#who is in a totally different situation to jc

[greeneyed-thestral]

I MET MICHAEL SHEEN. 16/03/24, National Theatre

So, if you've read my post about booking tickets to see Michael, you know all about my what-ifs. But the day was finally here.

I arrived at the National Theatre, followed all the Nye signs and here's the Olivier Theatre. I made my sister buy me the show's programme, hoping I would be able to get it signed.

I find my seat, I'm not in the centre but the stage still feels very close and you can see everything (amphitheatres are always the best).

Lights out. The audience is in religious silence. Can't believe I'm actually here, this is happening.

[skip this part in smaller font, if you want to avoid spoilers] In the words of Staged, he really loses himself in his roles. First of all, it's great to hear him speak in a Welsh accent.

But then we also see him turning back into a child, and you can totally believe he's young and innocent again. His stutter feels so real, his struggle and sadness too. The entire ensamble is great during the classroom scene, where they all help Nye against their bullying teacher (using those big canes to make him look scary really works). Hearing young Nye confessing that at times he thinks he 'shouldn't exist' because of who he is was a gut punch; Michael's delivery of that whole part is incredible, in that moment he really becomes a little boy that allows himself to feel vulnerable and says something dark to a friend. The way he jumps while saying "I can visualise and enunciate!" made me wanna jump too, he was ready to give up and then he found the solution through books, it's the joy and relief you feel when you realise that there is another way and your life is not over.

Now, I've watched musicals all my life and let me tell you that man is meant to be in one. He opened his mouth and all I could see was someone that had been waiting a long time for the occasion to show his talent, truly showstopping. He was so free and happy and confident, singing and dancing spectacularly. I couldn't stop smiling and giggling, we all clapped.

It's clear he means every word he says, and when he points and shouts his political arguments at the audience, those who feel called out must be shaking; I thought 'This is how people in Ancient Greece must have felt everytime they went to the theatre'. His Nye is inspiring, passionate, someone you'd want to follow, he stands up for what he believes in and lets nothing get in his way.

We get to watch him flirt, on all fours, waggling his 'tail'; everytime we think we've seen all he's capable of, he does something like this and surprises us.

But most of all, we see him being scared, first of having to do something, and then of not being able to do enough for all of us. At one point everyone has requests for Nye and I was expecting him to shout "Heal yourselves!" like Jesus in JCS, it totally conveyed what it must have been like to be in his role at the time, overwhelmed with daunting responsibilities.

In general, I appreciated the fact that it wasn't a linear biography, they chose life moments that have universal situations everyone can relate too, like they do in bio-musicals. I loved the staging. The colour palette is so recognisable; the curtains and the beds are used in many different ways so everything is explored at its full potential.

He is on stage basically all the time for more than two hours (sometimes twice a day, can you imagine?). Also barefoot and in his pajamas from start to finish, he looks like a teddy bear you just want to hug and protect.

He bows, looks at Nye's achievements, then leaves the stage.

Standing ovation, applause. I go back to the theatre lobby, I was supposed to wait for my sister, but she's late. Meanwhile, a fan asks me how to get to the Stage Door. I start too fear that I'm going to miss my chance if I keep waiting inside, so I decide to go on my own. After no more than 5 minutes, he's outside with us. Forget Nye, I am living my fever dream. He has just finished his second show of the day and yet he's smiling and listening to each and every one, signing and taking pictures. I know many have said this, but he really is an angel.

My sister arrives, and as soon as I'm sure she has the camera ready, I make my way to him. The two girls next to me who were speaking to him needed a pen and I lent them my sharpie, so I got my chance to look generous in front of him.

And suddently it was my turn. This is as much as my scrambled mind allows me to remember: I tell him I'm Francesca and I'm from Italy, he asks me how long I am going to stay, I confess that I had arrived that morning and just to see him, that I would be leaving already the following morning. I can't even focus while he's signing my programme, I just want to find the right words. I manage to say how I enjoyed seeing his passion, all these different sides of him and how watching him sing and dance has been the highlight of my evening. We take a picture together, I feel his hand on my shoulder and I realise my arm is around the waist of this person I love. I had to thank him again, telling him that he only deserves good things and that we are so lucky to have him. He wishes me a safe trip home, and I melt. I leave and I can't stop trembling. On my way back to the hotel I hold on tight to my signed programme and the sharpie that was in his hands just moments earlier. Only later I will realise that he's also written 'Ciao!', 'love' and 'X', without me asking for it or anything! Seeing him act live was a big gift already, but what followed outside was beyond my dreams. I can't look at the photos without blushing, the way he looks at me in the video and then also strokes my arm for a moment, I mean pinch me now.

The more I think about it, the more I can't believe it happened.

I want to thank everyone that under my first post pushed me and encouraged me to see the pros of doing this, I share this beautiful moment of my life with all of you. <3

#michael sheen #nye #national theatre #london #btw I was also wearing one of david's headbands

[least-carpet]

jiang cheng ships by whether they're about wei wuxian or not

our boy wwx's protagonist halo is more like a gravitational field in his effect on jc's emotional development. he probably didn't, like, invent jiang cheng's abandonment issues, but he certainly made them worse! so here are jiang cheng ships grouped by whether or not they're actually about wei wuxian. the ones in the middle could go either way.

definitely about wei wuxian:

chengxian: obvious. wei wuxian is literally there.

zhancheng: obvious. they're both obsessed with wei wuxian.

ningcheng: obvious. they're both wei wuxian's horrible/beloved science experiments/little brothers and neither of them are normal about it. to be fair, wei wuxian is also not normal about it, thus the science experiments.

definitely not about wei wuxian:

mingcheng: I think this is more about theoretical temperamental compatibility and letting jiang cheng date a hot male authority figure who at least kind of approves of him.

sangcheng: I think this is in some ways often about giving jiang cheng a human who is *not* obsessed with wei wuxian. like, give jiang cheng his own bf who can be into him on his own merits.

chengyao: they're coworkers! they're inadvertent coparents! they're both wildly competent and also incredibly bitchy if the situation calls for it! if anything this is about jin ling instead.

chengyi: I don't know what this is about other than getting jiang cheng a boytoy. I don't rightly know that he would want one of those but why not! get down with your bad selves!

could go either way, Schrödinger's wei wuxian:

chengqing: this one I wasn't sure about because actually a lot of writers are pretty careful to make chengqing actually about them but wei wuxian got up in there with great determination and made that threesome happen (wen qing's hands, wei wuxian and jiang cheng's holes... surgical holes... I regret this already). hard to totally extract him from the dynamic after that. the wei wuxian must be contended with. depends on when in the timeline it happens and what canon you're working from, since cql made it canon pre-surgery.

xicheng: this is less likely to explicitly be about wei wuxian and more likely to be structurally about wei wuxian. not only does it make them match (twin prides dating the twin jades) but the brothers-dating-brothers situation ties them tightly to wangxian from multiple directions. in other words, if it's about wei wuxian it's because it sort of re-joins them as family through a different method. if he's not your "real" brother, becoming an in-law is fine?

disclaimer: I acknowledge it is possible to, for example, write a zhancheng fic which is not about wei wuxian, I'm not saying you can't! through the power of AU all things are possible, etc. but you have to actively remove him from the dynamic, because canon embeds him there very deeply, vs. something like chengyao, where they have a totally separate relationship (via jin ling- and their working relationship).

#mdzs shitposting #jiang cheng #wei wuxian #lan wangji #wen ning #nie mingjue #nie huaisang #jin guangyao #lan jingyi #wen qing #lan xichen #chengxian #zhancheng #ningcheng #mingcheng #sangcheng #chengyao #chengyi #chengqing #xicheng #least-carpet thoughts #mdzs +

[meimei-bunnie]

Was thinking about Jiang Cheng last night, and what I understood of his character– and especially of his relationship with Wei Wuxian, because obviously, every aspect of his character is shown through the lens of their relationship owing to the fact that Wei Wuxian is the main character.

I don't think it's a bad thing, but I do wish that we could have got some serious in-depth of a lot of characters from their own perspectives, but it works for me and my overactive brain to fill in the gaps.

I genuinely feel heartbroken over their relationship because I know that the love is there, and always will be. Even if it's now tainted with too many harsh words and spilt blood, the love is still there. The problem lies in how Jiang Cheng was raised.

At first, I used to think that Jiang Fengmian and Yu Ziyuan are not that bad of parents but after thinking over it, I have realised that they are not good either. In fact, when it comes to Jiang Cheng, they did a terrible job. JFM essentially neglected JC because of his similarity to his mother, leaving him craving for love. YZY on the other hand, constantly put him down by comparing him to WWX.

Both of these things became a core part of how JC thinks and feels. He never received unconditional love from his parents, and his relationship was strained with WWX, but he still loves them all. He is a classic Slytherin, in my opinion. He is definitely ambitious and loves his cultivation but another thing that I characterize Slytherins by is the difference in which they treat those inside their circle and outside their circle.

