#The jade emperor has 1 (one) scene and it's all I can think about | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

wangxianficfinder · 2 months

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Fic Finder

Apr 7th

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1. Would have been Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian.

After the Sunshoot campaign and for some reason Wei Wuxian is in Cloud Recess and Lan Qiren discovers that they don’t have a core. But the lan clan had a technique to fix a lost core for others that had been attacked by others that could melt their core. @nikkiwhitecraft

I was the requester for #1.

I am sure that part of the story that Wei Wuxian and Lan Q had to travel, and that was when it was discovered that Wei Wuxian had no core, and Lan Q was annoyed he never said anything and the Lan Clan had a technique to restore a core that was lost/melted as the core melting clan was known.

Thats all I remeber

NOT FOUND Righteous at a Cost by thunderwear (G, 21k, wangxian, LQR & WWX, Canon Divergence, Fix-It, no one dies, LQR finds out about WWX’s core, WWX and LQR are friends??, In My Fic?, its more likely than you think, LWJ in the bg like whats happening?, Fluff, WWX goes to Gusu, Mutual Pining, Golden Core Reveal) Might be this? LQR discovers WWX lost his core, brings him back to CR & finds a way to restore it

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2. Hey! Im looking for a fic where the jins got the tiger tally, and that they wanted to 'flood the world with vermillion light'. I remember that it was post-the first siege of the burial mounds, and WY was maybe dead? After which the other sects had to fight the Jins, and there was also something about the people wishing that WY was alive. Please help me find it! Thank you so much!

FOUND! I'm pretty sure this is the deleted "When the World Comes Crumbling Down, you Will Call my Name" by pft_a_Frog22. The archive link was https://archiveofourown.org/works/35867848.

the deleted fic for #2 can be found at the wayback machine here

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3. Hi! I’m searching for a fiction on AO3 where Wei Wuxian is a Rogue cultivator, he founds Lan Wangji floating in a river/lake and saves him. Wangji don’t remember anything due to the trauma he has suffered and his core is damaged altogether. He had a severe injury on his back but when he recovers he starts to travel with Wei Wuxian, not knowing his brother is searching for him. Because of his poor health issues he breakdown with a fever in the middle of a hunt, far from everything, during this time Lan Wangji loses consciousness, Wei Ying is visited by a strange fox spirit, really creepy whom he made a pact with to save Lan Wangji life's. In the history, Wei Ying has an uncle that reach both of them to advise something, Lan Wangji discorver to be a really powerfull fox spirit, i think they call him Huxia or something like this, Wei Ying "dies" by the venom of a fierce corpse (most like become one of them) and is ressurected by the Jade Emperor himself, the Demon subdue palace is actually a palace and Wangji's mother was the previous Huxia.

I’m going crazy cuz I remember ALL the history, but not the name of the fiction.

I appreciate the help with all my little heart. ❤️ @myukisora

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4. Hi, could you please help me find a wangxian fic? I apologize for the inconvenience, especially because i don’t remember much of the plot except select few parts of it and i dont remember if it was a thread on twitter or on ao3.

The scenes i do remember are as followed: Prior to this scene, wangxian might have had an argument or were avoiding each other because i dont think they had spoken to each other in a while. The scene i remember is WWX going to JYL’s place where everyone is gathered for a get together, wwx dotes over JL, going on about how he’s the favorite uncle. When he enters the living room, he sees LWJ on the couch, and sitting next to him is JZX half brother MXY talking to him. He thinks they are sitting a little too close and he gets a bit jealous but doesn’t say anything. I’m not sure if I remember it right, but i think people or mainly nhs kept saying how MXY resembles WWX, worsening the situation. Wangxian and their whole eye contact happens and everyone in the room is tense because of their interaction or lack their of. WWX suddenly goes to the bathroom, leaning into the sink…waiting and LWJ follows him in. They end up reconciling.

Thats all I remember, I know its not much, and i have been struggling as well because of it going through my bookmarks on ao3 and twitter. I’m hoping someone remembers this part as well and can mention the fic. Thank you!

Hi, the fic you mentioned is not the one :/ i am so sorry for the inconvenience. I can try adding more context. It’s the fic about WWX entering JYL’s party at her place and finding LWJ sitting on a couch with MXY. The scene is towards the very end so MXY’s presence is more of a cameo, he wasn’t present for the fic. WX might have a fwb situation that went wrong or it might be a lwj fucks fic. Lwj follows wwx to the br, its tense as wwx stares at him through the mirror but they both make up

NOT FOUND Talk Hard by DeviyudeThoolika (E, 161k, wangxian, LXC/JYL, JZX/WQ, JC/MM, Modern, College/University, Roommates/Housemates, rare pairs galore, Falling In Love, Getting Together, Separations, Getting Back Together, BAMF WWX, Drunk LWJ, Protective WWX, Good Parent YZY, Mutual Pining, Fluff, Cultivation Sect Politics, Hurt/Comfort, Slow Burn, Angst with a Happy Ending)

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5. Hi,

I’m trying to find a fanfic where instead of Jin Zixuan dying to Wen Ning at the pass it was Wei wuxian who pushed him out of the way and died instead? I’ve been trying for ages and still can find it. Thank you!

neither of these are exactly what you described, but it might be

NOT FOUND! A Butterfly Flaps, A Sword Stabs by RadAceFriend (T, 37k, JZX/JYL, JZX & WWX, JZX & LWJ, JZX & JGY, JZX & JL, Major Characted Death, JZX Lives, WWX does not, background wangxian, Not Jiang Family Friendly, Sect Leader JZX, POV JZX, Canon Divergence, the horrifying experience of killing someone you didn't like much, and finding out that you're one of the only people you know upset about it, Wen Remnants Live, LSZ is a Wen, WangXian Get a Happy Ending)

NOT FOUND! in this place where we don’t have a prayer by Cerusee, Mikkeneko (T, 42k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, WWX dies at Qiongqi path, Demonic Cultivation)

FOUND! finding you always, all ways by BlueFrogs (T, 31k, WangXian, ChengQing, Reincarnation, Fix-It, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, Romance, Memory Loss, technically there is character death, but he comes back lol, Age Difference, due to reincarnation)

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6. Hi, hope you are having a great day! Could you, please, help find a fic, which, I think, had a wangxian arranged marriage due to growing Wen threat, but honestly cannot remember the exact premise. But there was a scene where wrh manages to get wq married to lwj as a second wife, and wwx felt like he failed the Jiang-Lan alliance. And there was a big confrontation between wq and wwx, where she tells him the reason for the marriage was to save her family. And lwj might have been ill or cursed and wearing a mask (not sure).

FOUND? The deleted "A Price to Pay" by wangxianist.

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7. Looking for help finding the name of this fic on ao3 I’m have trouble hunting it back down. Burial mounds settlement days canon divergence.

Essentially the premise is that the people living in Yiling often see Wei Ying taking care of and teaching A-Yuan by the river and a woman one day who was also there to wash her clothes asked him to look after her son while she was busy. This snowballed into Wei Ying basically running a little informal school out of Yiling where he teaches and just looks after any child that is brought there, including orphans and prostitute’s children which is kinda illegal. Lan Zhan knows and regularly visits. If the children show aptitude for cultivation they usually get sent to the Lan or (later in the story) the Jiang. The rest of the Wens kinda accidentally become a part of the Yiling community so much so that they all move out of the burial mounds and into the town proper. Because they’ve all left the mounds and disconnected pretty hard from the cultivation community they don’t even realize that the Jin’s sent people to attack the mounds. They found no one and declared to the world that they had slayed the rest of the wen dogs alongside Wei Wuxian. Jiang Cheng only finds out his brother is alive because he’s been informed that a small school in the Jiang territory hasn’t been paying taxes and when he goes to investigate finds Wei Ying safe and sound. @coffeehousefanfics

FOUND? Just as the Snow Melts by draechaeli (T, 66k, wangxian, JYL/JZX, SL/XXC, Everybody Lives AU, Canon Divergence)

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8. Hello, could you please help me find a fic where Lan Zhan finds a number to call Wei Ying which Help? to people at night and calls himself patriarch yilin afterwards They (wei Ying and lan Zhan) meet in the university library

FOUND? Maybe You’re the Reason by Clearpearls (E, 67k, WangXian, Modern AU, College/University, Phone Sex, slight D/s, Secret Identity, Praise Kink, Phone Sex Operator WWX, he’s part-time though, slight internalized sexual repression, Fluff, Light Angst, Dirty Talk Orgasm Delay/Denial, Slow Burn, Sub LWJ, Bottom LWJ, Vibrators, Aftercare, Introspection)

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9. There's an au where Wangxian are like murder husbands and it has very dark themes. It's a series but I remember one of the fics in it had a scene where a woman tries to get their attention so the other cuts off her body parts or something like that? Would you be able to help me find it?

FOUND? So Full Of Love (Wouldn't Know Where to Start) by witchupbitch (M, 63k, wangxian, Best Friends, Friends to Lovers, Fluff, Eventual Romance, Eventual Sex, Possessive LWJ, Protective LWJ, Blood and Violence, Killing, Idiots in Love, Humor, Mafia AU, Modern, Flirting, shameless WWX, Confident WWX, Explicit Language, Swearing, Mutual Sexual Tension, dark LWJ, Dark WWX, They're both twisted, Exhibitionism, Sex, Possessive Behavior, Unhealthy Relationships, Twisted and Fluffy Feelings)

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10. Hey!!! Love your work!

Do you know of a fic where jiang cheng's younger self sort of takes over his future self for some while before going back and this repeats for some time? I remember a young jiang cheng talking to older wwx. Older wwx doesn't believe that it's really the younger jc so he asks him to ask about why wwx dislikes dogs (i think). Young jc asks young wwx and it's because www had a pet dog named 'doggie' who had turned on him during the winter. Sorry that's all I can remember

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11. Hi, I dunno if my ask got lost in the mail but i was looking for a fic that had a line "lan wangji was a musician, he know how to make his hands do different things" in reference to one hand jackin wwx off and the other up his ass. if this sounds familiar lemme know please

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12. Hi! I really am looking for this story in AO3 and still can't find it. It was about Wei Wuxian who got married to Wen Chao but Lan Zhan couldn't take it so he plans to take Wei Wuxian back by claiming Wei Wuxian each time he got (even in the wedding night of WWX and WC) and destroying the company of the Wens. As they (LWJ & WWX) continued the deed, WWX ended up pregnant and LWJ is more than determined to take WWX back. I do hope you can help me find this story. Thank you in advance!😘

FOUND? 姻緣 | this marriage was always predestined by saccharinings (E, 43k, wangxian, Cheating, Infidelity, not between wangxian, WWX is married and LWJ persuades him to cheat on his husband with him, Dark LWJ, A/B/O, Feminizing Language, Exhibitionism, Size Difference, WagnXian Have a Breeding Kink, Stomach Bulge, Possessive LWJ, Manipulation, WWX Wears Lingerie, Rape/Non-con Elements, for one part, Hair-pulling Kink, Alpha LWJ, Omega WWX, Mirror Sex, Vibrators, Phone Sex, Rimming, Edgeplay, slight choking kink, Light Bondage, Inappropriate Use of Gūsū Lán Forehead Ribbon, LJY's Big Fat Crush on Milfxian, Pregnant WWX, WangXian Endgame, Spanish Translation)

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13. Hello! I've been trying to find a fic I lost on AO3 for a few days now so hopefully you can help 💚💚

It was canon-verse but an AU where lwj and wwx hadn't met and wwx was still the Yiling Patriarch. Someone has an idea to give wwx a "bride" and wwx picks lwj and he goes to live at the burial grounds with wwx and the wens. At some point lwj gets stabbed and almost dies and wwx reveals he picked lwj because he assumed lwj would be in on some kind of plan to spy on/hurt wwx and the wens but lwj wasnt a part of that at all. It had a happy ending but i cant remember exactly what it was. Pls help 🥺 i want it in my bookmarks soooo bad

FOUND? 💖🔒 love, in fire and blood by cicer (E, 360k, wangxian, Canon Divergence, YLLZ WWX, Arranged Marriage, political scheming, Gratuitous Domesticity, Mutual Pining, EXTREME SLOWBURN, the inherent eroticism of the forehead ribbon, The Mortifying Ordeal of Being Known, neither wwx nor lwj want to be Perceived, but sorry kids! it's gonna happen!, rated E but the the NSFW stuff doesn't begin until chapter 19!, bottom LWJ in chapter 20 and 27)

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14. For the next fox finder

Pls help me find this fic where wwx and lwj are night hunting and wwx gets hurt badly lwj makes a deal with a spirit/god but in exchange to save wwx he will lose his love/ emotions (he only acts on what’s needed not on the things he like or is want)

Wwx ofc suffers because of this but is able to re awake lwj love after 3 years while he’s playing wangxian (( he has already lost hope lwj would recover his emotions))

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15. hi! im looking for a post canon fic where jc sends a letter to cloud recesses saying that gusu lan owes him a debt since wwx married into the lan. lwj responds very angrily. it wasnt jc friendly and at the end of the fic, wwx finds a bitter letter from jc who dies alone. wwx and lwj live longer and happier lives. id love it if you could find it, thank you!

FOUND! The Price of a Golden Core by AshayaTReldai (M, 9k, wangxian, LXC & WWX, WWX & JC, Major Character Death, Angst, Tension, Aggression, JC pays the price for his choices, demanding letters, JC is a Brat, Supportive Lan Brothers, WWX deserves the best, Life Debt, Sad Ending, Sad Ending for JC)

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16. Hi! So, I’m looking for an AO3 fic, Lán Zhan/Wei Ying, that I read what feels like years ago and I can’t find it again. I remember it is a bit of a dark lan zhan or dark cloud recess fic, with Wei Ying being brought to this ‘hunt’ type thing with a group of people. I believe all the people brought are given Lán Zhans scent, so that he may track them. I also believe that it’s not expected that the participants will survive, and they’re being offered a reward if they do. Please help me find it! @diabolic17

FOUND? 🔒 Five Fifteen by 3neetee (M, 11k, wangxian, rape/non-con, modern, ABO, alpha LWJ, omega WWX, mating runs, graphic depictions of violence, dom/sub undertones, light bondage, rape/non-con elements, dark LWJ, betrayal)

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17. Hey mods! 💜

I’m pretty sure I found this fic on here but now I can’t seem to find it. I’m not sure if it was on a itmf or fic finder. But it’s the one where wwx takes a curse from some ghost in order for her to move on. It’s a curse where he can’t see or feel anyone that feels “strongly” about him. He assumes the juniors all either hate or fear him and I forgot what he assumed lwj. They say to break the curse he has to accept the others’ feelings. So he tried to accept the fact that jin ling hated him although jin ling did not mean what he said and was confused at how wwx reacted. I think lan jinyi was the one who figured out wwx couldn’t see them because he launched at him as if he was going to attack him and wwx didn’t flinch. In the end he starts seeing and feeling impressions of them until he can see them in full again. Please help? I’ve been through my history and bookmarks and all open tabs of ao3. No such luck.

Thanks for all that you do! @jikcf

FOUND! See Me, Feel Me (Listening to You) by Ghost_Honey (T, 29k, WangXian, POV WWX, WWX Needs a Hug, WWX’s Abyssmal Self-Esteem, Emotional Healing, Angst, The Juniors love their Senior Wei, Curses, WWX is an Unreliable Narrator, JC & WWX Reconciliation, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Platonic Cuddling)

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18. Hi! I’m searching for a fic that I’m pretty sure was a threadfic on twitter... It was foxian and dragonji, and LWJ came across WWX while he was in heat in a cave and they mated. WWX went back to Lotus Pier not knowing who he’d been with only to find himself pregnant. He has hybrid babies and LWJ eventually tracks him down and he turns out to be a prince or something? WWX goes to visit Cloud Recesses, still unsure about LWJ. There was also a scene when one of the babies gets snatched by an eagle or some other bird and LWJ saves them? I think that’s as far as I got, as it was a WIP at the time and I lost track of it. Thank you!

FOUND? Twitter thread by cerbykerby (wangxian, cw: dubcon, mpreg, memory loss)

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19. Hello! Hope you're well! I've been looking for a fic like crazy and have not been able to find it, so hopefully you know it? It's a fic where instead of nie mingjue dying, nie huisang dies as a result of jgy and nmj attacks the cloud recesses because he blames Lan xichen in part due to him defending jgy. Please help me find this if you can. Thank you in advance!!! 🫶🙏🏼 @cherryblossom8

FOUND! Digging Graves by nirejseki (Not rated, 13k, NHS & NMJ, WWX & XY, wangxian, Revenge, Broken Moral System, Non-Graphic Violence, the masterless sabers)

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20. Pls there was this one fic in ao3 , I was so looking forward to it but I lost it 😭😭😭I don’t know much about it but the summary was smth like Wwx getting pregnant and being in an island?? Shizui grows up and smth please 😭

FOUND? The Winner Takes It All by YilingSani (M, 46k, WangXian, Modern AU, Single Parent WWX, Old Friends, One Night Stands, No Smut, Angst with a Happy Ending, PTSD, Panic Attacks, Forgiveness, Second Chances, Inspired by Mamma Mia! (Movies) Teen Pregnancy, Mpreg, mention of miscarriage, Birth Trauma, amniotic fluid embolism)

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#wangxian #mdzs #wangxian fic finder #wangxian fic search #the untamed #wangxianficfinder #long post

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feng-huli · 5 months

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The Blood of Youth sequel predictions and analysis

To preface this, I have not read the novel and am going mainly based on my knowledge of season one. Thus, there are spoilers at least for season one (and possibly season two, if my suspicions are correct).

This will probably be a bit unhinged and won’t focus on the main cast outside of the parallels there may be between them and the characters that I’m focusing on. The characters I’ve selected are the ones that I suspect of playing a larger role in the second season.

1. Marquis Lanyue

If he isn’t revealed to be a villain, I’ll be shocked. The way his supposed lack of ambition is pointed out numerous times is remarkably suspicious. He has a big scary sword that was hyped up but barely used. He outright threatens one nephew, only helps another because he decided he wants to protect the healer taking care of him, and is pretty antagonistic in his internal dialogue towards the other nephew. There is definitely something weird going on between him and Prince Chi early on that seemed to fizzle out at some point, right around when Marquis Lanyue started helping out his other nephews. Anyways, this might be a crazy guess, but I kinda wonder if he’s going to work with Ye Ya the Night Crow to reanimate Prince Chi (at least, I think the Night Crow is still alive, unless I missed something). As a less crazy guess, I think he’ll be the main or major villain.

2. Mu Chunfeng

He has some interesting parallels to Marquis Lanyue that may become more prominent in the next season. Both characters are defined by their lack of ambition, but in Mu Chunfeng’s case, it seems more genuine. He actively goes on a quest to make sure his older brother can inherit the responsibility of leading the wealthy Mu family, which otherwise wouldn’t happen due to the older brother’s implied medical condition that renders him unable to produce heirs. This shows Mu Chunfeng’s disinterest in seizing power rather than the telling that accompanies the question of whether Marquis Lanyue is ambitious. Both Marquis Lanyue and Mu Chunfeng form an attachment to the healer Hua Jin, albeit of differing natures (father-daughter vs student-master). Mu Chunfeng, like Marquis Lanyue, also has a powerful sword that is hyped up but barely used. It should be noted that Emperor Mingde, who isn’t known for his ability to trust the right people, directly accused Mu Chunfeng of having ulterior motives. Anyways, my more measured prediction is that Mu Chunfeng’s older brother will die. For a more intense prediction, I think Hua Jin will end up dying, likely by accident, culminating in a battle between Mu Chunfeng and Marquis Lanyue.

3. Xiao Chong

The main thing with him is that it’s easy to forget that he’s very much a player of the game of thrones, so to speak. With all that Xiao Se does to earn his trust later in the show, it can distract from how Xiao Chong was making alliances with Wushuang City and how he was able to safely waltz in and out of a conversation with the fearsome Dark River. Even now that he’s risen to the throne, Xiao Chong will likely continue pulling strings. The point of the first season was that Xiao Se wouldn’t make a good emperor, but I do wonder if his arc in the second season will put him into conflict with Xiao Chong.

