#oh wwx we’re really in it now

[marthe-with-an-e]

Started some Wangxian hand studies

Had a breakdown

Bon Appétit

[apiratefellinlovewithastar]

I can’t with this hair anymore I wanna chop it off

[guangchuans]

[Image description: two graphics with Wei Wuxian from series “The Untamed”. First has a grey background and Wei Wuxian as a student of Cloud Recesses in the middle, in an oval frame with a different textured background. He is framed by text “I, Wei Wuxian, wish that I can always stand with justice.” Second shows the same photo three times, each cropped. The photo is Wei Wuxian with his eyes closed, shedding a single tear, and with blood on his chin. Text reads “and live with no regrets.” End image description.]

Caption transcript: and (crossed out) live with no regrets. End transcript.

and live with no regrets.

[randomness-is-my-order]

i’m going through my old reader files rn and i just realised that i have in-text bookmarks from my very first read of mdzs!! so!! i’m gonna compile them here for shits and giggles. don’t take this seriously if you somehow end up reading these because i’m not always very coherent about ANYTHING while annotating!

book one, here we go:

not this being my first comment ever. we’re off to a truly morbid start 😭

oh damn, we have jealous wangji already! that’s my second favourite wangji, preceded only by drunk wangji.

not me unwilling to accept wwx’s internal monologue here skyajqidj i was too far gone for this man too soon 😔😭

girl??? STAND UP what are you talking about?? you’ve known him for seven chapters ksuiwoekd. (but it’s so commendable of mxtx to have weaved the way the story unfolds into the story itself and not in a way that feels forced)

YAYYYYYY my favourite wangji is here!!

that’s actually the end of book one notes, which is surprising. i annotate soooo much more now, i guess mdzs was just too gripping to even have the cognizance to make comments while reading!

book two, let’s go!

i apparently REALLY liked writing out wwx’s good qualities out but can anyone blame me??

... like this is embarassing, this is simping.

simp.

SIMP???

AWWWWWWW (still one of my fave moments ever)

okay i’ve hit my pic limit so i’ll continue this nonsense in other reblogs!!

[uh-mxtx]

Modern MDZS au where WWX gets in a debate with college professor LQR about LGBTQA+ stuff, probably bc WWX is “corrupting” LWJ with the gay agenda. And stealing all of LWJ’s turtlenecks, for some odd reason! The boy clearly can’t take care of his own clothes, they’re all tattered and his hair is a birds nest.

Anyways, LWR is going on about how the homos are lecherous filth that have fallen to temptation or smth while covering up their transgressions by naming themselves odd things. Really, LQR asks, “what even is a pan-sexual?” (Or some other such thing that shows he doesn’t actually know anything anout being queer)

“Oh, you don’t know?” WWX asks, eyes wide and innocent and CLEARLY up to Some Shit. “Professor Lan, Professor Lan, Professor ‘show your sources do your research’ LAN. Do you not know what we’re debating about?”

LQR huffs and starts saying something about family values and continuing on bloodlines, but WWX is grinning like the cat that caught the canary.

“Professor, have you ever actually researched this? Or are you just wasting my time?” (An actual LQR quote from earlier in the semester)

LQR puffs up, and he’s all “of course I haven’t-“

“Well then, Sir,” WWX interrupts, manic joy written all over his expression, “may I just say that you have the audacity of a white man insisting that Mandarin is just a type of orange.”

The bell rings before LQR can get a word in, and WWX grabs his bag and books it to the door.

“I’ll send you some reading, Professor Lan! Let’s do this again when you know what you’re talking about!”

And with that he’s gone.

Now, WWX is only a little bit of a hypocrite, bc he definitely thought he was straight and only just managed his Revelation of “oh heck Lan Zhan is so pretty he turned me gay?” *research montage bc he actually has resources (and NHS definitely helped.) “Oh maybe girls are just pretty and I’m demisexual.”

However, the fact that he only JUST did this, means his ADHD self still has all the tabs open. And, like, he did say he’d send stuff, and this is Lan Zhan’s uncle. So, he compiles a helpful list of sites and articles, includes a link to a place where you can ask questions to the Queer Council, and sends it off.

LQR is initially going to ignore it, but then his scholar brain gets the better of him. WWX had made a point, he was woefully unprepared, and so with the intention of finding points to throw in that little brat’s face, he braces himself for horrible outlandish untraditional family-breaking nastiness, plus whatever else WWX might have put in there (ancestors if that horrid boy sent him PORN he’ll have him expelled) and opens the links.

He finds a bunch of actual helpful websites.

Definitions for all the names, labels, flags. Helpful tips for understanding yourself. Pictures of couples holding hands, smiling happily.

“Love isn’t just for procreation.”

Resources for kids who’s parents kicked them out. Survival tips. Unsafe areas.

And, because I’m personally a big fan of Demisexual WWX, a whole bunch of websites on the Asexual spectrum. You know, where people say, “oh yeah, apparently other people actually DO feel that urge to have sex with people. The songs aren’t making stuff up y’all. We’re just built different.”

LQR: nani tf?

Thus begins a confused deep dive into asexuality, what it means, allosexuals and all that jazz. LQR actually does end up asking a question on one of the sites, something like:

“I always believed that people who allowed themselves to be lustful and fall into bed with others were simply unrestrained. Is it true that some people feel an actual need for this? I have felt attraction for a woman before, but I never felt the need that some popular media attests to.”

There’s a bunch of replies, but one sticks out to LQR:

“Gonna be crude for a sec, excuse me- did you actually want to bang her? Or were you friends and heteronormative society insisted that boys and girls gotta want to fuck?”

LQR, who as a young man looked at CSSR and thought “If I have to marry, I wouldn’t mind her”: 🤯🤯🤯

Oh no.

He has to face that smirking little brat WWX.

[wangxianficrecs]

❤️ Across the street to another life by danegen

❤️ Across the street to another life

by danegen

M, 99k, Wangxian

Summary: Wangji stays on the piano bench as they’re closing up. Wei Ying chews his lip, knowing what he’s going to do but horrified at himself. But what’s the alternative: kick the guy out and find him sleeping beside the dumpster in the morning? And that’s if the cops don’t take him in for vagrancy. “Wangji?” Wangji looks up. Please don’t be a serial killer. “So, we’re closing up for the night, but A-Yuan and I live upstairs. Do you want to join us for dinner?” Wangji blinks. His head bobs in what’s probably a yes. “Great!” Fuck. Or a ragged monosyllabic man wearing a collar shows up at Wei Ying's music store. Wei Ying and A-Yuan ask, is anyone going to adopt this guy? And then they don't wait for an answer.

Kay's comments: This story really had me hooked and I could hardly wait for each new chapter. It's a modern AU set in America based on the movie Unleashed. I didn't know the movie and thankfully, that didn't matter, because no knowledge is needed! Wen Ruohan is a crime boss here and Lan Wangji is his top-fighter that he keeps in a cage and collared and uses to commit violence on his enemies and to win illegal fights (he gave me Winter Soldier vibes!). One day, Lan Wangji manages to escape and he gets taken in by Wei Wuxian and his son A-Yua. Cue lots of hurt/comfort, some drama, family feels, tragic pasts, Wangxian getting together and having to deal with Wen Ruohan. Lots of angst and a well-deserved happy ending. Despite the author warning that Lan Wangji is way out of character here, it didn't really feel that way for me. Like, it totally made sense given his circumstances. I really loved the character dynamics in this story. The Jiang parents are divorced for example and now Yu Ziyuan is trying to be a less shitty parent and mostly doing it by bribing her grandchildren with gifts and one of my favourite parts, though he doesn't play that much of a role, is what the author made of Wen Zhuliu, because I'm really weak for him! I also really loved the slow thawing of Lan Wangji and him growing into his new life and finding a place for himself. Mojo's comments: Fucking spectacular, and I'm in a car and not able to make a good bookmark, but DAMN, y'all. Lwj has been kept in a cage and made to fight all his life, and finally slips his chain and sinks into domestic bliss with wwx and a-yuan: learns to read and use a fork and it's beautiful. But of course, his past doesn't want to let him go.