So, for JC, the people inside this circle are: JFM, YZY, WWX & JYL (and afterwards JL, but that's inconsequential to this post since I'm focusing more on the JC before WWX's resurrection). Even if they treat him badly, he loves them to death. He would go to the world's end for them, and all he wants in return is for them to be by his side.

Which is what WWX fails to do after the Wen situation. (I'm not blaming him, I totally support WWX's decision; I'm just painting it from JC's pov.) At a time when he had lost his parents and JYL was getting married and going away, the only tether for him was WWX– so when he chose the Wens (outsiders, for JC) and demonic cultivation over him, it was betrayal for him.

I believe there are 3 feelings that ruined their relationship, from JC's side: ① betrayal ② jealousy ③ loneliness.

The feeling of betrayal ties in to the loneliness heavily. At the root of everything is the fact that JC struggles with love; he loves deeply, but doesn't quite know how to express it at times because his own parents were lousy at doing that. (I wanna give him a tight hug so bad ugh.)

The jealousy... Well, that's the factor that ruined it the most. And I believe that if only JFM had looked past the fact that JC's mother is YZY, and had loved him as freely as he did WWX, and if YZY had not constantly compared them, then JC could have grown up without the compulsive need to constantly compare himself to WWX. It's not that he does it on purpose, but something that's wired in him because of the glaring difference in them that his parents keep pointing out, whether it's with his actions or her words.

The thing is... WWX was literally the worst person to compare himself to. He was literally a genius, a prodigy, a once-in-a-generation kind of cultivator. And also a classic Gryffindor example. Brave, reckless and strong sense of justice. That's what marks the main difference between them.

JC would choose his family/inner circle over justice. WWX would choose justice over his family/inner circle.

Those feelings of betrayal, jealousy and loneliness come out in the form of misplaced anger and hatred in the 13 years WWX is gone on every person who does demonic cultivation. I feel like JC was trying to find him too, but it was in equal parts love and equal parts hatred.

The point in the climax when he gets angry at WWX and mocks him about how good he is, and constantly better than JC that he even gives away his golden core– that scene hurt me so much. I was really upset with him, but well, his words struck me. Even now, he is still comparing himself to WWX. He has always tried to catch up to the image of WWX, in hopes of gaining his mother's pride and his father's love and even long after they are gone, he feels the need to prove himself to the rest of the world that he is Jiang Cheng. He is Jiang Wanyin, heir to the Yunmeng Jiang clan and worthy of leading them.

It's literally no secret how much he despises that everyone sees him as someone 'not Jiang like'. Their motto doesn't match him. But WWX does. WWX gets his father's love freely. WWX is the talented cultivator that everyone praises and sees, and it's never him. Never JC.

He spent his entire life trying to catch up to WWX, then chasing him in hatred, only to realise that he never could. No matter what he did, he would never measure up to WWX. And he is grateful, he is thankful for what WWX did, but it came out in the usual way all his feelings do: anger and derision. That scene hurts, but it made me finally understand JC.

Honestly, my biggest takeaway from all this was that JC deserved better parents. I love him and I love WWX and I want their relationship to be better desperately but knowing that with all that has happened, I also know it's going to be really really hard. I still want to believe in my own hc that post-canon, they sit down and talk like mature adults and get all this out of the way.

Be the brothers they always should have been, even if they can't be the Twin Heroes of Yunmeng anymore.

(Sorry this got a little long hahaha~)

Edit: And I just want to add that JC never needed to compare himself or 'catch up' to WWX. That's where his parents failed him. Nobody telling him that he is enough and wonderful and loved as he is. I would love to jump in and just, give him a tight hug and say all these things to the younger JC. That I'm proud of him. That's he's enough.

#meimei rants #jiang cheng #jiang wanyin #wei wuxian #character study #mdzs #mo dao zu shi #yunmeng bros #my thoughts on their relationship #disc: this is my interpretation and opinion #feel free to disagree I'm not forcing or insisting anything #would love to know your thoughts if they differ!

[alarrytale]

For me the bigger issue with H off stage x H on stage/doing promo/red carpets is the fact that fashion magazines (especially that V one which is deep in his ass and serves as a promo platform for his recent stunts as well) call him fashion icon because of the looks he’s serving when all eyes are on him but when you see his fashion choices for his days off it’s literally so dull and ordinary like random male influencers dress much more exciting than fashionicon!Harry for his days off. And it just gets me annoyed because I feel like I’m the only one who see this? So I will repeat myself again but imo the only one who should be called fashion icon is his stylist, because H is basically only a human hanger.///

This seems unfair. Many actresses and singers have a reputation for being a style icon and dress up for red carpets/performances but are always spotted in jeans and athleisure wear when they're off duty and just running errands. Nobody questions whether they are 'authentic' and calls them 'a human clothes hanger'.

Hi, anon!

I agree with you that we can't expect celebrities to dress up in their off time. We never see Harry in his off time though. We see him in his "off time" which are set up pap situations that appears private and like he's not working. Like when he's returning from a pond with the ri*z brothers or when he's on a bike trip with JC.

Females being papped on the street in a set up "off time" situation usually dress up before pap pics and wears full make up. They want to appear casual and taken off guard, but it's not. Their stylist have carefully assembled a chic outfit for them. The latest Je*nifer Lawre*ce pics are good examples. For H it's totally different. They want some of his pap pics to appear caught in private so he wears casual clothes. When he's stunting he usually dress up. I think what the anon means is that they wish Harry's stylists gets the credit for dressing him, because when he's dressing himself (when papped "off guard") it doesn’t help his fashion icon status. We've seen him in the daily mail dressed a bit too casually too many times now in situations we know are set up. If the whole world is watching he could dress more stylish in these situations too. But i also understand that the casualwear is intentional.

#harry fashion #harry image

[madame-fear]

going in for more angst look at me go

what if… reader was shot. she survives obviously because of jonathan being the hero we love. Maybe if she was out with the j-squad or if an enemy heard about her looking after them in her little abandoned shack/house. (x gotham jonathan crane)

all my requests will be for gotham!jonathan crane. love Cillian Murphy but Charlie Tahan has my whole heart and his JC just hits different idk

and omg I hope your exam went well, wish you the best!!!

~ the one and only 🦈

Hello my favourite anon!! 🤭🥰🥰 I totally agree w/what you said about Gotham!/Charlie Tahan's Jonathan Crane, he's special in a way 😂 He's actually my most favourite version of J.C/Scarecrow! 🥰

Ohh and regarding the exam I guess it went well!! The first questions were easy, and the last ones were hard af and we were all nervous 😅 None of us know our score yet, so we are all anxious to know!

Anywayyyys!! Happy reading, my dear! 🥰♥️

WARNING: Mentions of blood, near death. Starts with some angst, ends with fluff.

(p.s: Italics are flashbacks!)

_________________________________________

Don't Die Before I Do | Gotham!Jonathan Crane x Fem!Reader

The last thing you remembered, was you going out on a mission with the J Squad. All the time you were on your mission, you were particularly close to Jonathan. It had been a pretty intense night, especially for you and him. What you knew was, that while you were in your mission, you had several confrontations with officers, and some enemies that wanted you out of their way.

As always, you supposed that you might get some wounds and injuries, like you always had after an attack. But this particular situation was rather unexpected gor all of you. An enemy who held a grudge on Jonathan, and also knew he was very close to you, pulled out a shotgun while you were distracted, and shot you in the stomach with it.

Harshly gasping, you began feeling an intense burning and stinging sensation on your stomach. Instictevely, you looked down right where it stinged, and covered the wound with both your hands. You were horrified at the sight of the blood violently coming out of your body. You lifted your sight at who had just shot you, and he just ran away, leaving you there, realising what he had just done.

"(Y/N)!" You heard Jonathan's voice in the background, calling out for your name desperately. Luckily, he caught you just in time before you fell to the cold, hard floor. You immediatly groaned in pain as he held you in his arms. This was the first time in a while that you've seen the fear in his eyes. "Oh god, you've been shot!" He was way too panicked, and you couldn't manage to say anything, only mumble incoherent things. The pain was sharp, and you couldn't bear it. "Please, stay with me! I-I can't bear to lose you..." He pressed his hands on top of yours, which were covering your wound.

You were both now covered in a pool of blood. The floor and his clothing were fully covered with your own blood, his eyes had obvious desperation and panic as they began to get watery. You realised, you had never seen him in this state until now. "Jonathan..." You managed to weakly say, but it came out as way too quiet. You tried to raise your bloody hand and caress his cheek to comfort him, but you felt too weak. "Please...don't leave me." He quietly muttered to you, pressing you tighter against his body. The stinging pain wouldn't leave, and your whole body felt like it was burning.

As soon as he said that, your vision had became even more dizzy. As he kept pressing your body against his, he shouted, calling for someone of the Squad to help him out with your wound. You could hear some voices in the background, but you couldn't comprehend what they were saying. The voices slowly faded as your eyes became heavier, you felt your soul leaving your body, everything surrounding you faded away...and after that, everything went black.

