#this is going to be funny to a small sect of people but I hope it will be as funny as I think it is

[capricornsicle]

(Image: Handshake meme template. One arm is "Deucalion in season 5", the other is "Beacon Hills lacrosse refs". Where they're shaking hands is replaced by the "I pretend I do not see it" meme.)

[tcfactory]

i think the shen yuan as jiu's shizun thing would be particularly heartbreaking because the system could very easily hit hard with that "you wanted lore, didnt you? you wanted this. this is what you asked for." watch as everyone you vaguely dismissed as 'binghe's enemies' suffer endlessly to create a world you decided should be expanded on. and look at that little author crawl miserably through all kinds of abuse, isnt that what you wished on him? didnt you say he deserved it? nightmare.

(In relation to this post.)

Yes, to all of this.

Real monkey's paw situation. He got exactly what he wanted: a life of leisure where none of his choices could 'ruin' the plot, he could enjoy the bits of the world he cared about without ever being in any danger and then got front row seat to all the people he previously decided deserving of punishment (the hack author, Shen Qingqiu who abused Luo Binghe and Yue Qingyuan who enabled the abuse) get their comeuppance.

Except it hits different when he realizes that all that ill fortune is inflicted on people. People he now cares about, having watched their pain and suffering up close, people he doesn't want to hurt any more. There's a person behind Airplane's ridiculous nickname, a small, scared person now trapped in a horrible fate and a lifetime of terror because he wrote a stupid novel.

There's a history behind Yue Qingyuan and Shen Qingqiu, one of them paralyzed by guilt (if Shen Yuan mentioned that plant that one time then there would have been no delay. Even worse, if Yue Qi could trust the adults to look out for him then he would have not needed to go himself at all, there was a whole sect's worth of adults who could have gone and rescued Shen Jiu - and as much as Shen Yuan wants to blame the lack of trust on Yue Qingyuan, he knows none of his martial siblings would have cared to go even if he told them. Shen Yuan himself would not have bothered to go out of his way to check on some slave boy miles away who might be dead or alive, just because Yue Qi says he has the potential for cultivation) and the other baring his claws and teeth at the world because he's scared and the only way he knows how not to let his fear make him look weak is by making himself look angry and nasty and more dangerous than he is (and oh gods, he thought Shen Jiu's continued antics were funny. He thought Shen Jiu was just Like That, a little bit feral, and never realized the boy felt unsafe on his peak - what kind of shizun was he to never notice that something was this wrong?).

Both of them were let down by the system, slipping through the cracks and he was part of that system, it should have been his job to catch one or both of them and he was too busy with his stupid beasts and stupid plants that he didn't even think to look.

That's the worst of all. He wanted to be safe and uninvolved and he got exactly that: now he gets to reap what he sowed, watch as the neglect he was complicit in grows into pain and misery and death.

A lion hobbled by guilt. A wolf rabid from fear. An author with his neck in the noose.

Happy transmigration, Shen Yuan. This System hopes you enjoy your nightmare. Don't forget to leave a positive review! ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶

[cheemscakecat]

Dumb AU idea

Spy ends up raising Scout from a young age… Because they’re both werewolves and he had to be rescued from the sect of monster hunters.

Jeremy didn’t like the bad people; they always wore those stupid freakin black hoods and told him to shut up. They took him away from Ma when he was late coming home one night and transformed.

It wasn’t fair; he didn’t hurt anybody as a wolf. Ma said it was only bad werewolves that bit people and ate their animals. But they kept talking about him like he ate another kid, and like he would be happy if he did.

They didn’t smell right. It had been a month since he’d been taken here to this dungeon by these monster hunters. It was too dark all the time, there weren’t any windows. He was only 7, what was he gonna do if the moonlight did transform him? Bark? He was really sick and pale. And he felt like layin down all the time. But they didn’t try to fix it, and they got mad if he started talking. The fat one kicked him one day.

They called themselves strong, called themselves hunters. Who keeps a werewolf puppy in a dark cage and watches him all the time? If they were so important, why didn’t they go after grown ups that were hurtin people? New ones kept showing up, but the old ones didn’t leave. And of course, they wouldn’ta told him nothin if he tried to ask. They wouldn’t tell him what happened to Ma and his brothers.

Jeremy hoped they were ok, the others weren’t werewolves so they mighta been let go if the bad guys took them to the police. The bad guys all left the hallway for a while. It was their dinner time. It really sucked that they didn’t share that food, it was one of the things he could still smell right. Bet they hada lot of money too.

Somebody walked into the hall, alone. The bad guy was really tall and skinny, and Jeremy couldn’t see him under the hood. He smelled like smoke, and smoke meant fire. Jeremy didn’t like fire, the bad guys burned people up too much. The monster hunter got real close to the cage and made him nervous. He shuffled to the back of the cage and glared up at the man. They could always poke him or shake the cage around if he got too angry, but this way he couldn’t get kicked.

The monster hunter kneeled down and stuck his hand in the cage. Jeremy snarled and got small again; he didn’t trust these guys, they’d been mean to him already. The bad guy stopped for a minute, then patted his head.

“Don’t be scared, I’m not going to hurt you. But I need you to be very quiet and stay next to me, okay?” He stared up in confusion. The hooded tall guy unlocked the cage and opened it for him. “I’m here to get you out.” Jeremy scooted forward and tried to stand up, but he got real dizzy and fell. The man held onto him and mumbled something that sounded funny. Like it wasn’t English. “Hold on a moment.” The tall man said.

He took off his monster hunter robe, and Jeremy could see what he looked like. The stranger had a hooked nose and black hair with a little grey in some places. And he was wearing baggy red clothes. He pulled off his vest, and it wasn’t a vest at all. It was a big red bag with two straps. He picked Jeremy up and put him in the bag. He frowned, not sure whether to trust the new stranger or not.

“It is going to be okay, I won’t let them keep you here anymore.” And then he put the bag back on, leaving the ugly black hood on the floor. “I- I smell people-” Jeremy tried to warn the stranger, but the bad men had returned. They were all around.

“You. Who are you, you dirty infiltrator?” The mean fat one pointed. The strange tall man didn’t look real bothered. “Someone you’d like to treat just as badly as this little child. If you monster hunting pigs have any sense, you’ll let me take the boy.” “And why should we give a disgusting werewolf to a spy in our ranks? What makes you think you can just walk out with our quarry?” The tall man took a step forward, staring at the bad guys. “Tell me, what made you double and triple your numbers these past weeks? Surely such skilled men are capable of detaining an untrained child.” A few of the bad guys grumbled. Jeremy almost felt like laughing at them. Almost.

The bad hunter man with all the silver on his hood stepped forward with his dumb metal stick. “That is no common werewolf from this country. That is a European Dire.” The stranger just crossed his arms and said nothing. “Ugh, since you are clearly an uncouth hired nuisance, I may as well explain. A European Direwolf is a horrible, savage animal from the old country that willingly hunts humans. A werewolf version is-“

“More powerful than the wolves of America, bloodthirsty, incapable of controlling itself, evil, demonic.. Yes, yes, I’ve heard it all before.” The bad people paused. They moved like they were trying to see if the stranger was really strong. “Why do you know this?” The stick man sounded mad. “I’m from Europe, it’s not exactly a big secret like it is here.” So the tall man was from all the way in Europe? Jeremy wondered how many other monsters were really strong there. “In any case, you abusive animals have been tormenting this boy who does not belong to you, and I’m leaving with him either way. Move or die, I don’t care.”

All the bad guys got real huffy about that and drew their swords and things from under their robes. Jeremy gulped. Did the tall man have backup? Where were his weapons? “Silence, you insolent mercenary! You are guilty of infiltration and tampering with a high level quarry! Surrender and we may spare you your life.” The tall man put Jeremy’s bag on the floor and patted him on the head again. At least he knew surrender wasn’t gonna happen, which was relievin. Then the stranger stood up to face them.

“You are the one who is insolent, head of Boston Guild. You do not fear the child. You fear the wolf who fathered the child and the rest of the pack.” The hooded people got ready to fight, and there were like 25 of them so Jeremy wasn’t sure how one guy was gonna beat them. Tall man chuckled. “Evidently not enough to call upon your European faction. They may have stood a chance here.” “What makes you so sure, mercenary?” Fat man grumbled. The stranger took off his shirt and popped his neck by pushing on his head, not caring about their words. He stared them down.

“Woof woof.” And with that, the tall man turned into a big black and white wolf. Jeremy stared at him in awe. His baggy pants were just the right size to fit him and his fluffy tail as a werewolf. All the bad guys started yelling and freakin out. “D-d-d DIREWOLF!” Fatty screamed. “It’s impossible! How did he transform inside?!” Some of the bad men tried to attack the big werewolf, but he knocked three of them into the wall with his tail and clawed two coming over from the other side. He stared at the fancy stick guy. “ATTACK THE BEAST, HUNTERS. DO NOT LET HIM ESCAPE INTO THE CITY!”

Like the wind, the grown up werewolf took out all the hunters but the fancy one. He ran away like a coward after telling them what to do. They tried swinging their heavy swords, maces and battle axes, but the big wolf was too skinny and fast for them to aim at the right spot. He bit-ed a few of them in half and threw the candle ch-handle-ear on about 6 of them. Fatty ran to the dining room as fast as his legs would take him, and the big wolf followed, grinning real furious like.

“Weren’t you the one who liked kicking Jeremy for crying?” From the hallway, the boy heard the big wolf say that and then the ugly scream that followed. When he walked back into the hall, his back foot claws were all bloody. The little boy looked up at him excitedly. “Wow! You really got all’a them, Mr! Thanks a lot!” He thought real hard. “But how did you know my name?” The big wolf looked a little sad. He lay down and let Jeremy look at his face real good.

They had the same marking on their face and ears. Hey, didn’t Ma say… “Dad?” “I’m so sorry Jeremy. I thought you took after your mother. I never would have left you two here to be hunted by these bad people if I had known..”

“DAD!” The seven year old buried his little face in Spy’s fur and giggled. “That was so cool… Wait! Ma! We gotta go find Ma!” He sounded panicked. “Don’t worry, I’ve got friends on the case.” Dad wolf put the bag on his back, and the straps fit just right.

The Head Monster Hunter ran outside, calling for the townsfolk’s attention. “THE WEREWOLF WOMAN! BRING ME THE- the-“ She was already there with 8 monsters of various shapes and sizes.

There was a Red and black Dragonborne, and a maniacal vampire, a- an Australian elf! Giant Siberian Ogre, a Shortfurred Plains Bigfoot wearing a soldier’s helmet as a trophy, a Scottish Seabeast, and a poisonous Texan Arachnecentaur!

The Direwolf strolled out of the dungeon with the child on his back and nodded to the other beasts. He locked eyes with the woman. “Are you hurt?” “Naw. Your friends made sure’ a that.” “Woah Dad, you got so many friends! What kinda monsters are you, you guys look cool!” The restless baby werewolf had transformed, seeing as it was night, and was fussily shifting around in his holding bag. His golden and white fur was fluffy and sticking up from the static.

The Arachnecentaur took the child and gave it back to the mother, who sat down on the Ogre’s hand and pet the puppy’s tummy. “Thank you gentlemen. I’ll be along shortly, there’s just one more loose end to tie up.” And those were the last words said before the child was walked out of eyesight and his father tore the head hunter apart with his teeth.

[alegacyofmonsters]

Legacies 1x03 Rewatch

Haven't even made it past the Previously On ... and I'm already rolling my eyes at Alaric's speech to Hope. Like how did the writers think yes, let's sprinkle this all in so heavy handed but next season, when it's his blood daughter doing all that and more, let's have him sit silently and coddle her and force her murder victims to be nice. The character assassination -

I can't be the only one who does not give a fuck about the flashbacks over the season. Like not a single one is memorable except the Ben/Jen ones. I forget they exist and I really don't care.

My chain spell potential. Wasted.

No but why is Lizzie actually so nice to Penelope in the beginning?? Like last episode, she's willing to go along with Penelope's ideas and this episode, of all the people in the room, she's the one to say why Penelope's absent? I know Josie said she used to have a crush on Penelope but GIRL GET UP.

"If it pleases the court." Is this and 4x12 foreshadowing Lawyer!Lizzie? Because if so, I'm down for it.

"If anyone should take the blame, it's Josie." "WhAt?" I mean, look. Did Lizzie need to point it out? No. Bitch move. But it literally is because of Josie. How is she gonna stand there and pretend like it wasn't.

"I promise I'm not gonna betray you by being friends with Hope (who I made you believe hated you and did some fucked up things to you)." The very next morning:

"You only play by the grown-up rules when you don't need something from me." Get him again Hope!

"Baby, I'm a loser, yeah, yeah, yeah." as Lizzie stares at Hope's ass. I can read between the lines.

"Litter, weeds, graffiti." And then they immediately forget about weeds. Like they split into two groups and not a soul went to weed??

"I love trash. As of this moment." "Your sister's kind of a dumpster fire." HOPE. I SEE YOU. I SEE RIGHT THROUGH YOU.

"Daddy's girls." Said the pot to the kettle.

"You run, I run. Period." BRING RAFAEL BACK TO ME ALREADY. THE JOKE ISN'T FUNNY ANYMORE.