Excerpt: “Was that woman your mother?” Wei Ying’s smile falls. His mouth opens in a pretty O. “Oh, you mean Yu Ziyuan? The one who picked A-Yuan up?” Wangji nods. “No. Well, not really. My mother died when I was about A-Yuan’s age. My father, too. Yu Ziyuan and her husband—well, ex-husband now—raised me after that. More or less.” Wangji nods like he understands and stares down at the counter. He doesn’t know what to call a woman who is sort of a mother but not really. “Where are your parents?” Wei Ying asks. His voice is soft, like he isn’t sure he wants Wangji to hear. “Dead.” He doesn’t remember his parents, but when Wangji was younger, Wen Ruohan told him that he had taken Wangji in after they died. “Oh. I’m sorry.” Wangji doesn’t understand why Wei Ying would apologize. He’s afraid to ask why. “A-Yuan’s mother died, too,” Wei Ying says. When Wangji peeks up at him, Wei Ying has gone back to staring at the computer screen. He isn’t smiling. “She died when he was a baby.” It hadn’t occurred to Wangji that Wei Yuan must have a mother. He knows about mothers, but he’s never actually met one. He doesn’t know what to say, so he says what Wei Ying said: “I’m sorry.”

modern setting, modern no powers, pov alternating, family feels, set in america, based on unleashed (2005), past wei wuxian/others, wei wuxian is lan sizhui's parent, wei yuan, single parent wei wuxian, addition, implied/referenced drug addition, amnesia, ableist language, musicians, angst with a happy ending, found family, @danegen

~*~

(Please REBLOG as a signal boost for this hard-working author if you like – or think others might like – this story.)

[dustyf0x]

Ok so this is a universe where alpha women and omega men exist but they’re largely considered to be infertile and sort of a biological mistake haha (bro you fools it’s for population control you absolute idiots) ok so wwx is an omega and basically somehow during their time in cloud recesses stuff gets tweaked just a bit and he and lwj end up having sex oops and wwx ends up getting pregnant

We don’t see this scene at first, it’s mostly implied but we should work in a flashback at some point and show it in detail (especially if it’s late enough that we’re really craving a sex scene but not so late that wwx and lwj’s relationship has developed enough for them to have sex (again)

Anyway, we jump in as wwx is leaving the cloud recesses and disappearing into the night bc having premarital sex is like the greatest shame he could bring upon his own sect and also lwj so he becomes a peasant once more 

We see flashes as he travels around

Might fudge with the timeline a little idk

Anyway, we see flashes as he travels around. As he gets further along in his pregnancy more and more people start assuming he’s a woman bc he’s so pretty and obviously there’s no such thing as a pregnant male omega and if he was seen as a mpreg obviously that would get a lot of attention so he starts dressing in the feminine style of robes and such 

Obviously you shouldn’t night hunt while pregnant- no one wants a haunted baby- but wwx can’t be stopped so he keeps doing it anyway against his better judgment and he sort of gets famous/ rumors start going around about that incredibly skilled and charming pregnant cultivator.

He ends up giving birth on the road, totally alone cue whump 

Shot where he’s curled up leaning against a tree fast asleep cradling his newborn in his arms

Oh maybe when A-Yuan is first born he’s not breathing and wwx has to spark life into him

It feels weird writing wwx out of the cave scene and such but I can’t really justify him showing up until the jiang clan gets decimated 

Maybe a scene where wwx almost bumps into lwj on a night hunt haha

Maybe ch2 is sort of shenanigans where wwx is traveling around and still night hunting even with a baby on his hip

So I guess continuing his fame as a crazy cultivator/ disguised as female

Also almost bumping into jiang cheng or actually bumping into nie huisang could be fun

He hears about what happened at the wen archery thing

Or that- yeah that just gets cut out

But he does hear about theeeeeee idk what it’s called but where all of the babies were held hostage 

I think we don’t see that on screen though I think we jump right into jiang cheng’s perspective post lotus pier burning running into wwx and somehow it’s alluded to

Like wwx heard that lotus pier burned and rushed to check it out (omg he would be so certain that he would find jiang cheng and jiang Yanli’s bodies and like he didn’t want to see them but also asldfjcsdbhj like unable to stop himself or desperately needed to or like there was this sick need in him pulling him there as if he was possessed 

Anyway

So like off hand comment as that’s being explained like “He definitely wasn’t in yunmeng in the first place bc he had heard the rumors about what had happened @ the wen archery thing”

Anyway it’ll be super fun bc the readers will be like “What the fuck happened to A-yuan” but it will be from jiang cheng’s perspective who doesn’t even know A-Yuan exists and doesn’t know anything is wrong

Wwx gets Jiang Cheng out of there and like there should be some amount of like,,, jiang cheng is pissed bc wwx has just been gone for like 3 years now and Jiang Cheng just didn’t know where he was or if he was even alive and he’s missed him so dearly and also been so worried and is pissed that wwx has been alive this whole time and just chose not to be there and also is super pissed that he finally has his brother back but it has cost him the lives of his parents and his entire sect.

Oh he’s definitely like crying pissed about how if Wwx had just been there he could have stopped all this from happening

Anyway, great news, Yanli is still alive and they can and should meet up with her asap

Bad news, Wwx needs to make a pit stop to grab A-Yuan from wherever he’s hidden him but Jiang Cheng doesn’t know that so he’s absolutely livid (What could possibly be more important than meeting up with Yanli right now of all times) but Wwx will not be budged and is just like “Hey, you’re welcome to go on without me” and Jiang Cheng is like “Fuck you, as if I would let you leave my sight again.”

Ok so I’m thinking that wwx paid a prostitute to look over his kid bc hey, brothels always have kids around, and looking after one more for a little extra cash is no hard sell

Anyway so the result is Jiang Cheng is like “YOU TOOK A DETOUR FROM MEETING UP WITH A-LI TO VISIT A BROTHEL???” and wwx is like “Ahhh, Jiang Cheng, you’re so loud. It’s fine it’s fine” and then goes in and comes out WITH A BABY??

And Jiang Cheng is like ???? what the fuck

Whose baby is that

“I found him growing in a patch of turnips and he was so cute I just had to scoop him up for myself! Isn’t that right A-Yuan?” A-Yuan nods eagerly

Wwx introduces Jiang Cheng to A-Yuan “This is your Shushu. Can you say ‘Hi?’”

“Hi Shushu!”

Jiang Cheng is still acting pissed but secretly his heart is melting lmao. Absolutely in love with his new nephew even though he doesn’t realize it actually is his nephew.

[youhideastar]

In the spirit of wangxian babies on the community brain, might we have some Babytrap.docx WIP after all to round it out?

Absolutely! For those following along at home, this is in reference to this ask game post. So I hesitate to explain this one because it was written in part in reaction to another fic on which I do not want to throw shade, but I'll do my best: a fic was recced to me as being a cute established-relationship BDSM mpreg sitch where LWJ (with WWX's consent) "tricked" WWX into getting pregnant via various shenanigans that would obviously be totally unacceptable and creepy in non-role-play life like fucking with his birth-control pills. I was like "Adorbs! I love shenanigans! What an original premise!" then clicked on the fic and it was VERY NOT AS DESCRIBED.

Having gotten excited for lemon meringue pie and then taken a bite of what turned out to be devil's food cake, I was like, "well, there's nothing wrong with cake but it's not the pie I was so psyched for" and realized if I wanted the pie I had invented in my head, I was going to have to write it myself. 😂 But with wlw!Wangxian because it's my pie so why not? Snippet below!

Delighted, Wei Ying cries, "Ahhh, Lan Zhan! Lan Zhan is such a good partner, so thoughtful, so responsible…" She's cuddling Lan Zhan aggressively; after all, aftercare goes both ways, and Lan Zhan looks adorable with her cheeks all smushed. "Lan Zhan will be such a wonderful mother."

“I hope so,” says Lan Zhan, quietly.