Suddenly, you felt your consciousness come back to your body. Were you alive? Did you survive? Or were you just imagining all of this? You had so many questions, but your mind was still confused at the situation. The environment felt warm, and comforting in a way. Slowly opening your eyes, you began blinking a few times to adjust your vision to your surroundings. You were laying in the bed of Jonathan's room in the home you shared. You looked around everywhere, searching for him, but he wasn't there. Trying to adjust your position in bed, you groaned in pain. "Shit, it hurts." The stinging pain came back, and you deeply sighed as you tried to bear the intense pain.

You turned your head around as you heard the room's door being opened. The sight of Jonathan popping his head to see you made your eyes sparkle with joy, and so did his. He didn't lose you! So many emotions overflowed his heart and soul: overjoy, worry, nervousness, happiness, lovestruck...so, so many things rushing through his mind. But, what mattered the most for him, was the fact that you were alright, and that you were surely going to recover soon. "(Y/N)!" His cheeks went red, and a broad smile formed on his face. You copied his actions.

"Jon! W-What happened?" You tilted your head to your side in confusion, noticing that there was a bloody bandage surrounding your stomach. He was still wearing his Scarecrow costume, which had some dried blood in it. His long, brunette hair was messy, and the dark makeup that surrounded his eyes was slightly faded away. His whole messy look made your smile get even bigger. He slowly walked towards you, and dragged a chair that was in the room, placing it next to his bed.

He gently grabbed your hand, and began caressing it slowly with the fingertip of his thumb, as he deeply sighed. "You were shot by someone who holds a grudge on me, and after that you lost consciousness. Apparently, he knew that we're very close." He didn't even look at you while he talked, his sight was focused on stroking your soft and delicate hands. "But don't worry about it...we already took care of him. What matters is that you're alright, and that you need to recover as soon as possible." He was now looking at you, his blue eyes pierced your soul.

His intense stare made you feel butterflies in your stomach, and the colour of your cheeks became even more red than they were. You kind of looked elsewhere out of shyness, provoking a small awkward silence. "You know," He spoke, "I-I was worried. A lot..." Before you could say something, he continued, "This situation made me realise, that I wouldn't be able to live without you." As he spoke, his eyes got watery again, and his cheeks turned reddish, just like yours. "I can't see my life without you in it. You've always been there for me, you're the only one who made me feel happy and comforted...like someone truly loved, and cared for me..." You felt his sweet words deeply touch your heart, making it flutter with love. A tear escaped his eye, but quickly wiped it away. He really didn't like you to see him in such vulnerable state.

You placed your other hand on top of his, tightly grabbing it. "I-I guess I..." He briefly stopped for a second, and lightly licked his dried lips. You could notice, he was very nervous, and his hands were slightly sweaty and trembling. "I-I love you! I'm so thankful to have you in my life, by my side. I don't want you to ever leave me alone. I realised, my worst fear is losing you. I got extremely nervous and scared when I saw you bleeding..." His sweet words made you get even more reddish, was he finally confessing his feelings to you?

"Please...please, don't ever leave me alone in this foolish world. I love you, I want to spend the rest of my life with you." After he finished his speech, you placed your fingers under his chin, broadly smiling. "Come here, fear reaper." You signaled for him to get closer to you. He leaned closer to your body, both your lips were partly open. Your heart was overjoyed with the sweetness and pure love he was expressing to you.

He smashed his soft, plushy lips against yours, and you were completely immersed in it. He was so incredibly pure and gentle with you. As you kissed, you softly cupped his cheek, stroking it with your thumb. Tons of thoughts rushed through your mind, you couldn't believe that this moment was truly happening. You quickly shook those thoughts, and simply enjoyed the loving moment you had with him.

Once you broke apart the kiss, his lips turned into a big, goofy smile. His cheeks were so pinkish and warm, you found it adorable. "You're so pretty..." He was completely lovestruck by you, he had eyes only for you. He was absolutely grateful of having someone as amazing as you, so caring and loving towards him. "And you are extremely adorable, Johnny." You slightly leaned closer to his face, and kissed his cheek.

"Also, just so you know, I love you too. I'll never leave your side, I'm always going to be next to you no matter what."

Your words were all he needed to hear to make the moment even better than it already was. He was always going to protect and take good care of you, even if that meant killing, and getting killed only for you. You'll always be the one ans only who never fails to lighten up his days....the one who makes his heart beat fast.

________________________________

Hope you enjoyed this, dear!! I'm already working on your other request 😘👍

#Gotham x reader #Gotham x you #gotham imagine #Gotham headcanons #Gotham one shots #Gotham Jonathan crane x reader #Gotham Jonathan crane x you #Gotham Jonathan crane imagine #Gotham Jonathan crane headcanons #Gotham scarecrow x reader #Gotham scarecrow x you #Gotham scarecrow imagine #Gotham scarecrow headcanons #jonathan crane x reader #Jonathan crane x you #Jonathan crane imagine #Jonathan crane headcanons #Scarecrow x reader #Scarecrow x you #Scarecrow imagine #Scarecrow headcanons #Gotham j squad x reader #J squad x reader #Gotham villains x reader #Gotham villains imagine

[vermillioncrown]

i just reread the dbd loveshack tag, and with the ot3 posts and more recent zl/zyx ones, i can’t wait for the four of them to meet all at once, it’ll be wild flailing on all sides for different reasons the rest can’t interpret or vocalize. like, lwj horny gripping for wwx and his unrequited friendship with zyx, and possible jealousy with zl and zyx’s “friendship”. wwx being his disaster self for his two totally-not-crushes crushes and this random interloper. zl annoyed with how touchy wwx is with zyx, plus lwj’s emotional repression. then there’s zyx who has to deal with ALL THREE of them, but completely misses the romantic/jealous/whatever the hell, undertones of the whole thing is just super entertaining for me. bonus points for shuangfeng commentary

my favorite type of mess: one thing happening with ten million different povs/interpretations

it's a bit tricky bc it depends on when they meet again. i think i hinted that there will be zl in the north or somehow the north visits the south, but both situations are post-ssc. you can imagine how charged those interactions will be in a vacuum - adding on the spice of political tensions and blah blah will uh. yeah.

lwj: on wwx: yes on horny gripping, that hasn't changed. contention due to possible demonic cultivation pending. on zyx: his friendship w zyx will get deeper, and more entangled due to zyx's developing intimacy w wwx (<- not in an exclusively romantic sense). aka more Emotions and ascribed deep meanings to every little thing. on zl: and you know how lwj fucking drinks that jc haterade, esp with how he treats wwx? he will be sipping a different flavor of haterade when he sees zl again, esp given that the two didn't make the best first impressions on each other.

wwx: on lwj: lwj is someone he admires, and it's complicated depending on the events within the ssc. this crush is one he still doesn't realize. on zyx: crush is realized. oh fucking no, but he can't help himself. + the events that i have planned during the ssc and between these two, it's also a minefield for wwx. on zl: wow, this upstanding, talented, serious guy that he met before is here! of course he's zyx's martial sibling ('wow my exceptional crush would have exceptional peers'). esp with the issue of the wen afterwards, knowing that zl essentially helped wq and wn's family without self-benefit is admirable. oh. huh. he's... he's a prickly guy, but wwx deals with prickly people all the time :)

zl: on lwj: how did he get worse on wwx: lol it's that funny, rude little guy - *sees wwx full clowning to get zyx's attention* >:| and then noticing whatever wwx's deal is with lwj post-war, how did he also get worse??? on zyx: kinda redacted because there's a thing that will happen in the next few chapters. but at this point he takes more of zyx's actions in good faith, even if the squirrely nature of them tire him out. and the fact that zyx's still interacting with these northern idiots makes him 'they are hopeless. it shouldn't be our problem. let's go home now'

zyx: 'i don't fucking want to be here, and you guys are making it worse. just behave you motherfuckers'

'oh what, they've all met? lol that's between them and the tudi-shen where they have a fistfight' <- still thinks they aren't part of all of this (bc who goes around thinking people have a crush on them?)

(people with better self-esteem and romantic awareness ig)

'no. how... my neural network was... it was wrong...' despair upon realizing that the shuangfeng betting pool was right, and it fucks them up that they don't even know where to begin calibrating their zl behavioral model

=

bonus:

depending on other relationships that could potentially win out late-ssc

all i'm gonna say is imagine zyx thinking they could park zl next to lxc during a discussion conference. 'lxc, for as much as he mortifies me, is a stand-up guy. we've worked things out during the war. zl should like him'

and the tension that ends up between lxc and zl is thicc af

and then zyx erroneously assumes 'oh wow is this a crush? do they like each other??? that's a lotta manly tension imma leave'

#inquiry #Anonymous #on dbd #dbd love shack #^the bonus scene was from old old old obsolete writings of draft dbd #back when there was a definitive lxc endgame #AGAIN DO NOT TAKE ANY OF THESE AS A CONFIRMATION OF ANYTHING #i get fussy about it bc how i'm writing isn't like... #like i want a funny plot and i'll make the characters do it #i'm trying to make things make sense from each character's eyes #which is a perspective that naturally comes about when you start with an si #or maybe writing a realistic si lol idk #ugh i have a lot to say and i can't say it right now because things aren't written yet #i don't wanna promise things or spoil other things #sigh i guess the funniest thought is i know what kind of person i am #and zyx will not know/accept a romantic intent unless it is said plainly #billboard in the skyline #a declaration such that they can't misunderstand or be oblivious to it #but simultaneously they hate overt and overly public gestures and indiscretions of the romantic kind #so to have love they must fucking die of public embarrassment no matter what #today verm bf tried to say something cute #bc we jokingly call making coffee 'making potions' now #he called it a 'love potion' and hugged me #you know what my reflex was? #it was to bite him as hard as possible and thrash out of his hold #like a rabid beast #100% not built for gooiness #so to keep with an honest representation all romantic entanglement and its possibilities won't be the same type of drama as typical romance #but it will still be fucking stupid and hopefully entertaining

[missnight0wl]

Heyo, hope you're well! Since the recent posts have talked about the adult models, I feel it would be kind of fitting to talk about career options after Year 7.