4. Bo Yong

This one is a bit of a stretch, I admit. His actor was one of the first I saw sharing the news about the sequel, but even before that I had some suspicions about his significance. In the scene where Jade Deity hides Jin Yan from the Director, he is notably absent. Could he have ratted Jade Deity out to the Director? He seems to have been involved in the plot to sneak Wuxin into the palace, which the Director appears to have known about. Anyways, given the events of the first season, the Five Eunuchs need their ranks replaced. Ling Jun and Bo Yong seem to be the most likely candidates, and will likely be involved in any palace drama.

5. Jin Yan

Honestly, I’m terrified for Jin Yan’s safety. Xiao Se and Jade Deity kinda have mirror arcs. Jade Deity longs for the Martial Arts World, and Xiao Se validates that. Xiao Se needs to learn what loyalty to his friends means, and Jade Deity shows him that. This, I think, is the reason Jin Yan needed to survive the first season. However, hints were dropped throughout that key episode that he’s done far worse things than some fun treason, and I have my doubts that the plot will continue to be so merciful to him. If he does die, the most heartbreaking and likely possibility is that it will be by Jade Deity’s own sword, as he is currently responsible for Jin Yan’s actions. If anyone else kills Jin Yan, that sword would definitely get covered in vengeful blood—given how many people Jade Deity has already lost, losing Jin Yan would surely cause him to snap. Less likely but still tragic, perhaps Jade Deity dies protecting him or has the injury Jin Xuan gave him act up, in which case Jin Yan may go mad with grief. Or maybe they travel together and live happily ever after… which could actually fit Jin Yan’s arc. He initially lacks meaningful connections, where he isn’t being manipulated/used. Jade Deity counters that as risking everything to protect Jin Yan. It is possible that Jin Yan could have a positive arc where he turns his greed towards building genuine relationships.

Well, it was certainly fun organizing my thoughts about parallels between the characters and exploring ideas related to the sequel. I’ve been resisting thinking of the future of The Blood of Youth for so long, but the announcement of season two has opened the floodgates to some surprisingly clear water.

#shao nian ge xing #sequel #predictions #The Blood of Youth 2 #the blood of youth #少年歌行2 #少年歌行之南明离火 #少年歌行 #media analysis #character analysis

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brianhanes · 2 years

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21 Concepts “Star Wars Ahsoka” Should Have

1. Grand Admiral Thrawn (Legends Style)

For those who don’t know, Grand Admiral Thrawn was a major anti-hero in a popular Star Wars “Hier to the Empire” 1993 novel trilogy. He would later be used again in Disney’s “Star Wars Rebels” series, but the big difference I would like to see is a scaled-up Thrawn from that version. In Rebels, Thrawn seemed to be a bit watered down. He gave away battles as he looked at ‘the big picture’.

A major change that we need to see a Thrawn who is constantly winning important battles and seems unbeatable (as he was in Legends). Someone who dominates the scene almost all the time and only gives up ground when necessary. Someone who only takes battles worth taking rather than wasting time on pointless missions.

Thrawn might be the only big villain in season 1, but that could leave room for another key villain to rise in book 2! Hopefully this villain would be teased during the end of season 1 (read more to find out who I’m talking about).

2. Mara Jade

Like Thrawn, Mara Jade was a major character in the Star Wars Expanded Universe (comics, novels, etc. outside of the main films) before Disney took over. While Disney may be looking to promote the new characters it has introduced, it would be a travesty if they ignore her. Thousands of legends fans would salivate at the sight of her! It would automatically give the series more love and praise. Mara=$$$ so they better not pass this up!

Mara was an Emperor’s Hand meaning she was trained and raised by Emperor Palpatine himself. The Emperor Hand was a special program that is similar to the Imperial Inquisitor program in that it brought in dark force sensitives into the Empire. Like inquisitors, hands were not Palpatine’s actual apprentices and weren’t caught as deeply in the dark side as Vader. On the other hand (no pun intended), Hands didn’t grow up as Jedi.

Mara was also special in that she was trained to be a grey user. Palpatine wanted to see if he could successfully recruit a grey person to his ranks that would be less likely to betray him than another Sith. Mara Jade was pushed to be completely loyal to Palpatine and she was until his ‘passing’ during the Battle of Endor. It would be nice to see Mara with her purple lightsaber, hand-to-hand skills, force lightning, marksmanship (she could use a sniper rifle or pistol in battle), force choke abilities, and wit in to rival Ahsoka.

Mara is also an expert pilot like Luke. She is sort of like a combination of Ventress, Black Widow, and Luke! That is too good of a character to be passed up. And when I say great pilot, I mean even better than Ahsoka good (only Luke should be able to match her in space).

3. Ezra

Now I’ll mention another given, Ezra definitely will be in this show. To be honest with you, I really enjoyed some episodes of Rebels however, I didn’t like most of the show. For me, Rebels seemed a bit watered down (I wanted a gritty war story with lots of cultural/political lore like Star Wars: The Clone Wars). On the bright (or should I say light) side, I got much of what I wanted to see in Rebels with Rogue One and the Mandalorian. I also expect to get even more of that from Andor.

Like Ashoka, when Ezra first entered Rebels, he was very annoying. However, by the third season, I really liked him. He started reminding me of Anakin from the Star Wars 2003 Clone Wars series. Ezra was more mature, powerful, and seemed like a truly gifted Padawan. At this point, we can get an Ezra that is at knight level. We will see this with his maturity and wisdom but hopefully he also knows when to think outside the box like Qui Gon.

4. Lumiya

This is the season 2 boss I was talking about. Maybe operate on her own at first and her loyalists will run into Ahsoka and her friends. After a few conflicts, Lumiya could join forces with Thrawn.

Like Mara Jade, Lumiya was also an Emperor’s Hand. She was brutal, intelligent, adaptive, manipulative, and through in the force. Lumiya was trained more deeply in the darkness than Mara, which makes for a good contrast of their characters.

Mara is that dream female supervillain that ever story needs. She gives me Cheetah vibes from DC Universe or Azula vibes from Avatar: The Last Airbender. Sometimes you really have to appreciate an amazing female villain and Lumiya is one who does this naturally. To add to that, Lumiya was experimented on from a young age. She has super strength, immense speed (like Palpatine), and amazing acrobatics (like Darth Talon).

Lumiya should be portrayed in a way that shows she is obviously physically superior to the other characters in the series. Lumiya uses a lightsaber whip that makes her distinct from other lightsaber duelists. Her whip gives her more range in a duel and she maintains a firm grip of her weapon so she isn’t easily disarmed.

One major disadvantage of the lightsaber whip is that it limits her ability to defend against saber strikes. However, Lumiya is incredibly fast and agile so she can flip and leap away when her enemies attack. On top of that, she uses force push, pull, force throw, and lightning to keep enemies away from her. Another special aspect of Lumiya’s lightsaber whip vs other whips (like the ones used by Zygerian slavers in Star Wars the Clone Wars) should be that it is lethal.

Lumiya also had her own royal guard stormtroopers who have red armor! That makes for a whole different vibe when the main character goes up against her. Lumiya’s character themes also would make an interaction between her and Mara Jade in the show insane. Imagine Mara Jade vs Lumiya in Ahsoka!

But if Disney wants to move in another direction, they could give her imperial royal guards instead. That still works with the epic boss villain afterall, some of them would need a new boss after Sidious.

5. Shadow Stormtroopers

If you have seen any of my other Star Wars threads, it should be obvious that I’m obsessed with the soldiers! Seriously, soldiers are a big part of what made the Clone Wars and Rogue One special! Just because Jedi are in this story doesn’t mean soldiers shouldn’t still get their moments. The Mandalorian brought dark troopers from legends to canon. Star Wars battlefront 2015 brought these guys to canon, still I’d like to see them on the big screen.

Shadowtroopers are stormtroopers that can turn invisible in battle. They are elite which means they have better aim, personal HUDs, superior tactics, smoke grenades, and can adjust more in firefights. Ahsoka would also be strong enough to beat them.

6. Evo Troopers

Here are some of the coolest stormtroopers in history. Evo troopers are environmental experts with armor that can help them survive in several different environments (duh)! What makes them even more special is they basically use electric shotguns in battle and those electric shot guns fire quickly and have a wide range. They are annoying to fight in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Seeing Ahsoka go up against these guys would give many fans a rush of nostalgia and they are just awesome anyway.

7. Tie Phantoms

Star Wars Rebels blessed us with tie defenders. While I didn’t like all the episodes in Rebels, I adore some of the things they did with the show. Tie defenders where special because they were specialized imperial tie fighters that had personal shields and more firepower. Phantoms are special because they are tie fighters that can turn invisible! Another reason they need to do this is because Ahsoka dueled Maul in season 7 of Star Wars the Clone Wars and he was the Phantom Menace!

8. Cal Kestits

Cal was the main character in Star Wars Fallen Order! He is a jedi survivor of Order 66. Fallen Order is one of the best Star Wars things I have seen in a while and it would be nice to see him.

9. Imperial Jumptroopers

One really special thing about Star Wars the Clone Wars, is there were always new droids to fight. From battledroids, to super battledroids, to commando droids, to magnaguards, to crab droids and so on. Imperial jumptroopers have been utilized a good amount by Rebels.

10. New Republic Soldiers

This is something the Mandalorian didn’t show us enough of. Although the New Republic was considered a joke in the show, it realistically would at least function throughout the Core worlds and Colonies. If matters were important enough and there was enough political demand, they would definitely battle against Imperial Remnant forces or whatever other threat is lurking around the galaxy.

11. New Republic Droids

We saw these bad boys in the Mandalorian series. They are durable, accurate shooters, and very strong. Although they are predictable, they would be useful in battle against Imperial forces.

12. Imperial Security Droids

On the flip side of this discussion, it would also be useful for the Empire to use more of its security droids. These guys are very big and strong. They also can run deceptively fast for their size. We see in Rogue One that they are very accurate. But instead of seeing them unarmed like in Fallen Order or with pistols like K-2SO, let’s see them with heavy blaster and disruptor rifles. Then they would be deadly juggernauts in battle that even a jedi would be cautious of taking on.

13. New Republic Light Cruiser

In the Mandalorian, there was a lot of hype about the New Republic Fleet dealing with some shady people in one of the episodes. Unfortunately, what we saw was underwhelming to say the least. We need to see a New Republic cruiser and it doesn’t need to be a massive one (a huge one wouldn’t even make sense in many cases).

14. More Battles

More battles is always useful in Star Wars. Especially during a timeline like this where the New Republic is more powerful than the Rebellion was and the Imperial Remnant strongholds are being knocked down as their resources dwindle.

15. Embo

Embo was a popular and honorable bounty hunter in Star Wars the Clone Wars. It would be great to see him on the big screen. Apparently, he retired and became a farmer but maybe we could see him defend his farm. I also think Embo deserves his own series, but that’s another story for another time.

16. Jedi Leia

The Jedi side of Leia has been abandoned in canon, but that can always change. Adding Leia and even having her fight against someone like Lumiya would be amazing. Still if Lumiya can defeat a seasoned Ahsoka the first time they fight, a less experienced Leia would really be at risk against her. Perhaps that’s where we see more parallels between Leia and her mother.

Padme was often seen as a helpless senator by Jedi but it turned out she could defend herself well with her surprising hand-to-hand and marksmanship skills. Leia showed us the same in A New Hope but in Ahsoka she will have to be even more cautious as she takes on greater challenges with skills that she is still honing.

17. Luke Skywalker

Luke has to be shown at some point in the series. He is just too important to not show.

18. Durge

Durge was a deadly bounty hunter in the Star Wars Clone Wars 2003 miniseries. He also appeared in several comics. Durge has also appeared in one of Disney’s canon comics.

19. Smugglers and pirates

I know this is a given, but I just decided to write it anyway. There literally has to be a couple of episodes with these type of characters. It’s like a Star Wars rite of passage for shows.

20. New Jedi Order

Not every jedi that is listed should be named. Fall Order did a good job of avoiding this mistake. It would be nice to see more ordinary jedi in this show as well and that would also make the Star Wars universe feel bigger. A scene of Luke training padawans would also be nice.

21. Ahsoka and Chewbacca reunite

Ahsoka has actually already met Chewbacca as a teenager during the Clone Wars. It would be nice to see them meet up again. This could also be an opportunity for her to meet Han Solo and Leia.

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starrbee · 5 months

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Hello! Welcome to the Blog!

Hi! I'm Oliver (Starr or Bee can also be used) and i use he/they pronouns! I'm an oc artist! (I have a few ideas for ninjago fanseasons and if you want to know more about it go check out @withinthestarsnfs !)

Requests: Open

(one per person? I won't do multiple in a row, because I don't want to create whole comics with out anything in exchange!)

Art Trades: Open

ALSO, REF SHEET MASTER POST!!

A masterpost for all the OCs i post about here!!! This will have their reference sheet and some information about them.

Jian Zhang (Lego Monkie Kid OC)

>They/Them

>Formerly a Carp, turned into a dragon by the Jade Emperor after jumping over the Dragons Gate

>Was Azure Lion's student and sided with the brotherhood

>Currently resides with the Bull King family

>Has a wife named Chrys

>Has a (non-biological) sister named Ming Zhu and a nephew called Zi Xin

Some of the scenes I've written can be found here

Ampu (Ninjago OC)

Ref 1 (Before/slightly after the merge)

Ref 2 (first signs)

Ref 3 (almost mature)

>He/They

>Own species/elemental being thingy?(edit: Dragonkin! That's what I'm calling them!)

>Basically borrowed a dragon power permanently? if that makes sense?

>specifically a departed dragon. (remember the dragons from Curse world 1&2? those)

>works at a bakery with their friends Sparrow and Bow (and Morro but thats another explanation...)

>There will be a comic eventualy

Cirris (NDR oc)

>He/They/Cloudself

>Elemental master of cloud!

>during the first few years of the merge they live in Shintaro

>well the first few months they were with a group called 'The Archivists' who experimented on them with transformation magic

>This caused Cloud to gain more Oni-Like features

>Related to Ash (Elemental master of Smoke)

E.T.C.H/Cal (Ninjago OC)

>He/They/She/Starself

>A nindroid created to mimic human life

>the scientists were inspired by Zane, wanting to create a Nindroid that could pass as human

>they can use a similar thing to Zane to disguise themselves as human

>They have a detatchable 'Tail' to help them balance

>Introduced during Prime empire, as a helper for the mechanic (Forced)

>Pixal reaches out to them during the Ninja's time in Shintaro, becoming fast friends

Shuck (Hazbin Hotel OC)

(He/They)

>Cook for the hotel

>Died in 1890 due to being shot in the head while having a VERY violent mental break

(I DO NOT SUPPORT VIVZIEPOP!!! IF YOU WATCH HAZBIN PLEASE 🏴‍☠️ IT)

Chun (Lego Monkie Kid OC)

>He/They/Plantself

>Howler Monkey demon

>Magically made

>Bio-Parent’s(?) were a Nekomata and a monkey demon [Lesbians] who conceived plant through magic

>current parent is Huizhong, another monkey demon, he is a professor and works with Tang.

>Works in a flower shop down the road from Pigsy's

>has quite destructive magic! (they can scream loud- think Pearl from splatoon- , sharp magic claws and a massive monkey avatar!)

>Socially awkward... he didn't socialise much when they were younger

>Definitely sewed those trousers themself

>Duo tail :3 (they often wrap them into one so they don't get in the way)

Calyx (Voltron oc)

-so the one thing that really annoyed me about how Voltron was created was there was no prototype, they had no physical proof that the project would work, so here is the fix!

-The white lion was a prototype for the voltron project, and it is smaller and less finished than the other lions, however it was supposedly 'destroyed' when the other lions were sent away

-the trash planet that it was stored on lead a group of refugees, including a white paladin, to use it to protect themselves and create a safe place, near the edge of the known universe away from the Galra. this soon became a place full of refugees and soon a trade planet for rebellions and resistances, the views they follow mean that the planet is almost entirely cash-free and relys more on trade than buying.

Calyx

-Calyx is very anti-establishment and watches over the entry ways and trade route, making sure that theres no-one suspicious coming in or out, however upon inheriting the lion, they feel as if it wants to find the others, causing them to find Allura's castle and the others during the season 1 finale.

-the white lion relys mainly on stealth and tracking, so they stay in the background for a while

-Calyx also has mild chronic pain and uses a wheelchair sometimes, they also use braces and tech to ease the pain

Oberon Starlu

(He/She)

6'1'

The Elemental Master of Anima. He is a part Oni as well.

Their abilities include talking to animals and staking on abilities and features of animals, though not fully, as that would come under form.

She was first introduced in the tournament of elements, and stays close to the ninja after, often helping keep the monastery running while their away.

Before the tournament they were close to Bolobo, living in the same farming village. During TOE they get close to Griffin, Neuro and Shade. They’re Very close to Griffin. :)

His Oni blood is very diluted, the only reminder of this is their horn(s).

This image is of their outfit during TOE

Lumi! (Ninjago OC)

(She/They)

I tried to make her the opposite of everything wyldfire is, She grew up in a high class family that was close to the ninjago royal family. Though she holds herself like she sees herself hightly, shes quite shy and is a bit of a recluse. through her family she learnt basic sword skills. after the merge she went to the crossroads, eventually meeting Arin, Sora, Euphrasia and Wyldfire.

#wow...thats not even all of it-#my oc stuff #oc ref sheet #oc artist #oc digital art #lego monkey kid oc #lmk oc art #ninjago oc #lego ninjago oc #ninjago dragons rising oc #fan oc #slight nudity #like ref sheet nudity?#so no weirdness #trans character #hazbin hotel oc

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korpikorppi · 3 years

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The Untamed costumes 25/?

Lan Qiren's outfits 1: the white and blue Gusu robe set (episodes 3, 4, 6, 7, 11, 27, 43)

Let's continue this little series with a look at the outfit Lan Qiren wears when we first meet him in episode 3, as Lan Wangji drags Wei Wuxian in after catching him sneaking into Cloud Recesses with his bottles of Emperor's Smile. Lan Qiren continues wearing this outfit during the Gusu summer seminar (seen in episodes 4, 6 and 7), and it is also seen in episode 11 during the Wen attack on the Cloud Recesses, as well as in the scene where Lan Qiren gives Lan Wangji's hard time in episode 27 after the Qiongqi Dao incident. The last appearance of this outfit is in episode 43, in the flashback to Lan Wangji's punishment after Wei Wuxian's death, so we can presume Lan Qiren mostly wears these robes (or similar sets) during the time covered in episodes 3 to 33.

The set comprises three layers:

Undergarments / inner layer: the zhongyi (中衣) or zhongdan (中單) (the pants and the shirt), and the chang (裳) (a separate, typically pleated skirt). These are white.

White middle layer with blue accents.

Blue zhaoshan 罩衫 (a long, open outer garment) as the outer layer.

The white shirt of the undergarments is visible at the neck as usual; I am assuming that the trousers and the skirt are also white, but I have not actually seen them. The lapels (the neck placket would be a better term, perhaps?) of the white middle layer are trimmed in blue and decorated with blue stipling creating a pattern of squares. The blue zhaoshan has stylised white clouds embroidered at the lapels; the fabric has a subtle wrinkly texture (the material is perhaps silk crepe?). Lan Qiren is wearing a beautifully folded and wrapped sash of white and blue; it looks like the blue fabric is the same as used for the zhaoshan (and also perhaps for the trimming of the white middle robe).

An embroidered Lan cloud emblem in white decorates the upper arms of the zhaoshan, and the sleeve edges bear an embroidered white cloud pattern, similar to the lapels.

A better view of the cloud embroidery on the sleeves.

The sleeves of both the white middle layer and the zhaoshan are wide. An interesting detail on the zhaoshan: the backs of the sleeves up to the elbow (about) are open, split, which allows the sleeves of the middle robe to show. In this image at least, it would also seem that the sleeves are not rectangular in shape, but curving towards the front at the back edge (very clearly described 🙄, hope you get the meaning). Also notice the beautiful, soft drape of the fabrics.