“Now?” Wei Ying asks, ducking her head.

Lan Zhan smiles. “I hope so.”

“So we are on the same page. Like, this was a kinky thing for me—and it was great—but I also really do want to have your babies. Like, ASAP.”

“We are indeed on the same page.”

Wei Ying gives a long, satisfied sigh. Then an idea strikes. “Oh, but I’m still gonna run in here sobbing if the pregnancy test comes back positive, accusing you of terrible things and wailing about how you’ve trapped me.”

“And then we are going to fuck about it?” Lan Zhan checks.

“Absolutely we’re going to fuck about it.”

“Mm. Wei Ying is so very lovely when she cries.”

“Lan Zhan!” Wei Ying puts her hands on either side of her stomach, as if she’s shielding tiny ears. “Don’t embarrass me in front of the baby!”

[llycaons]

ep7: ah, young love

okay so this episode had a lot of EXCELLENT scenes but also some that don’t land very well and read as a little tryhard and poorly thought out. imo

since we weren’t done being beaten over the head with the parallels yet 😭

exchanging significant looks! the first (?) of MANY. they will have a long career in staring at each other ahead of them

oh damn is that what the original plan was? fuck, this plot is boring

this is so sweet. wwx got a little connection to his grandmaster

I remember wwx having much bigger ‘rip to you but I’m different’ vibes but he seems more chill here this rewatch

FAKE ROCKS LMAO

this is actually one of my least favorite tropes/moments for wx. it just feels like a contrived situation that’s designed to make the audience go ‘oohhh, that’s gay!!!’ without any intentional input or decisionmaking from the characters. like it turns them from subjects into objects? it’s hard to explain but I think this is annoying and meaningless as a romantic writing choice

I love how I can read lwj again now. and he looks SO hurt and betrayed

also his face/nose look rounder than usual. he’s always had round features but they look accentuated in this shot. another reason that lines about lwj’s sharp jawline confuse me in fics

aw shit did he say zhiji

wwx is so cute when he’s serious

lwj writing off wwx as telling stories and being silly, internally rolling his eyes, and then VISIBLY reassessing when he realizes that wwx is actually being very clever in misdirecting nhs. like ‘OH. he’s smart!’

wwx literally looked at lwj for five seconds and jc lost it lmao

all of his looks of sadness tend to be so...private? inwardly directed? he’s out theoretically in public but he’s experiencing this sorrow entirely unconnected from anyone else. wwx tends to be expressive when he’s sad, jc is loud and physical, jyl reaches out to others. but lwj usually doesn’t let anyone else see, then just tucks it away like this

this shot is so fucking funny. wx and xy awkwardly standing in the waiting room as the evil cc does heretical experiments in his throne room

I usually don’t endorse assigning a character top/bottom status because it’s dumb and unrelated to how real life people act. that being said this man is a slut and I fully believe he knows what he’s doing. where’s that post about him being erotically darth vader chocked by wrh

awww jyl is so pretty

man, wwx really was a dick to nhs

ah I love this scene. so pretty!

mm! lxc and lqr being there too is so nice. it’s easy to forget that they’re teachers too and they look after these kids

CLASSIC SHOT. I fully endorse the ‘lwj had a crush he was confused and frustrated by, and at this moment his crush compounded into genuine and very intense young love’ I don’t endorse love at first sight I think it’s silly

at first I felt bad because jzx didn’t want to be in an arranged marriage (fair) and wwx kept going after him for it but nah. look at his face. what a tool

wwx trying so hard to protect his sister’s heart/reputation bc he loves her but his public freakouts just embarrass and humiliate her more 😭

I love that lwj has never looked this confused before or since

I love youuuuu

so funny that this is how we’re introduced to jfm, who is notorious for having no backbone

this is what I mean when I say wwx seems to be from a different setting than other characters. nobody else would do this type of exaggerated posturing. it gives him such a distinct personality and mannerisms, which is probably really hard to write coherently

interesting you say that, with your history. you who never married, hm?

I cannot believe that people genuinely think jfm was as bad or worse than myu. for all his faults, he stood up against jgs to ensure his daughter didn’t end up in an unwanted marriage like his. and he doesn’t treat wwx (or jc) as well as he should, but myu would never have taken wwx in and never would have loved him or defenced him or taught the way jfm clearly does. he does treat jc badly, but it’s not like myu treats jc much better, and the fact that she treats him worse because wwx is around and better than him at stuff doesn’t reflect on jfm or wwx, but rather on her as a person. I have a soft spot for jfm despite not really respecting him at all

the song playing here is SO sad god he misses her so much

jyl saying wwx will marry a beautiful woman, because she thinks him flirting with guys is a phase or something?. I actually read her as very sweet and loving to wwx, but straight and not really totally understanding how his attraction to men is just as important to him, if not moreso, than his attraction to women. a few explanations for his response

1. he means it because he’s not bi as speculated, he’s gay (possible - he’s been very forward with the porn and the insinuations)

2. he means it because he’s already sold on marrying lwj (VERY early for this to be the case imo. also he was laughing about living in CR and the idea of someone marrying lwj just a few eps ago)

3. he means it because he genuinely doesn’t want to get married he just wants to hang out with his big sister (if so: 🥺😭)

4. he’s pretending to joke around but he really means it but he doesn’t know why yet (given how good he is at masking his own desires and avoiding his own feelings, perhaps this is most likely)

5. he’s fully joking in order to make her happy (he doesn’t seem that serious to me)

imo if the writers wanted this to be a legitimate moment of wwx expressing his desires that conflict with jyl’s (and the rest of society’s) views on what marriage should be, they should have maybe not framed it so lighthearted? ah, it’s wwx, he hides what he really wants under jokes all the time

in the book he actually inspired like, dozens of disciples to drink and shirk their classwork instead of just nhs and jc. very funny ngl

hard to see in this shot but wwx’s look of what I can only describe as awe when lwj walks in. my boy

I love his confidence he’s so funny

oh everything hurts

he’s so funny playing around with the bunnies and making them talk. too much ‘chaos gremlin’ wwx not enough ‘playful and sweet’ wwx

something I really love about these early arcs, despite that yin metal plot being so boring I could cry, is how protective wwx is of lwj. he really cares about him and wants him to be okay!

overall despite adoring young wwx and lwj, and enjoying many of the scenes in this episode, I still think this arc has the least compelling wx. but it's laying really important groundwork for plots and relationship dynamics that will become delicious later, so I don't mind

personal highlights

lwj’s confused face

wwx being very dramatic

jfm defending jyl and jzx’s right to decide who they marry

xy, for being very entertaining in his sluttiness

wwx making the bunny talk

wwx being protective of lwj

[layzeal]

What would Wei Wuxian canonically wear at each point of his life: A Self-Indulgent Analysis

The novel isn’t very descriptive at all when it comes to WWX’s outfits. All we know is that he began wearing black after he crawled out from the Burial Mounds and didn’t stop since, but even his black outfits can tell a story so!! Let’s see what we’ve got (fun fact: not even the red ribbon is mentioned! only as an easter egg that showed up in the incense burner extras two years later!! buuut i’ll be considering it canon here because it’s fitting and also who cares)

This is analyzing how each adaptation dolls him up with and which one had the best idea according to me, based on fully unbiased points such as “i like it” or “i think it’s neat”, or even “this doesn’t make any sense why is this here?”

i’m really just here to show my thought process of why i like each of these outfits for these events and have no intention of “convincing” anyone of anything, so if you’re wondering “Hey op do you take constructive criticis--” no i do not, let’s go

WARNING..... LONG, VERY LONG POST

Edit 1: Change of preferred design for Ressurection Edit 2: Correction about Qiongqi Path outfit Edit 3: added special mention from new audio drama episode!