Since Year 1, we have always had to choose among three options, and it looks like we'll have to choose among three styles of furniture and three locations for our flat (they may or may not be connected, but that's a separate issue): this leads me to believe that our career options will ultimately be narrowed down to three.

I personally believe our final choices will be Auror, Healer or Curse-Breaker, which I think represent each of the Attributes in that order.

Thoughts?

Hello! I hope you’re well, too!

Hm, your proposition sounds interesting. And it does make sense! However… I feel like it might be too much work for Jam City, to be honest.

See, while you absolutely have a point with the three options concept, I have to point out that usually, it’s basically a cosmetic thing. Let’s take a look at our Animagus form. Sure, an eagle might have different animations than a dog and a cat (which are also not exactly the same, I believe), but overall, all of the forms are used the same in the same situations. The flats we’re getting have the same floorplan. When we choose our companions, the differences are relatively small and it’s mostly about dialogues. Even if you look at dates, they’re not that different, no matter who you choose to date (the exception here are mini side quests you get before deciding about exclusive dating).

To be fair, it wasn’t always that way. JC used to be a little less lazy about it. For example, we had House exclusive side quests. Very simple but totally unique for each House. Another great example is the “Egg Hunt” SQ. I believe you don’t play the game since the very beginning, so you might not know about this one. But, without spoiling anything, there is a part where MC and Charlie have to earn some money, so you get three options: to help Rosmerta, to help Bilton, or to help Tulip. And all of these routes are totally unique. Well, maybe not totally because the end goal is the same, after all. However, I’m pretty sure that if you removed the scene where MC chooses one of the options, you could put all three routes one after another – and it wouldn’t be odd at all. It was really cool because it felt like everyone actually played a little different side quest. But sadly, I don’t even remember when was the last time JC put this much effort into… anything, really.

Now, my point here is that having three separate careers feels quite complicated to execute. Sure, we can have some parts that could serve as a “template”. For instance, an Auror interrogates a witness while a Healer takes care of a patient while a Curse-Breaker talks with someone about the cursed artefact. On top of that, we probably already have all the necessary locations. But in general, I think that these careers would require a more individual approach. And again, it means work and time.

I guess it’d be a bit easier to execute if the careers were made the same way as the classes, meaning that they’re kind of separated from the main story. But then again, shouldn’t a career be a rather big part of MC’s adult life? I don’t know… Admittedly, it’s hard to make any predictions since we don’t even know what JC might be planning as the plot of Y8, but I imagine that the career would be almost like a force putting everything into motion. Or at least that a lot of things will happen around our job. And of course, you can come up with a plot that will fit all three careers in a meaningful way. But I think it’s simply harder, and JC doesn’t like to make things harder for themselves, usually.

Another issue: what about other careers? We’ve been hearing about MC being good with creatures since forever, and I’m pretty sure that more than one person suggested that they’d be a good Magizoologist. It’s a quite prominent theme in the game, so it’d be weird to abandon it now. In fact, during the O.W.L.s TLSQ, we could express interest in many careers. What about becoming a teacher? I know it’s basically impossible to please everyone, but still, I think it’s worth pointing out.

Personally, I suspect that the most likely scenario is that we’ll be forced into one career… kind of. Here’s what I’m thinking:

MC will be hired by the Ministry because that’s probably where we spent the most time, Moody mentors us for years now and whatnot. It’s also possible that we’re gonna save the Ministry from R. However, MC will be hired as a Curse-Breaker. It won’t matter much anyway because they’ll still help Aurors, at the Department of Magical Creatures and wherever any help is needed. They’ll occasionally stop at St Mungo’s to save the day, too. In other words… they’ll basically keep doing what they’re doing right now.

I know it doesn’t sound super exciting or ideal. But to be completely honest, I feel like it might be the best compromise for everyone. Nobody will get their dream job, but most people will get some part of it at some point. JC, on the other hand, will have an easy job creating a linear story.

So, here are my thoughts at this point. To be clear, I don’t think your idea is bad. In fact, I quite like it. However, I’m also trying to look at it a bit from JC’s perspective, I guess.

By the way, my belief that we’re probably gonna get a very linear story is actually one of the reasons why I’m not enthusiastic about Y8 in general. This game always had its limitations and it rarely ends well when JC tries to push them, so I just honestly think it’d be better if it was left to our imagination.

#hogwarts mystery #hphm #hphm datamine #year 8 #jam city #ask #wannabeeliana

[chaotic---calm]

Hi! So, I've been debating sending another ask to continue the conversation or not, mostly because despite wanting to, all I could think of was a lot of "*SQUEAL*" and "EXACTLY!" and "AHDSHHS I'M SO GLAD YOU LIKED THAT!", with all the energy of a sugar-hypped child. So, after putting down your answer and coming back to it a bit calmer, I can finally point something that I can make into a proper conversation: the topic of LQR.

I have to tell you, I was so surprised when you mentioned having thought of making him side with the elders! It's not that I haven't seen him characterized as an antagonist (mostly in WWX/WangXian-centered fics), but somehow I didn't consider him facing against LXC here. In a way, I understand, he's a traditionalist through and through, which naturally points to perpetuating gender roles. And yet I believe so wholeheartedly in his love for his nephews (nevermind if that love is perfect, it isn't, but neither is JC's to JL and that doesn't make it less all encompassing, though obviously the next generation intentionally tries hard to be better than the previous one and it shows —I always think of the LQR/Jiang parents-LWJ/JC parallels, but they can be cross examinated too), that I think this version of him suits him better. I think the difference for LQR lies in the fact that LXC cannot choose to not be an omega and LQR knows it, while I think he never understands that LWJ doesn't choose to be gay, and certainly standing by WWX is a choice LWJ makes, and the choice is what LQR disapproves of, I think.

I also think it curious that LQR is a beta here, the dynamics of him parenting and omega LXC and alpha LWJ make me really curious (add the fact of o!LXC being not just older than a!LWJ but also the future head —as opposed to JYL being eldest but not in the line of succession, planting her firmly in the caregiver position— and the family structure and power dynamics across the years must have been quite something). It surely helps him sympathize with LXC, though the fact that he gets mistreated by the elders makes me wonder about gender demographics. How rare or common are each gender? Are all the elders alphas? Sounds… weird. How are elders appointed? If by bloodline, it sounds ridiculous that there wouldn't be any betas (maybe not omegas since they get female-coded sexism —speaking of which, what about female alphas? where do they fit here?—, but at least betas, since surely some families don't get lucky with getting an alpha in the first or even second try, like some people get four daughters and no sons). If they get appointed by picking from between the disciples, who does the picking? Why are they not choosing non-alphas (besides sexism)?

Adgagd I said I wanted to talk about something, but then I couldn't help moving the conversation somewhere else, sorry, I'm so easily sidetracked. Anyway, the main point of this ask (besides pointing out my thoughts on LQR) is to say thank you! I'm really happy that you enjoy my rambling comments and are okay giving me such nice answers. I've been ignored before and once got something like "wow that's 700+ words" and nothing more, it totally broke my heart, so it's really reassuring when you're so enthusiastic (even when the last ask was far longer than 700 words, or twice that). Yeah , thank you for being so nice! *sending bunny hugs if you want them* - S.D.P. 🐰💛

Hey! Good to hear from you again. As a quick aside, your first two asks have both led people to come looking for my story because they were intrigued by what you were saying and how excited you were about the story, so thank you so much for that! 💜

LQR is an interesting character, particularly to me. I think the logic you wrote out regarding the way he would differently approach this situation and the way he approached LWJ/WWX is spot on. Something that can’t be controlled versus a choice (or a perceived choice, as far as LQR not understanding that sexuality isn’t a choice) is a big determining factor for his characterization. And I also think that’s why, in the end, it didn’t feel right to me to make him an antagonist here; it just didn’t feel true to character. Now, comparatively, I have a different short story I wrote that was after the Guanyin Temple incident where it’s revealed that LXC is pregnant with JGY’s baby, and the elders and LQR are all upset about it. Their stance and expectations are extreme, but again, his unwillingness to side with LXC in that moment stems from not understanding the choice to fall in love with someone like JGY, and a refusal/inability to see LXC’s alternative perspective where all he saw was the genuine love that JGY treated him with.

