#they would have used a guqin and probably been some kind of support

[yinyuedijun]

i dunno if it'd get any interest but if I were convinced that it would I would totally make an ask game for hsr selfshippers/insert authors centered around like. the paths/kits/team comps for their insert characters. my meta-obsessed ass would just love it but LMDAOSKSJ idk if anyone else would !

[a-mirror-of-memories]

MDZSxPokemon Snippets 2: Second partners introduction

Wangji and Chenqing first appearances, and a little explanation about how the evolution works in this au

When a Pokemon is getting ready to evolve a light glow start to surround their body.

Until the moment that the process is complete the pokemon needs to be outside of the spiritual weapon; not returning even once.

During that time the pokemon starts gathering energy into itself to support such drastic change on their anatomy; so to guaranty the success of the process is advisable to the cultivators to avoid using their spiritual swords to fly during that time. The whole process shouldn’t last longer than a day at most, but if by some reason the pokemon goes back inside their spiritual weapon during that time the glow would disperse and almost all the physical sights of an evolution will be lost.

Wangji

Unexpected Partner

When he told Shufu that Bichen finally decided to evolve into Glaceon, his first response was attempting to make Lan Wangji change his mind citing the dangers of the journey. When that failed Shufu then tried to convince his nephew to either let him go with him or at least bring his Abomanow along as protection, but Wangji stood his ground.

At the end of the first day of journey the biggest danger they found was a small Snorunt trying to invite them to a snowball fight, and having to rescue that same Snorunt after getting stuck in a giant ball when it tried to make a snowman.

Not So Unhelpful Hand

The same Snorunt that has follow them for their whole trip has been acting weird since the morning, stepping into the path dancing and trying to delay them further during lunch break, even going as far as hidding their possesions under the snow.

Finally, having enough of being ignored when she was trying to help the pokemon simply picked up Bichen on her tiny arms and with a yelp from the startled pokemon she ran away leaving his human behind. Lan Wangji quickly packed their things and gave them chase but the little Snorunt was an ice pokemon that has been born in those mountain and used every single shortcut and trick in her arsenal to keep the distance between herself and the furious Lan behind her.

By the time Lan Wangji finally managed to catch the sneaky pokemon, a blizzard was in the making. In the meantime Snorunt had found a small cavern for the three of them and was in the process of picking fallen branches from the snow to start a fire.

Captive Audience

The journey towards the Ice Rock was halted by the blizzard.

Inside the cave their little Snorunt, and Lan Wangji reproached himself for start calling her that, sat a little farther away from them, attempting to be sneaky while slowly inching to towards Bichen, who was curled up in preparation to sleep and glaring wherever he noticed her getting closer (his partner still hasn’t forgiven her for picking him up and spiriting away, and much less for putting him inside of what it looked like a baby cage made of ice to keep him from running away while she was picking fallen branches).

After the third time that Bichen tried to bite the ther pokemoon Lan Wangji gently picked the moody Eevee and carefully moved him until he was on his lap, blatantly ignoring the Ice pokemon and what was probably a pout on her face.

Feeling that attempting to meditate will only cause more troubles at the end, the cultivator instead released his guqin and started playing a song that has been haunting his dreams the same way a certain Yunmeng Jiang disciple.

As Lan Wangji let the notes of the melody that he��s been composing wash around the cave the little Snorunt for the first time since they met her stayed completely still, mesmerized by the sound coming from his guqin

Chenqing

Always Watching, Never Reaching

Since the moment that she first came into consciousness, Misdreavus has been alone. She didn’t have parents, or maybe she did once but they were not there anymore. She was the only one of her kind in the mountain, and none of the other ghosts pokemon knew what to do with a baby that looked so different from them. So they didn’t.

A ghost pokemon was not like the rest: Instead of rivers or mountains or forests, the only place they could exist without fear of been hunted down was in the most cursed places; where not even the bravest souls would enter willingly for fear of never leaving.

However that never stopped her from going as close of the barrier as possible, just for the chance of catching even a glimpse of how was the world outside of her home.

Most of the time it was only the same gloomy sky but sometimes, if she was really lucky, she may catch a glimpse of something more.

Something like the far away lights of some festival, or the distant echo of a laugh. Other times it was something as simple as an old granny washing her clothes on the river, or some kids playing too close to the barrier (she made sure of scaring them back to their houses, this place was too dangerous for them to stumble upon).

When she was a little younger Misdreavus tried to get close to the humans, but they always ran away scared or tried to hurt her to force her away. Pretty soon she decided to stop trying to approach them on her own; instead she would watch from the other side, helping from the shadows. Maybe if she was good and helped them in what she could someone would see it and thank her one day.

Hopeless Cause

Misdreavus hated when people fell into her home.

None of them ever came on their own fre will; it was always someone else who pushed them inside, and their screams of agony hurt her ears more than the constant yelling of the trapped souls. She only got close enough to see the end once, and never wanted to see it again. Sometimes they had company, a pokemon from outside that fell along with them and the humans ordered to protect them while they tried to run away. Some of them tried and failed, while a few actually tried to run away leaving the human behind, but the moment the humans perished so did they.

Not wanting to see this anymore Misdreavus made songs with the answers they were looking for and sang them behind the rocks.

‘the exit is this way’

‘There’s a cave here where you can rest’

‘you need to use the dark powers, that would scare them off’

‘please don’t fight, you need to be together to get out of here’

‘eat this, it would give you strength’

But no matter what she said they only keep running away. In very few cases the pokemon could understand her, and one extremely loyal one even tried to drag their humans on the direction she was pointing at but it was a lost cause.

Would someone ever listen to her? Would anybody realize that she was only trying to help them?

Over and over the cycle repeated itself: They fall, they fight, they fail, they’re down.

So when another human fell from the sky clutching a small brown pokemon tight on his chest to protect it from the impact she wasn’t expecting anything different

[robininthelabyrinth]

Prompt: anything with Jiang Yanli, I’d love to see more of her PoV

part 2 of whumptober 20 (JYL/LXC field medicine)

ao3 link

-

It wasn’t that Jiang Yanli never thought about other men.

After all, she was a female cultivator, and her opinion was therefore one of the ones that was rather eagerly solicited when it came to naming the most attractive young masters in the cultivation world; it was only that it had never seemed to matter. After all, she was engaged, and always had been, to her mother’s dearest friend’s only son, and that, it had seemed at the time, was that.

Oh, her father spoke warmly about marrying for love and not for obligation, but Jiang Yanli had never quite understood what he meant. Even if she didn’t love Jin Zixuan, she loved her mother enough to want to respect her wishes, and it was easy enough to dismiss what negative things she’d heard about him – arrogant, self-centered, impetuous, but of course he was still young, and weren’t most teenage boys like that? – and instead daydream about the life she would have in the future.

When she was young, it was mostly daydreams of having some faceless man (she couldn’t imagine little Jin Zixuan, who at three years younger was barely more than a baby) bring her gifts and tease her and kiss her, then say she was the prettiest person he’d ever seen. The way she’d always heard was supposed to be how lovers talked, the way people said that a marriage ought to be like - the way her parents’ marriage had never been.

When she was a bit older, her thoughts drifted away from retreading romantic stories and to the actual work of being married, of being the mistress of Lanling Jin. In the beginning, her duty would be to first and foremost produce an heir and a spare, to remain healthy throughout the process, and to support her husband as he slowly began to take on the duties that would eventually become his, but later on it would get more interesting. A sect leader could not be everywhere, and his wife would often be left in charge when he was not at home – she would have to know everything about the sect, same as him, enough to make decisions in his absence; she would have to answer correspondence, make decisions, negotiate with traders, collect duties, enforce the peace, and she’d also have to manage the sect’s social scene on top of it all.

She probably wouldn’t have much time to cook, Jiang Yanli thought wistfully, thinking about how Lanling women prided themselves on never having to lift a finger for themselves, and threw herself into her favorite hobby now, while she still could. If she was clever about it, she might be able to get good enough at it that her future husband would find some dish of hers that he liked, something that only she could make, and then her cooking would be something done at his request – a charming idiosyncrasy, an indulgence of sweethearts.