1. CR Study Era / Yunmeng Da-Shixiong 

Winner: MDZS Audio Drama (SpoonKid’ & Tai’s art)’s Gusu white guest disciple robes and/or YMJ purple disciple robes

Special Mention: CQL

Sorry guys but there is only one correct answer here, and that is: PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE!!! he is the YMJ DA-SHIXIONG, there is just NO WAY he would wear literally any other color!!! “Oh but Madam Yu had him wear different colors because he’s not part of the family” THAT DOESNT EVEN MAKE ANY SENSE, HE’S STILL A DISCIPLE!!! AND A VERY IMPORTANT ONE AT THAT. It’s purple. that boy wears purple and continues to wear purple all the way until Lotus Pier falls

If i’m feeling extra self-indulgent i’ll have him wear white during his CR study era because i can’t see the Lans enjoying a bunch of different colored uniforms in their highly aesthetic home and also WWX in Lan white is incredibly seratonin-inducing, like what’s next?? Gonna get married to a lan and wear it everyday??? heh. but yeah in my heart they all wear white, and if not, WWX has to wear purple, none of that red-and-black thing most of the fandom sticks to

CQL Special Mention

 i LOVE the choice they went with for the white disciple robes!! unlike the AD which has LWJ wear the same type robes of the guest disciples, CQL was very throughout in giving the disciples different styles of robes WITH COLOR ACCENTS!!! TO IDENTIFY MEMBERS OF EACH SECT WITHOUT BREAKING THE AESTHETIC. 10/10 big brain idea, love it!!

HOWEVER i cannot give CQL the cake because.... WWX does not wear purple or any outfit that identifies him as a YMJ disciple, WHICH DRIVES ME INSANE. i know that WWX occupies an awkward place in the sect where he is more than a disciple but less than family, but having his clothes always be too different to fit one or another just... idk, it takes me out of the story everytime. AND THAT RED..... LOOK, WE’RE GONNA GET THERE, BUT IT IS!! NOT!!! TIME!! FOR HIM TO BE WEARING RED!!!! a big flaw here is that already he has too much of the aesthetic he wears as YLLZ, so when he actually transforms it’s just kinda???? okay??? what changed???? not a fan, should have gone with either a lighter blue or more of a purple tone, and REMOVE that red from the skirt, her time will come, just not now!

EXTRA SPECIAL MENTION: Baoshan Karo’s illustrations for the CR era. god i’m SO HAPPY that WWX in Lan guest disciple robes are officially a thing in some editions of the novel now (1) (2)

2. Qishan Discussion Conference

Winner: MDZS Manhua’s red ceremonial uniform

Special Mention(?): Novel cover by Qianerbai

This one was eaaaasy because it’s one of the few occasions where we’re told what Wei Wuxian is wearing, which is the “red, round-collared robe with narrow sleeves, tied with a belt of nine rings—the juniors’ ceremonial uniform during the Qishan Wen Clan’s Discussion Conference” (fanyiyi translation).

CQL doesn’t cover this arc so it’s out. The Donghua still keeps them in those initial designs, the Audio Drama’s only art of this moment "First Meeting with Wen Ning" has him in YMJ purple (which i would be happy with in any other occasion), so all we’re left with is the manhua!! my second favorite adaptation wahoo!!

the artist maotuanxjj made us all a favor in making WWX look extra handsome in his red uniform which follows the novel’s description to a T, so well done!! amazing!!! 10/10!!!! (can i just mention how i love this style of bangs for OG wwx? i wish the manhua had kept it that way ahhhh)

Qianerbai Special Mention

So i wanted to put this here because YES we do get to see him in the red junior uniform, but......... this is the novel’s 3rd volume, and i’m quite sure it’s meant to represent the Phoenix Mountain hunt, which they were NOT wearing red for, so??????????? anyway the uniform is still perfect though, just not on the right moment of the story

3. Wen Indocrination Arc

Winner: MDZS Audio Drama (SpoonKid)’s purple YMJ disciple robes

quick and simple: the answer is the same as the Yunmeng Da-Shixiong, purple!! which once again, SpoonKid is the only one who has represented as such in an official art, so here it is two more of them, as a treat.

4. Yiling Laozu

okay you guys will have to be very patient with me now, because what the fandom mostly refers to YLLZ is actually 3 different stages of his life (+1 bonus) which directly affect whatever he is wearing, and the only thing in common they have is that WWX will be wearing black (OR NOT?)

i went back and forth with how to present this one, and in the end i decided i won’t be announcing a “winner”, because most adaptations only have one look for him in this stage (a great look let’s be real), but it’s not particularly realistic or even canon-compliant for it to be so, so i’ll be looking at adaptations that do change his look during his era and see which are more fitting for each moment

4.a) The Return

Favorite outfit: Donghua, Manhua & Audio Drama’s black/red large robes with wide sleeves

no competition here AT ALL, this outfit SLAPS!! if i have one (1) complaint it’d be the donghua’s fire motif on the sleeves, it just doesn’t make sense for him to wear something so similar to QishanWen’s uniform, but other than that the aesthetic is on point!

the large robes make WWX look bigger, more intimidating and mature. THIS is the look of a man who spent 3 months in hell, eating corpses and fighting the resentment just to crawl out half a ghost half a human. the silhouette is so different from what he had before, it really feels striking!!

about the colors: THIS is the one point in the novel where we know he starts wearing black and red on a daily basis! and it is no coincidence his color palette is the exact same as the ghost flute Chenqing, they’re one in the same, carved into a different shape the Burial Mounds, made for the purpose of leading the dead.

Red is a very strong and lively color, but it’s also a color of extremes. it can mean the most positive and the most negative things, and for Wei Wuxian, what will be very telling about his fate and mental state is how much of it is present in his outfits. He’s always had a red ribbon on his hair, the strong, bright and passionate boy that he was, but things have changed,  wei wuxian is back, but he came back wrong. Pay attention to the red from now on 🔴

for many people, the outfit above is not only his “i’m back baby” outfit, but also the one that defines him for the rest of the following events, and that’s perfectly fine! it is one HELL of a good design! buuuut since i’d never make things easy for myself, let’s look at some other ones

4.b) Sunshot Campaign

Favorite outfit: CQL’s black robes and red inner robes with narrow sleeves and shoulder padding

Special Mention: Zelda CW (i know she’s not an offcial MDZS artist but i NEED her art to explain my point here)

NOW is the time for the red skirt to appear!! man can you imagine if they hadn’t shown him in black and red before and then boom! he shows up in this color palette? it’d have been soo good. ANYWAYS, notice the colors!! Red inner robes, black outer robes, fancy shoulder padding, a red skirt that feels quite striking. Remember what i said about WWX and Chenqing matching and being one in the same? in this stage of his life, such resemblance is even more important, you CANNOT separate WWX from the Ghost Path at this point.

RE: The design, this is a wei wuxian who has now returned to the cultivation world. He took a nice bath, had some soup, took off those clothes that he probably stole from corpses, took his YMJ money and got himself a uniform to kick some QishanWen butts! i like this one for the Sunshot Campaign much more than his poncho look from earlier because i just find it a loooot more fitting for a soldier, ESPECIALLY ZeldaCW’s interpretation over there with the shoulder padding and sleeves that almost look like a cape (and the small YMJ lotus symbols around)

The silhouette isn’t as intimidating as before, but it doesn’t have to be, he’s no longer a resentful ghost haunting the dreams of Wen soldiers. He’s a commander, carrying a military tally of his own, with the favor that the right hand man of Sect Leader Jiang ought to have. He’s become a respected and feared war hero, but that people still look down upon due to his cultivation and refusal to carry a sword. That made him have to carry himself in a proud and arrogant way which years later even WWX himself will recognize as obnoxious. ALL I’M SAYING IS, i find this clean silhouette and design much more fitting for this stage of his life than the loose and ruffled look he had previously, ya feel me? More military-feeling, less angsty ghost man.