Like I’ve said about LQR earlier, he’s a bit difficult for me to figure out when writing in stories because I’m admittedly a little biased against him, but just because of my own personal experiences. He reminds me a lot of people I know who are very set in traditionalist mindsets who are bigoted or unwilling to become more progressive as the world changes and as we learn new things. And his extreme stern strictness reminds me of aspects of how I was raised, like not being allowed to ever “talk back” (re: try to express my own feelings and look for middle ground). But, I did read an important post one time talking about how cultural differences were important to remember too, and that from an eastern perspective, LQR’s actions aren’t nearly so awful as they can seem from a western perspective, which is true as well.

The gender demographics…are definitely not something I probably thought about enough before starting this story, lol. So far, we’ve really only seen a lot of focus on the Lan sect. For their sect, all of the elders are alpha. I’ve always figured that the positions of elders, if not elected per se, were at least appointed positions where those in power got to choose who held that position, much like how in the U.S. the Supreme Court isn’t an elected position, it’s positions appointed by whichever president is in power at the time a new spot needs to be filled. It’s a flawed system that allows for party favoritism (insofar as my understanding of politics; please, no one come at me in the comments, I’m not in the mood). In regards to the Lan Sect, they lean hard into gender stereotypes, so the alphas hold the power and feel they should continue holding power, and so they keep putting more alphas into positions of power rather than considering betas or omegas. Other sects are different. I feel like the Nies are primarily alpha but do include betas. The Jins have included all three in the past, but JGS is a gross bitch, so omegas in particular tend to be leery of working close to him. The Jiangs have had the best mix in the past, largely due to the influence of JC’s mother who was omega but not at all stereotypical, and even more so now that JC is rebuilding his sect, as there’s a noticeable majority of betas and omegas more willing to follow a “damaged” alpha compared with alphas. Honestly, the way I’m writing this is leaning onto those stereotypes just as much; I guess I’m just a little bit more invested in or focused on the relationship between JC and LXC than the overall politics and social situation, lol. But yeah, that’s kind of how I’ve got it all explained/organized in my own head.

To answer your other questions, female alphas are less common than male alphas, but they do exist and are generally treated similarly as other alphas. As far as line of succession for families, alphas are preferred, betas are accepted, and omegas are expected to marry out. Perhaps what some sects will do is if a first-in-line heir presents beta, they are considered the interim heir unless a younger sibling presents alpha. The Lans could have chosen that option, but even before presenting, LWJ was showing signs of not being good for leadership in comparison to LXC, so they chose to lie rather than be honest. And it bit them in the ass.

lolol. So, in regards to how many words you wrote last time, it was around 2500! I put it into my word processor to check—not because I thought it was bad, mind you!—but because I was absolutely astounded that anyone could find my writing so engaging as to have so much to say about it. You’re a rock star, and I really appreciate you.

On a side note, I’m sorry you’ve not had the best reception with other times you’ve reached out to other authors. While some people might just be assholes, my guess is that most aren’t. I know a lot of fanfic writers don’t respond to commenters at all or very in depth. Sometimes it’s because they just don’t have the time, and sometimes it’s because they don’t feel comfortable engaging with strangers, and sometimes it’s just because they feel uncomfortable gushing about their own work. Whatever the case may be, I do have experience from your side of things as well; I also tend to be a big loquacious, especially when I’m excited about something, so comments like yours don’t faze me in the slightest. 💜

Also! As long as I keep my shit together, Chapter 3 should be coming out later today, so keep an eye out for it! 😁

(Including a link to the story here and in future responses to asks from you to help out anyone who might be interested in reading it after our conversations: https://archiveofourown.org/works/48148945)

#asks #my asks #my fanfic #the untamed #xicheng #jiang cheng #lan xichen #a/b/o #omegaverse #i will be your sword and shield and you will be mine

[seethefakemuses]

I'm not even a huge LWJ fan, but I don't think it's accurate to call WWX his summer camp crush? They had many more meetings and interactions over the course of seven years, even if they were at odds for most of that time. JGY was NMJ's right hand for roughly three months, Wen Ning met WWX literally once before committing high treason, XXC knew Song Lan for at MOST nine months before he tore out his eyeballs for him. JC is the only normal person in the book

…nonny, that was a deliberate understatement. although okay, for real, let’s tally up their meetings pre-death.

1) gusu lessons — wwx didn’t stay the whole time bc he got kicked out early. during the time he was there he likely bothered lwj for, let’s say, an avg of 5 minutes per day. one-sided, didn’t really interact on anything past superficial level.

2) qishan archery competition — wwx grabs lwj’s forehead ribbon, lwj walks off in a snit.

3) wen indoctrination — wwx helped him walk + they were stuck in the xuanwu cave together. however, wwx got a fever and was delirious post-killing the xuanwu. wangxian.mp3 was first sung.

4) sun shot campaign — well, it’s a war. not much time to chit chat and deepen feelings. plus lwj’s trying to get wwx to stop his demonic cultivation and go to gusu, which wwx doesn’t like.

4.5) that banquet post war — idk if wwx talked to lwj during this but i’m pretty sure all the sects were there so i’m including it as a maybe.

5) phoenix mountain hunt — didn’t really talk to each other, lwj forced kiss upon wwx.

6) burial mounds — lwj visits once. short visit, tense vibes due to situation.

7) pledge conference — lwj drags wwx’s unconscious body into a cave somewhere and then later brings him back to the burial mounds (? i think)

so like. 7 meetings total and they barely have a relationship there. the difference between wangxian and nieyao or songxiao is that the latter actually developed deeper relationships whereas wangxian was superficial. my was nmj’s right hand man, his most trusted subordinate, so the betrayal hit nmj right in the gut, that he trusted someone who turned out to be like that. songxiao spent their whole time essentially wrapped up in each other dreaming about a future together. with wen ning, wwx was the first person to say he was good and stick up for him that wasn’t a family member. hero worship makes you do crazy things. just look at k-pop fans if you want an example lmfao.

#can’t actually look it up anymore so we’re relying on my memory #also let’s not forget jiang cheng is also not normal he’s just only insane for like 2 ppl #lan wangji #wei wuxian #wangxian #relationship analysis? i guess lol #mdzs #i don’t mean nieyao and songxiao in the romantic way but their ship names are shorter than writing out my and nmj’s relationship etc #anon #asks

[red-talisman]

My ask is about the golden core transfer and what it would mean for jc. So, if it triggers you, don't read it! I feel the need to alert about this! Be safe!

I don't know you, ( and yes! wwx was just a traumatized teenager!), but the golden core transfer gives me so much negative emotions. Fandom focuses on wwx's pain (and it's interesting! ) but jc's situation is dismissed with "you have to be grateful about it. What a disprectful brat he is" and I am like, dude, you okay? (maybe their opinions are influenced by what wn says, without understanding that what he says isn't the truth, but only what he knows would hurt jc, because he *wants to make jc suffer*). I tried to think about what *I* would feel and I triggered myself, lol. I would get insane if I knew that someone put my brother's golden core in me (transferring organs is okay, but in this? I don't know that it's from my brother! Also when people say that jc agrees to the surgeon, I don't know if they understand the concept of "informed consent") . It's disturbing. I can't even imagine how jc feels about it! How can you live in a body which is modified in this way? Do you feel shame? (this is something a lot of victims feel). And I am not even talking about what this would do with jc insecurities! No one ever appreciated his efforts! Maybe in the moment doesn't , but wn's "you would never compere to him!" would destroy jc! And that's terrible and unfair. And more unfair it's how fandom treats this argument! My loved ones manipulated me for my sake : this doesn't make anything better! I can't imagine jc's feeling. This ask is messy, but my emotions are messy about this. The only thing that I know is that disturbed me the way fandom treats all of this. I don't want to be too harsh but I would see wwx and wq as monsters more then heros for this. And I am not even thinking about how can you trust again someone who did this to you! People can't forgive cheating in a relationship, lol. Oh, and the "jc and wwx's relationship is destroyed by jc's jealousy" : I am like: you okay, dude?? But maybe I am the weird one. Sorry if I seem rude! But this argument just triggers me

Thank you for the warning. 🥰

(Under a cut for both length and content. Reminder that I'm a CQL-only fan.)

Fandom focuses on wwx's pain (and it's interesting! ) but jc's situation is dismissed with "you have to be grateful about it. What a disprectful brat he is" and I am like, dude, you okay?

From what you're saying, I think I'm hearing that while the whole golden core scenario itself is upsetting for you, what's worse is really more about how fandom tends to talk about it. If I'm interpreting that correctly, then...yeah, honestly, I agree. 😕 And it sucks, because I think the characters of MDZS/CQL are supposed to be messy, and there are some truly delicious, nuanced discussions about justice and love and sacrifice to be had! Unfortunately, I've had to be more liberal than usual with the block button to avoid losing my love of the show due to the impact of fandom discourse.