When she got older still, and learned about Sect Leader Jin’s philandering and the iron grip of control Madame Jin imposed on Lanling in order to keep her position in the face of all the backstabbing and politics, she thought to herself that that sounded exhausting. But by that point, all of her childhood daydreams had Jin Zixuan’s name on them – although admittedly not his face, for all that he had grown up into one of the most handsome young men of his generation, and certainly not his mannerisms – and it was far too late to raise a fuss now. So Jiang Yanli studied willpower in addition to trade routes, learned how to exploit social norms in addition to how to manage a dinner party, taught herself how to play people just as well as she played the guqin, absorbed the lessons of both murder and mathematics, and above all figured out how to stand up for herself and what she believed in no matter what overwhelming pressure she might face.

Even though Jiang Yanli was pretty sure that Madame Jin wouldn’t appreciate that last part in a daughter-in-law, especially not one reputed to be as easygoing as her father.

(“Let her be upset,” her own mother had snorted when Jiang Yanli had tentatively raised the issue. “Are you supposed to ruin your own future because she’s a bitter old mother-in-law that’d rather not give up control so early? I may have agreed to marry you to her son, A-Li, but she agreed to marry him to my daughter. If she wanted easy and pliable, she should have thought again.”

“But she’s your friend,” Jiang Yanli had said, frowning a little. “Don’t you want her to be happy?”

Her mother had looked tired. “Once, more than anything,” she’d said. “But the chance for that passed long ago.”)

So it wasn’t that she didn’t notice other men. It was just that there was no point in allowing herself to look, and she knew enough of her parents’ marriage, and of Madame Jin’s, to not want to look.

And then, suddenly, there was.

Her engagement was broken. One could say that it happened at her own beloved brothers’ hands, at her father’s blind dislike of arrangements even when it was one his own daughter had long ago accepted and had even learned to long for, but in truth Jin Zixuan was a proper young master, old enough to make decisions for himself, to exercise some control over his own life, and the first bit of control he’d taken into his own hands was to decide that he didn’t want her.

It was – not fine, no. She spent some time crying over it, and yet more time comforting Wei Wuxian who was distraught at having caused her pain, and the most time of all quietly wondering what the point of her existence was now that she was no longer useful as a marriage tool. She’d never been much of a cultivator, never been especially pretty, never been anything more than average – what was the point of her?

Maybe that was when she’d decided to pick up medicine.

Field medicine was womanly enough to satisfy critics, and yet it was something useful in a practical sense: she could save people’s lives, if she only learned enough, and studying she could do.

Sometimes, she even got the chance to save the lives of very attractive people, like when the First Jade of Lan lay crumpled in the cot before her as she patched him up. So this is the one they ranked first, she thought, examining him with her eyes even as she kept her hands busy, and she was forced to admit that the other female cultivators of her generation had good taste. He was devastatingly handsome.

Kind, too, she soon learned; gentle and courteous in his mannerisms. He smiled often, which she appreciated in a person (if one interpreted Jiang Cheng’s scowls as smiles, he smiled nearly as much!), and he seemed to genuinely admire her efforts at medicine, however rudimentary. Over dinner, which he insisted on sharing with her even after he was well on his road to recovery, the conversation between them flowed easily and well: they both had brothers they loved, which was a conversation topic of which neither of them would ever tire, and they both enjoyed art and music. He didn’t know the first thing about cooking, but enjoyed asking questions (especially after she’d made him a meal he particularly enjoyed, which was often), while she enjoyed the way he blushed when she teased him.

She didn’t think much of it, of course. If she couldn’t keep the husband that had been promised to her since before she could walk – if she was too dull, too plain, too weak, too average to be worthy of an untried young man like him – then she definitely had no hope of catching the most attractive and capable young master of their generation, a dashing war hero and sect leader in his own right.

And then, when they were both laughing over an especially hair-brained scheme they’d concocted to try to get Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian to spend more time together – Jiang Yanli had noticed how much Wei Wuxian talked about Lan Wangji once he’d returned to the Lotus Pier, and Lan Xichen swore up and down that Lan Wangji had been no better – he turned to her and said, “If you were in Gusu, your brothers would be sure to come to visit you.”

“Me, in Gusu?” Jiang Yanli was startled into a laugh. “Why would I be in Gusu? As your guest?”

Lan Xichen coughed. “I had been hoping for something – a bit more permanent than that. If that would be something you would be open to.”

It actually took her a moment to understand, and then she had to raise her hands to cover her suddenly burning cheeks.

“You don’t have to say anything now,” he said hastily. “Just something to think about, if you’re interested…and of course, if your heart is elsewhere –”

“It isn’t,” she blurted out, and had to turn away.

“I’d hoped that was the case,” he said quietly, his voice warm. “I’ll take my leave, Mistress Jiang.”

Jiang Yanli had grown up thinking of herself as the future mistress of Lanling Jin, with its riches and its beauty and its poisonous heart, and then she’d assumed she’d be nothing at all, an old maid that helped Jiang Cheng manage his sect until he finally found a wife to suit him.

She’d never thought about being the mistress of Gusu Lan.

Gusu Lan, which was not as wealthy as Lanling Jin but just as complex – with its own trade routes and subordinate sects and business to manage – with its beautiful and serene landscape, its culture that emphasized harmony and unity rather than backstabbing – with no overbearing mother-in-law that would have barely been tolerable even when her own mother would have been there to hold her back, but would have been impossible without such protection –

She hadn’t dreamt of Lan Xichen as a child, or even as a teenager, but when she thought about all those dreams with a faceless man that she’d named Jin Zixuan regardless of any similarity to the real thing…

Lan Xichen fit in much better to the idea in her head than the real Jin Zixuan ever had.

“I won’t live separately,” she told him when he came over the next day, before he could even say a word; it had been just about the only problem she could see with his proposal. “In another house, certainly, but not an entirely different dwelling, and if I have any children, I would want them to live with me regardless of their gender.”

“I wouldn’t dream of having you so far away,” he said, and he was smiling again, broad and bright and – somehow, impossibly – hers. “Might I kiss you?”

“You may,” she said, and he did.

“Mistress Jiang,” Lan Xichen said a moment later, “you’re the most remarkable woman I’ve ever met.”

Remarkable, Jiang Yanli thought to herself, was better than pretty any day.

[kurowrites]

Wangxian prompt: Wei wuxian is born deaf. Lan wangji who uses little words and has trouble expressing himself finds a new way to talk by learning sighn language from Wei wuxian.

Bet you weren’t expecting this.

---

There is a boy that has come to Cloud Recesses with the other young disciples of the Yunmeng Jiang sect, and he is loud. He cannot take part in the lectures, and he does not speak, but still, he is here. And when he is around, everyone knows. From time to time, Lan Wangji sees him making gestures at Jiang Cheng, and then Jiang Cheng will frown. And the boy will break out into infectious laughter, bright and strange and unlike anything that Lan Wangji has ever heard.

He wonders why the boy is even here, when he cannot hear. He wonders why the Yunmeng Jiang sect would bother to educate him in cultivation at all, since he will never be allowed on a night hunt. In the dark, with only his eyes to guide him, it would be too dangerous for him, and for those who depend on his support. He will never become a full-fledged cultivator.

And yet, he sometimes sits in class, and for the rest of the time, he is allowed access to the library at Cloud Recesses while everyone else is in class. Lan Xichen and Lan Qiren permitted it, though why they did, Lan Wangji does not know. For all his constant mischief-making, the boy pours over the scrolls and books in the library with a serious expression whenever no one is looking. Lan Wangji once catches a glimpse of his notes, and they are extensive. He also seems to sometimes be using a kind of shorthand Lan Wangji does not recognise.

That boy might just be very, very smart.

-

Whenever Lan Wangji enters the library when Wei Wuxian is there, Wei Wuxian will wave at him and make a sign. Lan Wangji thinks he is probably just trying to say hello, but he is unable to quite figure it out.