A back view of the split sleeve of the zhaoshan.

Notice the light through the zhaoshan? Like the Twin Jades, Lan Qiren seems to favour fabrics that are not only soft, but also relatively thin. Typical of the Lan, just think of the beautiful flow and movement of their clothing in the fight scenes 💙.

Another side view. The zhaoshan has slitted sides. Cannot say if the same is true for the white middle layer... Probably, as it would make moving easier. One of Lan Qiren's silver side combs of his 3-piece head ornament also nicely visible here.

And talking about ornaments, Lan Qiren's jinbu (the waist ornament) differs from those of his nephews: where the Twin Jades have their twin jade rings, Lan Qiren has a carved piece of mutton fat jade in the middle of his jinbu, with a decorative silk knot above it. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find a good enough close-up to see what the carving depicts. And just a side note: I'm loving the colour coordination of Lan Qiren's and Zewu-jun's robes, with the same shade of blue in the former's zhaoshan and the latter's neck/shoulder piece.

I wanted to include this back shot to point out a small detail: Lan Qiren's forehead ribbon is much shorter as the Twin Jades' (and all other Lans', as far as I recall), the ends completely hidden by his hair. So the length does not seem to be standard. But is that just a Lan Qiren thing? Or do the Elders wear shorter ribbons? Does anyone know?

To sum this up, I think this is a dignified, but also beautiful and surprisingly... light? outfit for the strict and prestigious Lan teacher. My favourite of his costumes.

#character costumes #character costumes: lan qiren #the untamed costumes #lan qiren #the untamed #cql #mine #theuntameddaily

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wangxianficrecs · 3 years

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Fic Finder

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1. Hi, I'm looking for an Untamed fic, maybe you'll be able to help. It's a canon divergence AU in which WWX doesn't lose his core, Jiang Fengmian lives and it's implied that his core was transferred to JC (heavily implied; JFM retires as the Sect Leader after that). This is absolutely not the most important part of this fic but it's a paragraph that I've got stuck in my head and now I'm searching for the rest @_@ Thanks in advance! ~ @otemporaetmores

FOUND! by @notsobabblespace, who was reminded of I’m aching and I know you are too by edenwolfie (part 3 in series, M, 23k, wangxian)

FOUND! by @jim-is-spocks-thyla, who suggests ❤️ to arrive late is better than not to arrive at all by Moominmammashandbag (M, 35k, wangxian) [ETA: Oops, not this one. JFM has no core, but he didn’t give it to JC]

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2. Hi Mojo! I’m in need of you/your followers help in finding a fic that I read a little while ago. It was a fic where Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi lived together in Cloud Recesses and their children were Sizhui and an OOC that was younger than him. I remember SiZhui faced a lot of criticism for not being the chief cultivator’s real child? And they were happy he had a younger sibling that would be sect leader in the future because he was blood. Come to think of it, this is probably an ABO fic too. Thanks for your time 💜

FOUND! @andidontmeanto believes this is Blue Blood by PotterheadAvengerDemigod (T, 91k, wangxian, my post)

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3. Aksks it's like 3 am but I just remembered a fic and I can't find it?? I'd really, really appreciate your help. It was a wangxian fic, maybe a oneshot idk, and lwj was kind of a nerd and wwx a badboy? So basically lwj has a massive crush on him and dresses up like wwx etc. (i think he even got an undercut) and after a party they sleep with each other at lwj's place?

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4. i’m looking for a fic set in the where lwj’s mother killed his father? i don’t think that was a main plot point but it did show up in his backstory - any idea what this might be? ~ @thehype

FOUND! @rentslirott thinks this could be ❤️the best of you by sysrae (E, 42k, wangxian, my post)

FOUND! @castaways-logbook offers The Right to Care by travelingneuritis (E, 39k, wangxian, WIP)

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5. ... same as #6 ...

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6. Hello friend, sorry for the inconvenience but I wanted to see if you could please find me a fic that I lost but I only remember more or less the final part, it goes more or less like this, lan zhan and wei ying are kidnapped by jin guangyao and lock them up if not I'm wrong in some cells next to lan xichen after the fights jin guangyao dies but lan xichen did know how bad jin guangyao had done and he didn't care and then to get revenge he wants to kill wei ying but lan zhan kills him and sizhui gets scared It was more or less like that, please help me ~ @isa0123lol

FOUND! by @wangxiansfics who says that tragically it’s no longer available, but @dulachodladh found it on WaybackMachine here: Thread and Needle by haysel (M, 86k, wangxian)

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7. Hi, Mojo! I'm glad that you're back but I hope you enjoyed your time off tumblr! Can you and/or your followers help me find a fic? I think the summary was talking about wwx and somehow they were asking mingjue for help since he's the only one who can help. The summary was in italics and it's a dialogue from some guy? And a shorter summary below. Sadly this is the only thing I can remember but I hope you can still help me

FOUND! @alwayswenning suggests love, in fire and blood by cicer (E, 360k, wangxian, has it’s own fanfic here, I just finished this last night!, my bookmark)

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8. Sorry to bombard you as soon as you're back, but this one's driving me crazy--a modern AU where they met online. WWX thinks LWJ is an old man from how he talks. I don't remember much except the excerpt made it seem like he still was amused by/enjoyed talking to him, and Wen Qing was telling him it was a bad idea and to stop. It's not How to Fall In Love With a Catfish, tho that one is brilliant! (Also any top notch identity porn would be great) Hope your break was restful, you deserve it! Thanks

Here’s my #identity porn tag, but I’m not sure about this exact story.

I'm the anon for #8 on the fic finder. Though I'm excited to read it, the suggested fic isn't the one I was looking for. I swear I thought I saw it on here around a month ago or slightly more, but searches have failed me.

FOUND! Rating: General Audiences by Mishaa (T, 18k, wangxian WIP) - mysterious author LWJ (speculated to be an old man because of his formality) and infamous artist WWX paired up for an Untamed Big Bang (in an AU where JGY was the series’ antiheroic protagonist; this fic was written before the release of CQL.)

FOUND? could you be looking for Something Real by Latios (G, 5k, wangxian, my post) - wwx thinks lwj is an old man, but there’s no WQ. There are many pictures of bunnies.

SIMILAR! @emilysidhe thought of ID Bro Saga by Bowandtie (T, 39k, wangxian)

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9. Hey, how are you? Could you help me please? I've read 3 fanfics once, but I can't find them anymore. 1 - Nanny Problem, Wei is going to be the babysitter of A-Yuan, he is an omega and Lan is an alpha. 2 - Doctor Perfect, Yibo is an omega nurse and Xiao is an alpha doctor. 3 - The Baby of my Omega, Yibo is omega and Xiao is alpha, both of them are bodyguards, but Yibo has to protect Xiao in the beginning. I think they were at ao3, but I really can't find them. Can you help me please? Thank you!! ~ @weallmad

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10. Hi! Im happy you’re back. I hope you had a good break. I missed your recommendations, but at the same time i got a break from fics and actually studied to my tests haha. [Ah! I’m glad to hear your time was spent productively!] I’m looking for a fic like Linger in the Sun by etymologyplayground. In the fic im looking for wangxian slowly lose their senses instead of all of them at once. Like they lose their hearing, then touch, sight etc, They can’t see each other or hear each other. I’m sorry i can’t explain very well.

FOUND? Could you be thinking of ❤️shadows in the sun rise by Yuu_chi (E, 25k, wangxian)? Only lwj losese his senses one by one in this one, though.

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11. heyyy im trying to find this fic where wwx died the first time he was thrown in to the burial mounds then 10 years later he gets resurrected or something. I can't find it on AO3 and it's been bugging me for days. Thank you!

FOUND! Well, @moku-youbi offers both of these as possibilities:

Did I Not Explain Why the Sunset Turns Red? by 3988Akasha (E, 100k, wangxian)

we're starting at the end by Miss_Enthusiasimal (M, 95k, wangxian)

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12. Hi I am looking for a fic where wwx is a witch (/mage?) in a world where magic is being persecuted (especially in Gusu) except for Yunmeng/Lanling I think but they're still frowned upon nonetheless. Then after accidentally hurting Shijie, wwx runs away, and ends up hiding in Gusu pretending to be a servant to lwj (lwj is a prince, lxc is the emperor) but lwj actually knows of his identity and tries not-so-discreetly to protect him from being caught. Thanks!

FOUND! by @bibliobasilisk who gives us Witchfinder by misbehavingvigilante (E, 86k, wangxian)

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13. Hi! Firstly, I'm glad to see you're back, and I hope your break was a good one! I'm trying to find a LWJ/WWX story that I had planned to read and ending up losing before I could. It was set in the immediate aftermath of the 33 lashes, LWJ is in the Jingshi recovering when a healer(?) discovers he's pregnant (by WWX). It may have been a/b/o verse, but I'm not 100% on that. Part of the story was a flashback to when WWX was still alive. Thank you!

FOUND! by nonny themself. It’s Unexpected Surprise by Glucose_Gremlin (E, 4k, wangxian)

SIMILAR! @mondelgel suggests my heart is kept as pure as ice in a jade vase/一片冰心在玉壶 by Daledesu (M, 21k, wangxian, WIP)

SIMILAR! from @impending-cuttlefish: something new, something white, something blue by ariskamalt (E, 140k, wangxian, WIP)

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14. I'm trying to find this one fic where Jin Ling finds this diary that Wei Ying wrote as the Yiling Patriarch that basically reveals everything, including the golden core reveal and it even has training tips that helps Jon Ling improve. When Wei Ying comes back, he tries everything to keep him there because he is THE best uncle now. I need to find it because it is a N E E D.

FOUND? by @theladypeartree who says, “The Truth (Untold) is jl reading jyl's journals, not wwx's though. And mordant is jl returning wwx's journals that he found, not grew up with. Neither fit #14 properly, but I seriously could not find anything closer after two solid days of searching. Good luck!“

The Truth (Untold) by anxiouswreck0_0 (g, 3k, wangxian, jin ling & wei wuxian)

or this one on ffn:

mordant by tennisnotensai (M, 18k, wangxian, here’s the link for mobile)

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15. I have heard tell of a Sizhui/Jingyi fic where the boys end up going to Wangxian for advice about how to be intimate. Can you help me find it?

FOUND! @manaika-chan says this one is On Advisement by LaMachina17 (M, 19k, wangxian, zhuiling, chengyi)

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16. nm

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17. Hi! Sorry, do you happen to know that nsfw fic where wwx is still studying in the cloud recesses and he’s reading a novel (im not sure if it was from nhs) that features a cultivator couple and there’s a scene in the book where the woman was pegging her husband? Basically wwx got curious about this and tried fingering himself. I remember he was hiding in the back mountains and then lwj eventually caught him

FOUND? Could you be thinking of Deep in the Woods by malkinmalkout (E, 5k, wangxian, my post)?

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18. Ahhh I'm going crazy trying to think of a fic that I've read where Lan Zhan killed Wen Chao in a locker room and nie huaisang stood guard outside the door! Then lan zhan went to lan huan and said I killed someone and he said did they deserve it? Then it's fine. And I can't remember the name of the fic! Have you heard of it? ~ @uchihaautumn

FOUND! @artemisisdiana offers So Full Of Love (Wouldn't Know Where to Start) by witchupbitch (M, 54k, wangxian, WIP)

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19. Hi, I was wondering if you could help me find a fic. I read it a while ago and I don't really remember all the details but it was a modern au where Lan Wangji was a police officer in this small town and Wei Wuxian comes back after years, having left the town due to some stuff. Thank you in advance.

Btw love your blog. I live for your fic recs. [Thank you!]

FOUND? Could you be looking for medium blues by dark_and_terrible (E,193k, wangxian)? It appears to be taken down atm, but it might come back (it’s done it before).

FOUND! by @grannyweatherwaxshat who offers When a Bird Flies, It Leaves Feathers by Bem_Kofi (not rated, 75k, wangxian)

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20. Hi mojo!! First of all I luv your blog Thank you so much for all those ficrecs. [You’re welcome!] Actually I’m looking for a fic I read months ago. I probably found the fic from your blog. But I can’t seem to find it now 😢 it was a modern au wangxian fic (inspired by call me by ur name?) wwx was like 5 years older than lwj. (And lwj was like 16?) Wwx lives in another city but he spent around a year in cloud recesses with lwj in the past. And wwx yanli and jc visits cloud recesses again and wangxian gets 2gether

~*~

[My ko-fi.]

#wangxian fic finder #wangxian #mdzs fic finder #wangxian fic rec

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theotherhufflepuff · 3 years

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Simon Snow Trilogy Tarot Cards...

Ok so, a little while ago I saw this frankly stunning artwork by @vkelleyart and I started thinking about the Major Arcana archetypes and how characters from my favourite book series could fit into them.

So I made this list. It took a lot of thought and I’m still not 100% sure on some of them but I have explained my thought process for each card.

I don’t know how much crossover there is in the Venn diagram of “Simon Snow fans” and “tarot readers” but I’d love to hear your opinions and/or alternative suggestions (be respectful though, obviously). I’ve left “visual prompts” for most of the cards explaining what they looked like in my imagination and if anyone wants to draw any of these (or their own alternative version!) please tag me; it would make my day! I can’t draw for toffee so I am 1000% never gonna try to illustrate any of them myself.

List under the cut because it is loooong.

Spoilers ahead for the whole series!

0 The Fool - Shepard - Shepard just follows magickal creatures around and says “yes” to everything... he is the pure embodiment of the Fool archetype to me; care-free, innocent... prepared for everything and yet totally clueless. Visual prompt: Shepard about to (attempt to) step into the fog as he follows a fairy into the forest.

1 The Magician - Penelope - “Penelope Bunce is a fierce magician, I don’t mind saying” Baz, at least once in each book. Penny never worries about not having the power or words available to do whatever she wants; she is comfortable in her power and it is always there, ready to be wielded however she sees fit. Visual prompt: Penny wearing her Stevie Nicks cape, standing by a chalkboard in the classic “Magician” pose, ring clearly held aloft.

2 The High Priestess - Dr Mitali Bunce - Dr Bunce is possibly a more formidable magician than her daughter. Highly intelligent, straightforward and, let’s be honest, judgemental. But she does have all the answers. Visual prompt: Dr Bunce carrying around her laptop, phone sandwiched between her ear and her shoulder.

3 The Empress - Lucy Salisbury - Lucy exudes the nurturing, Earth Mother vibes that are central to the Empress archetype. She saw the best in everyone and all she wanted was to love Davy and live with him in their cottage with her chickens and their child. Visual prompt: Lucy, barefoot and pregnant, feeding the chickens outside of their cottage.

4 The Emperor - Lamb - This is one of the ones I’m not totally sure about. I went through a few different ideas but ultimately settled on Lamb as the “Vampire King of Las Vegas”. He is an imposing figure, ruling his city with an iron fist; if you are in his favour, Vegas is your playground, but cross him and you will suffer the consequences. Visual prompt: Lamb sits on an antique chair in his opulent suite at the Katherine, the lights of night time Vegas visible through the window behind him.

5 The Hierophant - The Mage - Again, this one took some thought and I’m sure some people will disagree with this interpretation... I’m not completely sold on it myself. The Mage was all about reforming the old traditions of the World of Mages and he amassed a following by doing so. But he turned out to be somewhat of a false prophet; abusing his power to oppress those he deemed “the enemy”. Visual prompt: The Mage in his Robin Hood costume, sitting at his desk at the top of the Weeping Tower, surrounded by his piles of banned books.

6 The Lovers - Simon and Baz - Obviously. As stated at the top of this post, I love @vkelleyart’s version of this card, but there are a lot of scenes across the series that could be used to illustrate this archetype. I personally always love to see the original “and then he kisses me” scene.

7 The Chariot - Fiona Pitch - I struggled with this one a bit and I don’t really think that this is the ideal version. But the image of Fiona, rolling up to Blackfriars bridge in her vintage sports car to rescue Baz from the Numpties really stuck with me so that’s what I went with, for lack of a better idea.

8 Strength - Ebb - Ebb is often dismissed and underestimated by other magicians but she is wicked powerful. But more than that, the Strength card is about inner strength, self control and the wisdom to know when to fight, and when to rest. Ebb is highly intuitive about the people - and goats - around her and is always careful not to talk about her twin brother, only conceding that she knows of his presence once a year and never giving in to the temptation to talk directly to him. Ebb saw the war coming and knew that she could probably end it all by herself with the power she had; but she also knew that she didn’t want that and she had the strength to say no, to eschew the expectations the rest of the World of Mages placed upon her and live quietly, instead. Visual prompt: Ebb in the hills behind the school with the goats, she wears a flower crown that the Dryad made her.

9 The Hermit - Agatha - the Hermit eschews the outside world in order to take an inner journey of self discovery, knowing that this is the only way to find real answers and achieve real growth. Agatha, jaded by the World of Mages, took herself off to California, leaving her wand at home. She didn’t know what she wanted but she knew it wasn’t magic. Visual prompt: Agatha sits on the beach at twilight by a small campfire, Lucy the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel by her side.

10 The Wheel of Fortune - The Crucible - The Crucible’s decisions, like the Wheel’s, are unpredictable and inevitable. Once it’s happened, you’re stuck with the consequences - sometimes bad (being stuck with a toff vampire who hates you) and sometimes good (getting the best room in Mummers house).

11 Justice - Natasha Grimm-Pitch - Natasha needed justice to find peace; her whole story is about justice. She was swift to act when the vampires attacked Watford, dispatching them without hesitation. When she came through the veil to find Baz and ask him to bring her murderer to justice, she knew that would also provide some closure for him, too, both for her death, and for his. Visual prompt: Natasha Grimm-Pitch appearing from beyond the veil, looking for Baz and finding Simon.

12 The Hanged One - Nicodemus - The Hanged One is about feeling stuck, but also about finding peace where you are when there’s nothing you can do about it. Nicodemus chose to cross over for eternal life, but he was stricken from the book; his (considerable) magic effectively taken from him and his fangs removed. He was stuck in between - not a full vampire, not a magician; he exists on the fringes of both communities. He got himself there and then he had to figure out how to get by, carve out a place for himself in order to survive. Visual prompt: Nicodemus sits in the tree in the garden of his mother’s house in South London, waiting for Ebb to come and sit on the empty bench beneath him.

13 Death - [scene on the Great Lawn] - Ok, so.. this might need some explaining. My immediate thought for this card was that it should be the Humdrum but Death is all about clearing out the old junk in your life that doesn’t serve you in order to make space for the new. And the Humdrum isn’t making space for anything. So I was thinking about times that has happened in the story and I thought about how the death of the Mage made room for real progress and an end to the war with the old families. Visual prompt: Penny and Baz (literally) run into a fleeing Agatha on the Great Lawn; the Weeping Tower looms in the background, the Mage and Simon visible through the blown-out stained glass windows.

14 Temperance - Simon and the Humdrum - Temperance is, as you might expect, about balance and harmony. Simon used so much magic at once that he couldn’t control it and it tore holes in the magickal atmosphere. Simon had to fill the Simon-shaped hole to restore equalibrium and stop the magickal firmament from collapsing altogether. Visual prompt: Simon kneeling in the Weeping Tower, pouring his magic into the Humdrum as he fades away.

15 The Devil - Smith Smith-Richards - The Devil is about feeling trapped by temptations in your life, often because we’re afraid of what we would do with the freedom we’d have if we let them go. Which got me thinking about Smith-Richards (that name never gets any less ridiculous) and all the magicians who were taken in by the temptation of “fixing” their magic. But it was a false promise and those magicians who narrowly escaped taking Smith-Richards’ spell were all freed from the idea of their magic being “broken” in the first place. Visual prompt: Smith-Richards (looking like the guy who would be cast to play Simon in the Netflix series) standing on a stage in the packed-out White Chapel, rapt audience hanging on his every word.