Honestly, I feel like the whole fandom response thing often comes down to a few overlapping things:

a person is inclined to defend whichever character they like more and/or reject the character who reminds them of people who have hurt them in some way, which is totally normal! But doesn't lend itself well to textual analysis so much as an analysis on this how a piece of media affects me personally, which is an entirely different thing;

whether some element of the golden core transfer reflects a personal trauma (e.g. bodily autonomy) closely enough to shape their perspective on this whole episode in a way that's different from someone who lacks a similar experience;

a person's comfort level in allowing a character's actions -- especially a favorite character's actions -- to be complicated, messy, and maybe even morally questionable;

whether or not someone has access to evidence-based, accurate information about larger social issues like abuse, consent, etc.

I tried to think about what *I* would feel and I triggered myself, lol. I would get insane if I knew that someone put my brother's golden core in me (transferring organs is okay, but in this? I don't know that it's from my brother! Also when people say that jc agrees to the surgeon, I don't know if they understand the concept of "informed consent") . It's disturbing. I can't even imagine how jc feels about it! How can you live in a body which is modified in this way? Do you feel shame? (this is something a lot of victims feel).

Tbh, I also have some pretty strong feelings of my own. I talked about some of that here, from the perspective of a religious person whose faith has some distant parallels to Taoism. And as a survivor who hasn't always had a say in what happens to my body, I struggle with some of exactly what you describe when I think about the golden core thing and especially fandom's common responses too deeply. (It's why I'm writing a JC-centric fic like Crashing Like Stars in the first place, honestly, lmao.)

I think what I struggle with most is the pageantry that's shown in CQL: how WWX and WQ have a whole theater around it that somehow feels almost as bad to me as the act of transfer itself, maybe because it shows how much premeditation went into what is, by definition, gaslighting. I always have to skip this scene on rewatches, tbh. The non-consensual core exchange is bad enough; the playacting feels like a humiliation to me.

And I am not even talking about what this would do with jc insecurities! No one ever appreciated his efforts!

True, but to be fair...why should they? As far as most other characters are concerned, JC is unfriendly, probably not very fun or pleasant company to sit down to tea with, very obviously cares more about his own sect than anyone else's**, and has had the reputation of a disfavored son for years. The only reason to make nice with this guy is purely for politics, but everyone else has enough of their own stuff happening that there's no incentive to try giving JC the benefit of the doubt -- which he wouldn't even accept anyway, since he'd probably interpret it as condescension or pity.

**Which is true for everyone, of course, but he doesn't have the charm or charisma to at least fake concern for people or 'play the game' like JGY.

If you mean that fandom doesn't appreciate his efforts...I'm not really sure what to say to that mostly because I'm still puzzling over HOW DARN POLARIZING this fictional character is. 😂 Even his haters can't be chill about him and it's rather fascinating to watch, like a trainwreck.

And more unfair it's how fandom treats this argument! My loved ones manipulated me for my sake : this doesn't make anything better! I can't imagine jc's feeling.

I think a lot of people confuse things like context and motivation for justification, and even more so when it's a family member and emotionally charged beliefs about family relationships get pulled into the mix.

This ask is messy, but my emotions are messy about this. The only thing that I know is that disturbed me the way fandom treats all of this.

Unfortunately, when not treated carefully, discussions about fictional characters can cross into more real-world consequences. I've certainly blocked people less because of a disagreement in interpretation and more because their line of argument betrayed much deeper biases that made me feel actively unsafe, and I don't always have the resources or bandwidth to try educating folks who aren't here in good faith.

I don't want to be too harsh but I would see wwx and wq as monsters more then heros for this.

I think it's a false dichotomy, honestly. I don't think WWX and WQ are heroes or monsters: I think they're young people put in horrific circumstances with limited resources and support, forced to make decisions with no good possible outcomes. Again, not meant to justify anything, but I think recognizing that the things we label monstrosity is, itself, a very human thing to do is the best way to begin recognizing why it happens so that effective interventions, preventions, and methods for taking responsibility for one's actions to encourage real healing can be put into place.

And I am not even thinking about how can you trust again someone who did this to you! People can't forgive cheating in a relationship, lol.

Oh man, forgiveness is complicated. Some people DO forgive cheating and even worse, for a whole host of different reasons and motivations! (Me, I hold grudges for years.) But forgiveness can also be customized to a situation: maybe forgiveness is earned, not freely offered; maybe it means letting go of one's resentment towards another but not letting that person back into one's life; maybe the refusal to forgive is itself an act of self-empowerment because forgiveness was always coerced and guilt-tripped prior to that. But again, we come back to folks in fandom not always having a solid grounding to have productive, informed conversations about this sort of thing, which can lead to some REALLY unhelpful hot takes going around.

Oh, and the "jc and wwx's relationship is destroyed by jc's jealousy" : I am like: you okay, dude?? But maybe I am the weird one. Sorry if I seem rude! But this argument just triggers me

I don't think you're weird at all. 😊 JC and WWX's relationship is thorny and messy and multi-layered, compounded by unaddressed trauma and mutually conflicting coping strategies and perspectives, exacerbated by the people around them playing political games with their relationship because of their respective positions of power. I think JC's jealousy is a factor, but it comes from being constantly compared and found wanting since childhood, and we have multiple scenes in CQL where WWX does something Cool (TM) and JC will do that half-exasperated smile or roll his eyes with a laugh or something that clearly isn't mean-spirited. The evolution of their relationship is made by a progression of smaller decisions on both of their parts in the context of family dysfunction, loss, war, and political powerplays, and I think flattening it down to "JC is just a jealous bitch" or, conversely, "WWX is just an arrogant asshole" does a disservice to WHY these goddamn characters have taken so many fans emotionally hostage, lmao.

LONG STORY SHORT I agree or am sympathetic with a lot of what you say, anon, with maybe some different perspective on other pieces, but I found that MXTX fandoms became a lot more lovely when I began using blocking features liberally (and, frankly, avoiding Twitter altogether).

#rt asks #anon #this got long i'm so sorry #'my thoughts on yaoi' by which i mean the golden core and fandom lol

[leatherbookmark]

I wonder if 15 year old Jin Ling is worried about marriage? Like, Jiang Cheng has his murder coolness to counter the need for that and marrying NHS would be a turn off for everyone, but now he's head of the Jin and in a relatively shakey position...

ooh, thanks for the ask! that's an interesting question!

it definitely has to be said that he doesn't really have an example of a Good married couple around. jgy and qs were kinda close, living harmoniously and treating each other with respect, but uhhh there was the incest. i'm not sure if he remembers jgs and madam jin, but even if he doesn't, even from the stories and rumors you get the idea that they're the opposite of a good relationship you aspire to have. even if he has married cousins, i feel like he doesn't really get along with them, since they all seem proud and arrogant and he hates that.

besides, considering the Times, it's very likely that he doesn't know many girls in general. i'm not sure if mxtx ever mentioned any female juniors or any junior-aged daughters of other sects. i'm assuming they exist (even though it would be hilarious if the new generation was even MORE of a sausage fest than the previous one), but still: if jl doesn't have many friends that are boys, then he definitely doesn't have friends that are girls. he's probably that kind of a teenage boy who suspect girls are like, a separate species of human.

so in this situation, it would totally make sense if he was not the most excited about the idea of marriage! or even arranged dates and betrothal. he seems uncomfortable with public/overt PDA and affection, so he'd probably boil on the spot if someone breached the topic of Finding Him A Nice Lady, lol. it’s not only an embarrassing and unknown territory, but also: he’s going to have one more person living in his house! this already is not good, let alone horrifying things like producing heirs!

but at the same time -- i have’t finished the extras yet, so i don’t know if there’s isn’t more info about the situation in jinlintai later on, but he is the rightful heir, even though he debases himself with helping the commoners. i’m not sure if other jins would want him gone, or if his different approach would warrant them refusing to support/protect him in case of an assassination attempt from the outside. in this situation, and with jc and wwx as his uncles, i’d say he doesn’t have to worry about securing his line’s survival just yet. if his jin family started pressuring him to find someone and he obviously didn’t want to, i think jc and wwx would Do Something About That, maybe. in terms of securing the jin sect’s position, jl seems just like the person to try dealing with other sects on equal, cooperation-based ground, rather than with money or power play -- so he wouldn’t necessarily have to marry a sect’s daughter to hold it over their heads. i’m not good at marriage politics, though, so i’m not sure.

but speaking of jc, and by extension nhs -- now this is interesting! because they should worry about getting married and producing heirs. they’re not getting any younger, nhs in particular with his weak cultivation. jc is a strong cultivator and is still young, fresh and sexy, but i suspect that in society’s eyes that’s not an excuse, and while he did scare off many matchmakers, matchmaking, especially rich sect leaders, is $$$money$$$ so i don’t know how long his peace is going to last. it’s probably not going to happen, but i do think it would be funny if jl had to think about his uncle’s marriage sooner than his own lol;;;

#answered asks #anonymous #i don't know if this makes sense but. there #i also know md/zs is BL and so women are REALLY not the main focus but at the same time aaaaa god girls. female cultivators. where are they #'wives for the sect leaders' aside (i'm fiercely glad lxc didn't end up with a wife because it would be supremely depressing) YOUNG GIRLS!! #...i wonder. are the juniors that tag along with wgxn mostly lan juniors or are they just a bunch of kids from different sects? #their enthusiasm about hgj (and also cql memories for some reason?) gave me the feeling that they're mostly lans. and if so then #iirc female lan disciples not only lived and trained but even night-hunted separately so if ljy and lsz were there then. No Girls Allowed

[least-carpet]

Pursued by lesser ghosts 😭😭😭😭 are they gonna figure it out. Let JC in there

Hello, anon! Perhaps I will also link Pursued by Lesser Ghosts for context, since it took me so long to answer this ask. (You do need an AO3 account to read it.) It's wangxian with left zhanchengxian. Left in the sense that both chengxian and zhancheng had previously occurred, and they have left Jiang Cheng behind! (Sorry, I couldn't resist.)