As soon as he sits down and starts to read or write himself, Wei Wuxian will start pelting him with pieces of paper. All of them contain some kind of message.

Lan Zhan, what are you doing?

Lan Zhan, can you get me access to the forbidden section?

Lan Zhan, stop ignoring me!

Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan

I can see you reading and ignoring each and every one of these, and you make me sad.

That last one is followed by a sloppily drawn sad face.

Lan Wangji glares at him and finally writes out a reply.

Work.

Wei Wuxian laughs boisterously, and his laugh is beautiful.

-

 One day, Wei Wuxian must be bored, because he sits next to Lan Wangji and starts badgering him, pulling his sleeve, and reaching for his wrist to get Lan Wangji’s attention. When Lan Wangji finally looks up, his usual glare in place, Wei Wuxian gives him a little wave, signs something, and then touches Lan Wangji’s chest. Lan Wangji is nearly ready to jump up, when Wei Wuxian repeats the same motion again, determined.

It takes him a moment, but then he realizes.

It is not just a hello. Wei Wuxian has been saying his name all along.

Hello, Lan Zhan.

With trembling fingers, he reaches out and touches Wei Wuxian’s chest. And Wei Wuxian gives him a brilliant smile, and signs something different.

Wei Ying.

-

 It’s simple things that he learns at first.

Book. Brush. Give me. Hungry. Eat. Sleep.

Good night, Wei Ying. Good morning.

No. No, Wei Ying, stop that.

He has to use that last one a lot, accompanied by Wei Ying’s laughter.

-

 Wei Ying gets along well with Wen Ning. Wen Ning has a slight speech impediment, and it is clear that the boy takes to conversing by signing with something akin to relief. He picks up the most important signs quickly, and it does not take long for them to start having conversations with each other. Nie Huaisang is another one. For all that he is lazy during class, he is a quick study when it comes to getting involved into mischief together with Wei Ying. And when either of them is at a loss of words, there are always Jiang Cheng and Jiang Yanli to help. Jiang Yanli in particular, Lan Wangji notes, signs along with her speech habitually – does it even with other people’s speech – so that Wei Ying’s eyes automatically look for her whenever someone is talking and he wants to know what is being said. Jiang Cheng too seems fluent in conversing with Wei Ying, and especially fighting with him, both of them signing at each other with large, emphatic movements.

Lan Wangji keeps watching them all. He wished he could express himself that well.

(He can. He just does not dare to do it just yet.)

-

 Wei Ying practices sometimes with Jiang Cheng, has his own sword, but Lan Wangji notices quickly that he has another issue besides his lack of hearing: His balance is slightly off, sometimes, and Lan Wangji knows he is trying to hide it, but it is another disqualification as a cultivator. If he loses his balance at the wrong time, he is dead. It hurts Lan Wangji a little, the thought that so much promise will never be able to blossom. Not in the society they have been born into. They will never see him as more than a liability.

-

 Wei Ying cannot hear the guqin, but he seems fascinated by the instrument. He sometimes joins Lan Wangji when he is practicing, listening to him play and yet not hearing him.

One day, Lan Wangji is struck by an idea. All cultivators are aware of the technique generally called Chord Assassination, and they know of its deadly effect. What most people do not know is that there is a lot of room in between trying to kill someone and just playing the guqin with absolutely no intent at all. So he plays a note and sends it towards Wei Ying, not with the intent to kill, but with enough force to push someone back.

Wei Ying is out of the path of the sound before Lan Wangji can even process it. He nearly falls over a chest in the process and just barely catches himself. Wei Ying looks at him with big eyes.

Are you crazy? Are you trying to kill me?

No. You can feel it.

Of course I can! Murderer!

Most cannot.

Wei Ying looks at him, more confused and less angry this time.

Most cannot feel the spiritual energy of the guqin. Only its effects.

Oh, that look in Wei Ying’s eyes. He has awakened something, he has no doubts.

(It turns out Wei Ying likes to listen to Lan Wangji play the guqin because it gives him mushy feelings inside. Lan Wangji has to lock himself in the Jingshi for a bit and tell himself repeatedly that Wei Ying has no way of knowing what he has been playing a lot lately.)

(Wei Ying is like ‘this has to be good for something’ as he digs through countless old texts, and that might be how he figures out the Compass of Evil.)

-

 The first time Lan Wangji openly signs to Wei Ying in front of other people, their audience is shocked. They didn’t know that Lan Zhan learned to sign, and none of them have ever seen him speak for so long. And no one has any idea at all what he’s saying. (Except Jiang Yanli, who is also there and who will not say a word, only smile serenely.)

He starts becoming Wei Ying’s ears more and more often, and eventually, he also becomes his mouth. (The gap between Wei Ying’s words and Lan Zhan’s appearance is used to devastating effect.)

-

 And because Lan uses his hands much better than his words… Wei Ying understands what it means to be loved.

[franniebanana]

CQL Rewatch - Episode 7

Their first vow together. So nice! I actually do like the parallels here between Lan Yi and Wei Wuxian, and Baoshan Sanren and Lan Wangji: you have one set being reckless and untamed (I said it) and the other set trying to restore order. It’s kind of funny that the ancestors are switched, though. So here we have Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji vowing to bring all the Yin Iron pieces back to the cold spring pond to neutralize them, and of course Lan Wangji’s first reaction is, “None of your business.” It’s cute how Lan Yi takes Wei Wuxian’s side and has a sense of pride for her close friend’s disciple. I think he’s an honorary Lan in her eyes.

And then Lan Yi gives them a warning to not make the same mistakes she made. Wei Wuxian’s like, “Yep, got it, I promise.” But we all know from the beginning that this obviously doesn’t go well for him, since he dies in the first five minutes of the series. He will go on to make some questionable decisions, most of which are driven by his emotions, which are often not in check. Side note: I love this series, but I don’t like how they took a great grey character like Wei Wuxian and turned him into a character where many of the things that went wrong were caused by other people.

Another side note. That fucking Yin Iron fell on the guqin so many times, and it didn’t dent it at all. Is the guqin made out of iron too? I thought it was wood. If I did that to my violin, I guarantee you the violin would not fare very well.

Forever a favorite moment. It was great enough that they were tied together by Lan Wangji’s headband, but even better that Wei Wuxian fell on him. So great—such a tease to the audience. And this is as close as we get to the scene in the book when Lan Wangji uses the body binding spell to keep Wei Wuxian on top of him all night (ooh, my heart skipped a beat when I read that).

Also, taking the screenshot, I noticed you can see the impression of the little metal piece from Lan Wangji’s headband. Little things like that interest me for some reason. I wonder if it bothered Wang Yibo—did it press too hard on his forehead? I remember him saying he’d get tan lines from the headband.

I love this little smirk he does. A moment when Wei Wuxian’s gift to gab really pays off. Instead of letting Lan Wangji talk and explain the situation, Wei Wuxian keeps speaking, lying about what they were doing. I’d like to think he does it in part to protect Lan Wangji and to stop him from breaking any of his clan rules, but likely it’s another chance for him to prove himself as someone Lan Wangji can trust. And I take Lan Wangji’s little acknowledgement of him there as his silent “thank you.” It says a lot, I think, that Wei Wuxian is willing to lie to Jiang Cheng in order to protect the Lan Clan’s secrets.

I’m sorry, but every time I hear Nie Huaisang say, “You were gone a whole day and night,” my mind immediately goes to the gutter—like the implication is that they were doing something inappropriate during that time. I keep expecting a sex joke, only to remind myself that this was on Chinese television and that would, of course, not happen. Jiang Cheng says a similar thing (and my mind goes the same way that time too), but in that case, canon book Jiang Cheng does later accuse them of having a more-than-friendly relationship, and he does not say it in a nice way.

Also, throughout the scene that precedes this, where Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji are discussing what to do next with Lan Qiren and Lan Xichen, it really feels like wangxian just want to go on a buddy road trip together, and they are so disappointed when they are turned down. Oh, I didn’t screencap it, but Lan Wangji has the saddest sad face at the end.