"She hates me, doesn't she?" "I don't want him to hate me." Tethered.

As much as I hated it, I miss Kaleb's stance on supernatural-human relations. I hate that it just went away. It made him into a villain-like character, but damn it, it was interesting. Why did Legacies let all their interesting plots go in favor of "immortal man dies again" "the girl who grieved grieves again" "girl who ran runs again"??? I would have rather seen Kaleb start a small sect of students who believed in his idea that supernaturals were better than humans than listen to Josie whine about how she wants to leave again because people don't like that she murdered them for a season and a half.

No because fuck MG and Connor for that one. I will never understand the absurd Lizzie hate in S1. It reads like a bad fanfic where they layer on the abuse to set the tone but it also is wildly unrealistic and not based on anything.

PEDRO! (Side note: Had a dream last night where J*lie appeared to tell me there was a spin off about Pedro coming and I just told her everything she did wrong)

Enough time has passed. Emma and Alaric should've ended up together.

Call him a bitch, Lizzie. You know you want to.

"Hope and Josie are all sisters in solidarity." Baby, just say your crush is picking trash with someone else.

"But as I was walking home, I did the work and I dug deep." I want to give you a hug.

"She has a point." This is gonna be a real controversial opinion here but I think Emma was more of a mother figure to Lizzie than Caroline was.

"People disappoint." "When I let my guard down, people disappoint." How did I not see what they were setting up from the beginning.

Lizzie sacrificing herself for all of Mystic Falls who had done nothing but treat her like shit really get glossed over

"We've known each other over a decade and anytime you get the chance, you poke." Maybe because you've been spreading rumors about her and bullying her since you were eleven?? She heard that shit??? God, I can't stand Josie's fake innocent act.

"I can heal it." BUT YOU CAN'T HEAL THAT BEAUTY OF A SHOE HOPE.

"Sir, we've already taken your money twice." Landon's so soft.

"I just think that that's making me a little bit nauseous." It's called jealousy.

"MG has the impulse control of a pre-schooler." That's such a nasty thing to say about your "best friend" who has diagnosed ADHD?? Open a fucking book.

"He also always goes for the wrong girls." Yeah, you're gonna tell me that wasn't a shot at Lizzie? The one girl MG goes for repeatedly??

"Lizzie has dibs" and mind you Lizzie just arbitrarily decided to try and crush on him

"She always has dibs." So is it canon that Lizzie called dibs on Penelope then?

"Lizzie's sensitive." IF I SPEAK -

"That's why she's extra testy lately." No I'm pretty sure that's because in the last 48 hours, she's been assaulted several times, you've been lying to and gaslighting her, and her father's been a giant hypocrite. But sure. She's not there to defend herself, so keep going.

Jeremy really just showed up once and never again, huh?

Josie feels it when Lizzie is attacked by monsters but not when she uses black magic?

Dana and Penelope would have been best friends and she should've been in the Dana x Josie AU.

"I had to ask the honorable -" Blah blah blah. I'm really finding it hard to fall for the nice guy act this time around knowing what he does at the end.

Standing there silently while Kaleb talks all sort of misogynistic shit on Lizzie. Ooh if I could reach through a screen -

"She didn't. I did." ... okay?

No because Rafael losing Cassie and Hope losing Landon at the same time would have hit hard. And what if I just rewrite Legacies myself? Like damn.

I love that they just leave Lizzie on the floor. Like not a soul even holding her hand as she whimpers in pain. Wow.

Alaric jumps in front of Hope like she wouldn't just wake up a Tribrid if the gargoyle had got her. You're telling me this man was ready to die if his research was wrong just so she could stay human?? I'm not buying it.

"Me being the evil one in this scenario?" and I know she was flashing back to eleven years old hearing Josie make all the witches laugh at her for being a villain

"These secrets are gonna tear us apart." If only she knew.

"In their minds, we're the villains because we won't give them what they want. We don't even know why they want it." Oh the Dark!Josie foreshadowing.

Me, trying to listen while also trying to jam out to Raign.

"I had the kitchen make these. Your favorite. Brownies." "Someone else's baked goods?" Oh Hope was throwing shots and I didn't even know yet.

Also Lizzie's favorite isn't brownies. It's key lime pie. She says so later in the season. Get it to-fucking-gether, MG.

No because Dana running into the Salvatore School to deface it, finding out about the supernatural, and turning THAT into a plot would have hit so good.

[mdzs-owns-my-ass-i-guess]

Study buddies

@seventypercentvodka here is the fic I came up with following your suggestion on this post. Have some (hopefully funny) junior shenanigans!

I really hope you (and everyone else!) like it, I had a lot of fun writing it!

The juniors are studying in Sizhui's room, books, notebooks and brushes haphazardly scattered about the usually tidy place.

Lan Jingyi is laying on the floor on his belly, sifting through a thick cultivation manual without really reading anything, while Ouyang Zizhen leans on an elbow drawing practice talismans. On his bed, Lan Sizhui dutifully reads his notes, back straight against the headboard.

The only one missing is Jin Ling, but as a sect leader, he has other duties now - though it is without question that he would be starfished on Sizhui's bed complaining about the work or falling asleep with a book on his face - it has happened before.

Jingyi cups his face underneath his chin and sighs. "You guys think Senior Wei would teach me the paperman technique?"

"What do you need it for?" Zizhen replies as he balls up another failed talisman and aims it for the garbage bin. He misses by millimeters.

"I dunno, I wanna go around spying on people."

"Jingyi," Sizhui calmly intervenes as he reaches for another cultivation manual on his night stand. "It is forbidden to-"

An eye roll. "Yeah, yeah, it's forbidden to disrespect people's privacy, rule 47 or whatever."

Sizhui smiles, just a tiny bit smug. "48."

Jingyi sticks his tongue out at him. "You're too much like Hanguang-Jun. Learn to live a little."

"Living a little shouldn't require blatantly disrespecting the rules, Jingyi."

"Ok, Hanguang-Jun The Second."

Sizhui smiles again, serenely, and "accidentally" sends a small notebook Jingyi's way. "Oops."

He barely dodges. "That was on purpose!"

"It was an accident." Sizhui replies, unconvincingly.

"Now whatever happened to the rules?! Lying is forbidden! Rule 3!"

Sizhui barely holds in his laugh. "I did not lie."

"Like hell you didn't!"

He's masked a giggle with a cough. "Do not curse, rule 29."

"You-"

"I will silence you."

"And I will tell Hanguang-Jun you snuck us out to the festival last week!"

"Being a snitch is forbidden!" Zizhen intervenes, laughing.

"It's not, unfortunately." Sizhui laughs as well, and Jingyi can't help but join in.

"We're actually encouraged to be narcs." Jingyi completes, half serious. "On ourselves but also others. It's disguised in shit like 'take accountability for your actions' and 'do not let injustice happen' but we all know what it really means."

Zizhen, "Who do you guys think is the biggest narc in the Cloud Recesses?"

"Hanguang-Jun used to be in charge of punishments, so it's most likely him." Sizhui says, tapping his chin thoughtfully.

"Yeah, but he's not like that anymore. He lets us get away with a lot of stuff. Especially me, to be honest." Jingyi adds. "But I think the biggest narc would definitely have to be Teacher Lan."

"Hm... but he's the one that people snitch to. There's no authority to snitch on him to." Zizhen ponders. "And even if there was, who in their right mind would break the rules where he could know about it?"

Jingyi and Sizhui answer simultaneously. "Senior Wei."

Zizhen sighs. "He's an exception. Anyway, I think the biggest narc has to be Zewu-Jun. But he's lowkey about it. Like you won't know it was him that ratted you out, he seems so nice, but he's still his uncle's nephew, you know?"

"Zewu-Jun would never rat on people." Sizhui says.

"Exactly! Nobody would believe he's a snitch! The perfect cover!"

"Which is why I need Senior Wei to teach me the paperman technique!" Jingyi interjects. "So we can see what he does in the Hanshi when he thinks nobody's watching!"

Sizhui sighs. "He's probably meditating. Or doing paperwork."

"I wonder what Teacher Lan does." Jingyi says, reaching for the bowl of dried fruits he's brought for the study session. "I bet he writes the rules like a hundred times for fun. Or he practices lectures out loud and yells at pretend students!"

"What do you do in your room, Jingyi?" Sizhui asks, barely restraining an amused eye roll.

"Regular stuff! Eat, read, sleep... and other things, but what's that to do with anything?"

"Teacher Lan probably does the same things, Jingyi. He's just a person, like us."

"I don't see Teacher Lan doing..." but he stops himself from saying any more, a light blush on his face.

"What about Hanguang-Jun and Senior Wei?" Zizhen suggests. "What do you guys think they do in the jingshi?"

Embarrassed looks pass both the Lans faces. "Everybody knows what they do in there." Jingyi quickly adds.

Zizhen blinks twice before realization dawns on him. He doesn't share the embarrassment, though. "Good for them. Must be a lot more fun than what we're doing right now... well, we are getting fucked in a way too, aren't we. Mindfuck is a thing."

"Zizhen."

"I don't wanna hear it, Sizhui, I heard you calling sect leader Yao a bitch ass cunt under your breath at the last discussion conference. Don't you have a rule against hypocrisy up on that mountain of yours?"

[disappointingyet]

The Book of Clarence

Director Jeymes Samuel Stars LaKeith Stanfield, RJ Cycler, Anna Diop, Omar Sy, Teyana Taylor, Marianne Jean-Bapiste USA 2023 Language English 2hr 9mins Colour

Odd but appealing Biblical tangent

What a strange movie this is – maybe one part stoner comedy to two parts pious Biblical fable, at times falling very flat but often arresting and fascinating. Certainly if anyone compares this to Monty Python’s Life Of Brian, you have a right to slap them for their lazy lack of thought. 

The start is a mess, a chariot drag race beyond the abilities of the production team. The competitors are Mary Magdalene (Teyana Taylor) and best buds Clarence (LaKeith Stanfield) and Elijah (RJ Cyler). Clarence is a small-time weed dealer always getting in trouble and Elijah always tags along. They consider themselves brothers but Clarence’s actual biological sibling is the apostle Thomas (Stanfield again). 

So that’s a chariot-racing Mary Magdalene and a pot dealer related to one of Jesus’ disciples. I hope you’ve never had the misfortune to see Your Highness, which I think is one of the worst movies ever made, certainly one of the worst with people of the calibre of Natalie Portman in it. Anyway, the idea of Your Highness is basically: what if you did a medieval quest story as a sub-Cheech & Chong stoner flick? And early on it feels like The Book Of Clarence is going to be: what if Biblical movie but sub-Cheech & Chong stoner flick? I mean, there’s a scene with dudes smoking where they literally are floating.

And yet, and yet, quite often this film is deeply earnest. The plot is very simple: Clarence owes money to a big bad man who also happens to be the brother of  Varinia (Anna Diop) the woman Clarence is somewhat haplessly in love with. What’s the best way to get rich quick in Jerusalem in 33CE? That’s to set yourself up as the leader of a new religious sect, which Clarence does to some success, marking himself out from Jesus by arguing that knowledge is better than belief. And at some point, he starts getting a bit sincere…

Jeymes Samuel’s previous film was The Harder They Fall, a flashy western that other people liked more than I did but which was fun in places and had a strong cast. This is also a movie of moments rather than one that hangs together coherently, and has good cast. The poster lists three big British actors but they’re only in the film briefly (although they are all good, including the one I usually can’t stand.) But it stands or falls with Stanfield, and I can’t think of anyone better as a hipster-hustler who does actually have a soul. 

I liked the costumes a lot – they’re not wildly different from any other Biblical/Roman movie but they are doing good work on where the characters in their arcs at any given point in the movie. And in the party scene, they work well with the funk soundtrack largely written by the director (I hope by the general plot description it was obviously that this is a movie that goes big on anachronisms.)

The other big plus point here is the location: it’s filmed in Italy and so has what is to me a big plus in historical dramas – it looks like if you kicked the walls, you’d hurt your toes rather going straight through them because they’re obviously CGI*. 

To be clear: this film is very clumsy in places. It’s message is a bit fuzzy too – Samuel seems to eager to make us understand Jesus was the real deal but it didn’t go down the way the gospels tell you and there’s a broad but funny explanation of how we ended with the image of Christ that we have.

But it is often funny when it’s trying to be funny and it does build a mood, leaning on the charisma of the cast and setting. Yes, the fusion of hip and sincerity is odd but it kind of hangs together.

*I’m not saying all dramas in the past have to be shot in real places – I like a low-budget room based drama, I like models** and some CGI is fine, but tangible places are generally a big help as far as I am concerned.

**Although: I was speaking to a dude who works in CGI recently, and he was saying that the practical effects-fetishism of some fans (and critics) means that big productions now sometimes make models that they show off to journalists/stick on social media – but everything in the actual movie is virtual. 

[rafeny]

Can I Tell You...about my Fall / Winter 2023 Collection.

Rafé New York Takes Us To A Dazzling Reimagining Of Studio 54

By Chelsea Sarabia for Vogue Philippines

Rafe Totengco on his Fall / Winter 2023 Campaign and the sweet homecoming of Filipino creatives that went on behind the scenes.