(also this is my fav look for YilingWei Sect AUs but that’s neither here nor there)

4.c) Burial Mound Settlement

Favorite outfit: CQL’s grey+black, coarse overalls with red sleeves and belt

(farm boy wwx is SUCH a treat for us, thank u xiao zhan)

LOOOOOVE THIS LOOK SO MUCH!! One major irony in MDZS is how WWX is named the “Yiling Laozu” and is at his most feared in THIS stage, when he is actually in his most harmless form. CQL in general really nailed the vibes of the Burial Mound Settlement as a farming community, we see people in coarse clothing doing all sorts of manual work, there is really no difference from them and any other farmers, no identification at all that these people are Wens other than their surname. And people think he’s forming his own sect, pfff

at this point WWX is really only worried about 1. keeping the barrier of the BM safe 2. keeping everyone fed 3. locking himself in his cave and working on his inventions . As much as he IS still doing plenty of use of demonic cultivation, it doesn’t come close to how he was using it back during Sunshot, leading entire armies of corpses everyday with nothing but resentment. Here, the Ghost Path is still part of him, but it doesn’t define him anymore, he’s much closer to a poor scholar than anything else, and his clothing reflects that!

anyway, coarse materials, slim silhouette, presence of red but much less saturated, looking very soft and cozy, 10/10

Special Mention!!

Spoonkid’s YLLZ!WWX from the new incense burner Audio Drama extra! Notice how the YLLZ is also wearing comfy clothes instead of the usual robes she’s drawn him in for mid-sunshot campaign! We know that the incense burner puts wwx’s in his original body, likely the one from shortly before his death, so it makes sense he’d be wearing something more casual like this!

EDIT

BEFORE WE HEAD TO THE NEXT ONE

so something i had COMPLETELY overlooked and it’s 100% my fault is that, for Jin Ling’s 100 day celebration, Wei Wuxian buys and wears a new outfit that is white. YEAH. I never noticed it, and a apparently many people didn’t either? Thanks to my dearest HellingLaozu on twt for pointing it out!

Unfortunately, however, no adaptation gave us this outfit :’( we were robbed!!! interestingly though, by the time WWX gets unfrozen and heads to Nightless City, he is wearing black once again! Maybe WN and WQ changed him? no idea! could have been an overlook on MXTX’s part, could have been implied in some untranslated part, I’ll have to analyze it more in-depth later!

Since we have no visual reference of him wearing white robes on Qiongqi Path, I’ll maintain my pre-edited text below that assumes he buys a new black outfit instead

EDIT: so it’s technically not official art, but Changyang (that one official artist) did draw the one and only art of the YLLZ in white i’ve ever seen, and it’s gorgeous, check it out!!!

4.d) Nightless City

Favorite outfit: CQL’s black robes with bright red at the sides + red inner robes and cuffed sleeves

Special mention: Novel cover by Qianerbai

now this.... this is A Look. do i even HAVE to tell you to look at the colors and the presence of red? gosh, it’s almost popping out of the screen, it’s incredibly telling to what is happening in the story now

the reason i particularly love this look for the Qionqi Path and Nightless City events is that we ARE TOLD that WWX used WQ’s money to buy not only the pretty tassel pendant for Jin Ling’s gift, but also to buy a new outfit for the ceremony! (edit: it was a white outfit. i’m silly. pls honk my clown nose) GUYS, HE DOLLED HIMSELF UP TO MEET HIS NEPHEW, he wanted to make a good impression so bad 😭 goddammit jin guangshan

anyways! the outfit above is very fitting for it! as always all we know is that he was wearing black, and of course WWX wouldn’t want to give up his YLLZ vibes, he still needs people to fear him if he wants to keep the Wens safe, but the outfit is very nice and clean. You can see it’s nothing too fancy though, nothing too elaborate esp compared to what he used to wear before, but it’s good enough to meet with the Jiangs again! it’s not like the Jins would like him even if he came dressed as an emperor. (edit: this paragraph doesnt rly apply anymore but i still like it, so it stays)

so during the day it’s just that: nice, clean, still striking but not too intimidating. During the NIGHT though??? ohhhh that red starts POPPING so hard it’s almost all you can see, him and Chenqing are once again matching perfectly, and after losing his two closest friends and hearing of how these “righteous people” are vowing to invade their settlement even though they’ve promised not to hurt anyone else if the wen sibs gave themselves up? well, he’s ready to commit some murders <3

if you asked me “hey lace what would you wear to crash a party and go into a hopeless descent into madness as you lose everyone you’ve ever loved?”, probably a nice lil outfit with some satured red on the sides.

Qianerbai Special Mention

I can’t help but feel like that CQL look look was inspired by th *checks when the 2nd edition of the Pinsin edition was released* [it was July 2019] [i am now VERY confused] ok so i was gonna say CQL took inspo from this novel cover, but i just realized as i type this that this cover was released long after the show finished filming so now i’m??? HM??? COINCIDENCE??

anyway this look that WWX has in the qianerbai novel cover is VERY good too, has all of the pros i mentioned above when it comes to color and “yeah i can visit carp tower and see my nephew in this AND kill a bunch of people 3 days later”. if the CQL look had a red belt i would honestly be even more sold! honestly if it wasnt for the white inner robe, this could have been the winner as well!

5. Ressurection

Winner: MDZS Donghua’s black/red short outer robe and white underrobe

EDIT - NEW WINNER: MDZS Manhua’s black short outer robes w/ red accent and white underrobes

[so yes the text below was for the donghua, but then my dearest @10000111100101100 brought attention to WWX’s ressurection look in the manhua and WOW, somehow i’d forgotten about it!! and it’s even more fitting!! so yeah new winner <3]

GOD I LOVEEEE THIS LOOK FOR MXY!WWX SOOOOO MUCH, i may be a bit of mxy simp we all know that but ugh!! it’s so good!! i forgot the name rn but these short robes coupled with the disheveled hair and trousers is just. idk, it gives him such a youthful look that is especially fitting for the absolute gremlin energy that WWX brings upon ressurection!

the outfit is dark, but it isn’t like what he wore during his YLLZ era. Of course the black and red are still very pronounced, he did just get dragged back from the dead by a demonic ritual he wrote down himself, and has no qualms about commanding corpses, digging graves, and creating talismans as soon as he can walk again. my man is back in business!! though of course, his mentality is different now, he’s fully aware that he’s got nothing rooting him down, no responsabilities, no one to protect, free to do whatever he wants!! and then promptly forgets all about it as soon as few teenagers look like they need help lmao

basically: this wei wuxian is very dependent on guidao, but thanks to his new freedom, it’s not to a level that could endenger him or cause major problems if he lost control. This outfit passes the message well by still having dark colors, though mostly on a grey scale, with red left only for some accents on his lapels/belt/ribbon. he doesn’t look intimidating, or fancy, or scary at all, he’s really just vibing, good for him!

also is that a white inner robe? ohoho... some changes are already beginning to take place

6. Present & Post-Canon

Winner: MDZS Audio Drama’s black outer robes + white inner robes and pants, with a red accent only on the ribbon/chenqing/belt

Special mention: CQL’s post-carp tower black outfit + white inner robe

if this post feels like i’m tooting the horn of the MDZS audio drama it’s because i am. SO!! for those who don’t know, the AD’s design for WWX is quite unique! in all versions he’s always seen wearing a dark robe with loose sleeves on top of a white inner robe. his pants are usually white as well and so is the belt

do you notice the almost complete absence of red? it’s usually left only for his ribbon, and more rarely, his belt, but that’s it!! of course, through most of the present timeline, chenqing is nowhere to be seen. obviously that doesn’t stop wwx from using demonic cultivation, but once again, it is in a far smaller scale than he did back in the day, and usually only low level spells (that on his hands become powerful)

all of that red has beem almost completely replaced by white, and if that makes you think that it’s because he now has lan wangji by his side to protect him, congratulations, you get a kiss on the head and a cookie. the word that comes to mind for me is: soft. this is what this AD outfit makes me feel. Soft. WWX is no longer controlled by his debts and duties, he doesn’t have to solely rely on demonic cultivation to protect himself, LWJ offers him that freedom and protection now, what he’s been craving since his first life, and that’s visible not only in his color palette but in the silhouette as well: his sleeves are long and flowy, but his black robes don’t outright consume him as they did back when he first crawled back from the burial mounds. LWJ’s influence is seen in his new easygoing disposition, that unlike his youthful energy, it’s far more calm. he’s matured and grown into that love and trust and man it feels SO good to see!!