I think Lan Wangji is a little impressed here but he doesn’t want to admit it. Wei Wuxian has a great gift to come up with ridiculous stories and lies at the drop of a hat. I love that Wei Wuxian doesn’t have to come up with a scary snake story when he could have just told Nie Huaisang what he’d already told Jiang Cheng and Wen Qing, but he does anyway. Mad respect.

This also kind of amuses me because Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji can never really have a moment alone. They keep getting interrupted by other people when I think they just want to talk about what they experienced. Instead we just have all these shared glances. Nothing like a big fat secret to get close to each other, right?

Omfg Jiang Cheng is so jealous! I thought maybe I was imagining it or just projecting my own ideas onto him, but NO—he is jealous! He’s all like, “If you like Lan Wangji so much, why don’t you marry him?” I mean, that basically happened. I’ve gone on about this before, but I love the tension between Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji, and the fact that it continues even after Wei Wuxian dies makes it even better. Jiang Cheng is so stubborn and continues to hold a grudge against Lan Wangji, and it bothers the fuck out of him that there’s someone out there devoted to Wei Wuxian, by whom Jiang Cheng feels so betrayed.

And, I mean, by this point, it’s already started. As soon as they get to the Cloud Recesses, Wei Wuxian starts paying more attention to Lan Wangji than he does to either Jiang Cheng or Jiang Yanli. And Jiang Cheng likes to say, “You’re worrying my sister, you’re hurting my sister” when he really means, “You’re worrying me.” His stupid pride gets in the way of having a good relationship with Wei Wuxian. And I don’t think Wei Wuxian would ever put Lan Wangji above Jiang Cheng, who he considers his family—at least not at this point. It’s not until the second half that things switch, and really, even then, in the CQL-verse, the two are probably equal in Wei Wuxian’s mind. He backs off from Jiang Cheng due to Jiang Cheng’s attitude toward him.

Okay, Jiang Cheng’s jealousy aside, I love how steadfast and supportive Wei Wuxian is of him. As soon as he catches on that Jiang Cheng is jealous, he immediately starts trash-talking the Cloud Recesses and talking up Lotus Pier. It’s very cute, very sweet. He’s a good brother to him, really.

Now who’s jealous? Just kidding. I love his wistful expression here, as he watches them go off. Anyone who’s read the book knows that Lan Wangji does get jealous at times and certainly frustrated with Wei Wuxian’s coquettish behavior. I would say he is more longing at this moment, maybe even wanting to get closer to Wei Wuxian, without really understanding why himself. There’s such an isolation to his world: even though he’s surrounded by other disciples, he doesn’t have any friends. He’s maybe regretting how quickly he refused to the invitation to Lotus Pier. I think, on the one hand, Lan Wangji has found one person in this world who not only shares a secret with him, but who has similar goals—on the other hand, his code of ethics are all over the place. His heart and mind are conflicted: he wants to get closer, but he doesn’t want to make the wrong decision. To his Gusu Lan Clan mind, Wei Wuxian is all wrong, but his heart says otherwise. And I’m not saying he loves him already—but he is already seeing a kindred spirit in Wei Wuxian, someone who he can rely on, someone he can trust, someone who has his back, even if it means bending a few rules. And in a relationship, you have nothing if you don’t have trust.

I never noticed that they were communicating telepathically here. Or something. I dunno. I guess it’s not that clear.

Also if it feels like I’m ignoring all these parts with the Wen Clan, it’s because I am. I mean, not really, but this is all the Yin Iron stuff that I don’t really care about. And I’m not in the Xue Yang fan club either, so I’m not going to spend time on him until he’s actually in it in Yueyang (possibly) and Yi City. Actually, confession: I’ve never watched the Yi City flashback episodes. I read it, so I know it, but I never watched it hahaha. I will this time around. I made that pact with myself.

AWWW, HE SMILED!!!

Ahem, excuse me. This is too fucking cute, though. The rabbit lantern that Wei Wuxian drew just for him, his cute baby smile, and the Wei Wuxian pointing it out with a grin. Cuteness overload—my heart can’t take it.

But I also had a sad thought that if Wei Wuxian hadn’t come over, Lan Wangji would be sitting here alone. He’d make his lantern all on his own, send it off into the sky, say his own prayer to himself, and never hear Wei Wuxian’s, which likely sends Lan Wangji over the edge with his feelings. Everything he thought about Wei Wuxian was true, and maybe it’s okay to like him, maybe it’s okay to consider him a friend, maybe it’s okay to trust him that way.

Just a shot that I liked. Enjoy.

I feel so bad for Jiang Yanli here. I also feel bad for Jin Zixuan, even though he’s a complete dick. I understand how they both feel here—to be tied to someone you don’t know, from the time you were small children is incredibly unfair in my eyes. That being said, I know this still happens in other parts of the world, and it’s implied that it’s common in our CQL/MDZS world (which would make sense, of course). I like the feeling of siding with Wei Wuxian, wanting to come to Jiang Yanli’s defense and protect her honor, while also still having an understanding of how Jin Zixuan must feel about the whole thing. His choice has been completely taken away. And he’s, what, 17 here? What 17-year-old boy wants to be reminded constantly about how he’s already engaged? It’s not typically a young man’s dream to settle down and get married—not that it can’t be! But the implication here, with all the girls tittering about it, is that they’re all excited about marriage, and he wants nothing to do with it. Of course, Jiang Yanli isn’t either. I think she really just wants to get to know him and spend time with him, before even thinking about marrying him.

Ah, a momentous occasion: the first time Lan Wangji tries to stop Wei Wuxian from getting himself into trouble (not counting the first time they met, when he was literally trying to police him while breaking Cloud Recesses rules). I like this shot, because you have Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji on either side of Wei Wuxian, and Jiang Yanli in the front, literally putting her body between him and Jin Zixuan (actually this parallels her final scene). It kind of shows the depths of their relationships (or at least what the director wants to show us). You have Lan Wangji, who grabs onto Wei Wuxian to try to stop him from further brawling; Jiang Cheng, who stands beside him, but isn’t really involved otherwise—standoffish, in a way; and then Jiang Yanli, who physically gets in the way. She’s the quintessential big sister. And I’m not saying Jiang Cheng doesn’t care—he does, but I think his first thought always has to do with the honor of the Jiang Clan and, while he’s standing beside Wei Wuxian, it’s almost as if he doesn’t want to show any involvement with this brawl, because that would look bad.

Ah, the old dudes meeting, while Jiang Cheng stands off to the side awkwardly, wondering if he should be there or not. At the outset, this meeting to decide their children’s future seemed kind of bad, but it actually turned out nice, with them agreeing to call off the engagement. Very progressive, I thought.

Two things I learned in this scene: Wei Wuxian doesn’t want to marry a woman and he doesn’t want to leave the Cloud Recesses yet (TL: he doesn’t want to leave Lan Wangji). He seriously looks so disappointed when she says they’re going home soon.

This feels like a mixture of “I’m worried about you” and “I don’t want to be left out.” We already know at this point that Wei Wuxian doesn’t want to leave the Cloud Recesses (more that he doesn’t want to leave Lan Wangji, because he doesn’t like all of the rules, obviously). He also is very interested in what’s happening with the Yin Iron, as he has also vowed to protect it with Lan Wangji. He is very perceptive—he knows something is happening, that Lan Wangji is going to go off on his own, and he wants to go with. It’s kind of hard to say if this is more out of duty or his adventurous spirit, but either way, he wants to help Lan Wangji.

“After his leave, things will be as quiet here as before.”

Look at how sad he is! The only person he considers a friend has just left, and at this point, he doesn’t know if he’ll ever see him again. It’s possible, sure, but then only at clan gatherings, and that’s if Wei Wuxian and Lang Wangji even happen to attend the same one. I believe we know from the book that Lan Wangji doesn’t typically attend gatherings (when he’s older), he often skips them. And Wei Wuxian isn’t necessarily important enough to even be invited, so he would have to be a guest of Jiang Cheng. Obviously we all know that they do go to gatherings and see each other again, but this is what I’d be thinking if I were Lan Wangji, okay? Like, when am I going to see him again? Will I ever see him again?