In setting out to design any collection, Rafe Totengco prefers to work off a feeling.

With his brand Rafé New York, the designer has carved out a niche in the clutches and evening bags sect of fashion. He attributes its global acclaim to one sentiment: anyone can carry a Rafé bag. Over an illustrious two-decade-long career, he notes a sizeable shift in the landscape that mirrors this attitude, with trends that transcend any one type of person—so long as it fits their tastes.

“With social media, we’ve become a very small world. Everyone sees everything instantaneously, and they also see what other people are wearing,” he says. “Ultimately, that’s also what I love about handbags: it’s a very democratic piece of fashion. You can be young, you can be old. It’s not size-specific, it’s not age-specific.” 

For his Fall/Winter 2023 collection, Totengco doesn’t design with a particular muse in mind but a mood; he paints a picture of a radiant hour in a bar in Bushwick, tapping into the sparkling glamour and the freeing sense of style of eras past. 

The designer expands, “I’m hoping that with one of these bags from the next season, [wearers] get a sense of confidence, independence, and strength, and a kind of boldness [that says] ‘I want to stand out from the crowd. I don’t want to be like everybody else. I’m going to walk in and turn heads. Yes, I’m going to own the space.’”

Inspired by Studio 54 and Helmut Newton’s photographs of the Yves Saint Laurent Le Smoking suit, Totengco wanted to shoot in a location that captured the vibrancy of New York City at night. It seemed nearly impossible to find within the city’s cluster of crowded streets and the time demanded of shooting a full-blown campaign; that was, until his team found the perfect spot: a Brooklyn bar with the makings of what could have been a stylish speakeasy from the 1920s. 

“The bar provided us with so many vignettes that I was super happy with because it kind of gave you the feeling that ‘She’s inside…somewhere,’” he muses. “You don’t necessarily see her friends, but it doesn’t matter. It’s almost like she’s there [just arriving]. There’s this anticipation of, like, ‘Something fun is about to happen.’ And you can just imagine the rest.” 

Styled in Marcel waves and ‘70s-reminiscent jumpsuits, Rafé’s femme fatale lounges over black leather booths, carrying an array of evening bags in malleable rhinestone mesh and sequins that spill over her fingertips.

“We have [them in] magenta, gold, and silver—you know, classic rhinestone colors, [and they’re] all individually done by hand in India,” he says of the collection. “They’re fun evening bags, party bags. When you see them, they evoke that sense of frivolity and ‘Ooh, look at this sparkly thing!’ I always believe a little sparkle never hurt anybody.”

For his campaign, Totengco worked with New York City-based Filipino creatives whom he shares he met through serendipitous encounters. In New York City, it seems, most Filipinos are distanced by only “two degrees of separation.”

He met photographer Selwyn Tungol after he had taken a picture of one of his bags during a Fashion Week years ago and the multi-disciplinary creative Lorenz Namalata at the recent opening of the Silverlens Galleries in Manhattan. Following what the designer calls a “trail of connectivity,” he finds that the bar Namalata scouted for him was Filipino co-owned, too. 

“It was just funny. We had a whole crew of other people who were assisting who all came from Manila, all based here now, and it just became this thing. All of a sudden, we were talking in Tagalog in Sleepwalk, a bar in Bushwick, and we were like, oh my God, wait, where are we? What are we doing?” he laughs. “It’s also, in a way, representative of New York now. It really is a melting pot, and I love that—that a new generation of creatives is coming up.”

For Totengco, a predominantly Filipino crew was a refreshing departure from where he first started in the industry. He says, “It was kind of this moment of solidarity where it was like, ‘Well, I didn’t have this before.’ Without even realizing it, it’s happening, and, really, it’s a nice feeling. You feel at home. You feel like you’re a part of something.”

[robininthelabyrinth]

Prompt: Wei Wuxian has achieved time travel! He's gonna fix so many broken things. Unfortunately, WWX has miscalculated a teensy tiny variable and instead of arriving in his original 15yo body in Lotus Pier, he's crash landed in MXY's tiny 7~8yo body at Mo Manor. But no problem, he can fix this if he can just find his real body. (Meanwhile, Yunmeng Jiang's head disciple is acting the wrong kind of childish, aka, Mo Xuanyu is having the weirdest day of his young life.)

Switcheroo - ao3

Mo Xuanyu thought that this Wei Wuxian person whose body he’d stolen must have been a really interesting person, mostly because he’d been here for three days so far and nobody’d noticed the switch yet.

Possibly it had to do with the fact that Mo Xuanyu still wasn’t exactly sure how he’d stolen the body – he’d just gone to sleep in the shed, same as always, and then he’d woken up in the softest bed he’d ever encountered in his life…no, softer than even his dreams! He’d thought it over and concluded that he must have died from cold out in the shed, turned into a fierce ghost out of resentment, grown powerful (somehow), then stolen some rich young master’s body when they weren’t paying close enough attention and, once he’d possessed the body, promptly lost all his memory of being a ghost.

It seemed like the only logical course of events.

He was very sorry about it, though. Wei Wuxian seemed like a nice, if very unusual person.

The first day, Mo Xuanyu had barely even noticed the body-switch, being quite so enamored of the soft bed he was in – he’d refused to get out of bed at all, declaring that he was going to lie in and sleep for a century or more, and the people who’d come to the door to get him didn’t beat him or anything over it, but rather just laughed or rolled their eyes and then left him to it. Luckily, at the time, he’d just assumed he was dead or something and proceeded to ignore everything in favor of napping.

He only acknowledged that he was alive later in the afternoon, when his stomach started growling – it seemed like a very unlikely thing for a dead man’s stomach to do.

Mo Xuanyu had by that point figured out that he wasn’t himself anymore, which was fine since he didn’t much like himself; he’d also figured out, through looking himself over, that he was old now. At least fifteen or sixteen, which was twice the age he last remembered himself being. That was fine, too, though: being older meant that he was stronger and faster and would be better able to handle it when people wanted to beat him or something. Most importantly, though, it meant he was old enough to enter the kitchen on his own!

Mo Xuanyu already knew that he wasn’t allowed to eat at the main table, being only the bastard son of the younger daughter, and the cook back at home was a fierce woman who didn’t allow anyone under the age of ten into her kitchen; as a result, he had to wait for his mother to bring him back some food, and it was always cold and not quite enough. Now, though, since he was older, he figured he might as well try to go to the kitchen and fill his belly that way.

Luckily, while his current body’s house was much bigger than the Mo house, all houses were generally built along the same lines, so it wasn’t hard to find the kitchen. Everyone there laughed when he showed up, even though he’d tried to be very quiet and sneak in and then screwed it up by tripping over his own feet – it seemed like everyone thought he was doing it on purpose to be funny – and then the cooks gave him a meal of his own that was hot and fresh and wonderful.

He'd wolfed it down.

“Honestly, Wei Wuxian, you eat like a hungry ghost, you’d think the Jiang clan starves you,” one of them scolded him, but with a smile, and from that Mo Xuanyu learned that the rich young master was called Wei Wuxian and that he lived with the Jiang clan. The different surnames confused him a little, but he didn’t dare ask any questions about it, so he just stuffed his mouth and pretended that was the reason he couldn’t answer.

No one questioned it.

No one questioned it when he went wandering all around instead of doing whatever chores or duties he’d been assigned, either. Someone had actually seen him hovering by a door and asked him to bring back a pheasant when he returned, so out of lack of better options he’d headed outside to try to go find one.

He had a pretty good time walking around the forest, then remembered what he’d been asked and chased the pheasants for a while, without success . Fortunately, he then got lucky and stumbled over an old snare that had three pheasants caught inside, so he’d picked up the whole box and carted it back home.

“Three,” one of the boys in purple-blue marveled as he saw Mo Xuanyu walking towards the kitchen. “You know, people say that the birds around the Lotus Pier have gotten too smart to be caught easily, but look at our da-shixiong; he makes it look easy!”

From this, Mo Xuanyu could figure out that Wei Wuxian was (apparently!) part of a cultivator clan, apparently located at a place called the Lotus Pier, and that he was the oldest or at least head disciple, to boot. He knew all about cultivator clans from his mother, since apparently his father had been a sect leader, and that meant he knew enough to call the other boy ‘shidi’ as he passed, making the other boy beam happily.

It also meant that when he chanced a guess and called the young woman in a pretty pink dress who waved at him ‘shijie’, she smiled and nodded, which meant to him that he’d done the right thing.

“I heard you slept even more of the morning away than usual,” she told him, but didn’t seem too upset about it. “I bet that means you’ll be skipping dinner and staying up all night, hmm?”

Mo Xuanyu had no intention of skipping dinner if it was anything like what the kitchens had given him earlier, actually, but while he was still trying to figure out a way to say that, she said, leaning in close to whisper, “It’s probably a good idea, anyway – Mother and Father are fighting again. Just go to the kitchens to grab something…I promise I’ll make it up to you with some soup tomorrow, pork ribs and lotus roots, your favorite. All right?”

“Shijie, you’re the best,” Mo Xuanyu said effusively, willing to die for her at once, and she laughed and tousled his hair.

“I am,” she said, looking happy. “And if my little A-Xian stays good and obedient, I may even feed him.”

She did, too, the next day when he finally tore himself out of the beautiful wonderful soft bed and went to go find her. She’d made him soup, just as he’d promised, and laughed and laughed for some reason: apparently, she interpreted him being quiet and not talking too much as his efforts to be ‘good and obedient’, which was apparently so out of the ordinary as to be a deliberate joke.

From this, Mo Xuanyu concluded that the young master he’d possessed, Wei Wuxian, was a jackass.

Well, perhaps that was a bit harsh. Arrogant and self-centered, talented and brave and probably brilliant, definitely charming and maybe even kind, but also spoiled and inclined to step on other people to get where he wanted to go, if Mo Xuanyu had to guess – why else would everyone constantly react as if him not being obnoxious was the world’s biggest stunt?

No one seemed to expect anything of him at all: he didn’t do any chores, and no one batted an eyelid; he didn’t go where he was told, and everyone just sighed…at one point the sect leader himself came and patted him on the head, scolding him in a joking tone that he hadn’t seen him leading any of the training the way he was supposed to – but when Mo Xuanyu quailed, he’d burst out laughing, telling ‘Wei Wuxian’ to stop pretending to be a scared little rabbit, that it was fine if he’d gotten distracted by some clever new invention or whatever, that someone else would handle it, that he should take as long as he needed.

Mo Xuanyu had pasted a great big smile on his face through force of effort and agreed cheerfully.

The sect leader had accepted it.

Probably a jackass, but clearly a beloved one, Mo Xuanyu thought to himself as he packed up clothing and a few small treasures that no one would miss, a little wistful. The scare of the whole encounter had put things in perspective – he wasn’t going to be able to keep up this sort of façade for long. In fact, he was shocked he’d managed it so long already; surely, no matter how many pranks this Wei Wuxian played, no matter how childishly he behaved, surely someone should’ve noticed that he was actually an eight-year-old masquerading as a sixteen-year-old?

Mo Xuanyu couldn’t decide whether it was sad that no one paid too much attention or something that this Wei Wuxian fellow had brought down on his own head by being so consistently annoying.

Either way, there was nothing for it – he was going to have to leave.

Now that part was really sad: he’d never in his life had such good food, or such a soft bed, or even so many people that just seemed plain old happy to see him as since he’d arrived in this place. But he wasn’t the one all those things were for; he was just a sad ghost possessing a person, and if he stayed, the cultivators would eventually figure out something was wrong and exorcise him.

Probably violently.

Mo Xuanyu probably deserved it, too, but despite that he wasn’t willing.

So he packed up what he could and headed out.

He got all the way to the gate before a new purple-clad disciple – about his age, if he had to guess, and holding a pack like he’d just come back from a trip, with a scowl on his face – called out for Wei Wuxian.

Mo Xuanyu waved a little, hoping that that would be enough.

For the first time, it wasn’t.

The boy’s face settled into an even deeper scowl.

“Hey, what’s wrong with you?” he demanded. “Wei Wuxian! You’re acting all weird – hey! Where are you going?”

Mo Xuanyu was running away, obviously. He wasn’t about to get tied up and exorcised, no thank you.

He didn’t think he’d make it, but it was still worth trying.

Sure enough, the purple-clad boy who was probably called Jiang Cheng, based on what everyone was calling out as they ran by, got tired of running and jumped on his sword, and there was no way Mo Xuanyu would be able to outrun a sword, not even if he tried as fast as he –

Someone picked him up.

It wasn’t Jiang Cheng.

Mo Xuanyu turned his head and stared.

It must be some sort of yao, he thought. Humans were definitely not that pretty.

“Lan Wangji!” Jiang Cheng howled. “What are you even doing in the Lotus Pier?! Put my shixiong down!”

The rescuer, Lan Wangji, frowned a little at Mo Xuanyu.

Mo Xuanyu didn’t know exactly what expression he ought to be making in return, and was a bit too dazed to even dare to guess. He’d just noticed that they were flying – flying! on a sword! – and he was clutching onto this Lan Wangji’s shoulders for dear life.

