever this is, so…
Today's Daily Degurechaff is… optimized for small spaces
#dailydegurechaff#‘asking for not the lord’??#I was confused to see that because like…#you want something ecchi? from me?#do u have the wrong person or something?#but then I realized… yeah I did make a sex joke just the other day didn’t I#oops#anyway#the trapped in a box trope really works best when you shove two people together#but I don’t have the time for something detailed at the moment. maybe in the future#for now something silly
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fairest of the fair
#hi! im alive and back and etc.#six the musical#six the musical fanart#katherine howard#thinking of that post going 'i think eventually you become the person you needed most' and like maybe that's the thing with my art#this started out as a redraw and <improvement meme> i think i've finally reached the stage where i'm making the things that my younger self#aspired to create. like i can do this now! i've reached That level of technical skill! tiny me would be so proud. it's very gratifying#redraw from august this year actually. i've made a surprising amount of improvement HAHA maybe it was the adamandi stuff getting me#back into digital rendering. i think that obsession has quietly slipped away but yknow. one never truly leaves a fandom. just less intensit#also speaking of old fandoms! we're back with the six stuff haha. as of writing i'm in the midst of blog revamp- figuring out how to chill#multifandom status doesn't mean ditch all the old stuff ! but i do feel much freer and less stressed. i think hiatus has been good for me#notes on this piece particularly: redraw about cutting hair and thinking of the lyric above. also lowkey &j ref + pinterest poem excerpts#of female suffering. and maybe a dash of amanda heng let's walk inspo. this work is really just full of contradictions..#1. the mirror and cutting hair as an act of self liberation 2. the & is part of the lyric but also a nod to &j (in another iteration it was#pink but the white looked better) and like. &j is really all !!! girl power!!! etc. and i was like hmmmm. also matching pink shiny aes#3. the frame as a cage; the mirror as a self reflection idea (ie. saville's propped insp) but also as a sign of vanity. 4. sparkly costume#and pretty pose- read one too many poems about women feeling like they have to be pretty even in their suffering. something i wanted to#explore. and also in 5. the show itself... all you wanna do is. despite all the dancing and pink and sparkly the content of the song is#darker. and even though it's a story of her suffering it's still presented as a shiny fun pop song and ajshdhfhfh ok... 6. the lyrics fall#outside the frame. sort of a caught inbetween. sort of a trapped in the narrative and yet#within the frame it's all. vaguely handwavy breaking free vibes. like i said contradictions?#7. cutting off the long ponytail vs the pull my hair lyric at the end. yeah#8. the blocked off & looks a bit like scissors. positioned to cut right at the neck#anyways yeah irl remains hectic! but if i get around to more doodles they'll appear here :)
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So we know that Wei Wuxian's treatment after his death was horrible. Even if nothing could impact him directly, there was still neverending slander, hatred, misinformation, theft...
But, for a while after he died, the sects did try to impact him directly – namely, frequently trying to resummon his soul. And today I'll explore the possible reasons for this, their likelihoods, and why I'm so, so thankful that Wei Wuxian's soul managed to resist the summons. Because, spoiler alert (or, you know. maybe not)... none of them are good.
(Long meta ahead)
In my opinion, there are four likely motivations for this: confinement, coercion, torment, and potentially destruction.
Out of all of these, confinement is probably the most likely motivation, at least for most sects (Jins and Jiangs excluded, though it was likely what the Jin sect said their motivations were – but I'll get to them later). This one is the most simple – we know spirit-trapping pouches exist, and we know the sects also placed 120 stone beasts on the Burial Mounds to prevent Wei Wuxian's soul from escaping. Therefore, this seems to be the most likely motivation – and fortunately for Wei Wuxian, probably also the best case scenario, though it still certainly isn't a good one.
For the second, coercion – this is where the Jin sect come in (more specifically Jin Guangshan with the help of Jin Guangyao). Due to their wealth and resources, they're likely the sect who played the largest role in the soul-summoning rituals. We know what they're willing to do to try to gain power – keeping Wen Ning under the pretence he was burned to death and trying to control him with the nails, and working with and helping Xue Yang torture people to help him refine his demonic cultivation, in order to have the Yin hufu fixed. Along with working with many other cultivators, alongside Xue Yang – Jin Guangshan really, really wanted that seal.