16 The Tower - The Humdrum - Originally I wanted to use the Weeping Tower for this card because the imagery is on point but the meaning doesn’t match. The Tower is about absolute destruction, the crumbling of something you thought core to your being. The Humdrum steals magic and renders magicians homeless because of it. The Tower is about having to start again from the ground up - just as the Grimms did when all the magic was drained from Hampshire. Visual prompt: The Humdrum, wearing Simon’s face, stands in the grounds of Pitch Manor, laughing. (I have always thought of the holes looking like a burn in a piece of paper - sort of glowing and smouldering at the edges as it eats away the atmosphere. I know the holes can’t actually be seen - the Normals would freak out - but that is imagery I would use here)

17 The Star - Lady Ruth’s candles - The Star is about hope and healing after the devastation of the Tower. Lady Ruth’s candles were a symbol of hope that kept her going when she thought she had lost her children. They provided comfort and, at the end when it became clear the Lucy was gone, the healing of knowing that her child had finally found his way home to his family. Visual prompt: Lady Ruth’s candles in front of a window, a bright star can be seen through the window.

18 The Moon - Agatha and Simon - So, the Moon is all about examining blurred lines between illusion and reality - nothing looks totally clear in the moonlight. It reminded me of how Simon never really seemed to have a clear view of his feelings for Agatha and what their relationship was. When he properly examined his feelings, he found that he didn’t love Agatha and was going through the motions because he thought it was what other people expected of him. Agatha was doing the same. It also brought to mind Simon, going out of his mind worrying about Baz when he was missing - as well as basically every other thought Simon ever has about Baz before Christmas Eve 2015 - and somehow mistaking it for hating him?? Simon is not stupid but sometimes he’s real dumb. Visual prompt: Agatha and Simon meet on the ramparts, both looking for Baz, and break up.

19 The Sun - Simon - This card is all about innocence, optimism and joy. Nothing about this series personifies this more than Simon flying above Shepard’s truck in America, feeling free and hopeful about the future for the first time in over a year. Visual prompt: Shepard’s truck drives through the vast empty desert, the sun beating down. Simon flies above the truck, joy on his face.

20 Judgement - Niamh and Agatha - Ok, this one was hard to figure out and this is maybe not the right solution, but I was very stuck. Judgement is about self improvement through self reflection. As a small twist on that theme; Niamh and Agatha challenge each other’s view of themselves and their interactions with the world around them. Visual prompt: Agatha and Niamh, sweating to death in Niamh’s “shitty Ford Fiesta” (I’m very salty about that line; my Ford Fiesta is lovely and it has aircon). Niamh is frowning, obviously.

21 The World - Simon, Baz, Penny and Shepard - The World is about completeness, the ending of a story, fulfilment and belonging. At the end of AWTWB, Simon has finally found his biological family, he is starting to accept that his boyfriend and his found family love him for who he is, magic or no, and he can finally start to imagine a future for himself. Baz has learned new information about his vampirism, Penny has found new confidence and Shepard is finally fully accepted into the group. Visual prompt: Baz, Penny and Shepard sit on Simon’s sofa (possibly still pink from Baz’s spell, possibly he spelled it navy blue again) Simon sits on the floor. They’re all eating leftover sandwiches and cake from Lady Ruth’s.

#carry on #carry on rainbow rowell #rainbow rowell #simon snow #simon snow trilogy #wayward son #any way the wind blows #awtwb #tarot #tarot cards #major arcana #baz pitch #Penelope Bunce #shepard love #snowbaz

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smiting-finger · 3 years

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alive, and back on my usual nonsense

So after getting preoccupied with other things and temporarily falling off the face of the planet (for like an entire year ಥωಥ), I was thinking about the kdrama Mr. Queen (which I've been meaning to watch), and the Chinese novel it was based on (太子妃升职记, which I read a few years ago and very much enjoyed), and this popped out--

Wei Wuxian’s first thought is that there seem to be an awful lot of female voices around, for a bedroom inhabited by two men. Did he drink too much last night? It wouldn’t be the first time he’s overindulged on a trip to the town and woken up in a strange place the next morning, but that kind of problem has been cropping up a lot less frequently now that he has Lan Zhan around to ferry him home.

(Sometimes literally, on his back. His broad, strong--)

But perhaps Lan Zhan had gotten drunk, too? In which case, Wei Wuxian should consider them lucky to have woken up surrounded by people, rather than chickens, rabbits or, notably, on one occasion, mounds of resentful cabbages.

The chatter around him continues, pitched high with youth and - is that anxiety? It's interspersed with the odd interjection from what sounds like one (calmer, if more exasperated) older woman and a man. Probably not a nunnery, he decides. Perhaps the back rooms of a pleasure house? Although, if that’s the case, this amount of excitement over a mere two men is honestly a little excessive.

He reaches out tentatively, but pats all the way across the mattress to the edge without finding his usual bedfellow. A much less tentative venture towards the other side produces similar results.

Hm.

Wei Wuxian cracks open an eye and heaves himself upright, absent-mindedly scratching at his (unusually soft - as much as he hates to admit it, maybe Nie Huaisang has a point about drinking less and training more) side and squinting into the too-bright light until the person-shaped blur in front of him sharpens into focus.

“Niang niang!” a complete stranger cries tearfully, clutching at the sleeve of his other arm. “You’re awake! Thank Heavens, you’re awake! Physician Liu, quick, quick!”

A cushion is produced from somewhere and thrust expectantly between Wei Wuxian and the elderly man sitting at his bedside.

He sighs. It’s probably not worth fighting.

Wei Wuxian smacks his upturned wrist onto the unusually lavish brocade and is only a little surprised when it’s covered by a cloth before the physician reaches to take it.

(Do they think he’s diseased?)

((Is he diseased?!))

(((Is that why Lan Zhan isn’t here?)))

He looks at the row of young girls (+ 1 matron) kneeling along the wall to his left, dressed identically to the first and also now beginning to prostrate themselves and wail about “Niang niang!” and blessings and deserving to die.

Not a pleasure house, then.

He looks around at the rest of the richly-furnished room and its intricately-carved wooden furniture, the wealth of jade carvings and the obscene amount of gold that's gilding … everything (so shiny). The opulence of it all would put even Jin Guangshan to shame.

So, not a nunnery either.

He looks down at the small hands, delicate wrists and - he clutches one abruptly just to make sure his eyes aren’t deceiving him - breasts of the body that he certainly was not inhabiting yesterday.

“Well,” he says aloud, unable to stop himself from wincing at the high, soft voice that emerges despite fully expecting it. “It’s not the first time this has happened.”

===

Two days, one diagnosis of shock-induced memory loss and some discreet enquiries (as well as some indiscreet enquiries) later, this is what he knows about his situation:

He’s the main consort (unfavoured) of the crown prince of whatever place he’s landed in;

Three days ago, following a disagreement with one Consort Yun (favoured, main competitor for husband’s affections);

In the course of this disagreement, both women somehow fell into a palace lake and mostly-drowned;

Consort Yun (admittedly quite pretty) was revived at the scene, but Wei Wuxian took a full day to “miraculously” recover;

Angered by the unseemly behaviour of her daughters-in-law, particularly upon learning that the Crown Princess’s first act upon waking was to stumble upon a chance meeting between the Crown Prince and Consort Yun in one of the pleasure gardens and bodily throw herself between them (a tactical error on Wei Wuxian’s part. He’d been trying to throw himself over the battlements to freedom, but he’d gotten lost and scaled the wrong wall), the Empress (Crown Prince’s political opponent, not particularly fond of either consort) grounded both of them to their respective residences for a month, with no visitors allowed.

Which brings him to his current position, feeding the fish in his personal pond as an excuse to be alone. Not truly alone - he shoots a pointed glance at the maids watching anxiously from the other side of the courtyard - because he’s apparently a “suicide risk” now (and honestly, yes, he’d meant to throw himself off that roof, but he hadn’t meant to die - it’s simply that this new body’s cultivation level is not what he’s come to expect even from Mo Xuanyu’s modest abilities), but alone enough to start planning his next move.

Direct escape is out - he didn’t have a plan for what to do once he’d gotten out anyway, and honestly he’s better-resourced for finding out how he got here in the Palace than anywhere else, so it’s no great loss.

“What do you think, Master Fish?” Wei Wuxian asks a gold and black spotted koi with particularly sage-looking whiskers. “Shall I just stay here for the time being?”

It’s not a terrible place to be for the time being, he must admit, throwing more food into the water and watching the fish swarm. Being grounded, he’s at no risk from the Crown Prince’s amorous attentions for a month (a salute of gratitude to the Empress for the inadvertent protection). And thanks to Consort Yun and her voluptuous figure (and if the Crown Prince is more partial to that than the Zhao Feiyan style of willowy fragility that Wei Wuxian seems to have inherited, who can honestly blame him?), he’s at no great risk from them after that, either (a salute of gratitude to the unknowing sister-in-arms, taking one - and hopefully a great many more after that - for the team).

According to his maid (sleeve-clutcher extraordinaire, who even now is boring two holes into his skull with her woeful gaze from across the way while he does nothing more suspicious than scatter another handful of feed towards some latercomer fish), the body he’s inhabiting comes from a powerful military lineage. In particular, her father is (was?) a powerful general who currently commands more than half the nation’s military forces and has the absolute trust of the Emperor. So that more or less keeps him safe from the machinations of the majority of the nest of vipers in this palatial cesspit.

That just leaves the Empress, who - if his servants and the smuggled letters from the Original Goods’s mother (a salute of gratitude to the worthy woman for spelling it out so that even such an interloper as he can understand) are anything to go by - would definitely kill him to damage the Crown Prince’s political standing or throw any sort of roadblock in the way of him from becoming Emperor.

Less immediately - if his secret informants are anything to go by (a salute of gratitude to the resourceful host for cultivating such a valuable resource if not her dantian) - it also leaves the Crown Prince, who, upon cementing his power as Emperor, would also definitely kill his current Crown Princess in order to wedge his beloved Consort Yun into the Empress role.

Really, the only road to any sort of security for someone in his position is to raise the next Imperial heir, outlive the Original Goods’s faithless husband and become the Empress Dowager.

Hopefully Wei Wuxian will be long gone by then, but if leaving means the Original Goods will return (from … Mo Xuanyu’s body? The Ether? Or???) - well, he doesn’t want to repay her hospitality by leaving her house in a mess, so to speak. So he’ll try to set her on that career path, if he can.

But that’s an aspirational goal. First, he has to not-die before he can find out how to get himself home.

And find out how to get himself home.

If getting himself home is even possible.

Wei Wuxian dumps the rest of the fish food in the water and yells.

(It startles the maids, the fish and the poor eunuch the Crown Prince has sent as a spy into falling out of the tree he’s been hiding in and into the prickly bushes below.)

===

The problem with “staying for the time being” is … well, how interminably boring it is. The approved list of hobbies for an Imperial consort seems to consist of: eating (but not too much), sleeping (but not too much), embroidery (which he can’t do), reading (but only texts on female virtue and the occasional terrible novel), playing music (but not the flute), conversing with his maids (who are very sweet, but are all like, 12) and walking in the gardens (which he’s not allowed to do).

Honestly, it’s no wonder all the consorts turn to scheming and murder.

It only takes a week of confinement for him to snap and sneak himself out for a nighttime adventure, setting off to explore the grounds and see … a night-blooming flower, a ghost, a rat, he’ll take pretty much anything at this point.

In the end, he finds none of these things, but the walking is still pretty nice, and he even hears the faint sounds of a guqin wafting over from one of the other consorts’ residences. (He should probably learn who lives where at some point, but it’s not exactly a priority. What’s he going to do with the information when he can only visit during the nighttime? Peep?) When Wei Wuxian wanders closer, the notes resolve themselves into the familiar strains of Flowing Waters, and his breath catches on a sudden surge of longing to hear the same song, played by a different set of fingers.

(First played on a familiar guqin and then, later, accompanied by soft humming between soft, worn sheets, played across the edges of Wei Wuxian’s ribs, along the dip of his spine, and finally lower, into--)

((Is Lan Zhan thinking about him?))

(((Is Lan Zhan looking for him?)))

Stumbling blindly on, he’s so caught up in missing Lan Zhan that he misses the first few stanzas of the next piece, and it isn’t until the music starts to rise in a familiar refrain that he freezes.

He knows that song.

He’s one of the only two people who know that song, which is in fact how he got caught out the last time he found himself in a farce of an identity charade, by the only other person who knows that song, who must be - who must be -

Lan Zhan, his blood sings in his ears as he takes off in a dead run towards the source of the playing. Up ahead of him, small courtyard glows softly with the light of the only burning lamp in their vicinity. Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan-

He scrambles up the wall with the ease of a lifetime’s practice, using bloody-minded determination to make up for the lack of muscle memory.

“Lan Zhan,” he yelps, forgetting to whisper in his excitement as he flings himself over the top and into the branches of a convenient, wall-side tree. “Lan Zhan, it’s me, I-”

This is, naturally, when his foot slips. He manages to catch hold of a branch, but his tender hands and puny wrists, unused to holding up anything heavier than a chicken leg, fail to maintain their hold through his weight, and he tumbles down the trunk into a sad puddle of fabric on the ground.

“Lan Zhan,” he gasps, fighting to untangle himself from the ridiculous train that, admittedly, made a considerable contribution to cushioning his fall. He clambers up onto his hands and knees--

--and looks straight into the wide-eyed stare of Consort Yun.

===

“I cannot believe,” Wei Wuxian growls, palming the ample softness of one exposed breast with one hand, while shoving the other deeper into the many (too many) layers of fabric between them and between Lan Zhan’s splayed legs, “that after everything that’s happened, you’re still taller than me.”

Lan Zhan huffs a laugh that turns quickly into a moan, and Wei Wuxian swallows it, smothers Lan Zhan’s gasping breaths with his own parted lips and sucks them greedily down even as he coaxes out more with twisting fingers here, another tug to Lan Zhan’s poor, abused nipple there.

He slides his fingers back between slick folds and then upwards again, pushing in and out in a few languid strokes before curling them to make Lan Zhan arch harder against the wall behind him, tilt his head back and expose a beautifully vulnerable stretch of neck to Wei Wuxian's teeth.

“Wei Ying,” Lan Zhan murmurs, and his voice is different, the shape of his lips is different, but the way Wei Wuxian’s name fits inside his mouth (tender, beloved), the way he tucks the flyaway strands of hair behind Wei Wuxian’s ear, the look in his eyes when their gazes meet (warm, open, knowing) are the same, same, same.

===

I am entirely too lazy to write the rest of it, but afterwards they regroup and it turns out LWJ has been in this world for exactly one more day than WWX, having woken up in Consort Yun’s body when she was “revived”. Consort Yun is the daughter of a high-ranking Minister in the Treasury or something, so Lan Zhan been using his new position as the daughter of a ~scholarly family~ to build a reputation for being really into Buddhist scripture, and eventually he’s going to request to be allowed to go to a nearby Temple to attain some virtuous brownie points for the Imperial family via prayer as his penitence.

That there’s also an elderly monk living there who’s got a reputation for being super good with the divine mysteries and spiritual lore about curses and whatnot is totally immaterial, if Lan Zhan happens to run into that guy, it’ll be a total coincidence, yeah.

So WWX also starts on the divine penitence route, and if everyone thinks it’s because the Crown Princess refuses to be outdone by Consort Yun, then even better, and two weeks into confinement they wear the Empress down into letting them make the trip, and when they get there, turns out the monk is Nie Huaisang.

(NHS: “OH THANK GOD, I’ve done the research but the lynchpin of this mess is definitely somewhere in the Palace and I could not for the life of me figure out a way to get in.”

WWX: “That's nice, but seriously, how come you got to stay a man?”

NHS: “My friend, I may be a man, but my balls are currently swinging somewhere around my ankles.”

WWX: “...show me.”

And LWJ is like “NO.” except WWX can tell by the look in his eye that he sort of wants to see, too).

So they return to the Palace and WWX whirls into one of their morning audiences with the Empress, distraught about a ~dream from the ancestors~ where they warned him about disrupted ley lines or accumulated resentment or an offended minor god that needs investigation by someone, and “How convenient, because we met just the guy!” And the Empress looks like she was Done Five Years Ago, but the Empress Dowager, who’s old and doddery, is like “oh no, you must bring him!” and the Empress mutters “to fucking what, offend some major gods and really do the job properly?” and that’s how they find out the Empress is Jiang Cheng.

In the meantime, the confinement edict expires and WWX+LWJ are allowed to return to their regular programming, which means that as the legal wife, WWX can continuously summon LWJ to his residence for increasingly tenuous and spurious reasons. The best thing is, it’s not even out of character for the Crown Princess, who used to regularly summon Consort Yun to subject her to not-so-veiled barbs and petty torments. So WWX summons LWJ, and then immediately expels both their entourages from the room, instructing that no one is to enter on pain of death.

So LWJ’s maids are gnashing their teeth helplessly while all sorts of piteous moans, pained gasps and the occasional scream emanate from behind the closed door, and when their mistress finally emerges there are no marks on her body, but she’s weak-kneed and having trouble walking straight, so who knows what kind of terrible tortures the Crown Princess has visited upon her.

The Crown Prince obviously hears about this, so he bursts in one day without warning, only to find the two sitting together, the Crown princess’s arms around Consort Yun’s waist, her cheek pillowed on one heaving bosom, and although she’s smiling besottedly at him now, he could have sworn that he felt killing intent being directed at him only a second ago? And to tell the truth, he’s not really in love Consort Yun either, it’s all an act to keep the two consorts (and their families) pitted in a power struggle against each other until he can finally outmanoeuvre the Empress and cement his position as heir to the throne (and also to protect his actual favourite, a third consort who’s a nondescript nobody with no political backing). So the fact that “It was all a misunderstanding, we’re friends now,” his Crown Princess says sweetly (and did she … rub her cheek against his Consort’s chest? Must be his imagination) is not the worst thing (at least neither of them/their families can be enlisted by the Empress in support of her son, and if they’re caught up with Being Besties, then at least they’re not bullying his actual favourite), but for some reason he still feels kind of … threatened? Like someone’s making moves on his wife, which is absurd because they’re both his wives, but the vibes he gets from the first one in particular are kind of … off?

In any case, the crew solve the mystery, find the lynchpin object (which turns out to be a jade dildo belonging to one of the Emperor’s favoured consorts because of course it is), and wake up in their real bodies, in their real world, to a very apologetic hermit-inventor-cultivator whose property they stumbled onto while pursuing a resentful beast. Turns out they triggered the glamour/enchantment/psychic maze world he created as a security system because, “I just didn’t want to risk people getting into my stuff, you know? I’ve got some things that could be very dangerous in the wrong hands”. WWX is like “oh yeah, for sure” and JC is like “WHAT DO YOU MEAN FOR SURE? HOW IS THIS AN UNDERSTANDABLE RESPONSE, IF YOU’RE AFRAID PEOPLE WILL TOUCH YOUR SHIT THEN JUST ENCHANT SOME FUCKING WARRIOR GOLEMS LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE.”

#CQL #The Untamed #mo dao zu shi #Wangxian #fic #not-fic

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usergreenpixel · 2 years

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MALMAISON MEDIA SALON SOIRÉE 5: TEMERAIRE. THRONE OF JADE(2006)

1. The Introduction

Greetings, Neighbors. Welcome to the Malmaison Media Salon.

So, today’s topic was coming up as I liked the first book of the “Temeraire” series. Therefore, it would only be a matter of time before I reviewed the following installment, as I want to take a look at the whole series.

Like the first book, it can be found online but it was a bit harder for me to find an online version this time than with “His Majesty’s Dragon”.

Anyway, let’s see where this story goes, shall we?

2. The Story

(Spoilers ahead!)

In my first review I mentioned that Temeraire, the titular dragon, is of a Celestial breed, sent by the Chinese Emperor to Napoleon as this breed is intended only for monarchs and their families. Well, now the consequences of having seized Temeraire’s egg have come back to bite Will Laurence right in the ass.

Why? Simple. The Emperor sent his brother, Prince Yongxing, to return Temeraire to China as they deem Laurence (who is not royalty) unworthy of being Temeraire’s companion. The Prince wants the two separated but Temeraire will have none of it so they have to bring Laurence along to China as well.