“You are not Wei Ying,” Lan Wangji said. His voice sounded very definitive.

“Uh,” Mo Xuanyu said. “Sorry? Please don’t drop me.”

“I will not. What is your name?”

“Mo Xuanyu,” Mo Xuanyu admitted, and Lan Wangji’s eyes widened as if that meant something to him – except it couldn’t, of course, because Mo Xuanyu was sure he’d never met anyone even remotely like this Lan Wangji fellow in his life. “I don’t remember taking his body. I’m sorry. Can you not exorcise me? I don’t want to die.”

Lan Wangji was silent for a long moment.

He was still flying very fast, and Jiang Cheng was still following, shouting out curses and demands that he stop, not that Lan Wangji was listening.

“There will be no exorcism,” he finally said, and Mo Xuanyu exhaled in relief. “We will, however, fix this.”

“…we?”

“Wei Ying and myself.”

Mo Xuanyu nodded. That sounded more likely than anyone relying on his participation.

“Where are we going?” he asked. Jiang Cheng was falling further and further behind.

“Mo Village.”

Mo Xuanyu tensed up at once.

“You will not be left there,” Lan Wangji clarified, and – how did he know that Mo Xuanyu didn’t want to be left there? “But we must collect Wei Ying, who I suspect is currently in your body.”

“In my…I’m still alive?”

Lan Wangji was quiet again, and then said, “Yes. And you will remain so.”

That was reassuring, mostly.

“Okay,” Mo Xuanyu said, and found that he mostly felt relieved. He’d be very happy to have his normal body back again, if possible, especially if he didn’t have to stay in Mo Village…“Wait, if I don’t have to stay there, where will I go? I don’t have anywhere else to go, unless my father comes back for me. He's a sect leader –”

“He will not, and even if he did, you should not go with him. Once Wei Ying returns to his body, you will be able to stay at the Lotus Pier. If you do not wish to stay there, I will bring you back to the Cloud Recesses – that is my home – instead.”

“Oh,” Mo Xuanyu said, feeling bewildered. That was an awfully nice offer, even if Lan Wangji was feeling guilty about Wei Wuxian stealing his body by accident – which seemed like what had happened here rather than Mo Xuanyu being the one who did the stealing. Maybe he should go with Lan Wangji instead, he seemed much more responsible than Wei Wuxian was, rushing over to rescue him and explain things instead of throwing him into a body and leaving him all alone in a strange place. But on the other hand… “Is the Cloud Recesses…I mean…no offense, but…does it have…”

“Yes?”

“Does it have soft beds, too? And – and hot food?”

Mo Xuanyu didn’t need much, not really. He looked eagerly at Lan Wangji, who had an odd expression on his face briefly before wiping it back to neutral and nodding in confirmation.

“Okay,” Mo Xuanyu said, and curled up in Lan Wangji’s arms. “Then I’ll stay with you. You can take care of me.”

“I will,” Lan Wangji said, sounding strangely serious. “In return for the gift you last gave me – I will.”

[admirableadmiranda]

Debts and balances: or how much does one man have to pay over the course of his life?

Good morning everyone! Today we’re going to be talking about debts, and why Jiang Cheng needs to shut the fuck up on debts because he is the one in the wrong pretty much the entire time.

Let’s start by acknowledging that I am not of this culture so I may perhaps state a thing or two wrong, but I also have several functioning brain cells to rub together and I pay attention so I will probably be more right than most of the “hot takes” I see on why Jiang Cheng is not actually in the wrong here. Because he is. He so is.

So, debts. First of all, there are multiple levels and layers of debts and to whom do you owe them too. So let’s start with the first one where the story is subtle about it and yet both Jiang Cheng and Madam Yu are in the wrong. We know that Cangse Sanren saved Jiang Fengmian’s life at one point when they were young. Life debts are big. To only be alive because of someone else’s actions is a debt that it is possible you will never be able to pay back. There are multiple stories of otherwise good people protecting the obvious villain because they owe that.

Jiang Fengmian’s only way of being able to pay back that debt after Cangse Sanren and Wei Changze die is to take care of their child and raise him how they would have. I.E, as a cultivator. This is not a debt that Wei Wuxian owes to the Jiangs. It is quite literally, the least of what Jiang Fengmian owes him and his parents to do.

Jiang Cheng cannot claim that Wei Wuxian owes them for his life. He is wrong. 

Next debt that even Jiang Cheng does not try to claim, only his ever so pleasant stans, the fucking dogs. The fucking dogs that he does not actually give a fuck about. 

Wei Wuxian does not ask anyone to do anything about the dogs. He is not in a mental state to. He is in a state of triggered phobia where his brain literally goes into run away screaming mode. This is also not funny and Jiang Cheng is a jackass for making fun of it whenever it happens. Jiang Fengmian is the one who decides that it’s better for the dogs to go. Even though Jiang Cheng is upset, he does not actually hold this as a lingering grudge against Wei Wuxian. He lets it the fuck go. And even if he didn’t, the resentment and anger should be aimed at the person who actually made a decision about it. Not Wei Wuxian. He does not give one singular fuck about his dogs later on. Let the fucking dogs go.

Third off: The Fall of Lotus Pier. There are different levels of blame that we can lay on this. Wei Wuxian is not close to responsible for this. Jiang Cheng knows this and elects to blame him anyway.

The first people we can lay the blame on the fall of Lotus Pier is the Wens, who came with ships, warriors, Wang Lingjiao to rile up the notoriously short tempered asshole Madam Yu, and Wen Zhuliu the Core-Melting Hand. They came prepared for battle and they got what they wanted. Madam Yu is the second one we can lay the blame on, for deciding to attack and demean Wang Lingjiao, not for making her do anything she didn’t want to do, because holy hell did she want to whip Wei Wuxian until he couldn’t move and leapt at the chance to do such a thing, but because Wang Lingjiao is a servant who was elevated by her lover and Madam Yu is a classist asshole. This is the only reason she flips out. Wei Wuxian did nothing wrong. Wei Wuxian does not have the blood of Lotus Pier on his hands, he is tied to Jiang Cheng and told to protect him at the cost of his life, a debt he does not owe. 

The four debt he attempts to claim, the only one that might be considered to have some teeth if it weren’t for how much Wei Wuxian gives him back almost immediately. Jiang Cheng goes to distract the Wens from Wei Wuxian and ends up getting captured and losing his golden core. So first off, in this world a golden core is a lot to lose, I won’t deny that. But, first off, Wei Wuxian is only in danger because after being whipped a lot, then strangled, then having to run after Jiang Cheng multiple times because he would rather go die at Lotus Pier than listen to either of his parents and escape, he still goes into town to get them something to eat because otherwise Jiang Cheng would rather lie on the ground and die. Fucking great sect leadership there, huh Jiang Cheng? But yes, Jiang Cheng sees the Wens, sees them notice Wei Wuxian, goes off to distract them and then gets captured and loses his golden core.

Now we’re getting to some of the debts that Jiang Cheng owes and refuses to pay back, because that’s definitely going to get him far in this world. Wei Wuxian in his panic and attempt to find Jiang Cheng, finds Wen Ning, who after some struggles manages to convince him that he can sneak in and get Jiang Cheng back out. In addition, he also retrieves the bodies of Madam Yu and Jiang Fengmian. This is huge. Jiang Cheng now owes him both a life debt for again, saving his life at great cost to his own: Wen Ning is literally committing treason here, and also for restoring the lost honor of not being able to bury his parents properly. Wen Ning gives them a proper burial and later after the war he is able to lie them to rest in the Ancestors Hall so their spirits will be at peace and he will have fulfilled his fillial duties. By all means, the debt he owes Wen Ning in particular is so great that he should have taken in every Wen in those camps and sheltered them because it is as close as he will ever get to repaying that debt. And that’s just Wen Ning!

The next debt he owes and refuses to pay is to Wen Qing, a genius doctor and respected by Wen Ruohan, who uses the prestige and skills she has to protect both him and Wei Wuxian in at this point enemy territory when they are being actively searched for, being the new sect leader and head disciple of Yunmeng Jiang. She hides them and then later uses her skills to give him a new golden core so that he can go and fight back against his people, revitalizing his clan and eradicating hers. This is another debt that could only really be paid back by protecting her people if she came to him. He owes her literally his life, his power and his people.

The third debt he owes and refuses to pay is to Wei Wuxian, who more than overbalances the scales back in his favor by giving him his golden core. He pays his chance at immortality, his power, his strength, his cultivation, everything that he has to his name so that Jiang Cheng won’t starve himself to death over losing his core. In addition, he tells Jiang Cheng that this comes from a once in a lifetime favor from his mother’s master so even before when he didn’t know about the core, this is still a massive, massive debt, a limitless one time favor from an immortal that he uses Wei Wuxian’s chance to get and never actually thanks him. So at this point, his own golden core as a debt starts to seem a little hollow. Either way, it’s been repaid. An action you do in service of someone else is not a weapon you get to hold over their heads for multiple lives.

Moving on! The next debt he would like to claim is that Wei Wuxian apparently has no right to do things he does not approve of. Excuse me? Is he now a computer program that crashed? What the fuck Jiang Wanyin? Wei Wuxian has less rank than him, although Jiang Cheng is so high rank in this society that he only shares his rank with three other people and there’s no one above him so it would be very hard for him to not be, but he is still a person, with his own thoughts, wishes, dreams, hopes and beliefs. He is not an extension of your hand, to make your clan look good and stand behind you as a hammer to smash on people. Wen Qing goes to Wei Wuxian to ask for help for finding her brother, her people because they are literally being tortured to death. This is a debt that by all means, Jiang Cheng should be repaying. See that part where Wen Ning committed treason to help him and restore his family’s honor? See that part where Wen Qing literally gave him the ability to go back to war against her family? This is the point where anyone with honor would recognize this is the only thing I can do. I will throw myself on my sword if I must, but I must repay this debt to them. There is nothing less I can do. But Jiang Cheng has only the honor of a mangy cur and ignores this, and when Wei Wuxian goes to fulfill this debt, he tells him to stop. To him, his multiple life debts are an inconvience to shoving his nose so far up Jin Guangshan’s ass that he’s tasting what he had for dinner that day.

The next debt that he would like to claim is the death of his brother in law. This is a debt that Wei Wuxian would owe to specific people. This debt is to Jiang Yanli, Jin Guangshan and Jin Ling, one of whom is wanting to forgive it, one who is too small to decide at the time, and one who straight up does not give a fuck beyond advancing his power. Jiang Cheng is not one of these people. His sister is fine, she’s not his concern anymore, she’s a part of the Jin sect. The only reason why he died is that Jiang Cheng decided the best way to repay his debt to Wei Wuxian was to throw a temper tantrum and declare him an enemy to everyone, ripping out every support from under his feet. Regardless, Jiang Cheng is an asshole and does not get to claim this debt.

The final one of Wei Wuxian’s first life that he keeps hurling at him is the death of his sister...the death of his sister who chose to leap between Wei Wuxian and a sword. The death of his sister at a battle that broke out because Jiang Cheng has been with Jin Guangshan whipping the cultivation world into a frenzy against the Wens and Wei Wuxian because of power and jealousy. The battle that would have not happened if they’d left them alone. Jiang Cheng has been to the burial mounds. He has seen the farmers, he has seen the baby there. He has decided that rather than do anything to repay these various deaths, he will kill them on other people’s swords instead. Because he is also a coward and won’t pick fights he can’t win. In addition he likes to steal Yanli’s agency, she’s the one who chose to come, she’s the one who chose to get in the way and she doesn’t die with regrets. And she is not his debt to claim. Again, the one who actually gets to claim this death that Wei Wuxian is not responsible for is Jin Ling, who actually shapes up and decides that it doesn’t matter, he doesn’t blame Wei Wuxian for it. He forgives him his role in that space and moves the fuck on, unlike a certain sir stabby grape mcwhipinnoencts.

And then Wei Wuxian dies and any debts he may have still owed to Jiang Cheng, not that there were any, die with him. Jiang Cheng has no claim on him, he was not part of his sect, they were not brothers in any way, indeed Jiang Cheng called him his enemy. Even most people with far more real grudges at this point would let it go. Wei Wuxian is so dead that no one can find his soul, no matter how hard they look. He comes back to life and reaps the rewards of his actions, finding new allies, getting the chance to actually interact with Jin Ling and make his apologies, and in the end, settle down to a peaceful life with an adoring husband and nothing left to be repaid. If there is still a debt he owes, it is only to Mo Xuanyu, who gave up his entire cycle of life to let Wei Wuxian reincarnate early with his memories, a sacrifice he only asked for repayment in the death of his family. He may owe more still, but that is all Mo Xuanyu wanted from him in repayment for this great sacrifice. The cultivation world is in the wrong when they’re trying to persecute him again for the actions of his previous life, he owes them nothing anymore. The debts he carries towards Jin Ling are the ones he chooses to take on, feeling guilty that he grew up without his parents due to the world’s general actions and also no one else taking responsibility for how far things fell. 