CQL Special Mention

i always really liked this cql outfit, and for quite the same reasons as i’ve mentioned above! the feeling of calmness, trust and safety it gives to WWX is so great it makes.... well, soft! a total lack of red, a black robe over white inner robes (LWJ’s... inner robes), and it’s very fitting for this part of the narrative as well. WWX just woke up from being stabbed at Carp Tower (which in the novel is also when he starts noticing his own feelings for LWJ) and things get quite sweet and domestic. LXC tells us the story of Madam Lan, cql wangxian have that nice little moment in the snow that totally doesn’t end in sex, they see the rabbits together, leave CR, wwx plays wangxian.mp3, they either meet mianmian (cql) or jump into a pile of hay together (novel) and it’s basically just all so so sweet.

the reason i can’t give it the cake though it’s just that it would be better imo if it followed the AD footsteps and gave him loose sleeved instead of narrow, and added a bit more white, just to REALLY show LWJ’s influence in his current mental state, but other than that it’s a very nice looking outfit, with great vibes, very simple but very domestic!! love it!

i ended up putting waaaaay too much thought into all of this lmao, but anyway!! these are the outfits i believe are the most fitting to each stage of WWX’s life, according to the novel’s descriptions and my own personal interpretations. i love how all the adaptations expanded a little bit into it and allowed us to pick and choose our favorite ones. MDZS is one hell of a good book but it really is made even better with the added thought of fan and other cretaive insights

if you made it to the end, congratulations, i honestly didn’t think anyone would read this *gives you another kiss on the forehead and a cookie*

[marthe-with-an-e]

Inktober day 17: demon

“But when it comes to demonic cultivation, I am the founder.”

[robininthelabyrinth]

WWX doesn’t get there fast enough and LWJ gives in to the pressure to drink with Jin Zixun. LWJ gets drunk and WREAKS HAVOC on Koi tower.

ao3

Untamed verse

“I feel like we haven’t really had a chance to catch up,” Nie Mingjue said to Lan Xichen, who nodded. “A few stolen moments during war aren’t exactly the same.”

“They definitely are not,” Lan Xichen agreed, and lifted his wine in a salute to Nie Mingjue, who returned it at once. “You can’t possibly compare the chaos of the battlefield with the calm and sedate atmosphere of a discussion conference.”

Something very large and undoubtedly extremely expensive fell over with a gigantic crash.

They both took another sip of their wine instead of wincing.

“How is your uncle doing?” Nie Mingjue asked. “Well, I hope? I trust he’s on the way to recovery?”

“He’s doing better. The doctors say he’ll bear the marks the rest of his life, but – which of us won’t? But still, he’s much better.”

There was a great deal of shouting. Much of it sounded panicked.

A set of guards in Jin sect gold rushed by, swords drawn.

“I’m glad to hear it,” Nie Mingjue said. “He did an excellent job during the war. Didn’t he always say that he was a poor swordfighter?”

Lan Xichen smiled. “He taught both myself and Wangji the foundation of all we know. Did you really believe him?”

“Not really. Still, he seemed so certain…”

“Ah, that’s shufu for you. He compares himself to our father, I think, though I wish he wouldn’t.”

Nie Mingjue nodded knowledgably. He’d heard the story, the real story, as very few others had; he knew why Lan Xichen was not more proud of his father, with his supposed genius for cultivation and the sword. There was a reason he and his brother had been raised by their uncle, after all, and why their uncle was justly proud of what he had accomplished. Who did not know the reputation of the Twin Jades of Lan…?

“None of us can escape our pasts,” he said, then paused to refill their bowls as another loud crash sounded, this time accompanied by a series of yelps. “But we can move beyond them, I think. You must come to visit the Unclean Realm sometime soon.”

“And you the Cloud Recesses. There is a lot to rebuild, but we’ve made some progress –”

“He’s on the ceiling!” someone shouted. “Watch out!”

Nie Mingjue firmly disciplined his eyes and lips, which threatened to curve into a smile. “I’d like to hear about the progress you’ve made. I assume your Wall of Discipline is still intact, at least?”

“Oh yes,” Lan Xichen said. He was also trying his best to maintain a calm demeanor, but Nie Mingjue thought he could see bits of humor stealing out around the edges. “Stone doesn’t burn, after all, and I think even Wen Xu thought it a bit of a waste to use spiritual energy to try to destroy it…not that we wouldn’t have rebuilt that as well, of course. Our family rules are our foundation and our guide.”

“Mm, indeed. There’s so many important rules there.”

Lan Xichen blinked a few times to dispel the smile that threatened. “There certainly are. Are you thinking of any in particular?”

Another crash.

Several yells.

“Where did he even find chickens?!”

“No,” Nie Mingjue said, his shoulders starting to shake. “None come to mind…”

Lan Xichen broke first, putting his hand over his eyes.

“Not even,” he said drolly, “the one against consuming alcohol?”

That made Nie Mingjue crack in turn, throwing his head back and laughing.

“I see your brother suffers from the family curse,” he said cheerfully. “With any luck, it’s just the one about wine and not doomed love.”

“If we’re lucky, yes. And it’s not really a family curse –”

“Xichen, if I hadn’t taught you that alcohol-numbing trick, you’d be playing a serenade to the moon right now. And it’s the middle of the day.”

“…you have a slight point.” Lan Xichen smiled at him. “Only very slight.”

Nie Mingjue smiled back, and handed him another bowl of wine. “It’s a pity you’re too busy focusing on that very tricky spell to be able to go help corral him.”

“Why would I?” Lan Xichen asked unconcernedly. “Jin Zixun wanted him to drink, he drank, the rest of it is on his own head.”

“I would have thought you’d make an effort,” Nie Mingjue said, his own humor fading, “for Meng Yao’s sake, if nothing else.”

Lan Xichen studied him, then sighed. “I do wish you’d get along again,” he said. “You were such good friends…”

“That was then.”

“And now you’re brothers. Isn’t that worth something?”

Nie Mingjue huffed. “When he shows any sign of actually wanting to do the right thing, rather than the politically beneficial one, maybe,” he said acidly. “I’m trying, Xichen. Don’t push.”

“Very well, I won’t…anyway, haven’t you considered that maybe I’m not helping for a different reason than mere spite?”

“Oh?” Nie Mingjue tried to think of what it might be. “Distracting attention from Wei Wuxian? Or…to him?”

Lan Wangji had a pretty obvious thing for Wei Wuxian, and judging by the way the latter man was currently allowing Lan Wangji to cart him around like a rescued damsel in distress (while laughing his head off the entire time), it might not be entirely unrequited. Lan Xichen always had a bit of a romantic streak.

“No, that’s just a side benefit,” Lan Xichen said. “It’s much simpler than that.”

Something flashed by them at high speed – a blur of white robes, with a big black lump tossed over his shoulder like a bag of potatoes, while the bag himself was cheerfully blowing kisses at their pursuers and yelling helpful things like “Alas! I’d answer your questions but I’m being kidnapped!” and “I promise to write after we finish eloping!”

Moments later, dozens of gold-clad guards gave chase.

“Oh?” Nie Mingjue asked. His face hurt from smiling too hard. “What is it, then?”

Lan Xichen leaned forward confidentially, and Nie Mingjue leaned forward to catch his words.

“Even if I were to help,” he whispered, “I have no confidence in actually being able to stop him. And wouldn’t that be embarrassing?”

Nie Mingjue burst out laughing.

“Only shufu can stop him when he gets like this, and only sometimes. What hope do I have?”

“A very good point,” Nie Mingjue said. “Are you at least going to go keep your brother from getting married while he can’t remember what he’s doing?”

Lan Xichen gave a deep sigh. “Oh, I suppose so. By chance, I don’t suppose you’ve got a matchmaker handy…?”

“By chance, Huaisang knows how to do the calculations, and I’m a respected senior,” Nie Mingjue said. “Trying to lock them down before they have a chance to get out of it?”