And so, Jin GuangShan sought after all those who imitated Wei WuXian in cultivating the ghostly path and gathered them under his rule. He spent a great amount of money and resources and these people, ordering them to study and analyze the structure of the Tiger Seal in secrecy so that they could replicate and restore it. - Villainous Friends extra, EXR
(Note that working with these cultivators very likely happened after Wei Wuxian's soul had failed to be summoned, since this happens some time after Wei Wuxian's death, whereas the soul-summoning ceromonies presumably started happening very close to it.)
In the previous paragraph, he's also quoted as having 'lusted after' the Yin hufu, which we already knew but it's nice to have a direct quote as evidence.
Now, would Wei WuXian willingly work with the Jin sect in doing this? No. We know that, and, given Wei Wuxian's actions in his first life (refusing to hand over the Tally, not being afraid to stand up to the sects, etc), I’m pretty sure Jin Guangshan knows that, too:
He beat around the bush a couple of times, using all his skills, yet Wei WuXian didn’t give in no matter what, and it made him run into a bunch of obstacles. - Villainous Friends extra, EXR
So this could actually make things go two ways. One, I'm wrong and that wasn't actually part of the Jin sect's motivations, since they know they wouldn't be able to control him (and in that case, had they managed to summon him, I could imagine them putting him in a spirit-trapping pouch and doing something similar to what Jin Guangyao did to Nie Mingjue's head. Which, also, not good). Two, it was a part of their motivations, and they hoped to find a way around that. After all, there are other guidao users out there now, and Wei Wuxian would now be a gui*. Also, cultivators can obviously harm ghosts – see the very existence of Night Hunts, and I'd include Xue Yang's talisman-caused destruction of A-Qing as well (while he isn't a traditional cultivator, talismans can be used by everyone).
Now, would either of these methods actually work? I'm inclined to think not really (and I expand on the former method in a note below). Would that stop Jin Guangshan/Jin Guangyao/the cultivators they employ from trying? Especially considering Jin Guangshan's lust for power?
I'm inclined to think no, too.
For the third, look no further than Jiang Cheng's reputation of capturing and torturing demonic cultivators after Wei Wuxian's death, due to thinking they could be him. And this does happen – Jin Ling knows and talks about it, and there's not real motivation for him to negatively lie about someone he loves. Also, when they come across each other at Dafan Mountain, we're told this in Jiang Cheng's inner voice:
A moment ago, Jiang Cheng was certain that this person was Wei WuXian, and all of the blood in his body started to boil. Yet, now, Zidian was clearly telling him that he wasn’t. Zidian definitely wouldn’t deceive him or make a mistake, so he quickly calmed himself and thought, this doesn’t mean anything. I should first find an excuse to take him back and use every possible method to get information out of him. It’s impossible for him to not confess anything or give himself away. I’ve done things like this in the past anyways. - MDZS Chapter 10, EXR translation
This mainly shows that he's tortured people before, rather than that he's tortured people because he thinks they're Wei Wuxian, but this reason is confirmed by Jin Ling in Chapter 24. Of course, the reason is also mentioned in this chapter, and there are other moments in the chapter that illustrate my point better**, but they come from second-hand sources which I know are easier to deny. Do take note of Jiang Cheng's expression both times he comes across 'Mo Xuanyu' (after he suspects he's Wei Wuxian) in Book One***, though:
After a moment, the corners of Jiang Cheng’s lips pulled into a twisted smile. His left hand started to unconsciously stroke the ring [Zidian] again. He spoke softly, “… Well, well. So you’re back?” - Chapter 10, EXR Although his face had always been clouded, marked with arrogance and satire, it seemed as if every corner of it had come alive. It was difficult to determine whether it was vengeful wrath, fathomless hatred, or raving ecstasy. - Chapter 23, EXR
This does seem to line up with what people say his attitude to Wei Wuxian is – there doesn't seem to be any happiness at seeing him again at all. The only time a word that could suggest that ('ecstasy') is used, it's accompanied by 'raving', and considering the context and the other possibilities of his expression, it's... probably not due to happiness at being reunited.
So, considering 1) this, 2) his contribution to the Siege specifically intended to kill Wei Wuxian, and 3) that at the time of frequent soul-summoning Jiang Yanli's death would be even closer for him, I feel pretty confident in saying that yes, this is likely a motivation for the Jiang sect in trying to re-summon Wei Wuxian's soul after his death. And, as mentioned earlier, cultivators can harm ghosts (and we know Zidian is able to remove souls posessing a body from that body, and that Jiang Cheng used Zidian on 'Mo Xuanyu' in Chapter 10. If it wasn't able to restrain/harm ghosts, or other methods weren't able to, why would he risk Wei Wuxian's soul escaping?).