In my heart, they figure it out, but I’m never going to write that because they are all in WILDLY different places and that would take... so long. This is partly what makes it interesting to rotate to me, because I think it’s a situation where the way any of the people involved would describe the facts in a relatively similar and nonchalant way, but their intellectual frameworks for the facts and emotional experience of the facts are so wildly disconnected that getting all three on the same page would be, uh, challenging. Rough character notes below.

Wei Wuxian:

Feels like JC should be mad at him, since he projects guilt about JYL already on to JC. additionally hates JFM’s treatment of JC but in total denial about both what the treatment means and how he feels about it. LWJ’s rejection and replacement of JC with WWX is going to trigger all of that BECAUSE it brings WWX's past understanding of JC into conflict with his current understanding of JC.

In the past, WWX’s JC feelings were positive; therefore any negative treatment by JFM had to be denied (and also Fixed by WWX).

WWX’s JC feelings are now negative, partly because of the projection and self-blame, and partly because of ongoing resentment about the core transfer (VERY traumatic plus the feeling like that degree of devotion and sacrifice was not reciprocated).

The emotional experience of REPLACING JC AGAIN is an experience that belongs to WWX’s childhood self, who loved JC and was extremely possessive and protective of him (the JZX beatdown was triggered finally by the insult about JC).

Also triggers memories of childhood > adulthood intimacies (some degree of sexual contact as teenagers that both of them “forgot about”).

WWX also terminally unable to leave shit alone, and now there’s a mystery about HIS HUSBAND and HIS SHIDI.

LWJ is just like “oh we had sex sometimes” but JC is a prude who doesn’t do that and only lets WWX touch him??? This is not a sufficient answer for WWX??? [meltdown]

CONFLICT CONFLICT CONFLICT KABOOM

Jiang Cheng:

I mean, Mr. Abandonment and Betrayal Issues got some feedback about what had happened, and that feedback was “it was duty, I never loved you like you loved me, let me go” (WWX) PLUS “now that the person who is better than you, who I really love, is here, I will replace you with him and never look back because you are Bad” (LWJ).

On one hand, closure! On the other hand, what if every childhood belief and fear about yourself all came true at once? Wouldn't that be fun? (I mean, the ones which had not already happened and left most of your family dead.)

Like he worked so hard to be good for love (root of childhood issues -> “if I am very good maybe dad will love me eventually and mom will finally be happy”) and this functions as proof that it has NEVER culminated in that love being returned.

I also don’t know how much he was aware of LWJ’s fixation on WWX before/during the time they were sleeping together. how blindsided he feels would change depending on that.

Also will blame himself for it (see childhood coping mechanisms… so abandonment by LWJ is “his fault” because he “should have expected it”).

He is. He is not doing so good. Genuinely bad to contemplate and I don’t know how you fix that, like, degree of damage.

He also Never Gives Up and JL is still alive so he’s not going to kill himself but like. it ain’t good.

Lan Wangji:

To me, this is the chewiest problem. Because he has these rigid categories of “good” and “bad” but is also missing a lot of information about what happened between JC and WWX (such as the fake fight/removal from the sect), he's made up his mind but it's based on incomplete information.

Also like, he's not particularly empathetic (so questions like “how would you feel if someone you unconditionally trusted accidentally killed your beloved sibling?” are ones he has perhaps never contemplated?)

IMO this intersects in a pretty ugly way with his canon sadism during the period he has a sexual relationship with JC. I would have to make some decisions about how bad that was, but I don’t think it’s good. I think JC goes along with it partly as a form of self-harm and partly because JC is under a lot of stress, touch-starved, and is genuinely pretty submissive in bed? But has no standards about it (healthy!) and doesn't know how to protect himself.

Initially this is fine to LWJ because it “doesn’t count” and “JC is bad” so LWJ doesn’t have to feel bad about how he treats JC.

But if it was a multi-year intermittent thing, I think that might change? Because I don’t think LWJ is actually that cruel, just inflexible and not great at people.

So they hook up semi-often and LWJ perceives JC worrying about JL, about YMJ, and to some degree about him (offers him salve for his scars, inquires semi-rudely about family, feeds him thoughtful vegetarian foods when around each other) and they get comfortable and sometimes they spend the night together and LWJ gets a lot less mean but not any better at talking…

But even as their behaviours change, LWJ’s mental model doesn’t, so when WWX returns, he just, like, ditches JC without any discussion whatsoever.

And he gets everything he thought he wanted!! And he’s happy about a lot of it but feels Weird in a way that he can’t articulate or explain.

So to get him to the throuple, his whole understanding of what they were doing with each other and what JC’s behaviour signified would have to change. On the other hand, he is now married to the nosiest and most determined man in the world and that man is going to ask him a LOT of questions.

He just has SO far to go. I think both WWX and JC at least understand that a loss happened, but LWJ hasn’t worked that out yet. He's feeling it, but hasn't been able to articulate it to himself because of how it conflicts with his beliefs.

So getting them all to kiss would be really hard work. I think they do, though!

#anon asks #asks #jiang cheng #wei wuxian #lan wangji #zhanchengxian #mdzs + #least-carpet thoughts #my fanfic

[llycaons]

ep33 (2/3): you are safe now my sweet child (bursts into tears)

ah, but this atmosphere is so different from where we left off. for so many episode's it's been so stressful and frightening and painful. on the run, dust and blood and fire, starvation and violence and cruelty and grief. and this is immediately just...calm. it's peaceful. there's no danger here, no need to rush or fight. I felt my blood pressure go down and my heart ease up immediately. also the jingshi is so beautiful

AND LWJ IS PLAYING WUJI. we hardly hear it in-universe. I totally remembered it as Rest. ah, so romantic. and lwj is sitting here all informal, he looks so nice

wwx thinking about jc trying to kill him with the upmost contempt and hatred in his eyes but he looked briefly sad for a moment so despite wwx saying repeatedly that he thinks jc's personality sucks and tries to avoid him and says he;s scared of him, they're secretly the REAL emotional heart of this show. man some jc fans are dumb as shit for real

anyway ahh this is so soothing, just waking up to being cared for and being okay for once? not having to worry? what a relief

wwx touching his face after looking at the mask (and the mask itself) is the clearest proof we got yet that this is his original face and body

I just can't stop taking screenshots...this is so gorgeous

I LOVE this conversation between wwx and lwj. wwx is far more serious, canonically, than he's presented in fics. he's more thoughtful here too, and lwj's come far enough that he can match his honesty with trust. the single tear there...idk if it's for anything specific. maybe just the situation. the unlikeliness of being alive again. being there with lwj. being here while his sister is not

it has never seemed odd to me that they don't start talking about their feelings for each other right away. wwx has so much processing to do

ah! so he's jc now! he was jwy earlier, at the cliff. but it doesn't surpise me that lwj is less respectful. oh, also he's probably older anyway

wwx, after waking up, isn't just more settled and calmer and less irritable, he's more straightforward as well. maybe more somber, but that's to be expected. he's not forcing himself to be upbeat every day anymore in order to keep up appearances

as we saw before, more trusting of wwx. ready to prove his faith and regain wwx's trust in return

this shot makes me feels indescribable emotions, it's so beautiful and peaceful

CR is like. perfect for wwx immediately after waking up. just soothing music and quiet contemplation. a companion if he wants it, and solitude if he doesn't. beautiful forests and waterfalls. no responsibilities or demands or blame. nobody trying to hurt him, no dogs. he can walk the grounds freely. there are no terrible memories hiding there to bite him. I don't think CR would have been an ideal home for wwx pre-sunshot, but after everything I can kind of see it. so long as the lans don't view him as irrevocable evil because he's kind of sensitive to that and it's weird how both canon and fanon acts like it's fine for him to have to live like that. I'm glad cql offers him an out

and here he is! standing in the sunlight, becoming accustomed to being alive again.