I leave you with a wholesome picture of Wei Wuxian and a rabbit. Also adorable that he contemplates bringing the bunnies back to Lotus Pier, but doesn’t because Lan Wangji might get lonely. MY HEART!

Other episodes: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |

[stufftippywrote]

resonance

pre-wangxian, set in episode 24 and canon-divergent from there. DO NOT READ THIS unless you are at least 46 episodes into the show. This is for @notenoughgatorade​, whose prompt was too spoilery for me to include here.

"I'm sorry. It's what Wangji asked me to do."

Those are the last words Wei Wuxian hears before passing out.

When he wakes, he's in a room too spotless and austere to be anywhere but Cloud Recesses. How did he get here? Did Lan Xichen -- Lan Xichen, of all people! -- drug his drink? That's the last thing he remembers, drinking with Lan Xichen in Yunmeng. Did he seriously get drugged and kidnapped? He didn't think anyone born a Lan had a devious bone in their body.

He gets up, fighting a wave of dizziness that nearly blacks him out. He's definitely been drugged, or put under some spell to reduce his faculties. The dizziness fades after a minute or so, and Wei Wuxian pokes around the room. There are some music books sitting on a low table, a careful arrangement of white flowers in a vase, a folding paper screen at the far end of the room. And the bed he woke up on. Is this someone's bedroom? Wei Wuxian wanders to the doors, slides them open with the intent to step outside and view the room's name on the placard above the door.

He can't even take a step. Lan Zhan is standing right outside, stone-statue-still. He carries his guqin under his arm, and his gaze connects with Wei Wuxian's immediately, a stare that could wither a stone.

"Ah!" The exclamation flies from Wei Wuxian's mouth before he can stop it. "Lan Zhan, of course it's you. Is this your room I'm in? What am I doing here? Did Zewu Jun kidnap me? Isn't it against about a hundred of your Lan sect rules to kidnap somebody?"

As he speaks, Lan Zhan muscles forward, forcing Wei Wuxian to step back. He lays his instrument on the low table, next to the books. "We brought you here to help you," he says, seating himself carefully behind the guqin.

"By kidnapping me? What, are you going to play more songs for me? Didn't you play for me while I was unconscious in Qinghe? What else could you possibly do?"

"You said you would let me help you," Lan Zhan says by way of reply. He tunes the guqin briefly, listening intently to each tone and adjusting the tautness of the strings. "Sit down."

"I don't want to sit down," Wei Wuxian complains. "I want to take a bath. Lan Zhan, why do I smell so bad?"

"You've been sleeping for two days."

"Two days?" Wei Wuxian is well and truly sick of losing time Three days in Qinghe, two days here... "What the hell did Zewu Jun give me that put me to sleep for two days?"

"It shouldn't have kept you asleep that long." A crease of consternation furrows Lan Zhan's brow. Wei Wuxian has an immediate urge to kneel down beside him, use his thumb to smooth out that imperfection in Lan Zhan's otherwise perfect face.

"Maybe your brother made a mistake on the dose."

This makes the crease deeper. "He wouldn't."

Wei Wuxian sighs. "Either way, can I bathe?"

"Later. Sit down." Lan Zhan opens one of the music books, peruses it briefly, and lays it down, open, on the table.

There's not much for Wei Wuxian to do at that point except for obey him. He drops onto the bed, sitting cross-legged. "So how are you going to help me, then? Play me more healing music?"

"I've been learning new scores," Lan Zhan answers.

"Oh, and you think you've found the perfect one?" Wei Wuxian laughs. "The one that will heal me and take all the demons away? Make me good as new, innocent as the snow? Perhaps it will also take away my thirst for liquor. Perhaps I'll dedicate myself to the Lan sect's discipline and etiquette afterward."

A flash of anger in Lan Zhan's dark eyes. "Wei Ying. Stay silent and listen."

He begins playing then, and the music is unfamiliar, definitely something Wei Wuxian has never heard before. The tempo is slow, almost tentative, as though he were playing an extended Inquiry and waiting for a response before every next note. Wei Wuxian listens attentively -- it's pleasant, at least, listening to the sound of the guqin -- and tries to relax.

The relaxation is short-lived. All at once, deep in his stomach, he feels something tense and release. He shivers with a sudden coldness in his gut, although the room is comfortably warm. It leaves him feeling empty and hollow inside, and it reminds him of something he'd rather not remember.

The sound of the guqin abruptly ends. Lan Zhan looks over at him and doesn't stop looking. He just stares, as seconds fall away in the quiet room.

Wei Wuxian's uneasy, both with the situation and the silence. "I like that one," he says breezily. "It's a little different than your usual fare, but there's something nice about the melody. What's it called?"

Lan Zhan looks at him for another long moment before saying, "Resonance."

"Resonance?" Wei Wuxian gets up, stretches his limbs. He has been asleep for so long, after all, and his muscles are still stiff. "Is it the one that's going to cure me of all my wayward ways? Because I hate to tell you, I still wouldn't mind a drink right about n--"

Both speaking and moving halt. He suddenly doesn't have room to budge an inch. Lan Zhan is right there, barely a hand's breath away, and his eyes are huge, dark pupils wide.

"Give me your hand," he orders.

"No! Why should I?" Wei Wuxian backs up a step. Lan Zhan follows him, step for step. Still he's alarmingly close, and Wei Wuxian can't escape it.

"Give me your hand," Lan Zhan repeats, and this time he moves quick and grabs Wei Wuxian's wrist, forcing it forward.

Wei Wuxian bursts out with an explanation of surprise, the kind that probably shouldn't be spoken in the Cloud Recesses. Lan Zhan's face doesn't budge. He lifts his other hand and places two fingers on Wei Wuxian's pulse point. Closes his eyes. Stands perfectly still, as though listening.

"Yes, congratulations, I still have a pulse, can I have my hand back now?" Wei Wuxian does his best to pull away. It's no use. Lan Zhan's got him fast by the wrist, and now his eyes are open again, that gaze boring into Wei Wuxian's eyes like he's trying to see through him.

"How?" One word, on the end of Lan Zhan's tongue, his lips forming the shape of it long after it's left.

Wei Wuxian doesn't know what he's talking about. Or at least, he hopes he doesn't know. "How what?"

Lan Zhan drops his hand at last. Wei Wuxian flexes it, as though it's been cramped. "Resonance builds spiritual power," Lan Zhan says.

Wei Wuxian can't think of anything to say but "Oh."

"It builds spiritual power by causing the core of the player to resonate with the core of the listener," Lan Zhan goes on. "Both can feel that connection."

"Oh." Wei Wuxian makes a show of laughing, but realization is dawning within him, an awful sunrise. "Well, that's what that feeling was," he lies.

Lan Zhan holds out his hands. "Transfer some of your spiritual power to me."

"What?" Wei Wuxian's heart has dropped to his knees. He can only think to evade, evade as long as he possibly can. "Why?"

"Just do it." Lan Zhan grabs his hand again, presses Wei Wuxian's fingers to his wrist.

"No! I'm not giving you any, you have plenty of your own. Let go!"

"Wei Ying."

"I thought the song was all about building up my spiritual energy. Now you want to take it away?"

Lan Zhan's eyes narrow. "You can't do it."

Wei Wuxian falls silent.

"You can't," Lan Zhan repeats. "Can you?"

And as hard as Wei Wuxian has fought to keep his head, keep his secret -- as much energy as he's expended trying to protect himself -- he feels himself running out of road to travel. "I just don't want to."

Lan Zhan's eyes soften. His hand on Wei Wuxian's wrist loosens. "What happened?"

Wei Wuxian can lie to anybody, at any time. He's always been able to. Stories come tumbling off his tongue like rain off a rooftop, noisy and never-slowing. But his lies dry up here, truth revealed like the sediment of a river that has run dry. Dirty and unruly and as exposed as a raw nerve.