I actually like this setup because it shows the logical consequences of events from previous installments! Moreover, I like the difference between the treatment of dragons in England and in China, as it reflects real folklore.

In China, dragons are respected so in the universe they have the same rights as humans do. They even write poetry and take imperial exams as human court officials do!

The English, meanwhile, mostly see dragons as beasts at worst and pets at best (the theme of dragons as awful beasts is extremely prevalent in Western Medieval folklore). Naomi Novik is clearly tapping into folklore again and that’s a plus for me because it shows her research! I really like it!

There’s also an interesting piece of possible foreshadowing with Temeraire being sick and the Chinese cooks curing him with specific medicine.

And also the arrogant attitude of the Chinese and the British towards each other’s customs is a nice realistic touch, as are the scenes describing Chinese dishes, Temeraire becoming connected with the customs of China, and, of course, the conspiracies of the Imperial Court! In short, fun stuff!

I don’t have any real complaints about the story, except that perhaps the main issue got resolved too quickly.

For context: Temeraire was one of twin dragons. His older twin, Chuan, went to the heir (Prince Mianning), so giving the other twin to another prince would create competition for the throne. This is why Temeraire was intended for Napoleon, an emperor who is far away from China so they still observe the custom of reserving Celestials only for royalty.

(Spoilers ahead!)

But Laurence is not royalty and Temeraire is way too attached to him to allow anyone to separate them. So, what’s the solution the Emperor has? He adopts Laurence as a son.

No, I’m not kidding. It’s really that simple but I think it resolved everything too quickly.

Moving on!

3. The Characters

(Spoilers ahead!)

Temeraire and Laurence are growing on me! Temeraire is still blunt, curious and protective! Laurence, as we find out in the book, is against slavery and even though he has realistic fears of being abandoned by Temeraire, he is also protective of the dragon! Aww. We also get sweet scenes of Temeraire romancing a Chinese dragon called Mei. For some reason, I find that adorable.

Prince Yongxing... I hate his guts. Arrogant, cunning and a mastermind behind assasination attempts on Laurence, he is the main antagonist and he wanted to use Temeraire in his plot to overthrow the current heir and have a puppet king with Temeraire as said king’s companion.

He does have a redeeming quality though, and to see what it is we have to take a look at Lien. Lien is a Celestial dragon and a cousin to Temeraire (their breed is rare so they’re all connected and can’t breed with each other), but she is ostracized for being an albino, as white is the traditional color of death in China.

Yongxing, to his credit, took pity on Lien and even sacrificed his position as heir to be her handler. This is oddly touching and sets Lien up as a tragic and complex character, especially since Yongxing dies and she is left all alone now.

4. The Setting

I loved the descriptions of Peking in this book! The pavillons, the rooms, the palaces... so gorgeous! And the contrast with smoggy London is well done too, so kudos!

The settings here are described even better than those in the first book, if you ask me, so I think there has been improvement.

5. The Writing

Once again, mostly comprehensible for modern readers but non-native English speakers might struggle with some old words and grammar, so remember that.

In general, though, it’s not a difficult read.

6. The Conclusion

This series is growing on me. Novik knows her stuff about folklore dragons and has beautifully set up what can be interesting plot points, like Lien possibly being an antagonist in the future

I still recommend this series and I will make reviews on the following installments too.

With that, let us conclude the soirée. Wait for updates and stay safe, my dear Neighbors.

Love,

- Citizen Green Pixel

#history #napoleonic media #napoleonic literature #napoleonic art #napoleon bonaparte #temeraire #malmaison media salon #literature review #throne of jade

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manggaetteokkie · 4 years

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Why 2HA adaptation might not be as bad as we think...

Okay so BL novel “The Husky and His White Cat Shizun” (chinese title: “二哈和他的白猫师尊”) aka 2HA is getting a live adaption which will be called “Immortality” (“皓衣行”). I know that usually, fans of original works are less than excited about this kinds of news and with good reasons. The issue is that those who buy the IP rights to a novel simply see its popularity and think that they can profit off of it without actually trying to understand the reason behind its popularity. Too often, BL fans see themselves forced to endure any of the following: 1) sex change of one of the male leads, 2) creation of a random female love interest, 3) turning a happy end into a bad end, 4) adding a bunch of scenes unrelated to our main pair that ends up dragging the series, 5) turning romance into brotherly affection... the list goes on and on. Sometimes, companies think that as long as they film any two guys together and sell a bit of physical touching here and there, fans will jump on it like rabid dogs which... is kinda stupid because, y’know, we have eyes (and standards) too.

So obviously, with the unprecedented popularity that came with the release of The Untamed, even more producers are starting to see the potential of danmei (BL) novels and with it came an onslaught of IP rights being bought and adapted. The list is pretty extensive, with some big names that I’m sure anyone who’s even slightly in the Chinese BL novel community has heard of before. Of course, included in that list, with the casting for the leads done and filming underway, is 2HA.

Quick overview of the story for those of you that don’t know: the story is set in the POV of the “gong” (top), a character named Mo Ran (also known as Mo Weiyu) who is the disciple of Chu Wanning, the “shou” (bottom) of our story. In his original life, Mo Ran had become the Emperor of the cultivation world through slaughter and tyranny, with the only one ever coming close to stopping him being his shizun, Chu Wanning, who eventually lost his life trying to stop him. After achieving the top by committing pretty much all crimes and sins known to men, weary and tired, Mo Ran decides to take his own life and ends it all. Unexpectedly, instead of dying and going to Hell, he transmigrated to the first year he became a disciple. As a thirty-something man in the body of a teen, he decides to do things right this time around and save the one he couldn’t save the first time around. As he goes through life a second time, truth after truths reveal themselves, with the biggest surprise being that the Shizun he hated so much in his previous life, and who Mo Ran thought hated/scorned him, actually turned out to be protecting him the entire time.

Mo Ran, in his past life, was powerful, cruel, merciless and arrogant. There was nothing he could not obtain and he knew it. He was cynical, had a very jaded view of the world and was kind of unstable (lots of mood swings and temper tantrums). After his rebirth, he still maintained some of the arrogance and cynicism, but is more mischievous, confident and cheeky. He is very much like a husky, looks kind of scary and big, but can be extremely loyal to the ones he recognizes and can be a bit dumb sometimes. Chu Wanning on the other hand, is an unflappable person with a frost-like exterior, but a heart of gold. Basically, he cares a lot but it’s easier for him to look like he doesn’t than to voice his feelings. He gets embarrassed easily and covers his embarrassment using anger. He is extremely strong, likes peace and quiet, and always abides by the rules.

Their relationship is kind of complicated. Initially, Mo Ran was in love with a fellow disciple called Shi Mei (despite the word meaning junior female disciple in Chinese, it’s actually the name of a male character). In the original timeline, Shi Mei died and that was the start of Mo Ran’s decline. After his rebirth, Mo Ran decides that he will do everything in his power to prevent Shi Mei from dying again. Don’t be mistaken though, Shi Mei is NOT the male lead. You’ll see as you read more that despite being in love with Shi Mei, Mo Ran is pretty obsessed with Chu Wanning because their relationship was kind of... complicated in the original timeline.

This is pretty much the premise for the story, but do be warned that it goes much deeper and darker than what you might expect (it’s rated R-18 for a reason). So why exactly am I writing all of this? To put it simply, I just kind of want to hype up the series and its adaptation a little, or at least, pique enough interest to give the live action adaptation a chance. Not gonna lie, when I heard 2HA was getting adapted, I was pretty skeptical because how. Mo Ran and Chu Wanning had a pretty physical relationship in the pre-rebirth timeline and that’s partially where the obsession that Mo Ran feels towards Chu Wanning stems from. There’s just basically a lot of unresolved sexual tension between them throughout the novel that I simply couldn’t see getting adapted. However, after thinking about it and reevaluating things from a low-expectations-standpoint, I think it might actually be possible to film something close enough to the original work. Here are some of the factors that influenced my opinion:

First, the series is set to air for 50 episodes (just like The Untamed). Why is the number of episodes important? Because it will determine how closely the adaptation will follow the original story and how much random stuff they can fit into it. Let’s take a step back and evaluate: 2HA’s novel has 311 chapters + extras while MDZS has 113 + extras. Obviously, people might have an issue with the number of episodes (”How are you going to air the same amount of episodes for a series that’s thrice as long??”) but I think it’s a good amount. Why? Because it pretty much guarantees a solid pacing that’ll keep the story moving forward without stagnating. I don’t think there is too much to worry in terms of too much source material being cut because quite a few chapters are R-18/romantic lining scenes that would not have gotten adapted anyways. Once those get deleted, I think 50 episodes is an acceptable amount.

Second, the entire production seems to be solid. The rights were actually bought by Tencent who, if you forgot, was also responsible for The Untamed. With prior success, I believe that they now have a pretty solid idea of how things should be run. Also, the CGI and world-design team is the same one as for Ashes of Love, which has me pretty stoked because while CG in chinese dramas has always been a hit or miss, Ashes of Love is definitely amongst some of the best I’ve seen (see below for examples). (P.S. there are also rumours that Lin Hai, the one responsible for The Untamed’s OST, might be working on 2HA but this is mere speculation at this point.) Overall, 2HA is looking to be like the most high-profile and expensive BL adaption yet.

Third and finally, the casting.

Holy.

Okay.

This is what has me the most hyped.

Let’s start with Shi Mei, who will be portrayed by actress Chen Yao (or Sebrina Chen).

I know I’ve said that despite the name, Shi Mei is a male. As it turns out, likely for censorship reasons, “Immortality” could not escape from the clutches of the dreaded sex change so they went ahead and turned him into a girl. While not ideal, in my opinion, it actually works out pretty nicely here. In this case, it means that Mo Ran is in love with a female character which would further draw censorship’s attention away from the fact that Mo Ran really has a thing for his beautiful shizun. While it would have been perfect if everything could go according to source material, the fact that it’s Shi Mei that went through a sex change actually works pretty favourably in the grand scheme of things. Not to mention the actress set to play Shi Mei has some good experience acting similar roles so overall, I say that I trust her.

Next, we have Chu Wanning who will be played by Luo Yunxi (or Leo Luo).

For this character, I have no worries whatsoever. If you’re unfamiliar with this actor, I highly recommend you give Ashes of Love a try. He played the 2nd lead and ugh. He’s so good at playing beautiful and elegant characters that are forced to undergo a ton of suffering and pain. Luo Yunxi used to be a professional ballet dancer so he moves with grace and his fight scenes are amazing to watch. Also, he has great control over his facial expressions. He’s able to act out characters that suffer a lot without making them seem weak or powerless. Even the way he cries can be considered both beautiful and heartbreaking.

Finally, we have Mo Ran who will be portrayed by Chen Feiyu (or Arthur Chen).

Mo Ran is an extremely complex character. From pre-rebirth’s insanity and arrogance, to post-rebirth’s hope and reservation, to post-revelation’s love and devotion, the actor’s going to have a lot on his plate. Originally, when I first googled him, I thought that while he’d manage to pull off post-rebirth teen!Mo Ran fairly well given how clean and refreshing his face looks, he’d have a harder time pulling off pre-rebirth’s arrogance, craziness and general “hardness”. However, after seeing some costume designs and makeup edits, I think that the boy might just pull it off. Also, while the actor is nowhere near as solid as Luo Yunxi is, it seems that he’s willing to put in extra time and effort (as seen by his Weibo post about how he’d been studying the source material) to make up for it. I think that with enough dedication, he might just be able to pull it off.

(Psssst! By the way, keeping this strictly between you and me, another reason why I’m such a fan of this pair is because of the height difference. I mean just look at this?? Their height difference is pretty much bang on with the novel height difference after Mo Ran grew past Chu Wanning’s height. Not to mention, don’t tell me you see this and don’t automatically picture a the big dorky puppy following his reserved and cool master around?)

So yeah, all of this just to say that it might be okay to kind of have some expectations for 2HA. I really want to keep my own expectations down as low as possible given the amount of times we’ve been burned but I want to remain hopeful that, with the success of The Untamed, it can pave the way for better and more faithful danmei adaptations, with 2HA being one of them.

#the husky and his white cat shizun #二哈和他的白猫师尊 #2ha #immortality #皓衣行 #haoyixing #luo yunxi #chen feiyu #chen yao #leo luo #arthur chen #sebrina chen #chu wanning #mo ran #mo weiyu #long post #talking with zb

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wangxianficfinder · 4 months

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Fic Finder

Feb 6th

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1. Hi!

I've been watching your content for a while and I really liked it, so I would like you to please help me find a fic.

This fic is a One shot with a/b/o theme (wwx omega LWJ alpha) where wwx lived a "house" for omegas (where he is a friend of mm) and they "borrow" it for prince Lwj, Lxc ( alpha) is the emperor and JGY (omega) is his partner.

In Gusu, omegas are not considered for cultivation, however, wwx doesn't care much about that and there is a scene where he along with LWJ fight in a cave with a monster. The final scene of the one shot occurs when WWX runs away from Gusu to the beach, LWJ follows him because they promised to visit the sea one day together.

the wangxian relationship is slow and with lwj's problems to express his feelings 😓

I would appreciate your help, if you need more information, I will gladly try to remember more things😊 and sorry for the grammar, my native language is not English (google translator)

FOUND? Rattling our cages by danegen (E, 69k, wangxian, A/B/O, but like polite, Slow Burn, Pining while fucking, so much hair combing, WWX has a vagina, POV WWX, no yin iron or wars or plot really, Canon Era, spiders--see the notes, Spanish Translation Available)

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2. Heya! Can y'all help me find a fic?

The part of the plot i remember is that WWX uses an array to erase himself and the wens from the memory of the cultivation world. The array stops one day, and a bunch of people go to the burial mounds to see what's up. It was on ao3, probably.

and that's ~all i remember~

a nice fic but not the one i remember. pretty sure wwx was hiding in the burial mounds with the wens. thanks for this fic tho!

NOT FOUND! Second Summer by Anonymous (M, 152k, WangXian, canon, Post-Sunshot Campaign, Mystery, Amnesia, Memory Loss, Curses, Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies, somebody lives/somebody else dies, Golden Core Reveal, canon-typical lack of lube, Ambiguous/Open Ending)

NOT FOUND! you've heard that melody before by Stratisphyre (M, 66k, wangxian, JL & LSZ & LJY, JC/WQ, Canon Divergence, Hurt/Comfort, Memory Loss, POV Multiple, Multiple Canon Character Deaths, Depictions of depression, Light Dom/sub, Not Everyone Dies AU, Twin Prides of Yúnmèng Dynamics)

FOUND? Run Off The World by Sapphire_Roses (M, 271k, wangxian, JYL/JZX, SL/XXC, WIP, Not Everyone Dies AU, Canon Divergence, Wen Remnants Live, Flashbacks, YLLZ WWX, WWX Creates a Sect | Yiling Wei Sect, Sect Leader WWX, Married WangXian, OCs, POV Outsider, Morally Grey Characters, (Do Take That Tag Seriously), Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Family Feels, Developing Friendships, Fluff, Attempt at Humor, Yunmeng Siblings Feels, Gusu Siblings Feels, Sibling Bonding, Pining, Character Study, Tenderness, Mild Smut, POV Alternating, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, Minor Character Death)

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3. Hi, i was looking for a fic i think i found in your blog? It was a wip and it was something along the line of wwx as yilling patriarch and the sects sent lan wangji for tribute. But they already knew each other.

I remember this one scene where lan wangji finds bunnies inside the burial mounds but wwx captures them to eat and lwj is sad.

I don't remember the title or anything because i think i directly clicked the link and started reading but then i forgot to bookmark it and lost the link.

Please help me find it, i really wanna know what happened next.🙏😔

FOUND? The Jade Bride by lanwangjibo (Not rated, 16k, wangxian, WIP, Pining LWJ, YLLZ WWX, Misunderstandings, POV WWX, POV LWJ, Fluff and Angst, WQ Lives, Wēn Remnants Live, LSZ is a Wēn, WWX is Bad at Feelings, LWJ is Bad at Communicating, SS Being an Asshole, Pining WWX, Hurt LWJ, BAMF WWX, Angst with a Happy Ending)

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4. fic finder request! looking for two fics that i can't seem to locate in my bookmarks - A) in the first one, sizhui (and the rest of the juniors?) somehow reach through time and rescue wwx (i think dead in present time), bringing him into their present! in the process they create a lot of trouble, due to the power expended and released, i believe they turned a mountain into a crater or something.

B) the second fic I'm looking for takes place during the sunshot campaign, when baoshan sanren decides to join the fight and intervenes. she restores both jc and wwx's cores, by reaching back into time and removing jc's core right before it's melted by wzl, she also returns wwx's core from jc's to wwx's body. she does this in her tent, which is also a dimension travel portal or something which iirc links back to her home on the mountain.

thank you very much!! @potatokunst

4A)

FOUND! Would You Come Home? by s6115 (Not rated, 46k, WangXian, Junior Quartet Centric, Time Travel Fix-It, Canon Divergence, Junior Quartet Dynamics)

4B)

FOUND! Can't Tell Me Nothin by natacup82 (T, 35k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Everybody Lives, Family Feels, Communication, BAMF Women) Baoshan Sanren return Jiang Cheng's core from the past in chapter 4

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5. hi! gosh, i have had this fic stuck in my head for the past weeks but for the life of me, i just cannot remember the name. i really hope you can help me find it!

the fic is about how modern wei wuxian is a researcher/scientist and he got his hands on a shady book written by baoshan sanren, accidentally triggers a talisman/array and somehow being transported into the wuxia version and it involves the people who died coming back to life and they all watch/read the past and it just sort of becomes one big therapy session.

i think i remember there being a part in the fic where modern wei wuxian mentions transferring/donating his organ to modern jiang cheng in reference to how og wei wuxian transfered his gold core to og jiang cheng.

and also a part where it was mention that for modern wei wuxian, it was madam yu who found and brought him back to the jiang family to be raised and not sect leader jiang; also it was implied that the modern jiang family is actually a loving happy family in contrast to the sort of dysfunctional og one because modern wei wuxian address's madam yu and sect leader jiang as mother and father.

i wish i could remember more, i hope this would be enough to go on. please help me and thank you so much in advance! @lilith--14

I believe this fic has been deleted but please correct me if I'm wrong - Mod C

FOUND? Yes the fic was deleted. It's "Loving Future, Distant Past" by yareyarejojosan. Here is a link to a folder that contains all of the author's fics

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6. For a fic finder, there was this nsfw kinda darkji (probably pwp) fic that haunts me and might have been deleted, becaused i’ve searched in every way I know how: (post?)canon, wwx can’t get hard anymore for some reason. He is embarrassed to admit it to lwj, who then calms him and says it’s normal and that he doesn’t use it for much anyway. Turns out lwj was the one who started and keeps giving him the tea for impotence. The lan doctors are in on this(?) Thanks if anyone can identify this one!

I don’t think 6 on the last fic finder was it (still a delishiously dark-ish rec, thank you!), it was (probably) a shorter pwp and not modern

NOT FOUND You Sing of Thanatos; I Hear Only Eros by kanonkita (E, 39k, WangXian, MIND THE TAGS, Modern AU, Extremely Dubious Consent, Dark!LWJ, Mild Horror, Omorashi, Tentacles, Rope Bondage, Shibari, Praise Kink, Breeding Kink, Oviposition, Non-Consensual Body Modification, soft pillow talk, Hurt/Comfort, non-consensual emotional healing, Panic Attacks, Wetting, Body Horror, Impotence, Magic, Anal Sex, PIV Sex, Mpreg, Mild Suicidal Ideation, Voyeurism, PWP, Angst, nonconsensual medical treatment)

FOUND? Succumbing to His unconditional love? by MurderRose (E, 2k, wangxian, mildly dom/sub, WWX's floppy little cock, the trials of being utterly loved, LWJ can be a tiny bit dark as a treat, opt in or opt out at your will, its almost invisibly mild, a lil bit of humiliation)

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7. Hello (✿◠‿◠) hope you having a good day! This is for the fic finder, I've been looking for this fic where after his death wwx comes back as a rabbit, it has a glossary at the start for words/terms the rabbits use, I think? I really hope this is enough to go form!