That is what Jiang Cheng finally realizes in the temple, crouched on the floor and sobbing like a spoiled child over the golden core sacrifice. Is that he is in the wrong and has been in the wrong the whole time. That there is nothing he can hold onto, no debt that Wei Wuxian ever owed him that he could demand to be paid. He built it all up in his head as he left his honor, his family and his dignity in the wake of his arrogance. And it’s a painful thing to realize, the consequences of your decisions, but all he can do is live with his own ruined reputation, his own loneliness and the fact that no one wants to be around him. He’s blacklisted by multiple matchmakers, his disciples are more like thugs, Wei Wuxian chooses every opportunity to get away from him and even Jin Ling likes him less and less over the course of the book, not forgetting that he seems to prefer Jin Guangyao to begin with as he actually talks to him sometimes and doesn’t hit him. Jiang Cheng refusing to pay his debts gives him exactly what a debt deserter deserves. No one has a reason to trust him. The one bit of positive character growth he does is giving up and not trying to reel him back in by telling him of the sacrifice. At this point, all it would be is just him trying to get another debt he cannot hold because it is long since repaid, never quite made up for what they gave him to make up for it, and worthless in the face of Wei Wuxian’s new life. Wei Wuxian owes him nothing and never has.

Also, just to tally up the relationship between Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng on things given between the two of them, Jiang Cheng gives him: a lot of whinging on how unfair it is that Wei Wuxian is a prodigy, and a one time immediately regretted and held over his head sacrifice of a golden core. Whereas Wei Wuxian gives him: many lessons on how to be a kinder person that he ignores, the patience and tolerance of his stinkbug attitude, his love, his affection, his fucking golden core, his reputation, his blood, his livelihood, taking over his debts, trying to keep any of his actions from reflecting on the Jiangs even though if Jiang Cheng had repaid any of the debts he owed, there would have been no problems because if the Jin’s did decide to attack, Wei Wuxian would fight back and he can level battle fields on his own, his honor, his relationships, and even his life in the end, because if Wei Wuxian had ever turned on him like he claimed, he would have been a bloody smeared spot on the ground. And Jiang Cheng gobbles this all up and demands more with Wei Wuxian’s blood and tears dribbling from his mouth. 

Would you give that much for someone who doesn’t treat you well? Would you find that a reasonable price to pay for someone who demeans you at every opportunity, who tells you you deserve your misfortunes and that no one likes you? Why are you surprised that in the end Wei Wuxian would rather walk away with people who care about him, why he gives up, leaves any opportunity for anything in Jiang Cheng’s hands. Wei Wuxian has given more than any person should for almost nothing. It is a sign of triumph and victory, of recognizing his own worth and value in the world and who he wants to be with, that he leaves, that he walks away with his head held high. He owes Jiang Cheng nothing, and Jiang Cheng will just have to fucking live with that.

[kiwikipedia]

A New Life, A New Hope

Fandom(s): Star Wars

Rating: K/T

Pairing: Kit Fisto/Plo Koon

Summary: Sometimes things happen that are unexpected, but even so... Kit couldn’t be more excited for the future

AO3

Basically, kel dor don't have strict biological divides in gender so like. they can all have kids? if they want? don't think about it too much, I don't

This is my apology for the last plokit fic fhdfhjdhfjd

Kit Fisto had always loathed being away from those he loved longer than was necessary.

Especially after the War.

He supposed that was just a thing that all of them were dealing with now, though. So many lost lives had made the already small Jedi Order even smaller, and a lot of them had the same feeling of wanting to be closer than ever. To not spread out, in fear of losing another person dear to them.

Perhaps they were no longer fully light, but things had changed— War changed things.

Nonetheless, as a Jedi, Kit Fisto still had a job to do, and that was to help people.

It was funny, he supposed. Now that the War was over, suddenly the other Force Sensitive Sects like the Baran Do Sages and the Sälãi Käsi Order were helping where they could.

Others who weren’t Force Sensitive, just groups of Civilian Do-Gooders, were also helping out more— people were beginning to realize that the Jedi couldn’t just solve all the problems in the Galaxy, even with the Clones at their sides. They were offering help and alliances to the Order— Even the Pirate King, Hondo Ohnaka, though he was causing as much trouble as he was helping, apparently.

Even the Queen of the Fair Folk, Her Majesty Queen Titania of the Seelie Courts, had offered her aid if they ever needed it.

(She seemed to be awfully doting on Cin, which was rather funny in Kit’s opinion. He really didn’t think too much about it, there were a number of Fae-blooded Jedi, maybe Cin was one of them.)

It was nice knowing that it wasn’t just the Jedi out there in service to the innocents of the Republic— but it was also complicated to think about. The Baran Do Sages still had their loyalty to their Planet, as did many of the other Sects, and were still bound by Republic laws.

It was still fewer hands than the unrealistic ideologist in Kit hoped for.

Realistic or not, Kit was still less than pleased that his mission had taken far longer than it needed to. What was supposed to have been a short-term mission lasting only a month or two at most had become a long-term mission, stretching closer to six months, and that meant that Kit had been away from his Partner for far too long.

(All because of Politics. It was always politics too! Next time he was sending Obi-Wan instead. He didn’t care that it was an aquatic planet, it was Obi-Wan’s problem now. The Order had breathing masks for just such an occasion.)

Ordinarily, Kit would have been unhappy enough about the vast amount of time that he and his Partner had been apart, just in general. While the two of them enjoyed their space, the War had kept them separated for so long already— Kit wasn't pleased about being gone longer than some of their longest campaigns had kept them apart.

But right at this moment? Right at this time? Well, it was something he had loathed far more than he usually would have.

Two months into his mission, around the same time he’d realized that it was going to take much longer than he had initially hoped, Kit had gotten a rather urgent message from the eldest of the Koons in the Order— Master Fae Koon, who also just so happened to be his partner’s uncle.

Fae had called it a rather bewildering occurrence— a one in a hundred chance. Closer to one in a thousand, really.

Plo Koon, at the time of the call, had been carrying eggs. Of course, they had since been lain. Kel Dor clutches were laid four months after conception, then incubated for another four within the Kel Dor before they were ready to hatch— at the time, Kit had been dumbfounded and absolutely at a loss for what to do, but Fae had explained everything the best he could. 

The eldest of the three Koons in the Order had told him that he hadn’t believed it possible in the first place— none of them had— but he had returned from his wandering when Head Healer Vokara Che contacted him for help on the matter, and it turned out to be true.

Plo was viciously protective of the small clutch. No one had been able to enter their shared quarters and Plo was reluctant to even leave them. Something that Fae explained was rather normal for Kel Dor parents, but it was still jarring for many of the Jedi and Clones alike.

In total, there were six eggs, though Fae had warned Kit that it would be unlikely for all of them to hatch— if any of them did.

The elder Koon had then explained that until Kit returned the eggs would remain incubated outside, and therefore very vulnerable.

When Kit returned to Dantooine, (and this had told him with the same tone that the elder Master would use when giving a report, which had made Kit start laughing hysterically, it was just such a strange situation) he and Plo would transfer the eggs back into Plo’s body— a cultural thing, it turned out, which was why Plo wasn’t doing it himself. The act, on Dorin and within the Kel Dor culture, was something that affirmed the bond between the two Kel Dor and a promise of a strong family.

Kit didn’t mind, though, listening with rapt attention as the elder Kel Dor explained everything during that fated call. He had later ended up asking a barrage of questions, whenever they came to him, of the other Master. Not that Fae seemed to mind at all.

It was unexpected, to say the least, but it was welcome. Kit had entertained the idea of children a few times before in the past, and he knew for a fact that Plo had done the same— but the old Code had made that particular hope complicated, so they had dropped the idea for the longest time.

But now? Now it was possible— Now it was something that was very real, and very much happening.

It was safe to say that Kit was filled with both excitement and nerves as he landed in the fields of Dantooine. His descent was… a bit rougher than some would have liked.  In truth— he had almost crashed his landing in his rush, much to Skywalker’s awe and horror when he pulled up and landed last second.

But Kit didn’t bother with sparing him any of his time as he leaped from his ship.

He could give the Council his report later, he decided. Right now, he had somewhere important to be.

It had been a long six months away from the new Jedi Temple on Dantooine, and he was quite eager to get back to his partner— especially since they had children now. Unborn but still, theirs. It made his heart swell in his chest with the idea.

Children. Theirs.

He didn’t bother with hiding or even stifling his emotions in the Force— his excitement and eagerness bleeding without a care as he jogged through the Temple’s halls.

He saw a few other Jedi turn and wave to him, and he briefly stuck his tongue out at Quinlan. His pseudo-step-brother wolf-whistled as he, Former Coruscant Guard Commander Fox, and part-time Temple Guard Ashe Lark walked past.

(The Jedi Temple Guard was all part-time now, their Oaths altered. It was rather freeing, but again, besides the point.)

There were others who shouted greetings and well-wishes but Kit only waved back as he walked quickly through the old Temple. He took to the stairs that lead up to the residential quarters two at a time, nodding quickly to Eeth and Mira Koth as he passed the Zabrak pair as he went— the two smiling and giving their good wishes to him as well.

All in all, it didn’t take him long to get to where he needed to be once he got to the correct floor. Kit nodded to the three clones who were idly standing outside of his and Plo’s quarters.

Boost, Sinker, and, of course, Wolffe. He wasn’t sure why the three decided to camp out there, but he appreciated it nonetheless.

Boost saluted Kit as he approached, Sinker moving to stand up from where he was on the floor to do the same, but he waved him off.

“How is he?” He asked, and Wolffe made a noise that was somewhere between a hum and a snort.

“Well, he hasn’t left since the, ah, eggs, were laid,” the former Commander said, “Hissed and almost drew his ‘saber on ‘Soka when she tried to coax him out. The only ones who have been able to get in are the other Kel Dor in the Temple. Fae said it was normal for that to happen, though.”

“But he’s been eating,” Sinker supplied, the three moving out of the way for Kit as he stepped up to the door. He swiftly punched in the door code as he nodded, tresses curling a bit.

“You should all go and get something to eat yourselves,” he said after a moment, waiting for the locks to register the code. “I’ll take it from here.”

The three clones nodded at that, Boost helping Sinker up before all three saluted. Still, they lingered for a moment longer before heading down the hall as the door opened.

Kit stepped into the room and nearly staggered at the mingled waves of protectiveness and excitement that slammed into him as the door closed. The Force was overflowing with it, making his tresses curl and twitch in response.

He shook his head with a smile though, following the Force to where he knew that Plo was waiting for him.

He didn’t need to, of course. He’d sort of figured that Plo would be in his anti-ox chamber, but how could he not follow the Force when so much love and joy was coming from him?

The door was open to the chamber, the low thrum and hum of the atmospheric field reaching his ears along with soft clicks and croons from the Kel Dor inside.

He stopped at the doorway, leaning against it as he gazed into the room.

Plo was curled around a makeshift nest made from their clothes; six, round eggs settled in the center. His talon guards were off, set to the side as he gently ran his fingers over the eggs, whistling, clicking, and churring softly.

Kit lightly knocked on the doorframe, and he couldn’t help but smile as he watched. Plo’s tusks flexed, somewhat remnant in the same way that a lothcat’s ears would perk up, and the Kel Dor looked over to him.

“Ah, Kit!”

The other’s voice was a bit warbly and much deeper than was normally heard— a byproduct of Plo being in his natural atmosphere now.

Kit held up a hand as Plo made a movement to get up, turning to the rack near the door, taking one of the masks off of the hooks, and putting it on. The soft mechanical whirr of filtration reached his ears and the green light on the side to show that it was, in fact, cycling the oxygen in the storage ports through lit up before he reached for the extra coverings that went over his gills.

He didn’t need to worry too much about his eyes drying out or anything, his second set of eyelids protected them enough. Though he could wear goggles if he wanted to, he wasn’t exactly fond of them. As long as he wasn’t in there for hours upon hours on end, he would be fine.

(He tested it once, he could go for about four hours before it got uncomfortable, two more and then he had to step out and go for a swim before coming back with goggles.)

The preparation didn’t take long, and soon he was crossing the floor from the door to the bed in a few strides.

“Sorry for taking so long, my love,” Kit chuckled, leaning down and lightly knocking their foreheads together. A happy croon escaped the Kel Dor, tusks flexing in a pleased manner, lips curling up in a smile.

Kit’s own voice was strange and a bit muffled to his own audial pits, something that Plo often found amusing, though right now he just seemed happy to have him back.

“I’m glad you have returned,” Plo murmured after a moment of just basking in the warmth of his return and being together after so long. Kit hummed, sitting down next to the Kel Dor and gazing down at the six small eggs. They were perfect.

He couldn’t help it, his tresses swirling and wriggling in a pleased and happy manner as he leaned over and knocked their foreheads together again.

“I’m glad to be back with you, and the little ones.”

And it was still something that had been unexpected, but there had been many good things in his life that had ended up being unexpected.

Plo crooned happily at that, lightly nudging him again and he turned his head a bit, knocking their foreheads together once more.

It was unexpected, a new life in the Temple that wasn’t a foundling but rather something— someone— who had been born into the Temple.

Well, hatched.

But new life brings new joy and new hope— and Kit found that there were no words to express the joy he felt after all.

He settled instead for pulling Plo close into his side and resting his head on his partner’s. He took one of Plo’s hands in his own, and they watched their children together.