He pulls away from Lan Zhan's grasp, sinks back down onto the bed. "Please don't ask," he says, a last-ditch effort.

Lan Zhan takes a moment to look at him. Then he drops to his knees before Wei Wuxian, looks up at him with searching eyes.

Whatever willpower, whatever easy evasiveness Wei Wuxian still had left, evaporates. He's taken apart by that look.

"You have to swear never to tell anyone," he says.

--

By the time the story is finished, Wei Wuxian has dropped to the floor across from Lan Zhan, leaning his back against the frame of the bed. His neck was still stiff and needed support, and more importantly, the moment needed them on the same level, eye to eye. It was both easy and hard to tell Lan Zhan the truth. Pieces of it hurt like he could feel it happening all over again. But when that happened, Wei Wuxian could reach out with his gaze and find strength to go on in Lan Zhan's eyes. There he found both strength and a kind of gentleness that he wouldn't have been able to continue without. Now, with no more words left to say, he looks there again to find the strength not to run away.

Lan Zhan is silent a long time, enough to make Wei Wuxian nervous. What if he doesn't approve? What if he says he has to tell someone? He can't imagine Lan Zhan breaking his word, but he also couldn't imagine Lan Xichen drugging him. He can't be sure, at this point, what these men of the Lan clan are capable of.

At last, Lan Zhan he takes a breath. "So the reason you don't use your sword..."

"Yes." It's strangely relieving to admit it.

“And the reason you were asleep for two days.”

“A drug meant for a cultivator. Tricky of you.”

Lan Zhan pauses. "And the reason you've started using these tricks..."

Wei Wuxian winces. Of course his mind would go there. "No!" he exclaims. "No, that's different. I use them because the power is there already. It wants to be used. And I'm good at it, Lan Zhan, I have control over it. I know you think I don't, or won't, but I do."

Lan Zhan doesn't answer. His eyes dart downward.

Fine. If he's going to be like that, Wei Wuxian has his own question. "How did you think to use this piece? Did you suspect...?"

"No." Lan Zhan looks almost sad. "I thought it was about balance. If your spiritual power because stronger..."

"...maybe I'd be less likely to use the magic you don't approve of," Wei Wuxian finishes for him. He sighs, slings one hand behind his head, and scratches the back of his neck. "I suppose this must be a great disappointment. You thought I was cursed and you could cure me. But it's not like that, and you can dream of healing me or curing me all you want, but I've made my choices and I'm satisfied with them."

“Wei Ying.”

“No! I don’t want to hear it. You have no right to try to heal me from something that can’t be healed.” There’s a coldness settling into his heart now, an outrage vibrating low in his bones. “I’m not sick, Lan Zhan, I’m not cursed. I’ve made choices. They aren’t the choices you would have made. I understand that already. But you can’t change them. And you can’t make me be like you.”

Lan Zhan is silent too long. He should have spoken by now, just a few words, something cold and judgmental, but he hasn't. Instead, he just looks at the floor, a gaze that could burn a hole through the wood.

"What I did for Jiang Cheng," Wei Wuxian goes on, "was my choice too. I'll live with the consequences. You don't have to. I never needed your help, so you're welcome to stop helping. I'm not sure why you cared enough to kidnap me in the first place."

At this, Lan Zhan's gaze flies to Wei Wuxian's face. He opens his lips as if to speak.

"Do you know what I do need right now?" Wei Wuxian says. "An ally."

Lan Zhan's mouth shuts again, but his eyes widen.

"You've heard them talking about me," Wei Wuxian goes on. "You know I don't care what they think of me, but they are going to try to stop me eventually. I'm not going to let them stop me, Lan Zhan. You know that. And you can't stop me either. So stand with me instead." He leans in, reaches out with one hand. "Now that you know everything, if you care, Lan Zhan, be there with me." Be there for me, he doesn't say, but he knows it's understood all the same.

For a crushing moment of silence, he's afraid Lan Zhan will stand up and go. He could. He might. He could reveal Wei Wuxian's secret, tell everyone, condemn him along with the roundtable of fools that are running this campaign. He could prove himself to be everything Wei Wuxian used to think he was. He's revised that view over the years they've known each other. Was he wrong?

Then a warm hand slides into his. "Wei Ying," Lan Zhan says, and his gaze is steady and clear. "I’m already there."

Relief floods Wei Wuxian, a wash of cool comfort down his spine and into his limbs. Tears itch at his eyes.

He doesn't need anyone. He's told himself that over and over, and it kept him alive for three hellish months, brought him out of there stronger and smarter than ever before. But to know someone will be there ... it's like having a foundation he didn't have before, like standing rooted on solid ground.

And that will be enough for now. To sit here together, without a wall of lies and judgment between them. Trust, strong and resilient as truth, grows in the garden of their joined hands. There was only ever uncertainty on the horizon, but something sure, something real, begins here with the two of them, and who knows how it will blossom.

He gives Lan Zhan a smile. He doesn't quite get a smile back, but those eyes on his are still clear and bright.

[porcupine-girl]

i’M nOt GoNnA wRiTe UnTaMeD fIc

This is the prologue, currently I have 19k written so far and if I do manage to finish, it’ll likely be in the 50-75k range. But I’m at that stage where I gotta share something.

Basically: Lan WangJi decides that if Wei Ying won’t come to Gusu, he’ll just have to go to the Burial Mounds.

Most of the dialogue in this prologue is from the show - probably a mishmash of different translations. Tell me if I’ve fucked up canon at all? The intention is for this part to be fully canon compliant, nothing that would contradict canon (other than possibly some of his internal thoughts) until it diverges the very end.

PS Sorry, I deleted my first try at this post because Tumblr fucked up the spacing and I didn’t want a version with the wrong spacing to get reblogged while I edited. I’ll just have to put periods where on AO3 there will just be blank lines.

"Then come back to Gusu with me. Explain everything slowly."

"Gusu? You're talking about that place that has over 3,000 rules? I don't want to go."

Words had never been Lan WangJi's strong suit.

"Lan Zhan, what are you really up to?"

"Wei Ying, in the end, there will be a price to pay for evil cultivation."

He tried to explain himself further, tried to make Wei Ying understand that he was worried, that he didn't want to punish him, he wanted to help him, to keep him from destroying himself.

It was only much later that he could look back on the conversation and see what Wei Ying had probably seen: anger, vindictiveness, care for rule-following rather than Wei Ying's wellbeing.

Wei Ying rejected his help. And so Lan WangJi resolved that Wei Ying's wellbeing was clearly not his concern.

His resolve did not last long.

.

"Let me help you."

"Okay."

He hadn't known, at the moment he offered, what help he was even offering.

He believed Wei Ying when he said he wasn't using the same type of demonic cultivation that Xue ChengHai had created the Yin Iron for. He did not believe that what Wei Ying was doing was safe, or well-advised. But against all odds, it had gotten him out of the Burial Mounds alive, and Lan WangJi could see why Wei Ying might cling to it after it saved his life like that.

The help he could think to offer wasn't enough. He watched over Wei Ying, stepped in when he thought Wei Ying's cultivation was causing him to become ill-tempered before it could tip over into anything dangerous. It was a stopgap, not a solution.

.

"You agreed to let me help you."

"But if you don't trust me, how can you help me?"

It wasn't that he didn't trust Wei Ying. He didn't believe Wei Ying to be lying to him—he simply wasn't sure that Wei Ying was correct in his assessment of the dangers in his Stygian Tiger Amulet. Didn't understand how Wei Ying could be so confident, or whether he would even know if the Amulet was influencing his thoughts.

But words had never been Lan WangJi's strong suit.

"Once your mind becomes unstable, you won't be able to control it."

He knew from Wei Ying's response that he'd said the wrong thing. He didn't believe Wei Ying was anything like Wen Ruohan—but he also knew that Wei Ying was only human, and even Lan Yi hadn't been able to control the Yin Iron.