wow, the jingshi is really big

omg okay so this scene below? I completely lost it. I forgot how it started. I just burst into tears thinking about it. and I get it now. Iget it

wwx smiling a bit seeing his old self isn't just fondly reminiscing, not really. it's harder, more painful, but necessary. he's mourning the person who he was when he was here before, the innocent before the war, the boy who died.

and he follows these visions of his old self through the halls, through the library. it's good for him. he's remembering the old days, but not in a way where I think he wants to go back, more like he's appreciating what he had and he's coming to terms with not having it anymore

I was fully sobbing this entire sequence for reasons I would find it quite difficult to convey, and which have less to do with the story than with me anyway. but suffice to say I had to pause the video to cry it out before resuming. that's like, the sixth time this rewatch. some kind of record, probably. im so weepy this go around.

oh, and this is very sweet. wwx coming back to the bunnies after all these years, talking to them again like a kid

im sorry but after reading descriptions of the whip marks from the book these are just so piddling in comparison, there's like three. I wish they hadn't been cowards and actually gone and marked him up

AND THIS. i think I knew he did it to himself immediately. who else? I don't think it ever needed a full explanation

oh he's so handsome like this 🥺

#cql re-rewatch

[ramblings-of-a-mad-cat]

I thought people generally liked Lupin but I’m a bit surprised after seeing a few of the responses to JC’s latest tweet. There’s some people calling him selfish and a coward and other things along those lines. The Marauders seem highly popular within the fandom overall (aside from Pettigrew obviously) so I thought Lupin would be better liked in those responses.

I haven't seen the tweet, but that's interesting to be sure. As Remus is my baby who I shall protect at all costs...yeah, he's totally selfish. In the same way that Chiara can be selfish. They're such caring and altruistic people that you wouldn't really think of them that way, they seem like the antithesis. But I guess it depends on your definition of the word. Daring and Courage, for instance, are both Gryffindor traits...but they're complete opposites. One is the absence of fear, the other is the overcoming of fear. I think a similar idea applies here. Kindness and Selflessness are different, because anyone can be kind. It's the easiest thing in the world to just be nice. But to be selfless, you don't just have to do good things for others...arguably, it needs to be at the expense of yourself. Now, maybe there aren't a lot of situations where that kind of choice would reasonably come up in your life, that's possible.

But Remus...made selfish choices.

His adventures with the Marauders, leaving the safety of the Shrieking Shack...that was unsafe. Remus even admits as much in his adulthood. He could have broken free and attacked someone. But he enjoyed that time with his friends too much to give it up.

Throughout POA, he kept Sirius' animagery a secret, when for all he knew, Sirius was a dangerous murderer and Dumbledore/The Ministry needed that information. By his own admission, Remus kept this secret because he didn't want to admit that he'd broken Dumbledore's trust.

When James and Sirius would bully Snape, Remus would always look the other way. Even as a Prefect, he would do this. Because his greatest flaw was a desire for acceptance, and The Marauders had given him that acceptance. He wouldn't let anything jeopardize that, he wouldn't say a word against them.

Oh, and he abandoned his wife because she got pregnant and he didn't know how handle it. He didn't want to face his certainty that his son would be a werewolf too, and so he asked Harry if he could join the Horcrux quest instead.

I still think he's a wonderful person. Easily the best of the Marauders in my own humble opinion. But he wasn't perfect, and that's okay.

#Remus Lupin

[asingularshieldmaiden]

There’s a difference between critical analysis and salt yall like yall claiming ur jc salt is bAsED oN tEXtUaL eVIdEnCe like ok then show it to me rather then just shitting on him as a person? Like I’ll read ur jc critical analysis but if u guys just shit on jc and people who like him can yall not flood the tag

#like wangxian has plenty of problematic elements #but u don’t see me shitting on wangxian oop #I find jc interesting bc the story is told from the perspective of the character #who is in a totally different situation to jc #jc is quite restrained by sect politics! jc cannot do whatever he wants #both wwx and jc priorities are protecting the people they love #it’s just jc has a much smaller group of people who fit into that category #and his sect is his priority above even his family (except maybe jl) #jiang cheng #jiang wanyin #the untamed #cql #mdzs #mo dao zu shi #I just find it interesting to approach the text from different character’s perspectives #also shitting on characters just because u don’t like that other people like them #makes u a shitty person #no fucking way who would have guessed #if u just shit on him #watch me block u lol

[plan-d-to-i]

So, I ran into this lovely discussion about the "discourse" between JC and Wangxian after the ending of Donghua and I found this lovely person attempting to explain why "people" started to side with JC and dunked on Wangxian!Donghua??????. Also this will be a bit long.

"JC antis are just an irrelevant minority both here on Tumblr and in general. JC is litterally the 3rd most popular character [after twisting his characters to the point of OCC] of the series after Wangxian and this speaks for itself. The same day the final episode of the donghua was aired, JC was trending WORLDWIDE on Twitter and not Wangxian. Pretty much everyone was taking JC's side against Wangxian because of the way they deeply humiliated him (things didn't remotely go that way in the novel) [But it still ensured JC received the consequence like the novel intended]. If ppl started hating donghua!Wangxian because of that, then I perfectly agree with them"

"Antis love to claim, so lost in their delusions, that the ending of the donghua was the most accurate to the novel but they must've read a different version of the novel because in the book things are completely different [The so-called JC antis knew this very well, they were happy that JC was not woobified and received consequences though, which is still accurate to the novel in term of theme]. If you're guessing who these idiots are, look for the "canon JC tag" and you'll immediately know the clowns to block"

"It was very different from both novel (the original) and Cql, they changed a bunch of stuff, it's impossible to miss. There are very detailed posts about the differences between novel and donghua ending here on Tumblr [Urgh, duh, we knew it before for the last episode, no need for detailed explanations] and how the events of the donghua ruined the moral of the novel [So having consequences for your actions and having a chance for self-reflection are bad now?]. Also, if million ppl rioted complaining about the humiliation JC received (never happened in the novel so wtf are you talking about?), in particular the chinese fandom who knows very well the symbolism of certain behaviors (they consider LWJ's behavior toward JC the ultimate humiliation for a clan leader [and JC deserved it]) that belong to their culture [So because he was a Clan leader, he was free of criticisms and backlashes????], this definitely means something. Btw I'm satisfied by the fandom behavior [Yeah, by shitting on the main pair for defense themselves], we can't change the ending but JC trending that day was definitely a message to the authors." [Like being a bunch of whiny babies?]

"When it comes to the mood of the whole fandom, JC was always the most popular character after Wangxian [Because he got woobified] , but in the specific situation of the Donghua the whole fandom sided with him against Wangxian [uhm, so JC antis were not in the fandom???]. In this moment here on Tumblr there are just a few idiots [lol] using the "canon JC" tag to spread their delusion, but we're talking of the same 4-5 antis and few random other ppl. If one blocks them, the tag is clean."

"I'm not here to discuss opinions about JC's character, especially because I firmly believe one can either love or hate a character but still be objective about a shit treatement said character receive. To me JC is neither a total saint, nor a total monster. He's an extremely fucked up individual like many others in this series and I just tend to appreciate the most morally grey characters compared to 100% good guys or assholes. [But you seems to have problem with morally grey characters received consequences, ex. "humiliation" like JC]. Also I never believed much in the "tsundere JC" portrayal , it's funny to see sometimes [dude, it almost everywhere in this fandom] but in canon I don't exactly see him that way"

"About Wangxian, I've always loved them but the ending of the donghua ruined them for me. [I smelled bullshit in this sentence, just admit you're a JC stan] Donghua authors ruined a bunch of characters tbh. Op wanted infos on the fandom mood about Wangxian and JC after the donghua and I just talked about it. It's not just my opinion, if the whole fandom complained about the donghua epilogue [maybe only the JC Stans complain as I also saw many people didn't give an F about JC's ending and were relatively happy for Wangxian's cottage gore ending] this means that there was actually something big to complain about ["How dare they gave JC . Like, a character (not even the main one) doesn't trend worldwide every day [Wait, WWX also trended on his birthday]. This means that this ending was a general disappointment, Wangxian was supposed to trend that day to celebrate their happy ending but guess what? JC trended because ppl were giving him support. I think this speaks for itself, being a fan of him or not is irrelevant. These are facts"

Yeah, I need helps to unpack this.

HAHHAHA wow. jc stans are deeply deeply DEEPLY divorced from reality ...and the definition of gray morality. Fuck they can't even learn one simple term how are they supposed to understand a whole novel (눈_눈). But love to see all the old favs gathered together :

gray morality

culture

I toTalLy liked WangXian before this >:-/

"if million ppl rioted" 🥴😂...why not a billion? Why not one billion, gajillion, fafillion?! They should go find a story where the mc is another basic, shitty, self absorbed whiner, and just be happy. lol and stop putting out their cringe, unhinged, butthurt ex energy on the internet. oh Wow jc trended 🌝! WangXian is still canon and jc still ends up alone, yk like in the novel. xx ∠( ᐛ 」∠)_

#mdzs #answers #better throw their fav tag in #CANON jiang cheng #lmfao