And finally, option four: destruction. We're heading into much more speculative territory here, so don't consider this on par with the first three. But consider this:
We know there are some spells, like Xue Yang's talisman used on A-Qing and the body-offering ritual, that can ruin the returning soul’s reincarnation cycle by destroying it. Therefore, soul destruction is possible.
The 'main'/supposed reason for summoning Wei Wuxian's soul back is to stop the "cultivation world, or even all of mortal land" from being "faced with the most insane damnation and revenge, sinking into nothing but chaos and despair" when Wei Wuxian inevitably returns. While, as mentioned above, I severely doubt this is the motivation for certain sects – and to me is likely a rumour which the Jins (again, especially Jin Guangsha) fanned the flames of to justify summoning Wei Wuxian back for their own purposes**** – there are other sects which would take it more seriously.
Although likely disrespectful, people already thought it served Wei Wuxian right to die without his body intact by the time of the second siege – something believed to negatively affect your reincarnation in your next life*****. This is only the logical next step, and I'm pretty sure the vast majority of people would believe that, again, it would serve Wei Wuxian right, or would at least lead to less harm of the world in the long run.
For these reasons, I could definitely see this as an option for some sects, especially the sects who consider themselves more 'righteous' (cough cough the Nies under Nie Mingjue cough cough). After all, evil is evil and good is good, and the evil deserve what's coming to them. And what better way to prevent that than from preventing his soul from returning at all? So for the Nie sect – and likely some of the smaller sects involved in the Siege, since among them, additudes probably vary – yes, I do think it could be a motivation.
I’m not as sure about the Lans being willing to go this far, and that’s largely for two reasons. One, Lan Wangji’s presence and his relationship to Lan Xichen, who does (not always, but he does) let this affect how he treats Wei Wuxian. An example of this is that, when Wei Wuxian's return is made public, Lan Xichen does let him hide and shelter at the Cloud Recesses instead of trying to pursue him, likely majorly due to Lan Wangji. I'd argue that the aftermath of the Nightless City also acts as an example of this, although it definitely isn't perfect. But though he, Lan Qiren and the 33 elders do come to find Lan Wangji and do not let him continue to shelter Wei Wuxian (after they see Lan Wangji's feelings), Lan Xichen doesn't use this opportunity to kill/capture Wei Wuxian, despite Lan Wangji being in a worse condition due to having fought 33 elders, Wei Wuxian being catatonic, and Lan Qiren likely supporting this outcome (especially considering he was the one who led the Lan sect in the Siege – chapter 68, Wei Wuxian's POV). And he did let Lan Wangji take Wei Wuxian back to the Burial Mounds after:
After he went out of his way to send you back to Burial Mound and returned in such low spirits to receive his punishment, how long he kneeled before the Wall of Rules! - Chapter 99, EXR
Again, this was right after the Nightless City massacre – there isn't any goodwill towards Wei Wuxian at this point in time.
Of course, the Lan sect did participate in the siege after Lan Xichen knew of Lan Wangji's feelings towards Wei Wuxian, which Lan Xichen was no doubt a part of (although Lan Qiren lead the Lan sect in the siege, Lan XIchen had to have at least known/given his support, if not participated.) And it should be considered that Lan Xichen letting Wei Wuxian shelter at the Cloud Recesses was after Wei Wuxian had been back for a while, and had not caused the downfall of the Cultivation World, like many suspected he would after his death. And of course, as stated previously, his handling of the aftermath of Nightless City wasn't perfect either (though please note that his main motive here was to protect Lan Wangji from being potentially executed, rather than anything about Wei Wuxian himself). So caring about Lan Wangji doesn't mean he won't harm Wei Wuxian. But I do think he could find bringing Wei Wuxian's soul back to completely destroy it a bit excessive. There is, though, the chance that the elders of the Lan Sect would react to this differently, and of course they would have a sway on both Lan Xichen and the Lan sect as well.
The second reason is smaller, but there seems to be more focus in the Lan sect than in others when it comes to letting ghosts rest peacefully/helping them move on. And that could definitely lead to more resistance to the idea of summoning a soul back to destroy it as well, which could especially impact the elders. So I'd assume that the Lan sect would be the most likely sect to summon Wei Wuxian's soul back just for confinement, or just for some way of making sure any resentment is disippated, his spirit moves on, and he can't cause more harm to the world (eg via Inquiry)******. Not that he would or does as a ghost or as a reborn person, but that's unfortunately not relevant to this.