“No, no. Just…making it clear that it’s an option, that’s all.”

[neverdoingmuch]

the lwj and wen ning dynamic is so fucking funny because here are two quiet and relatively mild-mannered people with strong moral compasses and they both share multiple loved ones in common, so they really should be best friends,, but they’re just not. like,, they just co-exist in the same space as each other without ever actually becoming friends. 

they see each other twice a week and give each other a greeting nod and like thats it. theyre left alone for like twenty minutes and just spend the entire time sitting there in silence and wwx comes back and is like oh man its great to see you getting along and they’re like yeah.... wwx asks lwj for birthday gift ideas for wn and lwj comes to the realisation that he knows like three facts about wn: he did archery with wwx once, he’s dead, and he likes wwx. thats it. wn knows like one fact about lwj and he’s still not fully sure if it’s true.

it becomes even funnier if/when they do actually become friends because theyre both so convinced that theyre just co-existing in the same space that they don’t realise that theyre like hanging out now. wwx asks where lwj is going one afternoon and hes like im going to go sit in a room with wen ning and after a pot of tea we will begin talking and then we will get lunch and then i will return and wwx is like haha its nice to see the two of you being friends and lwj is just floored. theyre friends?? when they catch up he tells wn what wwx said and wn is like we’re friends????? and theyre just sitting there staring at each other and go like oh... hm... yeah we are. nice. 

(and even after they become friends they still know like zero facts about each other. wwx asks wn what lwjs favourite colour is and wn just goes silent for like two whole minutes before wheezing out a quiet ‘chartreuse?????’ and wwx is fully aware that it is not but decides to roll with it bc he thinks its funny,, it’s still better than lwj who told wwx that wn’s favourite colour was wei ying)

[gloriousmonsters]

comprehensive list of every MDZS character that has made a ‘are we in a relationship/is this gay??’ post in an au where everything is the same except reddit exists and people use modern terminology when it’s funny

obviously, wei wuxian. ‘i’ve been playing gay chicken with this guy and sleeping in the same bed as him and he’s really quiet but he hasn’t been telling me to quit it like he used to and also he looks at me strangely sometimes and buys me drinks and we actually wound up having sex the other night--’ responses tend: ‘you’ve had sex how many times? yeah, that’s not technically a bromance’

lan xichen makes one while on the road with meng yao, lovingly detailing how they’ve been doing chores together and meng yao thoughtlessly called him a ‘good boy’ while doing laundry and it made him blush really hard, omg, and he wants to believe something might be there but meng yao is just so smart and talented and the situation’s difficult so he doesn’t want to presume even though meng yao keeps touching his hands while teaching him to mend clothes and seems to have a special smile just for him, etc etc. responses: people going ‘op just go for it’ and a bunch of people just calling him a sub

xiao xingchen and song lan make posts at the same time about their amazing friend that they share a common dream with and we kind of casually hold hands sometimes and call each other endearments but like, platonically? i think? reponses: ‘oh my fucking god *posts screenshot of the other one’s post*’. they wind up having a good laugh over it and making an update post about how they’re together now

years later xiao xingchen makes a post about how he’s been cohabiting with this guy who keeps on making jokes to make him laugh and teasing him by calling them ‘married’ and like, they are living together and sort of raising a teenager, well mostly she’s raising herself, but anyway - he thinks he’s getting signals but he’s had some trouble with relationships ending messily before, and he doesn’t want to presume something and make his friend uncomfortable, what they have is so precious... responses: a-qing’s burner account saying the guy is sus, don’t go for it. xue yang’s burner saying ‘he’s 100% into you. jump his bones’

jin guangyao makes a post asking ‘if a guy you really like and sort of had a summer romance with asks you to be sworn brothers, but like... also sworn brothers with your ex, what does it mean?’ and deletes the post after accumulating a bunch of responses demanding more info

jiang cheng demands to know that if you’re best friends with someone and they’re sort of your adopted brother but definitely your sect brother and they PROMISED with their OWN MOUTH to stay by your side and then they dump you to go off and cohabit with ANOTHER MAN and a bunch of refugees but that bit’s not important, that’s like, a breach of contract, right? because you’re in a relationship, right? responses: a number of people directing him to r/AITA. ‘op is this even a romantic relationship or is it a bro thing’ jc replies saying IT DOESN’T MATTER WHAT IT IS and deletes, but not before screenshots are everywhere

xue yang makes a post about how he was like, sort of faking being into this guy for lulz but now he’s kind of caught feelings and the flirting-to-make-the-other-guy-uncomfortable has escalated to morning kisses and the dude keeps leaving candy on his pillow and like... do you guys think he’s just playing along with the joke, or is it serious? responses: ‘oh my fucking god op’ ‘yeah you’re dating. you’re like 75% married’ and a-qing’s burner account telling him he’s reading too much into it

su she makes a post detailing how he’s had a crush on his boss who’s also his friend for a while and so he doesn’t want to let his hopes make him assume anything but his boss is extremely touchy-feely with him sometimes and asks him to work late alone together on... projects, it’s not important what, and maybe he gets playfully called a ‘work boyfriend’ a lot and his boss goes out of his way to compliment him sometimes, etc... Multiple responses point out he’s listed like 80 kinds of HR violations. su she replies it doesn’t matter. responses assert that yeah, it kind of does, also did you mention your boss already has a boyfriend? red flag op. sms gets pissed at nobody addressing his actual question and deletes the post

jin guangyao makes a post asking how many times you have to ‘jokingly’ call someone your boyfriend and spend late nights working on projects while finding excuses to touch before you acknowledge maybe something is going on. he gets a few OH MY GOD IT’S YOU... MR HR VIOLATIONS responses before swiftly deleting

wen ning has attempted to write a post several times throughout his life and undeath and always chickened out and deleted what he wrote at the last moment. he finally just makes a post about regrets and wishing you’d asked things outright and shared your feelings on r/offmychest or something. it’s very moving and gets shared a lot. wwx absolutely sees it and comments ‘man the dude in this story must be an asshole to not realize op’s feelings’ with 0 self awareness. for my own happiness this absolutely is the start to an endgame ningxian postcanon au

lan wangji makes an account post guanyin temple to ask ‘if a man tells me ‘I like you, I love you, I whatever you, I want to fuck you every day’, does that mean we’re in a relationship?’ he ignores every response except the first person to just say ‘yep’, replies ‘thank you’ to that person and then never returns to xianxia reddit

[rendnotmyheart]

Also, while we’re at it, Jiang Cheng literally went through so much fucking shit, like more than any other character bar maybe WWX. Like first his parents fucking die and now he’s fucking sect leader to a sect that was just completely destroyed. Then, he sacrifices himself and golden core to save his brother. Then, oh guess what there’s a fun new way to restore a golden core! Things are looking up! But then, his brother gets fucking kidnapped and JC spends months searching for him praying that he’s not dead because he can’t lose anyone else. Then, he finds his brother, but something’s off, he’s obviously not okay, but WWX keeps pushing him away. And he doesn’t have the time to help WWX because he’s still trying to rebuild his sect and figure out how to be a sect leader at the same time And it doesn’t help that WWX is a no show half the time, but JC wouldn’t be as irritated about that if WWX would just tell him wtf is going on. But he doesn’t and keep pushing JC away and causing trouble, and all of the other sects start getting uneasy, and JC wishes WWX would lay low for once in his life.

But of course he doesn’t and WWX, despite the sects already starting to turn against him, goes and completely defies them, and now everyone is convinced his brother is evil and is trying to tell JC that he always hated him, so in a desperate attempt to save his brother who he knows they’re going to find an excuse, any excuse, to kill if they get there hands on him, JC tells WWX to turn the Wens in. He doesn’t know what else to do. But of course WWX doesn’t, and on top of that, decides to secede from the sect. So, JC can’t even protect his brother anymore, and can only hope he doesn’t do anything to get himself killed, and that the other sects will forget how much they hate him. So, when his sister gets married and his brother can’t even go, JC thinks at least WWX still alive. He’s still alive, albeit thinner than JC has ever seen him, but he’s there, and they can have a meal together and WWX can pick out a name for JYL’s future baby. It’s not ideal, but they’re all still there at least.