He should have said that.

When Wei Ying accepted his peace offering, lent the sound of his flute in duet with WangJi's guqin, he had wondered if maybe he could tell Wei Ying everything he felt through music. But it was an absurd wish. He needed to find the words.

.

"I'm studying new musical scores."

Wei Ying had been offended at the idea of Lan WangJi using Cleansing, so surely he would understand this as the peace offering it was meant to be. If that song and its powers were not what Wei Ying believed himself to need, Lan WangJi would find something they could agree on. If Lan WangJi couldn't dissuade him from this path—and he had basically given up any illusion that he could—there had to be something that would keep Wei Ying safe. Healthy. Sane.

"You really are… stubborn."

Lan WangJi resisted the temptation to roll his eyes.

"Who is more stubborn," he asked, "the one who continues to offer help, or the one who continues to reject it?"

"Oh, come on, I've let you help me," Wei Ying said in a lighthearted tone that Lan WangJi could tell was an act. "I just don't need that kind of help, that's all. You don't need to fix me, Lan Zhan."

"I—" How could he explain this? It was true, he would like to reverse the damage that working with so much resentment had clearly done to Wei Ying. Though his primary concern was preventing further damage.

It occurred to him that Wei Ying might mean something else entirely. Lan Zhan didn't want to fix him, he wanted to heal him. Wei Ying was not broken, not defective. Did Wei Ying think that was what he thought? Was that why a hint of bitterness had snuck in on the word fix? "Wei Ying—"

"Shh." Wei Ying cut him off with a sharp gesture, one ear turned back toward the feast happening within the palace. His faux-lightheartedness was gone, replaced by a sharp, angry expression as they both listened to Jin Guangshan, like the boor he was, publicly pressure Sect Leader Jiang into renewing the marriage arrangement between Jiang Yanli and Jin ZiXuan.

"What the fuck is that asshole trying to pull now?" Wei Ying grumbled, and Lan Zhan could only follow him inside and hope that he wouldn't need calming.

.

"Lan WangJi, Lan WangJi, who am I to you?"

That hurt, but it wasn't as bad as Hanguang-Jun.

"Can you mind your own business?"

Surely it was his business if his friend was injured.

"What am I to you?"

If they were no longer friends, he hoped Wei Ying would just say that and let him heal from such a heartbreak.

"Once I considered you my soulmate."

Wei Ying looked sad, maybe resigned, but… not confidently rejecting him. It was something.

"I still am."

There was a spark of hope in Wei Ying's eyes, one that slowly faded as he looked down at his flute. Lan Zhan wanted to reassure him, tell him he wouldn't make him choose between their friendship and his cultivation, but…

But words had never been his strong suit.

.

It was wrong to be so envious of Jiang Yanli. Especially when she was the one doing the right thing, standing up for Wei Ying when Lan WangJi could only stand beside him and hurt because Wei Ying was hurting.

Could only wish he had her way with words.

.

"I want to bring someone back to the Cloud Recesses."

"Bring him back and hide him."

.

In truth, Lan WangJi didn't expect Wei Ying to comply, either. He'd asked him once, but surely he knew by now that Lan WangJi had no intention of bringing him there to punish him? And even if he wouldn't let Lan WangJi help him in any other way, if nothing else he was in growing danger from the other clans. Jin ZiXun would happily see him dead, and many of the heads of the smaller sects would happily deliver him to stay in the Jins' good graces. Perhaps, even if Wei Ying wouldn't accept Lan WangJi's attempts to heal him and prevent further damage, at least he would accept an offer of sanctuary until the cultivating world moved on to another target.

Perhaps. Most likely not, but perhaps…

.

If enough rain washed over him, perhaps he could forget which drops were rain and which were tears.

Perhaps it would wash away his confusion, his doubts.

Perhaps the cold of the rain would bring him clarity, perhaps the patter of the drops around him would explain to him how it could be that one man could be doing what is right despite the fact that all of the world's leaders had declared it to be wrong.

They were leaders. Their job was to know right from wrong, and to enforce that which was right.

Perhaps, failing that, the rain could at least wash away the sound, still ringing in his ears, of Wei Ying saying he would want Lan WangJi to kill him.

.

"Do you know what you've done wrong?"

"Are you going to continue making mistake after mistake?"

"What is the 52nd discipline of the Lan Clan?"

This time, Lan WangJi was not silent because he didn't know what to say.

He was silent because he knew that there was nothing he could say that would make his uncle less angry with him.

Nothing true, at least.

.

"Is there anyone who can give me a bright future path that is easy to go on?"

Lan WangJi said nothing, because he didn't know. But he hoped.

.

"WangJi, where have you been this past week?"

"On a night hunt."

"On a night hunt where?"

Lan WangJi clenched his jaw.

"In Yiling."

"And while you were in Yiling, did you speak to Wei WuXian?"

He could lie.

But even if he no longer believed the Lan Clan disciplines were the ultimate arbiter of… anything… he couldn't bring himself to break one merely for the purpose of avoiding punishment. There was nothing righteous in that.

"Yes."

"Did you make any attempt to capture him, or any of his Wen disciples?"

"He has no Wen disciples."

"WangJi."

"He has no disciples of any name."

"Did you make any attempt to capture him or any of the rogue Wen he is harboring?" Lan Qiren's voice rose with rage.

"No."

"WangJi, you have been warned away—repeatedly—from associations with such evil people. I can't understand why you would—"

"Wei Ying is not evil." Until now, Lan WangJi had been keeping his eyes averted, not wanting his uncle to see how he felt. Now, they cut daggers into Lan Qiren. "Nor are any of those who live with him in the Burial Mounds."

"What?" Lan Qiren let out an incredulous huff that wasn't exactly laughter. "What possible reasoning could you give to support such an absurd statement?"

Lan WangJi averted his eyes again.

"Is this question sincere, or rhetorical?"

"Excuse me?"

"I will explain my reasoning clearly if Uncle truly wishes to hear it. However, if this is a rhetorical question and Uncle has no intention of taking my answer into account—"

"ENOUGH!"

Usually, Lan WangJi withstood his punishments through sheer mental discipline and meditation.

This time, he didn't meditate. He made a plan.

[ctl-yuejie]

the grandmaster of demonic interior design or mound squatting & a smitten renovator

⇨ for @howdydowdy​ who wisely suggested a home renovation tv series au based on my crack gifset

Ia . IIa . IIIa . Ib . IIb . IIIb. Ic . IIc . IIIc . Id . IId . IIId . Ie . IIe ⭐︎ . IIIe ⭐︎⭐︎ . extra

Id.

He hadn’t expected to see Lan Wangji again. Meeting him on top of Burial Mound was even more of a peculiar twist of fate.  During their school days he’d never been sure whether Lan Wangji liked him or was just too well-mannered to tell him to get lost. Well, he had been told to get lost at one point, but that had been after a rather crude practical joke so maybe it doesn’t quite count.

However, being a nuisance on purpose had let to the great discovery that beneath his cold demeanour Lan Wangji’s way of thinking was quite alike to his and he had gotten to enjoy detention, Lan Wangji proving to be a worthy opponent in an argument when riled up enough.  There had been a lot of detention.  He’d just correctly assumed that their relationship wasn’t to be long lived after they graduated and went different ways. The family heads sometimes met at conferences but Wei Wuxian was never interested in attending those. Lan Wangji must have sat there every single year, looking attentive while possibly being bored out of his mind. How couldn’t he have been without him there.

He hadn’t realized that he had actually missed the level stare he often was the recipient of.

People who follow the old customs talk about Lan Wangji with the greatest respect. Nevertheless, most accounts of meeting him don’t miss a pitying comment on his icy stare and aloofness. These people are just not able to see what he does. The warmth that radiates off his good deeds, just a vague taste of how compassionate Lan Wangji truly is, and the way his face pulls into a tiny smile when he’s truly happy.

Wei Wuxian tries to remember Lan Wangji’s smile.