But yes, as a motivation for the Nie Mingjue-led Nie sect? Absolutely.
So, these are the main motives I suspect to be behind the attempted summoning of Wei Wuxian's soul after his death (and if I've missed any, please let me know – I'd love to have a discussion). And, of course, none of them lead to anywhere good. Because of course it wasn’t enough to besiege Wei Wuxian, murder the 50 non-combatants he was responsible for (and throwing them into the blood pit as a mark of disrespect because why not?), and lead to his death via him getting torn apart. It wasn’t enough to steal all his inventions, and use them commonly while still slandering him with no reprieve – or to steal his notes and give them to people like Xue Yang to study (Villainous Friends, again) and to use for their own, extremely extremely harmful, purposes. Of course, the cultivation world has to try to harm Wei Wuxian after death as well ((:
We don't know whether Wei Wuxian rejecting the summoning ceremonies was conscious or unconscious, but if it was the former, these are very likely reasons he refused to return in this way. If it was unconscious – for example, maybe during the frequent soul-summons his soul was in a weakened state due to him dying from a backlash of resentful energy and getting torn apart, and it healed over time but not before the soul-summoning rituals stopped – well, I can only be thankful.
Finally, let me leave you on the thought that – although it may well have happened since we don't spend much time in the immediate aftermath of the Sunshot campaign – there isn't even any textual mention of this happening to Wen Ruohan. Who, while not being a guidao user, was still very dangerous, still an extremely powerful cultivator, and still had a lot of reason to feel resentment. So.
:')
Thank you for reading!
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*Considering what we see of how Wei Wuxian's guidao functions – redirecting the ghosts'/corpses' resentment into doing something they'd want to do, eg attacking people, and directing it towards a target – I'm not sure using it to force a spirit to do something 1) extremely specific, and 2) explicitly against their will would actually work. Iirc the closest thing we get to this in text is Wei Wuxian using the corpses of Wens to attack other Wens in the Sunshot Campaign, but he's still just directing their resentment to a target of his choice, and fierce corpses do tend to be on the less concious side of things (hence why Wei Wuxian had to awaken Wen Ning's consciousness). Considering how Wen Ning attacks Wei Wuxian and the Burial Mound Wens before his consciousness had fully awoken, I... really don't think those fierce corpses were able to differentiate (or didn't care).
Meanwhile, ghosts seem to be a bit more in control of themselves – see A-Qing, and Wei Wuxian's own descriptions of his ghost self.
That, alongside ghost!Wei Wuxian being able to resist his soul-summoning and the fact that pretty much all of the new guidao users are a lot weaker than he was, does make me think that this this wouldn't work. I do wonder about Xue Yang, since his methods are pretty different as well, but he's more of a modao user than a guidao user (he controls living corpses rather than dead people) and I don't think you can insert physical nails into ghosts?? Though if he was specifically instructed to figure out some way to control ghost!Wei Wuxian (who's probably kept in a spirit-trapping pouch in this scenario), he might be able to do something at least. Though also he was also struggling to piece Xiao Xingchen's ghost soul back together, so he may struggle with those areas?
Well, whatever the potential outcome, I'm so so happy once again that Wei Wuxian's soul managed to resist the soul-summonings...
**Mainly this:
Everyone in the cultivation world knew that the young leader of the Jiang Clan watched out for Wei WuXian in an almost crazed manner. He would rather catch the wrong person than let go of any possibility, and took anyone who seemed like they held the soul of Wei WuXian away to the YunmengJiang Sect, inflicting severe torture on his victim. If he wanted to take someone back, the opposition would surely lose half of their life. - Chapter 10, EXR
But I have heard people say 'you can't prove that it's just more rumours' before, and I wanted my evidence to be as watertight as possible.