But then, just when JC thinks things might actually be dying down and his brother can come back, JZX dies. Suddenly, his sister is in mourning, his brother is the target of a witch hunt, and JC really doesn’t know what to do anymore. How can he go against every other sect to save his brother when he’s hands down the weakest of the major clans? How can he protect his brother when everything he does makes it harder and harder to do so? And then, WWX shows up at Nightless City and JC knows it’s over. He knows there’s no way his brother is going to leave here alive. The weight of that knowledge settles in his chest. Yet even as everyone else is being attacked, not one fierce corpse touches YunmengJiang, even as WWX is breaking down and killing more ruthlessly than JC has ever seen him kill, WWX still remembers to keep his brother and sect safe. JC doesn’t know what to do with that, especially since he wasn’t able to keep WWX safe. But WWX was always the better of the two of them, wasn’t he? Then, A-Jie shows up, and JC can’t help the panic that rises when she gets injured. He can’t lose her, he can’t, not her. WWX said he could control it, and JC trusted him, but now A-Jie is hurt. And then she dies saving WWX. She doesn’t even blame him. But JC does. He can’t help it. His sister is dead, everyone’s dead, and WWX is still alive, but he’s not really, and even before that, he left JC, and he said he could control it, but now JYL is dead and if JC had only done something, if only WWX had let someone help. And then WWX dies. And JC really has no one left. And who does he blame? Himself Wei Wuxian. If WWX hadn’t cultivated the twisted path, if he hadn’t left JC, if he’d let someone help, none of this would have happened; JC wouldn’t be left alone. He wouldn’t be left alone with a kid to raise who should have the best mother in the world but is stuck with him instead.

Then, WWX comes back, and JC finds out his core isn’t his own and his sacrifice meant nothing, it caused everything, and WWX didn’t even ask before throwing his life away for JC’s! JC didn’t want this, and everything is a mess. All he ever did was try to protect his family, but he just kept getting it wrong. None of this would have ever happened if he didn’t try to protect his brother to begin with. But it’s not even his fault! He never asked for WWX to give him his core! WWX once again decided to play the hero and didn’t even stop to consider that maybe, maybe, it wasn’t his job to save everyone, and maybe someone else wanted to save him for once. It’s all a mess of hurt and misunderstanding that JC doesn’t know if he’ll ever be able to untangle.

[heavymetalchemist]

I think it’s easy to forget that Wei Wuxian is strongly villain-coded. We see the story from his perspective, we know his reasons and justifications, if you’re watching CQL and paying attention you can figure out the core transfer before the reveal. We know that Wen Qing and Wen Ning are good guys. We know that the Burial Mounds gang is a bunch of tired uncle/aunts trying to grow some stupid radishes, a four year old, and the Disaster Bi Gang (none of whom have swords, even!) We know that Wei Wuxian has his heart in the right place, that he feels an incredibly strong debt to the Wen Siblings and by extension their remaining family, that he has no golden core and has no choice but to forsake the sword and cultivate the demonic path, that he defects from the Jiang sect in a fake fight with his brother so that the Jiang sect won’t suffer the consequences of his actions, even though they have Secret Soup later.

But if you’re not us, the audience? If you’re, for example, Sect Leader Yao?

Hey did you all hear about how Wei Wuxian got kicked out of the Cloud Recesses for violently lashing out at the Jin sect heir?

Hey did you all see how he doesn’t carry his sword any more and claims it’s because he’s so badass that he doesn’t need it? And he has that Stygian tiger seal, so maybe it’s not bullshit? Can you even fight against that with a sword?

What kind of power does this guy even have? He’s a teenager! He drinks all the time and he’s moody and surly and holy shit did you hear what he did at that Wen outpost? He tortured all of them to death! Ugly stuff, man. Gruesome way to go. Maybe even worse than what Wen Ruohan did, at least a hot poker doesn’t make you claw your own eyes out.

Oh shit, he just stormed into this banquet and just SAID “if I want to kill someone who can stop me” and he still has that tiger seal I think we should be worried???

He just busted a bunch of Wen cultivators out of prison! And then he ran off to the Burial Mounds??? And his sect leader didn’t even know anything about it? Is he going rogue? Is he starting an uprising? This demonic cultivation stuff really seems to be corrupting him!

Oh man he got kicked out of the Jiang sect? You mean even the man he grew up with, who he was raised with practically as a brother, can’t control him any more? Did you hear about his fierce corpse? They call him the Ghost General! He’s unstoppable! What are we going to do if he comes for us?

He could be building a whole army in there, Sect Leader Jin said so! Who knows what kind of sick, twisted stuff he’s getting up to! Don’t forget all that horrible shit in the Sunshot Campaign, remember when he was raising the Wens’ own dead to turn against them? He could do that to us! He’s working with the Wens now, even! He’s gone totally crazy!

We can’t let some outlaw have all this power. It’s putting the safety of all of us at risk. What if it’s just another Wen Ruohan waiting to happen? (especially applicable if you’re thinking he’s using Yin iron as in CQL!) If we let him consolidate his power too much, then he’ll be unstoppable!

HOLY SHIT he murdered the Jin sect heir and his cousin with his fierce corpse! That’s the man his former shijie married! The one he punched in the Cloud Recesses, remember when the Lans kicked him out because he was so unruly and disrespectful? Yeah! It was probably revenge! Have we done anything to him? Oh gods what if we’re next???

A major point of MDZS/CQL is how important reputation is, and how that affects everything. Wei Wuxian’s reputation is straight-up villainous. We, the audience, know that he’s trying his best, that he’s a traumatized teenager with a shitload of emotional baggage trying to do the right thing and repay a colossal debt, that he’s made choices that he now has to try and live with, etc. But to the rest of the world this guy has fucking lost it, he’s gone off the deep end and he has an incredibly powerful weapon and a mode of cultivation that seems to corrupt you and turn you into a monster, and frankly, they’re not wrong! It does affect his temperament and he does end up killing a lot of people and he is out of control!

MDZS/CQL is interesting precisely because we’re getting an entire Villain Apology Story. A long time ago I read a post by someone on here saying they find Jiang Cheng challenging to write about because he’s the protagonist of a different story, and he really is. He’s the guy whose former shixiong turns into a villain in pursuit of power, the Obi-Wan to WWX’s Anakin, the one who sees how incredible power corrupts and is obligated to fight against it. Having to fight against a former ally who was seduced by “the dark side” (in this case, demonic cultivation) is a story that gets told over and over, but always condemning the one who went to the dark side. He’s the blackened protagonist, the aren’t you tired of being nice, don’t you want to go ape shit power fantasy, where we as the audience can justify his actions because we know he did it to save his brother, his sister, the Wen remnants he owes a debt to. He isolates himself from the people who love him to protect them, he refuses Lan Wangji’s help because he’s convinced he just wants to lock him up and stop him from using demonic cultivation because he’s a righteous upstanding Lan (totally unaware of LWJ’s intense crush, obviously). He jokes about it but he knows he’s being painted as the villain, and he’s in denial about how much that will affect him, because after all… he’s the Yiling Laozu, and he knows his power. But so does everyone else, and they’re rightfully terrified!

And yet? When he comes back, LWJ still wants him, still cares for him, will move heaven and earth to protect him. JC cares about him so much he’s having a Constant Crisis about it. And WWX has not forgotten his shijie or shidi, immediately cares about Jin Ling, and still is the man who really just wanted to be free and grow some goddamn radishes. He accepts that he paid for what he’s done with his death, and just wants to start over.

It just drives me nuts when people pretend like WWX was an angel who did nothing wrong because the whole POINT is that he was a villain-coded gay (well, bi) and the man you had to really watch out for was the polite, thoughtful, soft-spoken one that worked his way up from a tragic backstory. It’s a whole subversion and it’s awesome!