It’s way past midnight, and while he long has gotten used to the eerie silence on Burial Mound he’s still rolling around in his sleeping bag, not able to stop the thoughts running in his head. The stone plateau he’s sleeping on doesn’t help in the frontline of comfort either. How soft Lan Wangji’s hotel bed must be.

He could bet that Lan Wangji doesn’t even appreciate it properly. No jump test, no pillow fights. Lan Wangji would just lie down, perfectly still on his back, hands folded over his chest and fall asleep immediately.  As if hotel beds could be exchanged with just any bed.  Whenever he and his siblings had shared a room at hotels or traditional inns, they had pushed their beds or futons together to create one giant cushy paradise to roll around in. He’d always wake to Jiang Cheng laughing at his weird sleeping position, mocking his hair that always looked terrible in the morning before smacking a pillow back at him in retaliation. 

Lan Wangji would look pristine in the morning, no puffy cheeks and no grit in the eyes.  Very boring.  Maybe if they’d share a room some time he’d be able to see it. Have Lan Wangji’s immaculate face turn to him to take in his disheveled state.   Would he have to smile? Would he scold him? At five in the morning he’d probably have to deal with a very grumpy version of himself. He might lie down in Lan Wangji’s bed and pull him down with him just to get him to sleep some more.

Now he regrets not pestering Lan Wangji about sharing a room during his stay at the Cloud Recesses. If Lan Qiren would have ever found out he’d crawled into his nephew’s bed he would have burst with anger.  But down at the hotel they could’ve just slept in, take their breakfast in bed and Lan Wangji would’ve definitely fixed the strands of Wei Wuxian’s hair that were in danger of falling into his coffee. Would his fingers feel soft against his cheek? Or calloused from his Guqin practice?  Wei Wuxian falls asleep to the thoughts of Lan Wangjis fingers carding through his hair.

The shooting starts early in the morning with Wei Wuxian guiding an unusually meek Nie Huaisang through the outer area of the compound. His excited voice easily carries over the soft footsteps of the elderly who tend to the fields.

The air is still cold and crisp, morning dew lazily gliding to the centre of lotus leaves, waiting to get scooped up by the tiny hands of Ah-Yuan.

It’s the first time that Nie Huaisang is commenting on something other than the lack of Wei Wuxian’s sense for interior design. He looks genuinely amazed, voicing his confusion at how Wei Wuxian had managed to build a lotus pond in this hostile environment.   He is rather proud of the pond and even though the seeds are inedible it is a piece of home in this wasteland.

Around noon Wei Wuxian finds himself rambling on about the importance of the cause, his inventions, what farming has taught him, the community in shared values, and really just how brilliant his inventions are. Sometimes the producers have to intervene because he gets too caught up in his stories, and name dropping the Wen family as one of the instigators of the astronomical rents doesn’t help either.

Throughout shooting, Lan Wangji doesn’t say much. He’s mostly tagging along, having quickly gotten used to putting in minimal effort to fulfil his sole role as eye candy.  After all, most people aren’t that well-versed in cultivation anymore and it might be for the better not to dig too deep into the demonic kind.

Even so, despite not saying much and the cameras definitely not being able to catch it, his silence is contemplative. It looks like Lan Wangji is actually listening to him. Listening very attentively. Just really listening. And that hasn’t happened before.

Wen Ning just enjoys the company in general and spending time with Ah-Yuan. Wen Qing is brilliant but also can’t be arsed to put any ounce of her energy into humouring him. Shiejie is supportive as always, but he knows that she doesn’t fully get it. Jiang Cheng, well, he listens and somehow understands totally different things. The other squatters are mostly just fondly exasperated. He doesn’t blame them. For them the cause is much more important. This project means their survival in the city.

But it is nice to show someone how he views the world, to share his interests and light eyes meeting his in understanding. He shoots a cheeky but appreciative wink back but Lan Wangji simply looks away.  Well, that’s not fun then.

Nie Huaisang is filming a solo-portion on appropriate colour schemes.  While the remodelling itself is unnecessary in Wei Wuxian’s mind, some of the ideas on how certain colours can improve moods actually don’t sound half-bad. He has to admit that he has underestimated Nie Huaisang and his dedication to deliver not only a perfect house remodelling but genuinely try to improve the lives of the inhabitants as well. Nie Huaisang is obviously stumped by how little he has to work with in terms of traditional architecture but he makes a commendable effort, even venturing into the historical significance of the statue guarding the cave.

Lan Wangji steps a little bit closer, robes flattering in the afternoon wind. “Isn’t this illegal?” His whisper tickles Wei Wuxian’s ear. “Lan Zhan-ah, Lan Zhan-ah, of course it is. That’s why it’s called squatting.”  He can’t believe that now is the time for Lan Wangji to question the legality of this project. “Wei Ying. You could get in trouble.” He sounds forceful. “That – is the point?” Lan Wangji looks like he has trouble finding the right words. “Wei Ying could just leave, you have a home!” Something squeezes him on the inside and his arm shakes when he points to the collective around them. “You know I can’t leave them behind.” Lan Wangji doesn’t relent. “You could take class-action. My family’s firm could help. If you are willing.” His voice goes soft at the end.  “What the Wen’s do isn’t against the law, they are just using the system to their benefit. Much as I hate them, they’re not that innovative...and Lan Zhan, you are great–“ Lan Wangji’s face softens in surprise– “but I know your dad.” Lan Wangji’s eyebrows ever so slightly draw together. “He does pro bono work.” Wei Wuxian laughs in delight at this. The confusion on Lan Wangji’s face that’s just visible to him is hilarious.  “Money isn’t the issue. Would he really want to have his firm’s name associated with going against the Wen clan?” The associated with me part is left unsaid. Lan Qiren is wise and righteous, but had never been fond of seeing Wei Wuxian pestering his nephew.

It seems like Lan Wangji has many things he wants to say. Maybe berate him like he used to. Wei Wuxian is amazed that even though they haven’t seen each other in a long time, he has gotten better at reading Lan Wangji. Standing this close he not only sees the inner fight Lan Wangji’s seems to be having for the second time today, but how despite the diffused light his eyes are gleaming, how his long hair softly falls against his cheeks, how long his eye lashes are.

The cultivator world calling him the second most eligible bachelor really is a deserved title. Zewu-Jun might be attractive to other people, but compared to Lan Wangji he appears to be rather boring.

No mask to crack with playful banter, no smile to coax out with a teasing remark, nothing Wei Wuxian could do that would make Zewu-Jun wear the same expression of soft surprise, to have that something in his eyes that almost seems to shine through when he is looking at Wei Wuxian and that Wei Wuxian can’t seem to pin point even after 13 years.

Even after getting better at reading him.

“It’s against the law.” Lan Wangji’s voice interrupts his musings. “Well, the law is bullshit,“ he retorts pointedly. Wei Wuxian knows that what he’s doing is the right thing. They stand in silence.

The last scene of the day features the last chamber of the cave.  Wen Ning is delighted at Wei Wuxian’s invitation to join them. The crew has already set everything up for filming and Wei Wuxian, Nie Huaisang and Lan Wangji are politely ushered inside.

Lan Wangji halts in his tracks immediately after entering the chamber. Wei Wuxian is very much delighted at surprising him successfully. “I tried to go for a hyggelig vibe,” he says cheerily as if nothing was amiss. It is very hard to not just laugh out loud at how everything about Lan Wangji screams ‘incredulousness’.

“Wei Ying – there is a demonic blood pool – in your cave!” Wei Wuxian is very adamant on finding out how much it takes to break adult Lan Wangji, so he just hums in affirmation. “Wei Ying, too much blood,” Lan Wangji says with stronger conviction. “It does go great with Wen Nings goth attire!” That is a good enough reason to have a spring spew blood into a big pool in your home in Wei Wuxian’s books. Wen Ning pats down his black, heavy robes in satisfaction.

There is a tiny smile tugging at the corners of Lan Wangji’s mouth.

“Beautiful.”Is the only thing Wei Wuxian manages to think. 

IId