I'm slowly getting back into writing plokit stuff again, but like. brain shriveled up like dead shrimp (pain)

this has been in my drafts since last year and I just cry. I don't particularly like it, but I figured I might as well clear my drafts out, yeah?

fun fact: Mira Koth is Eeth Koth’s wife from legends. They had a daughter and then Eeth was murdered by vader lmao

Thank you to @spacerocksarethebestrocks​ for beta’ing this !!

[silverflame2724]

WWX is utterly desperate to not be related to Jin Zixuan even by marriage and instead of punching Jin Zixuan tries to matchmake his shijie to anyone else while also ensuring a love match of good standing, it's actually really funny to watch. Madam Yu hears and thinks that WWX will fail but hopefully in the attempt make JZX see sense.

It's even funnier when WWX recruits LWJ to his efforts when its obvious that LWJ only agreed to help so he could pine after WWX from closer up.

Wei Wuxian would not accept it. He would not accept it, damnit!! He would not accept that damn Peacock as his Shijie’s suitor.

From the way he struts forward, flaunts his money, and insults his Shijie, in all the ways, he was not deserving of Shijie!!

But for all that Jin Zixuan was a good for nothing who did nothing but make Shijie cry, Shijie still loved him. And Wei Wuxian wanted to cry at that. Shijie wants to marry someone she loves.

But then he brilliantly thought of an idea.

If Shijie wants to marry someone she loves, it doesn’t have to be Jin Zixuan, right?!

So for the next two years, he desperately tries to find suitable people to make Shijie happy. In the first year, he scours Yunmeng and its subsidiary sects for suitors with good personalities, good standing, good reputation, and of course, those that don’t have any nasty secrets behind hidden doors.

He finds three.

When he sets them up in random “accidental” meetings, they fail on every account.

The first guy wasn’t even trying before getting bored of the conversation. The second guy was instantly enamored but kept his distance since Shijie was still a betrothed person, after all. The third guy got along with Shijie well enough. He even made Shijie laugh. However. However!!!! He had the audacity to limit Shijie to just being a housewife!!! The fucking audacity to disregard Shijie’s abilities was unreal!

The suitors in Yunmeng were not good enough. He had to find elsewhere to look!!

So he spent the second year looking for suitors in Qinghe.

Nie Huaisang, he got along well enough, but perhaps he wasn’t the right fit for Shijie……hmm. He’ll leave that idea to the side for now.

Nie Mingjue on the other hand……he was strong, he was honest, he was forthright, he properly respected Shijie, and he had some anger management issues that Shijie could calm him down from!! He checked ALL of Wei Wuxian’s boxes and Shijie even seemed to warm up to him!!

Now all he has to do is wait for Shijie to tell Madam Yu that she doesn’t want to marry that Peacock anymore��…

.

.

………..

Shijie friendzoned Nie Mingjue!!!!! Why??????!!!!!!!

……………………….

He had to go to Gusu but he wasn’t going to give up!! There were still the suitors in Gusu!!

(He was so desperate that he convinced Madam Yu to bring Shijie with them.)

He got himself punished the first month to see if Lan Wangji was a good match for Shijie but hmm. While he could see Shijie and Lan Zhan getting along, it was more in a distant friend or even acquaintance-like way. Lan Zhan is proper and respects the rules so he kept his distance from all females so that couldn’t be helped but there was still Lan Xichen!!

Lan Xichen was nice and kind and actually, kinda reminded him of Shijie.

But they were starting to be good friends! But he didn’t know what Lan Xichen was like so he roped Lan Zhan along in this scheme.

“What.”

“Like I said, Lan Zhan! I’m desperate, desperate, for Shijie to marry anyone but the Peac—Jin Zixuan!! Lan Zhan, please help me! I’ll even behave in class for a month!!” He even did the - he winced at the name - puppy eyes and batted his eyelashes at Lan Zhan. It always worked in convincing people!

Lan Zhan took a deep, controlled breath. “……..Alright.”

Wei Wuxian gasped with delight and, forgetting that Lan Zhan disliked touch, gave him a big, tight bear hug. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!”

Lan Zhan stiffened and clenched his fists.

Wei Wuxian released him not later and dragged him towards Lan Xichen.

“Now Lan Zhan, please get your brother to come to Caiyi town! If he’s too busy, then I can plan around it, but if not, then get him there! I’ll push Shijie towards him.”

“You sound experienced.”

“I’ve been trying to change Shijie’s mind for years! It hasn’t worked but I’m going to keep my mind open.”

Lan Zhan nodded and went to talk to his brother. Wei Wuxian observed them and Lan Xichen looked straight at him and smiled.

Shit. Does he know?

Lan Zhan shot him a strange, indecipherable look but Wei Wuxian didn’t understand what was going on.

Lan Zhan walked back to him, “Brother agreed.”

“He did? Yay! Thank you, Lan Zhan!!”

So he spent the next couple of days pushing Lan Xichen and Shijie together. Though…..it was strange how they always seemed to be talking about Wei Wuxian and Lan Zhan from what little he could hear.

It’s great that they’re getting along - and that he sees Jin Zixuan sometimes looking a little lost and maybe a little jealous (haha! Take that, you jerk!) - but shouldn’t they talk about something else?

Wei Wuxian shrugged. Oh well, at least his hard work (and Lan Zhan’s) is paying off!

…………………….

Wei Wuxian can’t believe this.

Wei Wuxian cannot believe this!!

How did this happen?????????????

.

.

.

It turns out Jin Zixuan confronted Shijie on her recent outings with Lan Xichen to which she brilliantly replied, “And why do you care about what I do with my friends, Young Master Jin?”

“I—you’re my betrothed!”

“And when have you cared about that?” Shijie looked indifferent and Wei Wuxian had hoped that this was a sign of Shijie moving on.

Jin Zixuan’s face was red and got redder as Shijie turned her back on him. “It’s because I like you!!!” The entire plaza went silent. Except for Wei Wuxian who screamed, “ NOOOOOO—mmph.” And was subsequently silenced by Lan Zhan.

“Oh. Was that so hard, Young Master Jin? And to think it took me pretending to show interest in Young Master Lan. It seems you don’t like me as much as I thought.” Shijie’s tone was fondly teasing and Wei Wuxian struggled in Lan Zhan’s grip.

“Mmph, mm mmh mmmmmp! (Shijie, don’t do thisssssssss!)”

Jin Zixuan took a few deep breaths, “I…..I admit I didn’t see your good points before but—! But I do now!! I do now and I really really like you!! I’m sorry for acting like a…..a spoiled brat!!”

“Mmmhmmm, mmmph mmph!! (Peacock, shut up!!)”

Shijie smiled and took his hand. Jin Zixuan had the nerve to let out a small squeal and run away.

Wei Wuxian straight up fainted from this right into Lan Zhan’s arms. He could not take this.

Out of everyone she could have, she chose Jin Zixuan……..

(Ｔ＿Ｔ)

__________

Words cannot explain how much I loved this prompt.

[cqlfeels]

The idea that nie huaisang is feminine is any way is just so fucking infuriating and so obviously a very Fucked Up projection of (coughchristiancough) western ideals of femininity 🙄 Also the bioessentialism of it all... just say you think he's more Girly (tm) because he's not as tall and large and his brother..... just say you also portray nie mingjue as a one dimensional mindless brute because of these physical traits.... 🙄 These people are so full of shit, and its the same brand of people who look at jin guangyao and just blatantly feminize him because he's "small"????? Also while I'm there, please stop headcanoning *only* the "small and dainty" men as trans, idk what you think you're doing but its just transphobic (trans headcanons are great but sometimes you see cis people who literally are just doing a fetishized gender essentialism and its disgusting)

I don't like to accuse people of anything because a lot of the time they're just not thinking through the implications. But speaking of trends - again, no one in particular, just the overall tendencies I've seen over time - it's very worrying how this fandom treats gender.

Just to begin with, NHS and JGY are average height at best - it's everybody else that's ridiculously tall, and I think it's in part to set cultivators apart as being more imposing than your average guy. Compare the height of female characters to the "small" guys and you'll see no one could reasonably think they're small enough to be girly. (Also um. Height = gender is just objectively a funny idea. Stilettos are now a fundamental part of male fashion because they make you taller!)

Second, there's a marked trend to apply a very specific Western ideal of manhood to characters. Things like delicate fabrics, jewelry, fans, artistic inclinations - none of these are inherently feminine in the context of the vaguely defined Ye Olde China of CQL. These are all things that are appropriate for a gentleman.

That is to say... There isn't a scale that goes from NMJ at the manliest and NHS at the girliest. They are just embodying different, equally acceptable ideals of manhood: the soldier and the gentleman. NHS is an unusual Nie in the same way LJY is an unusual Lan: they don't adhere to the ideals and obligations demanded by their sects. It's got nothing to do with gender. Note that soft-spoken, art-loving, impeccably dressed LXC is considered an outstandingly impressive man.

Of course I wanna make space for people to explore gender within the safety of fiction! I think it's very understandable to project the experiences either you or people you know have! Seeing NHS who clearly doesn't fit in, and relating that to a different way people might not fit in - gender roles - is, I think, a very instinctive reaction.

However, I think we as a fandom - especially Western and white fans - need to take into account that East Asian men are often infantilized or feminized for, you know, not being the size of a tree and built like a brick wall. So to take a story made for a Chinese audience, point to half the cast and go "Twink!" and even single out some as either "Literally A Child Uwu" or "Clearly A Woman" can feel tone-deaf at best, racist at worse. So I do hope the very human trend of pointing at a character and going "I know/am someone like that!!!" is tempered by the knowledge this might be hurtful if not handled with care.

I don't think saying a headcanon is bad and has to die is fair, but I (maybe naively) think if people are made aware of cultural differences they may be misinterpreting, it's possible they'll be able to look past superficial things to headcanon even more characters as trans or gnc, you know? I don't like to think of this as "banning" femme NHS, but as saying "uh, actually nothing is stopping you from headcanoning other characters as femme! NHS isn't the only valid option! Because canonically, NHS is as femme as, idk, Wen Chao!"

(But also. Let characters who are not NMJ be unapologetically manly. I know it doesn't sound revolutionary for white people, but your experiences aren't universal!)

[tangledinmdzs]

Hi! I hope you don't already have too many requests, I don't want to add on if you do, but, could you do something where one of the mdzs characters hugs the reader from behinds and says something? thank you! I love your blog!

hi there! 

thank you for your consideration; i have quite a few requests on my end and i’m a slow writer usually so it takes a bit for me haha. (and my new semester has just started so goodbye to freedom~)

this feels like a very fluffy reaction and i will try send out the same vibes

thank you all for your patience, as i steadily get to everyone’s asks :)

here’s to your request~

⭑･ﾟﾟ･*:༅｡.｡༅:*ﾟ:*:✼✿　　✿✼:*ﾟ:༅｡.｡༅:*･ﾟﾟ･⭑

Lan Wangji

you’re holding a little bunny in your arms

and this was an unusual feat in and of itself

you’ve always been scared of holding the little critters

with how they tend to flail and jump and skitter in anyone’s arms (besides Lan Wangji’s)

but today

you’ve somehow manage to coax a small bunny into your awaiting arms with an enticing carrot

you smile down at the baby bunny, wishing you had more hands so that you can hold, feed and pet the cute creature all at once

but watching the fluffy snow white bunny nibble and chew at the treat in from your hand while snuggling into the crook of your arm warms you enough

and it keeps your attention wholly

so you don’t even notice that someone has come up behind you until an arm holds your waist, and another long white sleeved arm comes up and warps around the arm holding the bunny

you startle, nearly dropping the fluffy bun if it weren’t an arm that comes up to hold you closer

you turn to the side and look up, getting a close up of Lan Wangji’s ever serene profile

you let out a soft breath turning to look back down at the bunny

luckily it continues you nibbling, undeterred by the commotion of its handlers

“you scared me,” you mention quietly to the person behind you

Lan Wangji huffs a gentle laugh against the side of your cheek

“you looked so peaceful, i didn’t want to disturb you,” 

and you can’t tell if Lan Wangji is saying that to you or the bunny that’s slowly getting sleepier in your arms

luckily you get a clarification when there’s a soft kiss pressed against your temple moments later

Xue Yang

steam billows up from the big pot that you’re brewing

the midday sun is high in the sky

and it’s way pass the time that Xue Yang was supposed to be home (from wherever it was that he went) to have lunch with you

and although living with him for the past few years has shown that both of you are both not timely in any fashion,

you wonder why he is so immensely late today

you sigh into your pot, stirring a bit of the soupy broth before kneeling down to blow out the fire

maybe he’ll be home when you’ve finished setting the table

with that thought, you put out the last lingering flames

you get up grabbing the bowl in your side and begin to ladle the soup in

you’re so preoccupied by your thoughts you don’t even hear the door of the house open 

you’re lucky the bowl doesn’t spill with how hard you jumped at the arm that wraps around your lower waist

and the chin that rests on your shoulder

“something smells really good,” Xue Yang comments, and you can feel the smile on his face with how his chin digs into your shoulder

“say something else before you hug me like this, i could have dropped the soup!” you tell him

he just smiles wider, hand warm on the side of your waist

Jiang Yanli

“oh! y/n!” 

for a little woman like Jiang Yanli, she sure did have some strength

you didn’t have time to turn around to greet her before she’s thrown her arms to hug around your waist, wrapping around you

“yanli,” you say, with a smile, because this was an interesting predicament that you were both in and definitely not something that her husband would be happy with

“Jiang Yanli! why do you always hug your friends like that!” 

you roll your eyes at Jin Zixuan’s voice echoey in the distance

“jie, he really hates it whenever you hug me like this, especially in public,” you tell Jiang Yanli once you’ve managed to turn around to actually see her

though your arms are still held within each other’s

Jiang Yanli does a funny little shrug

“we’ve been like this since we were young girls, nothing is going to change that,” Jiang Yanli assures you

“even if all of the sect leaders say that it’s ‘no very lady like’?”