FOUND! Dignity and Animality by quick_cat_tl (G, 31k, WangXian, Watership Down, u know the one with the political/philosophical bunnies, Reincarnation, Lapine language, Rabbit!WWX, Sunny Angst, Pining) Hi, number 7 is probably „Dignity and Animality“ by Anielka. Unfortunately, it seems to be deleted on AO3. / For #7, I remember reading "Dignity and Animality!" When I click the link for it (from the wangxianficrecs tumblr), it redirects to Dignity and Animality by quick_cat_tl - maybe the author changed their AO3 handle? / The question about #7 - I copied the link for the current posting for that story and then took it into the wayback machine where that same link does pull up the story being underneath the original name mentioned back in 2021, so it was a name change and not a repost.

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8. I’m looking for a fic, one chapter, Lan Wangji is a teacher in Cloud Recesses. He takes Wei Wuxian to the Jingshi and it’s implied that he told Wei Wuxian he’d not tell anyone what Wei Wuxian had done so long as Wei Wuxian let him fuck him.

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9. Hi! I hope you can help me find this. All I can remember is that WWX fell asleep in the cold spring and I think Lwj or Lqr saw his body few hours later and wwx is cold as if he is already dead.

FOUND? 🔒 Warming up (to him) by barisan (T, 9k, LQR & WWX, WangXian, Hypothermia, Cloud Recesses Study Arc, Temporary Character Death, Medical Inaccuracies, YZY Abuses WWX, JFM Bashing, pre-wangxian, Good Uncle LQR, Angst with a Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort)

FOUND? Warmth by Quiet_crash (G, 2k, WangXian, LQR & WWX, Hypothermia, Fluff, Kinda, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm)

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10. Hi! Your work on this blog is absolutely amazing! For fic finder, I've been searching for a fic I read awhile ago. It's post-canon. WWX is traveling and writing to LWJ, but letters stop coming. LWJ searches and finds that to prevent a creature from preying on a local child, WWX took it on himself but to prevent the curse from hurting anyone else, he's hiding in a cave, constantly drinking to dull the effects.

FOUND? Fire in the Blood by Jo Lasalle (Jo_Lasalle) (M, 20k, wangxian, First Time, Post-Canon, Angst with a Happy Ending, hurt/comfort themes)

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11. Hey I read a book recently, in there, there was a scene where, wwx was protecting someone? Or someone was protecting wwx? By standing on one side of fire and the attackers/i think it was jins or someone on the other side of fire. The scene was fierce. They were like us against the world type of scene. Do u know this fic? @constellationdks

#11 for recent fic finder here, thnx for the rec but it's not the one. The one I'm looking for is quite long, I think it was more than 30 or 40k. Also the scene wasn't with a yuan.

I know number 11 and I'm trying to search for it. It's wwx holding a-yuan in his arms in an alleyway when they are attacked by the jin. The premise has something to do with that strength parents get when defending their children? 🤔 let me get back to you!

NOT FOUND Hysterical Strength by covalentbonds (Not Rated, 3k, WIP, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Parent WWX, Fix-It of Sorts, Everybody Lives/Nobody dies) Wwx is out one evening with a-yuan when he is ambushed by the jin.

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12. Fic finder please! 🙏

This would be a hybrid/warprize LWJ where he was a bunny hybrid and WWX was a snake. WRH has LWJ shipped off to WWX, who ends up helping him and eventually gets him reunited with LXC.

I remember there was art of LWJ and rabbits bc WWX was trying to help him calm down. I’ve read this sometime last year and can’t find it anywhere! 😭😭

FOUND! 山水盆景 (Shānshuǐ Pénjǐng) by meicairoubingfan (kiradyn) (M, 64k, WangXian, warprize AU warprize lwj, Slow Burn, Strangers to Lovers, Vers WangXian, Top WWX, Top LWJ/Bottom WWX, Animal Traits, Non-ABO Universe, Snake Demon Lord WWX, Animal Traits, Hand Jobs, Seduction, Found Family, Wedding In The Cloud Recesses, Handfasting In The Cold Spring Cave, Alternate 3Zun, Alternative Sunshot Campaign, Hinted Future ChenLi, YZY is a better mother, JYL Is Not A Wilting Wallflower, empowerment, Side-Character Cameos, Rabbit Sanctuary In The Burial Mounds, Cutest Little Bun MXY, Accidental Child Acquisition, Child MXY)

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13. (First part added to itmf) But I’m looking for a modern au were even though jc’s family is rich they don’t give wwx and jc pocket money and they were hungry in front of a bakery? And wwx used the « orphan in the street card » and lwj bought him food

I don’t know if it’s the same one but I think at some point wwx bought lwj home while he was drunk and waited for lxc to come pick him up and jc saw them talking on the couch and he thought they were dating (they weren’t together yet)

ANYWAY thank you for everything ✨✨✨ @ihaveasoftspotfora-yuan

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14. Hi! for the fic finder please, there was a fic where lz read on a book abt the hannaki disease and he thought it beautiful so he started choking himself on gentian flowers to imitate the feeling @cocoaphil

FOUND? the sweet scent of their tragedy by HeavenlySkyfarer (E, 23k, WangXian, Angst, Cultivation Sect Politics, Depression, Hanahaki Disease, Language of Flowers, Love Confessions, Manipulation, Marriage, Mental Health Issues, Pining, Post-Sunshot Campaign, Rumors, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, Whump, Self-Harm, Bittersweet, Self-Blame, Canon-Typical Violence, Blanket Permission, Morally Gray LWJ)

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15. Hello, I am looking for a fic I read some time ago (it could be a few years). I think it was post-canon, Lan WangJi and Wei WuXian were together. LWJ gets cursed and the only thing he has in mind is killing WWX (since he sees him only as the big bad Yiling Laozu). At the end, WWX pretends LWJ killed him and the curse is lifted. It was posted on ao3. Thank you for your hard work! And have a great day!

I think I remember this fic! It starts out with WWX accidentally cursing LWJ with a talisman while they were in the jingshi and ends with WWX running to the burial mounds, finding out there are people who worship him living there, and he uses the incense burner to trick LWJ into thinking he killed him to break the curse, right? I can't recall the name though - Mod C

FOUND? all the broken things that I made by ilip13 (E, 43k, WangXian, Post-Canon, Established Relationship, Angst with a Happy Ending, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Lovers To Enemies, (then back to lovers I'm not a monster), Dubcon Kissing, Dubious Consent, But mostly not in the way you might expect - see notes for details, Explicit Sexual Content, Bondage, Flirting, Competence Kink) might be this? I haven't read it yet, but the summary sounds like what they are looking for!

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16. Okay I could have easily dreamt this up but I could have sworn there was a fic where either LWJ or WWX was in a orchestra and his band mates thought he was married to wen qing because she was the one to always bring a Yuan to him after school or something only to think he was cheating when his actual husband comes by pls tell me I didn't dream this

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17. Hi! im sorry i lost a fic and i need help. It was an old wangxian fic, where LXC He's emperor (?) and LWJ is engaged to WWX, in this fic they get married and there are problems with the marriage because LWJ was a little bad during their engagement, since they were children. WWX was always trying to get his attention until one day he gave up. In the fic there is a part where Su She shoots WWX with an arrow and LWJ punishes him in some way.I remember it was also a Tumblr AU that later become a fic

NOT FOUND! rebuttable presumption by @sarah-yyy

NOT FOUND! Burning Bridges by Keysmashed (E, 12k, wangxian, arranged marriage, misunderstandings, pining, angst w/ happy ending, family drama, swordfighting, non-graphic smut, emotional rollercoaster, love confessions, everyone lives au) it’s probably not this one because su she is not in it and it’s not royalty but wx are engaged and wy does give up so even if it’s not you might like it

FOUND! permissive presumption by sarahyyy (G, 7k, WangXian, Royalty, Arranged Marriage, Pining, Mutual Pining, Misunderstandings) could also be permissive presumption by sarahyyy, on AO3, which is an AU of the author's fic on tumblr

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18. Hi! This is for fic finder. WWX is killed by SMS in sunshot campaign. He then resurected years later by MXY in JGS order. WWX and LWJ fight together. WWX hand is blackened i think. JGS refused to tell WWX what is MXY wish is. In last chapter, JGS is killed by JGY or Madam Jin and WWX is free from the curse. I think JGS death is because of NHS plot i think. Thank you! @idontknowwhattowriteforusername

Hi! I'am #18 from the latests fic finder. I want to add some details. Not much but i hope someone can recognize it. Jin Ling and Lan Jingyi was sent to Qishan either as a hostage or indocrination. In there, everytime they are punished, Wen Ning and Wen Yuan help them to make the punishment lighter. Sometimes they warned Jin Ling, Lan Jingyi, and other junior everytime other wen sect member (the one that didnt hesitate to punush them harshly) nearby. I think Wen Qing too help everytime the punishment is so harsh that caused injury, she make them stay in infirmary where they are safe

~*~

19. Hello! I’m looking for a fic where mxy and wwx are a couple who take lwj home for a night in a modern AU. The beginning talks about how mxy and wwx looked so similar that when they first met they were worried they were related. Lwj is on the verge of being in love w/ wwx, but he’s hesitant to act on it bc of the relationship between wwx & mxy. Once he’s in bed with them there’s a line about red satin sheets for special guests. It’s such a specific premise but I couldn’t find it on ao3😭

FOUND? you and me alone by plonk (Not rated, 6k, wangxian, MXY/LJW/WWX, modern)

~*~

20. looking for a fic from a prev ff or itmf, modern au, college/research lab? setting, abo dynamics. wwx and lwj participate in some scientific research study and get together in the process. iirc they are not in the same yr at college. i didnt manage to save it then but really want to read it, please help!!

NOT FOUND Pairfire by PaidSubscription (E, 65k, wangxian, NMJ/LXC, JC/NHS, WQ/MM, JYL/JZX, Slow Burn, Mutual Pining, Fluff, Relationships 101, Getting Together, First Time, Explicit Consent, Bordering on Kink Levels of Communication, Elements of Assigned-ish Marriage-ish, Non-Traditional A/B/O Dynamics, A/B/O With a twist, Because Cultivators CHOOSE Their Gender During This Course, After Trying Out All Three, It’s a Three Course Meal and WangXian’s Gender Acceptance is the Dessert, But Horny Pining is the Main Meal and the Most of the Snacks, Bottom LWJ, Bossy Bottom/Henpecked Top Energy, Everyone is over 21, Gender Choice Raises Issues for Most But I Promise Happy Endings + Everyone Comfy in Their Own Skin, Side Couple Aro/Ace/Agender Storylines)

FOUND! 🔒 I is for Instinct by beeswaxing (E, 71k, wangxian, LXC/NMJ, JYL/JZX, hualian, A/B/O, Alpha WWX, Omega LWJ, Scenting, Possessive Behavior, Getting Together, First Time, First Kiss, Public Display of Affection, Public Claiming, Good Parent LQR, Alpha YZY, Good Parent YZY, Family Feels, Fluff, Romance, Aftermath of Violence, Slice of Life, Modern, College/University, BAMF WWX, Soft Wangxian, Barebacking, Knotting, Semi-Public Sex, Shameless, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Mpreg)

~*~

#wangxian #mdzs #wangxian fic finder #wangxian fic search #the untamed #wangxianficfinder #long post

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foxghost · 4 years

Text

Joyful Reunion, Chapter 2

Translator: foxghost @foxghost tumblr/ko-fi1 Beta: meet-me-in-oblivion @meet-me-in-oblivion tumblr Original by 非天夜翔 Fei Tian Ye Xiang

Book 1, Chapter 1 (part 1)2

Spring weeds grow lush in a land now vanquished; summer palace ruins lie buried beneath mounds of dirt.3

Ever since the Emperor of Liao4 broke through Shangzi during the southern expedition, the Han has retreated past Yubiguan. Territories reaching up to three hundred miles south of Yubiguan including Hebei prefecture are now part of the Liao empire. There is a city called Runan in Hebei; it has been a distribution hub between central plain and those who lived north of the great wall since ancient times, but now that it’s become part of Liao, the Han who can flee west have fled west, ones who can move south have moved south. What used to be the most prosperous city in Hebei is now in a state of disrepair — less than thirty-thousand families remain.

The Duan family resides in the city of Runan.

The Duans are an average-sized family — not too big and not too small. It does some trading business with travelling merchants, and they own a pawn shop and an oil press. The head of the family had contracted tuberculosis before he was even thirty-five and died. The whole family now relies on Lady Duan’s management to keep things running.

It’s the eighth day of the twelfth month5, and what’s left of the sunset glitters off the road, filling the alleys of Runan with stone waves as though the edges of the paving stones are made of liquid gold. A heart-rending scream is heard from the Duan’s courtyard.

“That’s what you get for stealing Lady Duan’s things!”

“Say something, you bastard! You little animal!”

A club beats down like rain drops onto a boy’s head and body, making dull, thudding sounds. The boy is dressed in rags, his face covered in mud, his head and face black and blue with bruises. One of his eyes are swollen, and purple-black scratches scrape his arms where someone’s scratched him with their nails. He keeps trying to run towards the back of the house to escape, but he accidentally runs right into a maid and knocks over the wooden tray in her hands, and it makes the housekeeper scream again.

Right then, he dashes forward without regard for his life and throws himself at the woman, knocking her over. He aims squarely at her face and starts punching.

The boy opens his mouth and bites. The housekeeper screeches, “Murder!”

This shriek catches the attention of the aggressive-looking, muscular stable lad who rushes over with a pitchfork. The boy takes a solid hit on the back of his head. All at once his vision goes dark and he faints, then he’s soundly beaten until he awakes from the pain, until his shoulder is bloodied, whereupon he’s picked up by the collar and thrown into the wood shed. They close the door on him, and lock it.

“Get your wontons here —”

He hears an old man calling from the alleyway, through the walls. Every evening at dusk Laoqian would pass through the streets and alleys with a carrying-pole across his shoulders.

“Duan Ling!” The voices of children come from outside the courtyard.

“Duan Ling!”

Their calls wake the boy. There’s a cut on Duan Ling’s shoulder from the pitchfork, and a rivet’s punched a hole into his palm. He tries to get up, limping.

“Are you okay?” A kid outside yells.

Taking deep breaths, Duan Ling’s features are all scrunched up. He doesn’t even have the strength to stand anymore. He answers, “Yeah …” and drops heavily to a sitting position. After hearing a reply, the children hurry away.

Slowly, he slips to the ground; he curls into a fetal position in the damp, dark wood shed. Through the skylight, he stares up at the grey sky. Powdery snow floats down to him. In the mist that covers the sky and the snow drifting through the air, he thinks maybe he spots a twinkle of starlight above him, in the centre of the sky.

It grows gradually darker, and quieter, until all is silent. All over Runan, families light their warm, yellow lamps. Their roofs lie covered in a soft blanket of snow. Save for Duan Ling, who is still shivering in the wood shed, hunger making him delirious. Scene after scene appear before his eyes in a mess of images.

Sometimes it’s his late mother’s hands, sometimes Lady Duan’s embroidered gown, sometimes the housekeeper’s contorted face.

“Come get — your wontons —”

I didn’t steal anything, Duan Ling thinks to himself. He squeezes the two coppers in his palms tighter, his vision filled with nothing but darkness.

Will I die? Duan Ling’s consciousness is blurring. Death has always seemed like such a far away concept to him.

Three days ago, he saw a dead beggar, frozen beneath the green bridge, and all around him was a crowd of people. They ended up putting him on a flatbed cart, rolling him outside the city, and burying him in a mass grave.

That day he joined the crowd and followed them out of the city next to some other children. He watched as they wrapped his body in a grass mat and buried the beggar in a hole. Next to the hole was another, smaller hole. Now that he thinks about it, maybe after he dies he will be buried next to a beggar he’s never even met …

The night grows deeper; Duan Ling is nearly frozen from head to toe. The last breath he breathes out becomes a white fog that rises before him; snowflakes drift to and fro through the fog. His mind wanders and he wonders when the snow is ever going to stop. The sun appears before his eyes, like countless summer mornings at the cusp of dawn when the sky starts to brighten.

The sun turns into a lamp, and as the door to the woodshed is pushed open with a long squeal, lamplight falls onto his face.

“Come out!” The stable lad says gruffly.

“Is he Duan Ling?” A man’s voice comes from the side.

Duan Ling lies on his side on the ground, twitching near imperceptibly, facing the door. His limbs and his body are frozen stiff. With difficulty, he tries to sit up. The man comes in, kneels before him, and carefully examines his features.

“Are you sick?” The man says.

Duan Ling’s head feels muddled, nothing but phantoms and hallucinations before his eyes.

The man has a pill between his fingers. He puts the pill in Duan Ling’s mouth, and picks Duan Ling up into his arms.

Half conscious, he can vaguely smell the scent on that man, and with each gentle jolt of his steps the path seems to warm up gradually.

There’s a hole in Duan Ling’s old coat. The reed catkins sewn into the lining clings to the man all over.

It’s a dark, desolate night; lamplight flickering.

With Duan Ling in his arms he passes through a hallway filled half with shadows and half with lamplight, a trail of fluttering reed flowers behind him.

On both sides of the corridor, the sound of girls’ unbridled laughter passes over them through walls of warm rooms, mixing with the powdery hush of snowfall and the high, drawn out pitches of someone singing an opera. The world starts getting warmer and warmer, and there’s light.

They walk from winter to spring, from night to day.

The world is an inn for all living, time is a traveller since time’s existence.6

Duan Ling slowly regains consciousness, his breathing becoming rough and heavy.

They’re in a brilliantly lit reception hall. Lady Duan has draped herself over the front of the daybed, and she stares at a piece of scenery-embroidered satin in her hand, seemingly lost in thought.

“Lady Duan,” the man’s voice says.

Lady Duan’s words have a hint of a smile to them. “You know this boy?”

“I do not,” the man is still holding Duan Ling.

Duan Ling can feel the medicine fed to him earlier melting away in his throat, warmth returning to his belly, and his strength appears to be coming back. He leans against the man’s chest facing Lady Duan but he’s too scared to look up at her. All he can see is a little corner of a resplendent, brocade covered bed.

“His birth certificate is right here,” Lady Duan speaks again.

The housekeeper brings forth the birth certificate and passes it to the man.

Duan Ling is short, underfed, sickly and jaundiced. From where he’s nestled against the man’s chest he struggles a bit fearfully, and so the man sets him down onto the floor. Duan Ling leans against him, finds his footing, and looks at the man. He’s dressed in a black gown; a patch of his fighter’s boots has gotten damp, and a jade ornament hangs from his belt.

The man says, “Please name your price.”

“Well, we weren’t ever going to take in this child to begin with.” Lady Duan says smilingly, “When his mother came home pregnant with him, it was so cold, and it’s not like she had anywhere else to go. Well, they do say providence cherishes life and all that, but once he started staying here there seemed no end to it.”

The man says nothing at all. He stares into Lady Duan’s eyes, waiting for her to continue.

“Let’s put it this way,” Lady Duan says, heaving a drawn out sigh, “at the very least, his mother was the one who entrusted him to me. I still have the letter. Here, my lord. Perhaps you’d like to take a look?”

The housekeeper hands him another sheet of paper. The man doesn’t even bother looking at it. He puts it away.

“But see now, I don’t even know what your name is. If I hand him over without knowing anything just like that, what am I supposed to tell Duan Xiaowan when I die? Don’t you think so?”

The man remains silent.

Lady Duan stretches out a hand, spreads out her sleeve, and charmingly she says to him, “The whole thing with Duan Xiaowan is a bit of a mess in the first place. Well, I thought since she’s gone, the past is simply written off. Now let’s say you collect the boy today — what if someday, someone else comes and says his dad sent them, what am I supposed to tell them? Don’t you think so?”

The man still doesn’t say anything.

Lady Duan smiles at him, then she turns her attention to Duan Ling’s face and waves at him. Duan Ling subconsciously takes a step backwards, hiding behind the man, gripping the corner of his gown tight between his fingers.