(And, off-topic... isn't it really sad how Jiang Cheng, in the present day, is described as young? Because, for a clan leader, he is. And another thing he is, is close in age to Wei Wuxian – who was killed 13 whole years prior :') )
***And do note that the only other time they run into each other before Wei Wuxian's identity is revealed to the world apart from this is their brief interaction at Jinlintai, where he can't just act however he wants. The next time they run into each other after it, Jiang Cheng is literally taking part in another siege against him, and still extremely hostile ("surrounded by hostile energy, face insidious, staring straight at him" – from EXR chapter 60). Then he loses his spiritual powers and can't do anything. By the time he regains his powers, Wei Wuxian, Lan Wangji and the Wen remnants' corpses have saved everyone during the Second Siege, and though public opinion hasn't properly shifted quite yet, it will soon after Sisi and Bicao tell the story of Jin Guangyao, and voila, a new scapegoat (do note that he doesn't completely bar Wei Wuxian from entering Lotus Pier after the Second Siege, though). Plus, throughout it all, Lan Wangji is still constantly present, which makes it hard for Jiang Cheng to really do anything. And then he's finally faced with the Golden Core reveal, which does alter his motivations towards Wei Wuxian (obviously the resentment is still there – read chapter 102 – but it's also mixed with other complex emotions, and he seems to start being able to move away from that a little in Chapter 103). I still definitely wouldn't describe Jiang Cheng's attitude towards him as positive, but it isn't at the point it was at the start of the novel (eg Chapter 10).
But even if his attitude does change, or would for whatever other reason apart from the reveal, that still doesn't change an initial motivation so isn't relevant to this meta. We know his intentions at the start.
****It's also possible they may have originated it, but I think WWX's reputation was bad enough for it to form naturally. Though you can trace a major part of that back to them, too.
*****That belief isn't outright stated in MDZS, but the fact people are specifically talking about the status of WWX's body in the aftermath of his death suggests that this belief does have some grounding in the MDZS universe, at least? And we know MXTX has included it in TGCF (though that doesn't mean it's definitely in MDZS), so she has used it in her works. If this isn't the case in the MDZS universe I am sorry (although that could also mean there's less importance placed on not disturbing the reincarnation cycle in the world of MDZS...? Which would work towards my original argument) – I don't want to spread misinformation that something is definitely true, I just think there's evidence to suggest it is true, which isn't the same thing.
******Again, I think this would depend on who ends up having more influence over who in the Lan sect. After all, normal resentful spirits only do what they do because of their resentment in death, whereas Wei Wuxian is 'dangerous' because of who everyone thinks he was in life – so him being reborn naturally could also 'cause a lot of harm to the world' during the time period this version of him would live in, unlike the resentful ghosts they appease. This could definitely lead to many advocating for confinement, I think.
#writing this takes me back to my nie huaisang one#'detective metas' i'd call both of them#as opposed to analysis of characters or themes#it may be less 'meaningful' but it's still fun to explore and speculate within a world you love#...albeit maybe not for this one because. mdzs jianghu when i get my hands on you-#also i fully acknowledge i may be wrong#but again i'd love to have discussions about these! debates and knowledge exchange are what leads to better understanding of source materia#which is a major goal of mine in writing these#mdzs meta#my meta#wei wuxian#mdzs cultivation world#long post#mo dao zu shi#gdc#grandmaster of demonic cultivation#魔道祖师#mxtx#detective meta#<– if i ever make this a tag#also i feel like you could write a fic (angsty or not so angsty depending on where you go with it) where the lan sect somehow-#-summons ghost!wwx back (not sure how bc the jin and jiang sects would probably want 'custody' of him more - and i don't think summoning-#-rituals are done by just one sect at a time? but imagine it happens) and idk he's kept in a spirit-trapping pouch or sth#lwj probably isn't told bc of what happened after nightless city - elders can't really trust him in matters to do with wwx#but maybe lxc feels bad for him or sth (especially bc he's mourning him and stuff + what happened after he found out wwx was dead)#and tells him and maybe brings wwx's soul to him for a bit so wwx can respond to inquiry#and they talk and obv. wwx is NOT happy with the situation (both rn and yk bc of the VERY RECENT SIEGE)#but but but! the thing that would stop this being completely depressing is that LWJ HAS A-YUAN SO WWX FINDS OUT HE SURVIVED#also lwj's injuries would likely come up at SOME point which would lead to wwx finding out abt nightless city afermath#AA NOO THE TAGS WENT ON FOR SO MUCH LONGER BUT I GUESS TUMBLR DOESN'T ALLOW SO MANY i'll have to make another post...
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Trapper's little trickster grin as he realizes exactly what Frank has brought upon himself is everything to me
#man who was absolutely very used to this kind of behavior in locker rooms and immediately feels like a college student again#the punch maybe took him off guard just a little bit but really that's just even hotter#also giggly trickster foxboy trap still real thank you crispus#trapper john mcintyre#hawkeye pierce#frank burns#margaret houlihan#piercintyre#traphawk#m*a*s*h#mashposting#mashblogging#house arrest#s3e18
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