“nope,” Jiang Yanli reassures you, 

the squeeze of her hand is warm against yours

Wen Qing

you’re staring off into the distance, the hilly mountainous view before you seeming vast and unfathomable

the wound wrapped around your abdomen stings despite the care that it’s received

just the thought of traveling with such an injury pains you more than when you had been stabbed

you wonder when you would be finished with this burden

when you would stop being a burden to other people as well

you’re bit overwhelmed with your emotions, which makes you stumble slightly

but arms come to wrap around you, a warm comforting presence 

you take in a deep breath,

the wind rustles beside you both

Wen Qing’s presence you know well

even when she isn’t speaking

but somehow, her single word still surprises you

“stay,” Wen Qing tells you, voice as soft as the wind

“just stay”

[tossawary]

@ghostly-squid: This is awesome, but I specifically meant "who hears SQH, Professionally Pathetic Retainer of Great MBJ, profess great undying love for the (who still "gently" beats him) dude he cowers before openly and often in (demon) public, and goes 'Yea, I can buy that no questions asked, MBJ is a complete catch and SQH doesn't deserve him'" while SQH is just 🙃 because YES FAIR POINT but also that has GOT to grate at least a little bit, at the teeny tiny bit of pride he's keeping

For like, Decoration, and this all makes me wonder that MORE!! What does SQH think?!? (Or is it just stuck on "HAHA FUCK THIS, THIS SUCKS, IT'S EVERYTHING I WOULD HAVE SECRETLY WANTED BUT TERRIBLE" which is super valid. The lesson is "don't have dreams or the universe and OP Demon Lords will twist them just to fuck with you") (also, I was specifically wondering if MBJ has a split second panic of "holy shit, IS he secretly in love with me?!? He's very convincing"

Or just "see THIS shit is why I don't trust you one bit: you're way too good at pulling Absolute Nonsense out of nowhere")

I chose this specific time period because 1) I didn’t want to deal with the Cang Qiong Mountain Sect side of politics and 2) Mobei-Jun is probably still in his “all humans are ultimately untrustworthy and it’s beneath me to feel anything positive for a human this pathetic” phase, if hopefully near the end of it. 

I was imagining that since Mobei-Jun gives a brief rundown of the situation before thrusting Shang Qinghua in front of the Demon Emperor to grovel and plead and fabricate on a level that Mobei-Jun and his family just cannot match, Shang Qinghua gets to have a brief moment of, “WAIT, YOU WANT ME TO WHAT?! PRETEND I’M IN LOVE WITH YOU TO PLACATE TIANLANG-JUN?! MY KING?! Oh, man, what terrible story did this trope escape from...” 

Mobei-Jun and Shang Qinghua both go into this as a Fake/Pretend Relationship kind of deal. So, for a seethingly panicked Mobei-Jun, it’s more of the, “See THIS shit is why I don’t trust you one bit: you’re way too good at pulling Absolutely Nonsense out of nowhere.” ESPECIALLY because if Mobei-Jun didn’t know that his pitiful human servant is lying, he would absolutely be like, “Holy shit, IS he secretly in love with me?!? He’s very convincing.” 

So Mobei-Jun spends, like, the first half of this fic extremely angry over the fact that 1) he’s attracted to a human being, 2) he was forced to marry a human being, 3) the human being is his lowly servant and not even anyone particularly beautiful or impressive, 4) the human being is actually kind of funny and affectionate and clever and loyal, and 5) he cannot trust any of the human being’s affection because it’s all a lie, no matter how real it seems. 

Until Shang Qinghua just ups and leaves him (very shocking for MBJ) because he’s sick of 1) being looked down on by everyone including his own husband, 2) getting no consistent or meaningful affection or care in return out of something he hoped against all common sense might actually be at least a friendly partnership, and 3) having to dodge assassination attempts by all of their many enemies, especially the people who aren’t Mobei-Jun’s enemies but want to get rid of Shang Qinghua FOR Mobei-Jun. 

And Mobei-Jun finally has to admit that he doesn’t hate Shang Qinghua, actually, which is clearly a HUGE step for Mobei-Jun’s development. 

Only for Shang Qinghua (over some long-distance communication device, so Mobei-Jun can’t physically stop him) to be like, “That’s nice, I guess. You can’t tell that by the way you treat me, though, and it’s not worth staying married to you for. Sometimes I think I love you, but I really don’t know what you think I’m getting out of this marriage. I just got chased by a knife-wielding assassin who I think was hired by my own in-laws and that’s just one reason I’m not happy, so I’m breaking up with you. Bye and have a nice life, my king.” 

Cue Mobei-Jun having to square up emotionally and win back his own runaway husband. I must confess that I am very taken by pretty much any and all takes on Moshang having a Classic Romantic Grovel. 

Shang Qinghua’s initial opinion on all this was, “This is all happening very fast and I don’t want him dead and at this point I’m in danger of the Demon Emperor’s wrath if I bail, so I guess I’ll go for it! There is a very small chance that this won’t suck, so hey, let’s put in the effort for that!” 

[ibijau]

I guess the question I have for the nhs is a half demon au is: what reason are we going to give for lxc to marry him after he comes back from visiting his mom? Also is he going to save wwx?

wwx did well for himself while nhs was off to live his little demon life, but he is the first person nhs visits upon returning among humans, because he's heard some concerning rumours...

On AO3

Small feet ran to the entrance of the cave, only slowing down at the very last moment and stopping just shy of actually coming in.

“Xian-gege, there’s a person at the gate,” Wen Yuan announced, careful to not actually shout.

Wei Wuxian smiled to himself, proud as always of this most excellent young boy he was helping raise, who obeyed rules much better than Wei Wuxian himself had ever done in his life.

“What sort of person?” Wei Wuxian asked, still hunched over his latest prototype. He was getting somewhere with this, he knew it. He just had to figure out how to…

“It’s an odd person,” Wen Yuan announced. “He says he’s here to see you.”

That was hardly news. Most of the visitors they'd had these last five years had come to the Burial Mounds to see Wei Wuxian. Sometimes, Lan Xichen would also come to see his brother and give them money. And in recent months, some people from the area had started coming to see Wen Qing in hopes she might cure them. But still, people mostly came for Wei Wuxian, either because they wanted to kill him, or because they wanted to join him. Either way, they were usually rejected.

“Did that man give his name?”

“He didn’t,” Wen Yuan announced, sounding indignant that anyone would be so rude. “He says you have to come see him, and then you’ll know him, and you’ll let him in. He sounded very sure.”

That intrigued Wei Wuxian enough to make him look up from his work and walk up to join Wen Yuan. A lot of people knew him, but there weren’t that many he knew, few of which would be sure to be allowed on the Burial Mounds, fewer still who would wish to be there at all. Jiang Cheng was the only person that came to mind, but he’d been around a few times in the years since Wei Wuxian had left Yunmeng Jiang, and Wen Yuan knew him well. Who else, then?

“That man, did he have any trouble walking?”

Wen Yuan shook his head. So it couldn’t be Jin Zixuan then. With his wooden leg, the climb to the gate would have been difficult anyway, and he would not have come unannounced.

“What did he look like?” Wei Wuxian asked, growing puzzled enough to consider meeting the stranger.

“He has a nice face, but it’s weird because of his eyes,” Wen Yuan said. “And he’s dressed with very good fabric, even better than Jiang-gege. And there’s a lot of teeth when he smiles.”

Without a word, Wei Wuxian started walking, with Wen Yuan following him. He didn’t like that description at all. He had hardly met him personally, but he’d heard about that boy in the Jin sect, that Xue Yang who was apparently trying to reproduce some of Wei Wuxian’s creations, with some success. He had an odd smile, Lan Xichen had said once when talking about him, so maybe…

“Oh, and there’s one more thing,” Wen Yuan said, slapping the side of his head. “I should have said first! But he has a mark on his forehead, it’s very red and looks a bit like a flame.”

Wei Wuxian froze.

“Xian-gege?”

“Go get Lan Zhan,” Wei Wuxian ordered. “Tell him there’s an emergency and I need him at the gate immediately. Wen Ning too. And tell Wen Qing to take everyone else to the hideout. No matter what, none of you are coming out until we come to get you. Go! Now!”

Frightened to see him so serious, Wen Yuan didn’t ask any question and scampered away as fast as his legs would take him. Wei Wuxian for his part hurried toward the gate after having made sure he had everything he’d need for a fight, knowing thing might turn vicious if he was right. He cursed as he walked, and hoped to be wrong about the identity of their visitor.

When he reached the gate and saw the man standing there, Wei Wuxian almost believed for a second that he’d been wrong indeed. The stranger, who had his back to the gate, was too tall, his shoulders too broad. But then, hearing that someone was approaching, the man turned to look at Wei Wuxian, and there was no mistake possible.

“Wei-xiong, it’s been a while,” Nie Huaisang said, smiling as if they were old friends who hadn’t seen each other for a few years. “You look worse than I remembered, but better than I expected.”

“Nie-xiong, it’s pretty bold of you to come here after what you’ve done,” Wei Wuxian retorted. “Couldn’t you have made it easier for everyone and stayed dead?”

Nie Huaisang's smile got wider, showing just a little more teeth than a mortal's would have. He looked better than he'd done last time Wei Wuxian had seen him. Healthier and a lot more confident. And why not? Last they'd been around each other, Nie Huaisang had been terrified someone might try to kill him, but he'd now proved just how difficult that would be.

“I would have, but some news reached me that forced me to rejoin the human world after all these years. Wei-xiong, won’t you let me in?”

“I hope you understand why I’d rather not. You have a history of slaughtering people I’d rather not see repeated.”

Nie Huaisang frowned and pinched his lips, looking almost sincerely hurt by the reminder of his past deeds.

“I’ve been told your shijie recovered,” he said in a softer tone, sounding more like the boy Wei Wuxian had studied with in Gusu. “And that Jin Zixuan too is… well, he’s alive, right? Don’t they even have a son?”

“They’re both doing as well as they can, no thanks to you.”

Again, Nie Huaisang looked wounded by the accusation. Wei Wuxian remembered how his old friend had been after the reveal of his true nature, the way he’d desperately tried to hide what he was, the terror he’d expressed in every letter they had exchanged… Still, what had been done couldn’t be changed, and Wei Wuxian hadn’t survived this long by trusting just anyone.

If anything, it was Nie Huaisang’s example who had taught him to be wary.

“Wei-xiong, you remember when we were in the Cloud Recesses together, and we made realgar wine a little before you were kicked out?” Nie Huaisang suddenly asked and though surprised by the change of topic, Wei Wuxian nodded. “All the other Nie disciples with us were quite stunned,” Nie Huaisang reminisced with a sad smile. “They’d never seen me drunk before. It’s a skill I’ve always had, though nobody at home really knew why. I can eat anything, drink anything, and never get sick… anything but realgar, which affects me badly, I’ve found since.”

Without thinking, Wei Wuxian nodded again. Realgar was used to ward off evil, and it was said to have a particularly strong effect on demons. That particular time, Nie Huaisang had only had one small sip because he’d found the smell of realgar wine unpleasant, and just that single sip had made him violently sick, and so irritable he'd bitten Jiang Cheng who'd only wanted to check on him… though of course most people would be in a bad mood after vomiting that much. At the time, none of them had thought there was anything odd with that.

Yet if he’d had more wine than that, Nie Huaisang might have died, or attacked his friends.

“It wasn’t the time of year for realgar wine,” Wei Wuxian noted, feeling himself grow more curious than angry. “So find a better excuse.”

“It wasn’t the season for it, and I didn’t notice the difference in smell,” Nie Huaisang agreed. “But the person who helped me recover from my wounds assured me that my blood was tainted by realgar, and I’ve learned since that there are ways to cover the taste, or to increase the effect. And Jin Zixun was ever so insistent on making me drink that day. Funny, when we’d never been close. Or indeed when I had been promised that he wouldn’t be there, since I didn’t much care for him.”

It was something that had always puzzled them indeed. Not just Wei Wuxian, but Lan Wangji too, and even Jin Zixuan and Jiang Yanli when they’d had a chance to speak about that. As far as everyone had known, Jin Zixun had been in hiding at that time, terrified that Wei Wuxian might try to kill him for what he’d done to Wen Ning and his family. And Jin Zixun had been quite vocal regarding what he thought should be done to Nie Huaisang, too.