“Hey,” Lady Duan says, “my Lord, you ought to at least give me some kind of explanation.”

“I have no explanation.” The man finally opens his mouth. “Only money. Name your price.”

Lady Duan doesn’t know what to say.

The man sinks into silence once more. Judging by what she sees, Lady Duan realises this man clearly only has plans to give her a lump sum and settle the child-rearing debt. He’s not going to tell her who he is, and he doesn’t care what happens afterwards, leaving any consequences that come for the Duans to bear.

Some time passes. Lady Duan tries to figure out what the man’s thinking, but he’s already reaching into his lapel, producing a number of multicoloured banknotes.

“Four hundred taels.” Lady Duan finally names a price.

The man holds a single banknote between his fingers and hands it to Lady Duan.

Duan Ling can’t seem to breathe. He doesn’t know what this man wants, but he once heard from the maids that someone always comes down from the mountains on winter nights to buy children. They’d bring the children back up to the mountain and offer them to monsters to eat. Instinctively, a sense of fear grips him.

“I won’t go!” Duan Ling says, “Don’t! Don’t!”

Duan Ling turns and starts running. He only manages one step before a maid grabs him by the ear, and he’s dragged backwards in searing pain.

“Let him go.” The man says in a deep voice, then he presses a hand on Duan Ling’s shoulder.

That hand feels like it weighs more than three thousand catties.7 Right then, Duan Ling finds himself unable to move a smidgen.

The housekeeper takes the banknote and hands it to Lady Duan. There’s a slight furrow between her brows. The man says, “Keep the change. Let’s go.”

Duan Ling yells, “I won’t go! I won’t go!”

Lady Duan smiles. “It’s pitch dark outside. Where are you going to go? Why don’t you stay here for the night?”

Duan Ling screams himself hoarse, but the man merely looks down at him.

“What’s wrong?” He asks, his brows tightly knit.

“I don’t want to be fed to monsters! Don’t sell me! Don’t —” Duan Ling tries to hide under the table, but the man is faster. He grabs onto Duan Ling, curls a long finger towards his palm and flicks at a spot at Duan Ling’s waist, and Duan Ling falls right over.

He picks up Duan Ling, and carries him out the door under Lady Duan’s suspicious gaze.

“Don’t be afraid.” The man carries Duan Ling under one arm and his deep voice answers, “I won’t feed you to a monster.”

The moment they leave the estate, a blast of cold air whips at his face like a knife, sweeping up the snow. Duan Ling feels as though qi8 is running backwards in his throat, blocking it. He opens his mouth but no sound comes out.

“My name is Lang Junxia.” The man’s voice says, “Remember it now: Lang Junxia.”

“Get your wontons here — hey.” An old man says, steady and slow.

Duan Ling’s stomach grumbles. He stares at the wonton stand. The man named Lang Junxia halts, quietly thinks to himself for a moment, and sets Duan Ling down. He takes out a few coppers and throws them into a bamboo tube in front of the wonton stand. The coins make a metallic sound hitting the bottom.

Duan Ling calms down somewhat. He wonders, who is this man? Why did he take me out of that place?

A yellow lamp in front of the wonton stand casts its light through the falling snow. Lang Junxia presses a few spots on Duan Ling’s back, undoing the seal on his acupuncture points. Duan Ling’s about to call for help again when Lang Junxia says, “Shh,” and the old man brings Duan Ling a bowl of piping hot wontons.

“You eat,” Lang Junxia says.

Duan Ling can’t worry about anything else anymore. He takes the bowl and starts eating right away, not minding at all that it may scald his throat. They’re minced pork wontons, fat and full of filling, with a sprinkling of sesame and crushed peanuts. A small chunk of lard is melted into the soup; its fragrance assails the senses. There’s poached mustard greens sitting at the bottom of the bowl.

Duan Ling sets off to wolf down his food. Hunger is overcoming his fear, and as he eats and the soup gets all over his face, a fox fur coat is draped across his back, then it’s wrapped around him.

He pours the rest of the soup into his mouth, sets down the chopsticks, and breathes out. Only then does he turn to look at Lang Junxia.

Like someone out of a painting, he has fair skin, a tall nose, and deep set eyes. His pupils reflect the alley’s lamplight and the ever present snow.

His clothes set off his tall figure; there are fierce-looking monsters embroidered on his outer garment, and his fingers are long and beautiful. There’s even a sword hanging at his waist, a shiny thing that Duan Ling has only ever seen on a stage.

Sometimes when those who’ve made their fortune come home from the capital, they’d pass through the streets on big, tall horses, and Duan Ling would squeeze into the crowd to watch them. He’d see these young men flushed with success from court or business, dressed in satin and brocade.

But none of them are as good-looking as him. As for what is so good-looking about him, Duan Ling can’t rightly tell you.

He’s terribly afraid; he’s scared that this man named Lang Junxia is actually a monster in human form, and in the very next second he’s going to show his fangs and swallow Duan Ling down to fill his belly. But Lang Junxia just stares at him without looking away.

“Are you full?” Lang Junxia asks, “Anything else you’d like to eat?”

Duan Ling doesn’t dare answer. He’s scheming up ways to get away from him.

“If you’re full then let’s go.” Lang Junxia says, and holds out a hand for Duan Ling to hold. Duan Ling shrinks back from him, tossing pleading glances at Laoqian like a cry for help, but Lang Junxia simply turns his hand over and takes Duan Ling’s hand. Not daring to struggle, Duan Ling obediently leaves with Lang Junxia.

“Madam,” a servant returns to report. “That man is with the bastard in the alley eating wontons.”

Lady Duan pulls her coat around herself, blinking uneasily. She calls for the housekeeper. “Get someone to follow him. Find out where he’s taking the bastard.”

Light shines from every window in Runan. Duan Ling’s face is all red from the cold. Lang Junxia takes Duan Ling through the damp, snowy streets on bare feet. When they get to a restaurant in the city called the Jade Drop, he finally notices that Duan Ling doesn’t have shoes, and picks him up. He turns to the building, whistles, and as soon as he does, a horse trots out to them.

“Wait here for me. There’s something I have to do.” Lang Junxia wraps Duan Ling in a fur coat and helps him onto the back of the horse.

Duan Ling bows his head to look at him. Lang Junxia has handsome features, his eyes and eyebrows sharp and distinct like they’re carved out of jade; there’s reed flowers clinging to his hair. Lang Junxia tells him to wait before he turns and disappears into the night like a tercel spreading its wings.

Duan Ling’s imagination runs wild. Who is this person? Should he run now? But the back of a horse is too far off from the ground, and he daren’t jump down for fear of breaking a leg, and more so, for fear that the horse may kick him. He ponders this and ponders that; should he hand his fate to this stranger or should he leave it to himself? The key question is, where can he run? And just as he finally makes up his mind to leave the matter of his life and death to the heavens, a silhouette once again flashes into being at the mouth of the alley. Lang Junxia puts his foot in the stirrup and gets on the horse.

“Gup!”

The great big horse stamps onto the flagstone road, making a string of clip-clopping sounds. It gallops its way out of the alley, and in a night without a soul in sight, they leave the city of Runan behind.

Duan Ling sits in front of Lang Junxia. He sniffles and the scent of his damp clothes wafts up to his nose. What’s unexpected is how dry Lang Junxia’s clothes feel, as though they’ve just been dried in front of a fire. It smells good, like just-cooked shaobing9. His hands are holding the reins and there’s a burnt patch on his sleeve.

Duan Ling takes note that it wasn’t burnt before. What did he go to do earlier?

Duan Ling is reminded of a story — they say that in the Valley of Heishan10 outside the city, there are people from the underground societies killed during conflicts in previous dynasties. They’ve been buried in the mountains, rotting away for more than a century, waiting for children to come so they can steal their bodies. They would first turn into humans, each handsome beyond compare with outstanding martial arts skills, and once they find a child they’d bring them to the grave, show their rotting faces and take the child’s qi essence.

Those children whose bodies are stolen would lie in these graves ever after, but these ghouls would have their skin, and be able to strut their way into the mortal world and live a good life.

Duan Ling can’t stop trembling. He thinks about jumping off the horse and running many times, but the horse is too tall. He’ll probably break his legs if he jumps.

Is Lang Junxia a ghoul? Duan Ling’s imagination gets ahead of him. What if the ghoul wants to consume his qi? Should he maybe take the ghoul to someone else? No no … he mustn’t hurt anyone.

Someone is waiting under the city gates to open them for Lang Junxia. The horse keeps going south, galloping through the blizzard along the highway. They don’t go to the mass grave, and they don’t go into the Valley of Heishan either. Duan Ling starts to feel more at ease, and he grows sleepier and sleepier as they bump along the road. He slowly falls asleep surrounded by the clean dry scent on Lang Junxia.

In his dreams, two unending lines of mountains and valleys skim by like a picture on canvas in a shadow play.

Snow floats down like goose down gathering into a blanket; the pale green tops of the mountain peaks look ink-drawn, a single stroke on a white scroll. It is in the middle of this ink-brush painting that their horse speeds away.

I do not monetise my hobby translations, but if you’d like to support my work generally or support my light novel habit, you can either buy me a coffee or commission me. This is also to note that if you read this anywhere else other than tumblr, do come to my tumblr. It’s ad-free. ↩︎

The traditional Chinese version of this book has REALLY LONG chapters (11k) so I try to break them up based on wherever the jjwxc version breaks off chapters, which is a bit more manageable, but that means the parts will vary in length from 2-6k. ↩︎

Poem by Li Bai. ↩︎

This story uses historical names and places, but not in a historically accurate fashion. There was a Liao empire, also known as the Khitan empire. The Yuan was Mongolian, and Southern Chen (fictional, a stand-in for Southern Song) here is Han. ↩︎

All dates are lunar calendar dates, so instead of solar names for months they’re just numbered. Just remember that the Chinese new year usually falls between Jan 21st and Feb 20th. Twelfth month is usually the coldest month, also known as the ‘preservation’ month. ↩︎

Prose by Li Bai, original slightly paraphrased. ↩︎

A catty is a unit of weight, varying from dynasty to dynasty. ↩︎

Qi. If you’re not familiar with the concept you can think of it as the Force, like in Star Wars. ↩︎

Shaobing. ↩︎

黑山谷. Valley of Heishan, literally “black mountain valley”. ↩︎

#相見歡 #fei tian ye xiang #joyful reunion #xiang jian huan #fox translates things

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bardicindignation · 3 years

Note

Oh oh oh oh for the meta !!!

#3 - What is that one scene that you’ve always wanted to write but can’t be arsed to write all of the set-up and context it would need? (consider this permission to write it and/or share it anyway)

(I’m so curious because you have these super detailed world building set ups so I’m like ... is this ever the case for you??)

Ahhh thank you so much for the ask!!!!

oh gosh...(yeah I do go for the super detailed world building set ups, don't I? 😅😂) let's see...

Well, I'm sure if I really took the time to wrack my brains about this I could come up with several, but then I'd have to either choose or resign myself to a ridiculously long post so...alright, so, I have this star wars au floating around in my head right, and most of it is fairly serious, generally speaking, but it also contains these three (so far) scenes that are just complete and utter crackfic.

I've written a grand total of one (1) of them, which I posted on April Fools day and you can read here if you're so inclined.

As for the other two, I'm putting them under the cut bc this is still getting really long:

1) basically, I have this one scene where Ventress winds up killing Maul, then melting down his legs and then having them made into a tea set which she then gives to an extremely bemused Obi-Wan for his birthday (yes this is extremely weird, no, I don't know how the fuck I thought of it but it's strangely hilarious to me, so there you have it) which is ridiculous on it's own but then you've got

2) which is a follow up to the april fools day snippet, in which anankin-undercover-as-darth-vader convinces tarkin that Quinlan Vos is his own, entirely fictional, cousin Sergei who just so happens to look exactly like the definitely super dead Jedi Knight and who is also an extremely loyal informant for the empire. A few years later, a few more 'Imformant Sergei" incidents have happened (Anakin saw the opportunity to troll the hell out of Tarkin and ran with it; Quinlan is more than happy to facilitate this, and so is everyone else who's working with them. All incidents are recorded and safely stored to show ahsoka when they finally track her down) and what happens is this:

For leverage against the rebellion reasons, palpatine has ordered Princess Leia (roughly 15 years old at this point) taken hostage by "Vader's" "sith" apprentice, Mara Jade (who's been secretly actually Anakin's second jedi padawan since she was about seven, which Leia is aware of but Bail isn't). Rex (who is completely unaware of the whole "massive undercover rebellion right underneath the emperor's nose" thing and therefor the fact that leia isn't actually in much of any real danger) goes to investigate and try and rescue her.

Stuff happens, Palpatine orders Mara to kill Leia and Mara (who had already been planning to fake her own death, bc as she grew into her strength in the force, Palpatine had started paying more attention to her which was getting dangerous. she'll join luke and obi wan in secretly living in the secret rooms in "Vader"'s star destroyer lol) explodes the building that she was holding Leia in, successfully faking BOTH of their deaths.

Rex runs into the girls on their way out, and when a group of storm troopers spot them he decides to head them off so that Mara and Leia can escape.

This turns out to not be immediately necessary, bc said storm troopers are actually Cody and an assortment of other de-chipped clone troopers. Cody gets as far as explaining that to Rex, when Tarkin shows up.

He, predictably, zeros in on Rex bc he remembers him from the clone wars and doesn't like him and because he's Tarkin, he decides to order Cody to take off his helmet and execute him.

Cody, obviously, isn't going to do that and goes with the only option left to him: break his cover. So he and his troopers all draw their blasters on Tarkin, at which point Tarkin calls his own troopers to surround them.

Then he starts monologuing: blah blah glory of the empire, blah blah, traitor, blah blah, 'if only you demonstrated the same loyalty that Informant Sergei does without any kind of programming.'

That makes Cody snort, and Quinlan, who's been lurking this whole time waiting for an opportune moment, can't possible pass over the dramatic entrance potential and reveals himself like, "hah, bitch you wish!" and blows his OWN cover.

So Tarkin is about to lose his shit, Cody's panicking, Rex is both panicking and completely confused, at which point Anakin-as-Vader along with a bevy of stormtroopers who include Appo, Boil, Kix, the 212th's medic, and Obi-Wan shows up.

Cue Rex's confusion and panic squaring itself when this, for some reason, makes Cody relax.

Tarkin's like, "Ah Vader, you're just in time to assist me in doing away with these traitors"

And internally, Anakin's like 'fuck fuck fuck' but externally he's like, "Traitors? whatever do you mean?"

And Tarkin tells him what just happened and Anakin thinks fast and goes:

"Oh, yeah they're definitely not traitors, they have until just now been on an important mission for me among ancient...sith...ruins! And it appears that they have all been exposed to a sith toxin which causes confusion, aggression, and muddled loyalties."

And Tarkin maybe buys that? but either way, he goes,

"Well, in that case, they're useless to us now, so we might as well put them down and be done with it."

And Anakin, maybe panicking a little, goes, "Do you really think that I would send such valuable assets into such a situation without having some kind of treatment on hand?"

Tarkin: Oh, and what treatment would that be?

Anakin, mind going blank: Medic, tell the Grand Moff about the cure.

Kix, trying to murder his general with the force of his glare alone underneath the helmet: Yes Sir. The...only cure to such a...toxin...is...a...special tea! Brewed...in the...legs of the vanquished enemy of...the ancient and powerful Jedi...Ben."

Obi Wan, Anakin, and everyone who still has the benefit of a hemet: *tries not to laugh audibly but are about to rupture something containing themselves*

Rex: What? the fuck?? is happening???

So, Tarkin buys it, and Anakin and his men 'subdue' Cody, Quinlan, Rex and co. and bring them back to their shuttle, where Mara, Leia, and Luke reveal themselves and they explain everything to Rex, who at this point is more or less certain that this entire day has been some sort of bizarre fever dream.

And I'd love to write the whole thing out! but to do that and have it make any sort of sense I'd have to write just...so many chapters of context and everything leading up to it which is...a lot of stuff. So maybe I'll get to it eventually, but it's not event the first star wars au on my list of stuff to write, not even taking into account all the stuff for other fandoms, so it's probably going to be a long time until I get to it, if I ever do 😅

#this got longer than I meant it to 😅 😅#sorry about that #ask games #informant sergei au #my fanfic #sort of

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theuntamednarrator · 4 years

Text

Thank you @mika--82 for the question! I’m sorry it took so long but since I really enjoyed plotting out my Cangse Sanren lives au, and I think a lot about the women in The Untamed who didn't get to see their children grow up, strap in for round two of TB Revives the Mothers of the Untamed. This week's episode: Save Mama Lan by killing Lan Qiren \^.^/

(Many thanks to @drwcn for letting me borrow her hc names for Mama Lan (Qui Baiti) and Papa Lan (Lan Cenrong). You can read more about them on her blog here and here.)

(Warning for an unsuccessful suicide attempt)

QBT has been isolated in the Jingshi for a decade. She only sees her sons once a month, she isn’t allowed her sword, and her spiritual power is kept sealed

But LWJ inherited his stubbornness from his mum and she's determined to escape, one way or another

LQR is walking by the Jingshi when he feels a massive surge of energy and breaks his first ever Discipline (no running in Cloud Recesses)

He wrenches the Jingshi door open and sees an array that wouldn't look out of place two decades in the future in an alternate universe in a dingy shed behind Mo Manor

LQR breaks his second Discipline in as many minutes (do not make excessive noise) when he screams for his brother before he grabs QBT and drags her out of the array

LQR didn't have time to think, let alone study what the effects of that might be, all he knew was that it was killing her, and that her death would kill the brother he loves more than anything else

The backlash strikes him and he keels over

QBT gathers him up, sobbing and asking why he did it, she wanted to die, why did you do it Lan-er-gongzi? what were you thinking? Your brother loves you

LQR meets his brother’s eyes as he appears over her shoulder, the terrified disciples flanking him a white blur

He smiles and says I know

Curtains on LQR

(alternatively, we can just kill JGS again because ngl that was real satisfying the first time around)

Now the Elders are in a pickle because this may have been an accident but QBT has now been responsible for the deaths of an Elder and Second Young Master Lan

It's decided that the only option is exile

QBT is forbidden from setting foot in Cloud Recesses and the territories of Gusu Lan for ten year and forbidden from speaking to any Lan disciple during that time

She bows, accepts back the plain sword she had yielded when she came through the gates to be married, and is gone before the dawn. LCR watches her leave and then goes to wake their sons

Now, QBT was a wandering cultivator long before she was Lan-furen and actually really enjoys returning to life on the road

I wandered once! I can do it again!

Five years later she meets XXC battling a ferocious demon snake and together they defeat it

QBT definitely doesn’t feel her heart beat a little faster at the youthful face, white robes, and elegant jade-and-silver sword

She answers XXC's graceful bow with one of her own and the two spend a week clearing out the fierce nests of demons on the mountain

The next time their wandering brings them together she is introduced to my good friend Song Lan and hides her smile in her sleeve

Meanwhile in Cloud Recesses without LQR to pick up the slack LCR is forced to step out of seclusion and actually run his sect and parent his children

He does a very good job

QBT has to fight back proud tears every time she hears Twin Jades of Lan spoken of with awe

Ten years to the day of her exile QBT is grinning as she climbs the long flights of stairs towards the gates of Cloud Recesses

Part of that might be the entertaining company she walks with

A young man clutching two bottles of Emperor's Smile and talking so fast she’s only half listening while she tries to figure out if he’s actually taken a breath since introducing himself

Talking at breakneck speed of the young master who had been so strict with him at the gates, aiya Auntie! He was so cold! you should have seen his stony face

QBT only grins harder as WWX climbs the wall, is challenged, and blades flash over tiles (it might bring back fond memories of her own youth)

She slips over the wall while they are distracted and once WWX is silenced she reaches out her hand

You handle your sword beautifully, may I?