Odd that he’d come to a Night Hunt where were present not only Wei Wuxian’s beloved shijie, but also the terrifying demon that terrorized everyone.

It sounded a lot braver than Jin Zixun had ever been known to be.

“It’s easy to blame a dead man,” Wei Wuxian remarked.

“And it’s easy to blame a demon,” Nie Huaisang retorted. “Especially for someone who’d have the demon’s trust. Funny also how this incident ensured that Qinghe Nie became isolated and despised, just when it was considered the one sect which might have stood against Lanling Jin’s ambitions.”

Wei Wuxian shrugged. He’d personally also profited quite a bit from this conflict between the Nies and the Jins.

It had distracted everyone from what he was doing in Yiling. By the time the Jins had emerged fully victorious from that political battle, Wei Wuxian’s presence in the Burial Mound had been secure, while the Jins had been too busy securing their new power to think of attacking him. Besides, with him no longer part of Yunmeng Jiang and thus not involved in politics, and with his actions having made it clear that he wasn’t a threat, everyone had found it easier to leave him alone. Sometimes someone would still wonder if he should be annihilated, but a few words from Lan Xichen or Jiang Cheng seemed to usually be enough to put an end to that, at least for now.

Everyone might start thinking differently if he associated with a demon though.

“Supposing I believe you,” Wei Wuxian said, and he was ready enough to believe Nie Huaisang, demon or not. “I’m not sure what I can do for you.”

“Don’t think of it as you doing something for me, Wei-xiong. Think of it as the two of us teaming up to protect our families. You see, demons gossip just as much as mortals do, and I’ve been hearing a few worrying things while living with them. There’s a reason I know your shijie has a son, you see.”

Wei Wuxian shivered, but before he could ask for details, Wen Ning and Lan Wangji arrived at last. They were both stunned to see Nie Huaisang, though Lan Wangji had to be the more shocked of the two, since he would actually recognise the young man, while Wen Ning had never met him before.

Smiling faintly, Nie Huaisang bowed elegantly to the two newcomers, as if this were but an ordinary meeting between old friends.

“Lan gongzi, I did not expect you had really come to live here!” Nie Huaisang exclaimed with something like real joy. “I suppose gossip these days carries more truth than I’d have expected.”

“Fine, I’ll bite,” Wei Wuxian said. “What have you heard about my shijie and her son?”

“Let me come in,” Nie Huaisang replied. “And then we can talk.”

It felt like a trap, and maybe it was one.

Even after having disappeared for years, Nie Huaisang knew Wei Wuxian’s weaknesses. It had been a mistake perhaps to write to him back then, to confide in him, to stay his friend when the rest of the world shunned him… but Wei Wuxian too had needed a friend after the Sunshot Campaign, and Nie Huaisang had never judged him for what he’d done, not even before his demon blood was revealed.

This was a mistake.

And yet, Wei Wuxian opened the gate.

[ohmypreciousgirl]

Xicheng Rec List

I compiled my favorite fics for @waterandsilver after they posted they were finally seeing the appeal of Xicheng. I volunteered to give them good fics to help them understand better the appeal of our ship! So, here we go!

Post-Canon Fics

A Bit of Ruthlessness 110,111 When Jiang Cheng hears that Lan Xichen went into seclusion following Jin Guangyao’s death, it’s almost as if he can see the grabby hands of a restless ghost, reaching out for something to keep him company. For something warm and living and devastated. And as history has proven time and time again, the Lans are perfect victims when it comes to giving in to ghosts.

Yeah, no. Not on Jiang Cheng’s fucking watch.

Moments of Clarity 5,201 Snapshots of Lan Huan's road to recovery with a helping hand from Sandu Shengshou. Companion piece from Jiang Cheng’s POV: A Present so Promising 

Faith 8,109 [Part 1 of the The Provenance of Hope series] Lan Huan isn’t sure he’s ready for this. (or, Lan Huan and Jiang Cheng meet on a night hunt.)

Visiting Cloud Recesses 7,566 [Part 1 of the Visiting Cloud Recesses series]   Since the sunshot campaign they haven't interacted a lot outside of sect business, but Jiang Cheng has always found the First Jade of Lan gracious and pleasant to be around. Especially in comparison to his younger brother, who would never smile at Jiang Cheng the way Lan Xichen is right now, as if he's genuinely happy to see him.

It's easier to let go (let me hold you) 24,464 Five times someone noticed something was wrong and the one time someone did something about it.

Carried on the wind 1,129 [Part 1 of the The courtship of Jiang Wanyin & Lan Xichen series] Lan Xichen’s voice is very soft when he says: “Today is the day our mother died.”

Overgrown 1,408 [Part 1 of the Coming home to you series] Jiang Cheng has better things to do than follow Lan Xichen around Lotus Pier, and yet here he is.

Regret 2,290 Lan Xichen is left standing in his garden, his garden of regret and shame and all the bad things Lan Xichen hates about himself, and suddenly he can’t stand it for one second longer.

A lovely name 3,146 [Part 1 of the Paws for thought series] Jiang Cheng doesn’t like the feeling of a curse sinking through his skin at the best of times, and now he’s a fucking cat, because Wei Wuxian thinks he’s hilarious. Well, he won’t find it so hilarious when Jiang Cheng changes back and breaks his legs.

Breaking Anew 20,389 There are different ways a person can break. It is a lesson Jiang Cheng will spend his life learning.

Under The Morning Sun  22,739 Jiang Cheng returns to Cloud Recesses to find peace and stability. Instead, he finds an unexpected romance with Lan Xichen. Sequel: Strength of Your Love 

(nothing special) (something special) 4,950 Jiang Cheng and Lan Xichen both have jagged edges. But perhaps their broken pieces can fit together into something new. Sequel: won't you say you love me later

Come to Decide 2,381 [Part 1 of the Little Talks series] “This is why I lose sleep over you,” Jiang Cheng murmured. “You might think I’m pining for your touch or your voice or your gaze, but no - I’m just worrying about you being an idiot.”

Don't stop being rude 2,582 “The Hanshi,” Lan Jingyi suddenly says, effectively jolting Jiang Cheng out of his thoughts, and bowing again. 

“Please talk some sense into Zewu-Jun.”

“Oh, that I will,” Jiang Cheng promises and when a tiny spark of fear enters Lan Jingyi’s eyes, he gives him his sweetest smile before he walks off.

“Oh gods, what have I done,” he hears Lan Jingyi mutter behind him, but he doesn’t try to stop him.

Clever boy.

Don't let him win 1,685 “What are you doing?” Jiang Cheng asks him, voice much softer now, and he’s quick to carefully rub some warmth back into Lan Xichen’s hands.

“You shouldn’t be here,” Lan Xichen whispers, the same thing he always says when Jiang Cheng forces his way into Lan Xichen’s seclusion, but Jiang Cheng couldn’t give less of a fuck about this.

“Well, neither should you,” he gives back, a well-rehearsed dance by now, and Lan Xichen’s mouth twists in that all too familiar way.

Good things about Yunmeng 3,343 Or, the one where Jiang Cheng attempts the impossible.

Love Is For Other People 3,704 It wasn’t that Jiang Cheng never thought about it. About love, that was.

Listless 1,787 When Jiang Cheng came up with his list, he knew that everyone else's would be different from his. It just hurts to find out again and again that he would never be the first.

And then there's Xichen.

twinkle of a bell 7,821 Jiang Cheng and Lan Huan meet at the abandoned village, looking for at least a glimpse of a new life.

Tread 1,647 “I’m going to take him with me,” Jiang Cheng says and even though Lan Xichen can’t see them, he can feel the tension in the air.

“No,” comes Wangji’s almost immediate answer, his voice leaving no room for argument.

Not that it ever stopped Jiang Cheng before.

these tears flowing down aren't a waste 2,002 “How do I confess my love to someone?” Jin Ling asks.

“Do I look like someone who has been in love?” Jiang Cheng questions back.

Through a Storm that Never Goes Away 32,948 For all of that, for his inherent complicitness in Jin Guangyao’s crimes, for trying to maintain impartiality until he had enough evidence, Lan Xichen could understand wanting him dead.

He could even understand if there were those who still felt the need to take some revenge for what Jin Guangyao did and were dissatisfied that he was dead. Lan Xichen might look like an acceptable target.

But to target Wangji as well...

I am cursed to love you (to the grave) 39,410 Jiang Cheng can't sleep.

The Comfort of You 24,904 [Part 1 of the The Belonging series] On the eve of Jin Ling's 20th birthday, Jiang Cheng and Lan Xichen take a step forward into a life that will forever be changed.

(Three years after the events of Guanyin Temple Lan Xichen asks a pivotal question of the man he's been falling in love with for the past year. Jiang Cheng has never really felt what he feels for Lan Xichen and falls apart in his hands. And that's okay.)

I Put You First 7,178 Lan Xichen gets a little jealous when the Other Boys thirst over Sect Leader Jiang. Luckily, Jiang Cheng only has eyes for one man.

Canon Era Fics

A Small Measure of Peace 122,790 With his brother in seclusion, Lan Xichen finds himself in temporary custody of his nephew with little to no expertise in the child-raising department. Uncertain and alone, Zewu-Jun is willing to do everything to be the person Yuan needs—even if it means inviting Sandu Shengshou to a playdate.

There's Hope for the Hopeless 11,791 Part of being Sect Leader means going to weddings, both those important to him and those that he is convinced to attend.

5 times Jiang Cheng went to a wedding + his own.

A good night's rest 1,795 [Part 1 of the Sing for me series] Jiang Cheng is standing at the end of the pier, clad in simple sleeping robes, and he’s walking up and down, bouncing a sniffling Jin Ling on his arm. And he is singing to the boy, his voice soft and low, but clear enough to ring out over the water and carry.

Lan Xichen stops dead in his tracks and keeps still, not wanting to disturb Jiang Cheng or upset Jin Ling again. The boy is clearly fighting sleep, but the steady movement of Jiang Cheng and his lullaby are doing wonders in dragging him to sleep anyway.

Beside You 6,624 [Part 1 of the Lan Furen series]

Jiang Cheng leaves Lotus Pier behind him, giving up his position, his family and his home to start a new life as a rogue cultivator. He can't quite make himself leave Yunmeng completely though, not just yet, and as he loiters on the outskirts he comes across Lan Xichen, evidently on the run.

Together, they fret for themselves, their loved ones and each other as the Wens and impending danger draws closer.

The Desperate Search Began 2,361 [Part 1 of the Some Day I'm Gonna Make You Mine series] It starts with a fight, Jin Zixun and Jiang Wanyin bumping heads over a battle plan. The Sunshot campaign will not slow for one brush of ego, but Jin Zixun has found himself outranked by a boy that he feels of no consequence compared to a member of the shining Jin sect.

When Nie Mingjue is present, or even Jin Zixuan, Jin Zixun keeps his counsel. He does not push. Sadly, the bruise to his ego will not appear to have forgotten that while he is a valued member of their war council, Jiang Wanyin is a sect leader now. The fact that he’s a boy younger than even Jin Zixuan, rankles.

Add that they are only witnessed by Lan Xichen and Jin Zixun becomes a discredit to Lanling Jin.

remember these words i say 4,133 “Please, allow me to fix this.” Lan Xichen finds himself asking, begging. It is for his own peace of mind, but it is also for Jiang Cheng and for Jin Ling, for the people of Lotus Pier who have watched their home burn and fought hard to build it back.

“I do not know how you could.” Jiang Cheng points out.

Lan Xichen nods in agreement. “I do not know either, now, but –” Wangji isn’t the only stubborn one in the family, “I will find a way.” He promises, determined.

fill the cracks in (with your light) 2,947 [Part 1 of the moments through the years series] Lan Xichen's voice doesn't have the usual light note in it when he asks, “What are we doing, Jiang Wanyin?”

Waxing Moon 1,925 [Part 1 of Soft] After Wei Wuxian was sent home from Cloud Recesses, Jiang Cheng realizes it's pretty lonely without him. Luckily, sulking on a rooftop leads to a new friendship.

Tipsy at best 2,458 Jiang Cheng tugs Nie Huaisang along, and they are stumbling more than walking, but in their inebriated state even that is funny.

They are snickering still when they suddenly see a figure in white appear at the end of the path.

“Uh-oh,” Jiang Cheng says, and it’s entirely too loud, but he’s still too drunk to care about that right now.

Nie Huaisang, on the other hand, seems to have sobered up, because his eyes take on a calculating glint behind his fan.

“Say, Jiang Cheng, what were your requirements for a partner again?” Nie Huaisang asks and it’s enough to make Jiang Cheng stop.

it all passes someday 13,638 A week before the anniversary of Wei Wuxian’s death, there was a commotion outside Lan Wangji’s house.

Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji over the years.

Punishment 5,415 [Part 1 of the The Rules of Living series] “33 lashes,” one of the Elders suddenly coldly says and Lan Xichen’s stomach turns over. “20 for his brother and 13 for daring to defy us,” he goes on and Lan Xichen bows his head in acceptance.

The same punishment Lan Wangji endured. Lan Xichen can do it, too.

And he manages, without a sound, like Lan Wangji, if only just barely.