LWJ can't even say why - it's too dark to see her face and the voice is roughened after 10 years on the road - but he hands Bichen over without a second thought

She sighs as she runs a finger over the blade and the steel glows, lighting up her face (solely because I think glowy Bichen is very sexy and we should have had more of it in the drama honestly)

Bichen suits you better than it ever suited me, ZhanZhan

LWJ is emoting all over the place (so embarrassing)

(luckily his back is to WWX because if baby disaster bi WWX saw that smile he would've died on the spot)

WWX of course is still a troublemaking rule breaker and LWJ is still charged with overseeing his punishment

QBT and LXC are united in their LWJ should make friends agenda and LXC inherited his sense of humour and delight for teasing LWJ from QBT

Between the two of them LWJ soon has more friends than he knows what to do with

QBT and LXC co-captain the good ship Wangxian

Of course plot stuff still happens including accidental-marriage-before-a-Quest-Ghost

XXC and SL meet them in Yueyang and when LWJ introduces himself they're thrilled because hey we know your mum! she’s real cool!

They don't trust the clans and they might've heard of NMJ but they know Qui-jiejie and they trust her and so they decide XY will go to Cloud Recesses for judgement

N-wow the twin jades are really deserving of their reputations-HS insists on a Qinghe representative going too

oh me? no no Wei-xiong this has been quite enough adventure for me. Meng Yao you'll go won't you? Dage trusts you and Lan-gongzi admired your *delicate cough* capability *innocent smile*

my.blush.com/embarrassed/yearning agrees

QBT is delighted to see XXC and SL again and happily introduces them to her elder son

SL and LXC almost immediately get into a heated debate over ahistorical fantasy chinese philosophy and/or politics and are instantly bonded

QBT may or may not have instigated said debate with a well-timed quote from a well-known (re: divisive) text

Basically QBT shares my get LXC more friends agenda

SL is, again, the first person (apart from LXC and his parents) to laugh at LWJ's jokes

WWX still refuses to believe this actually happened (the joke and SL laughing) (XXC swears it’s true)

XY is locked in the back hills and eventually a) dies trying to use his hidden piece of the yin iron to break the seals OR b) is rehabilitated by the power of bunnies and become an outer disciple (reader's choice!)

XXC and SL accompany WWX and JC part of the way to Lotus Pier

Cloud Recesses is attacked, QBT and LCR send LXC and MY away with the sacred texts, MY promising he knows somewhere safe to hide

LWJ refuses to leave his parents. The losses are not as bad as in canon, the Wen are beaten back, but LCR and LWJ are both injured

No Good Very Bad Summer Camp with World's Worst Head Counselor WC

No Good Very Bad Turtle Cave of Love

WWX wakes post-rescue with LWJ still there

(Because his parents are holding Cloud Recesses and he knows LXC is safe so he doesn't need to rush off)

JZX, JC, LWJ, and WWX spend a day planning before they split up

(this is hilarious and JC says "fuck" not less than 219 times)

(WWX only almost punches JZX and it only happens twice honestly people should be grateful! he was so restrained!!)

They all return home, LWJ promising to bring reinforcements from Cloud Recesses to Lotus Pier (because it's the most obvious next target. no other reason. just. strategically it makes sense)

WQ sends WN to Lotus Pier to warn WWX when WZL's forces are on their way

When the Wen attack, they're met with a prepared force of 1) YZY and the Jiang Disciples 2) QBT, LWJ, and a contingent of Lan Disciples AND 3) JC and WWX and a gaggle of archers (seriously why tf show the Jiang being so good and then only give us two archery fight scene moments and it’s heart breaking sixth young master jiang dying and some rando ouyang disciple shooting WWX?)

Things get a little hairy but between YZY and QBT they defeat WZL and the rest of the Wen quickly surrender

JFM and JYL arrive just as the battle is ending, escorted by Madam Jin, JZX, LQY, and all the Jin Disciples who were at Cloud Recesses

(WWX: MianMian you came you must have been so worried about me! LQY, ignoring him: Lan-er-gongzi are you okay? WWX: ah Lan Zhan you MianMian really likes you! that’s lucky! LWJ, screaming internally: mn)

(JGS was furious when JZX announced he was joining the campaign but what could he possibly say in front of his battle ready wife without looking like the utter coward of a wet biscuit he is)

Once again WWX is left with a screaming sword, too much curiosity, and too much time on his hands (due to his adopted family being not-dead)

But worse he has now also access to a woman who created an array powerful enough to kill even with her spiritual power sealed

Poor WRH doesn't stand a chance, even without MY spying for the Sunshot Campaign

After the battle QBT&LCR and YZY&JFM shut JGS's bullshit power grab down real quick and JGS sulks like the baby he is (probably in a brothel) while Madam Jin and JZX take over Lanling Jin

JZX hears about MY and the way he helped LXC and NMJ sends a letter of support and JZX is already quite jealous of all these sibling bonds and welcomes Ziyao with open arms

(All of which goes slightly to waste when JZY marries out to the Lan clan slightly less than a year later but hey, at least it's a good alliance.)

WQ takes over the Wen Clan but tears down Nightless City and relocates the capital to Dafan

(WQ: have you been to Nightless City? It’s built on an active volcano. Do you know how bad sulfur ash is for open wounds? Do you know what medical herbs grow in lava slurry? None is the answer. My family are all fucking morons)

(WQ: Not you a-Ning you’re a delight and we’re thrilled you’re here)

Rumour has it a certain immortal was so impressed with the stories of the medical techniques of Dafan Wen that she paid WQ a visit

(Disciples are so reckless after all! One never knows when one might need to be capable of transplanting vital organs!)

Each year WWX and LWJ spend 3 months at Gusu, 3 months at Lotus Pier, and 6 months wandering with XXC and SL

They get "fake married" no less than four times in three years (for the investigation xiongzhang! absolutely no other reason shishu! no other reason at all!) before LXC, MY, XXC, and SL get fed up and barricade them in their room until they talk to each other dammit

(LXC is very grateful MY has gotten so handy with the silencing talismans because the 'conversation' gets uncomfortably loud real quick)

Side note to say Clarity works very well to avert a qi deviation when it's not being actively corrupted, thanks very much, and NMJ lives many, many, many years which would be entirely happy if only NHS would pick up his saber once in a while

He would tell NHS this if he could ever find him

Happy ending!³

#³unless you are a hardcore lqr fan #in which case i invite you to ignore the first few paragraphs #assume that qbt got banished for unrelated reasons #and hc that jgs died instead #also i nearly included a few paragraphs #where qbt finds and buries cssr & wcz #and an alt paragraph where she saves them both #but cut them because it was getting too long #AND i was super tempted by an lxc-dies-to-save-nmj which i've 75% plotted #which I have affectionately titled 'lan whumpji'#but then i decided it was nicer to save another mother #because they really get shafted in canon #theuntamednarrative #mika--82 #madam lan #lan qiren #wangxian #xiyao #tw suicide attempt

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spiralcompendium · 4 years

Text

Day Six: Arc One World Critique

This will be a review/critique of each of the five worlds in the first arc--what I thought was effective and ineffective about each world’s plotline, setting/lore, and characters! Spoilers: there are a lot of Problems but I still love this horrible little game anyway.

═══*.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.*═══

.·:·.✧ Wizard City ~ A- ✧.·:·.

✦ Plotline ✦

Wizard City functions well as an introduction to the game. We immediately get introduced to the main villain, but we don’t know what his plan is yet. The Wizard’s mission, at this point, is to stop Malistaire’s undead from overtaking the streets. After we defeat Lord Nightshade, we learn that this was all a distraction from Malistaire’s real plan--to get the Krokonomicon from Krokotopia. Even though this means that what the protagonist did in Wizard City doesn’t have a direct connection to the main plot, I still think that it works well as a low-level story.

I appreciated the originality of some of the subplots on each street; some standouts include stopping undead from siphoning powerful Storm magic from the Storm Mill on Triton Avenue, as well as defeating Cyclops Lane’s Cyclopes and Trolls, who were originally summoned to defend against the undead.

While some of the side quests were just your standard MMORPG delivery or defeat quests, some were also pretty interesting! For example, Gloria Krendell’s and Duncan Grimwater’s quests provide insight into Malistaire’s backstory. Even the more simple-seeming quests had flavor text that made it a bit more fun. Being sent to defeat a boss to get back the Sleeper’s Timepiece, a watch that can bring nightmares to life, is a lot more interesting than being sent to defeat a boss who’s just evil and attacking citizens.

✦ Setting and Lore ✦

Every game needs to start with a relatively basic area, and in this one, it’s Wizard City. Still, I love all of the little details that flesh out the world. The devs could have chosen to go with really basic fantasy areas and use just houses, castles, and libraries. Instead, we have places like the Storm Mill--“one of the main sources of magical energy for all of Wizard City,” the Hedge Maze that is watched over by an ancient seraph, and the Fireglobe Theatre in the center of a burning street. It’s also really cool how all of the different streets have a different “feel”--Triton Avenue seems very industrial, Colossus Boulevard seems very upper-class (despite the Gobblers), and Firecat Alley seems very artsy and creative. Having abandoned areas like the Haunted Cave and mysterious places like Sunken City imply a history to the world. Still, Wizard City doesn’t feel like it has much of a past.

Overall, Wizard City has a good amount of lore with the various magical creatures and villains, especially considering Bartleby, the creator of the Spiral, lives here. With the addition of the Catacombs quest, it seems like Wizard City has a lot going on behind the scenes.

✦ Characters ✦

Very few characters stand out at this point in the story. I liked Duncan Grimwater’s arc (although this doesn’t pay off until arc three), and I loved dealing with the shenanigans of both Nolan Stormgate and Cyrus Drake while questing in Cyclops Lane. Still, none of the characters have any major presence besides Ambrose, who is just there to be an Old, Wise Wizard. I would have liked there to be a maximum of six or seven major characters, possibly to represent each of the main schools. They wouldn’t all have to travel with us everywhere, but it would be cool to have more overlap instead of just meeting one or a few separately in each street. I also wish that some of the villains had a larger presence in the story. We don’t even hear about Lord Nightshade, the final boss, until we’re sent to fight him.

.·:·.✧ Krokotopia ~ B- ✧.·:·.

✦ Plotline ✦

In Krokotopia, the Wizard is chasing Malistaire to try and prevent him from getting the Krokonomicon, a book of powerful Life and Death magic. They are also stopping the awakened Kroks and some undead along the way. The plotline could have been more compelling if there was more of a focus beating Malistaire to the Krokonomicon, stopping Malistaire, or having Malistaire find different ways to stop the Wizard. Instead, Malistaire has very little presence, and we learn at the end that he beat us there--who knows how he got there or what he was even doing the whole time.

By itself, though, Krokotopia’s plot isn’t too bad. Freeing slaves and reassembling an ancient magical order of anti-authoritarian Kroks is a good premise.

✦ Setting and Lore ✦

Krokotopia’s setting is somewhat compelling in theory, but I do wish there was more variety--we’re pretty much inside hallways the whole time. I liked how each major area (the Pyramid of the Sun, the Krokosphinx, and the Tomb of Storms) has their own Krok leading family, such as the Nirinis and Sokkwis. I liked the family conflict between the Ahnics and Djeserits in the Tomb of Storms, as well. Krokotopia has a much more obvious history to it than Wizard City. I really liked the Marleybone presence, as well, which hinted at their dominance over many different worlds in the Spiral; it also showed that the various worlds are interconnected and not just levels in a game.

✦ Characters ✦

Yeah, no one in this world is particularly important. The major Marleybonean characters are pretty much just there to give quests, and the villains are just there to be something to fight, similar to Wizard City. Hetch al’Dim’s character trait was Anxiety, which I thought was pretty cute. Alhazred’s character trait was Old, so… alright. Once again, we get introduced to our final boss pretty much right as we have to fight her. Still, her design is pretty fabulous, so that’s cool.

.·:·.✧ Marleybone ~ D+ ✧.·:·.

✦ Plotline ✦

Marleybone’s importance to the overall plot of arc one is minimal:

1. Malistaire frees Meowiarty so he can steal the Krokonomicon.

2. Malistaire gets the Krokonomicon.

These last two events happen at the very end of the world, so everything else feels like a lot of filler. The Wizard has to put a stop to gang uprisings and attacks by automatons, only some of which Malistaire is connected to--and these were only started to interrupt the Wizard chasing him. It would have been great if the narrative as a whole was a mystery; despite having some elements of a mystery story, it wasn’t one. Also, it would have been interesting to have more of a focus on the obvious social issues occurring in the world. We see the dogs discriminating against the cats, rats, and frogs throughout the story--accusing them of crimes they didn’t commit and literally paying the Wizard to attack Street Sweepers out of a pavilion who were doing nothing but loitering, at worst, just because Abigail Doolittle wanted to have a party celebrating the police. Yikes!

Beyond that, a lot of the side quests were unquestionably bad. I always hate doing the quests for the ladies in Marleybone, because it’s all just bringing hats and scarves to different places. One quest like that would have been fine.

The moment when the Wizard had to chase Malistaire and Meowiarty during the prison break was pretty fun, although (as @calamity-callie pointed out) they immediately moved to an unrelated case in Knight’s Court instead of just continuing to ramp up for the Meowiarty fight. This makes the story seem kind of janky. Again, I would have preferred for both Malistaire and Meowiarty to have more of a presence in the story.

✦ Setting and Lore ✦

Marleybone’s setting is a lot of fun, and I love how much it contrasts Krokotopia. While magic is deeply ingrained in Krokotopia (from the presence of the Balance school down to the colors of the Manders’ scales), Marleybone doesn’t practice magic at all. I like how dark the world is--it’s very fitting for a place that has so much turmoil. I definitely would have liked to see more of a variety in the specific locations though--Hyde Park, Chelsea Court, and Knight’s Court are pretty much the same, not to mention that 99% of the story takes place on rooftops. The lore is alright, but there’s not too much that I find to be super compelling--most of it is just Victorian English stuff + steampunk.

✦ Characters ✦

Sherlock Bones is kind of there, although he doesn’t really solve any interesting mysteries. The concept of Baxter was good--having a “guy on the inside” who could guide the Wizard--but he was a flat character. Meowiarty was probably the most compelling, but he didn’t have much of a presence. I would have liked the world to have much more of a mystery-based plot (as in, actual mysteries) that was focused on working with Sherlock Bones, Watson, and Baxter to find/stop Meowiarty and Malistaire.

.·:·.✧ MooShu ~ F+ ✧.·:·.

✦ Plotline ✦

MooShu has always bothered me a lot, because it has little direct connection to the overarching story. Malistaire comes here, steals the Spiral Key from the Emperor, and then leaves before the Wizard even gets there. The Jade Champion was able to get the Spiral Key back right as Malistaire went through the door, but he did not give it to the Wizard because the Emperor must be the one to give it to us for some reason. Still, I really liked the concept of the different Onis affecting each area in different ways.

The side quests are… fine, I guess, although I did love the ones centered around the two lost lovers in the Ancient Burial Grounds.

✦ Setting and Lore ✦

This is the first W101 world that stands out as being, uhhhhh,,,, NOT super PC. The accents, stereotypes, and blending of different Asian cultures is not a great look. If we’re able to look past that (which we shouldn’t), I honestly don’t really like look or aesthetic. There’s just a whole lot of brown and a whole lot of bamboo. Pirate101 MooShu is leagues better visually (although it has the same problems with reeeeeally problematic language and characters). I do like a lot of the lore though, especially concerning demons, the Spirit World, and religion. But yeah, I do wish that the setting had more relevance to the story as well. Malistaire wants an ancient magical text from Krokotopia--Krokotopia as a setting makes sense. The ancient text gets stolen by an England analogue and put in a museum--Marleybone as a setting makes sense. The Dragonspyre Spiral Key is kept in MooShu just for fun, I guess. We learn later that the Emperor of MooShu is a member of the Council of Light, so I guess it would make sense for him to have it, but they literally could have made him the Emperor of a world based on anything else and it wouldn’t have changed anything in the main, overarching plot.

✦ Characters ✦

The characters sure do give you quests! They’re really good at telling you how to progress in the game. They absolutely tell you where to go to get XP.

.·:·.✧ Dragonspyre ~ B- ✧.·:·.

✦ Plotline ✦

Dragonspyre’s plot definitely needed some work, as well. When we get there, we learn that Malistaire is in the process of summoning the Dragon Titan in the Headmaster’s Office, but the Wizard can’t get there until they can become a student at Dragonspyre Academy. So we, again, aren’t actively working against Malistaire, because he’s literally static the whole time--the Spiral would be screwed if the ritual took like five minutes.

Despite that, some of the subplots in the different areas were pretty fun: going into the past to see the start of its end, learning lessons from its history in the Crucible, and hatching and raising a Drake (whom we never see again, which sucks).

Like with MooShu, it would have been a lot more impactful to be actively fighting against Malistaire the whole time. In the other worlds, part of the tension comes from Malistaire’s minions attacking innocents. In Dragonspyre, the tension isn’t there because they’re all already dead. Still, if they had focused on this aspect (i.e., the Wizard is the only living person in a world full of ghosts and Malistaire’s minions), it could have been really impactful.

✦ Setting and Lore ✦

I love the premise of this world: a ruined city that was destroyed by a horrible, ancient power due to the hubris of its elite. Dragonspyre has one of the most in-depth histories out of all the worlds of the Spiral, and I love the blending of the cultures of ancient Rome/Pompeii and Russia + dragons. Plus, Dragonspyre Academy darkly mirrors what Ravenwood could become if Malistaire successfully summoned the Dragon Titan.

However, similar to Marleybone, all of the different areas have the same buildings, color palette, and mood. I like the additions of areas that are based on ancient Roman structures (the Basilica, the Necropolis, the Forum, etc,), but it doesn’t really matter because they all look the same.

✦ Characters ✦

Cyrus Drake is one of my favorite W101 characters. His character arc is really good, especially if you play as a Myth wizard. He’s tough on the Wizard at first, but I honestly think it’s because he doesn’t think this Literal Child should be sent to defeat Malistaire.

Malistaire is alright as a villain, and I’m certainly glad he wasn’t a generic evil guy who wants to rule/destroy the world just cuz. I would have wanted him to have just a little something extra, though?? Morganthe is a necromancer who was once a student just like the Wizard, but her mind shattered after the Spider Magi showed her how to touch Shadows. Old Cobb is an elder god who wanted to end the Spiral and recreate it. Malistaire is… an old professor who wants to bring his wife back. I do like how it’s unique, but I would want there to be something more.

Besides them, the characters in Dragonspyre are once again very flat, although I am very gay for the Russian-accent soldier ladies.

═══*.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.*═══

Before writing this, I probably would have said that arc one was my favorite. Looking back, it has soooo many problems--writing isn’t exactly one of KI’s strong points lmao. I think that Wiz has some very creative ideas and premises, but sometimes the execution just isn’t the best. I definitely think that a lot of these problems were a result of crunch time, though. If they were actually given time to flesh out their ideas, I think that the game would have turned out much better in terms of storytelling and design.

I’m thinking about making reviews for arc two and three, as I’d be really curious to see how they’d compare. They all have different strengths and different problems. Still, this game has been my favorite game since I was eleven, and it’s something that I will always come back to.

Image Sources

https://101universe.fandom.com/wiki/Wizard_City?file=Ravenwood.jpg

https://101universe.fandom.com/wiki/Krokotopia?file=Tumblr_n1e872SXlZ1tsc4dmo2_r1_540.jpg

https://www.swordroll.com/2013/05/Pirate101-Krokotopia.html

https://www.mmorpg.com/columns/wizard101-abigail-doolittle-is-the-true-villain-2000108162

http://www.edwardlifegem.com/2018/11/wizard101-questing-where-we-ended-up_14.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hGd5cDTxd0

https://finalbastion.com/wizard101-guides/w101-pet-guides/pets-dropped-mooshu-wizard101/

https://101universe.fandom.com/wiki/Dragonspyre_Academy?file=Dragonspyre_Academy.jpg

http://www.wizard101central.com/wiki/File:(Location)_The_Crystal_Grove.png#axzz6a4BqFgfv

#wiztober2020 #Wizard101 #w101 #spiral lore

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