THE UNTAMED episode 20

+ bonus:

Was watching the animated version of mdzs and it's honestly so fucking hilarious how Jiang Cheng and Lan Zhan spent months in each other's company, having the most in common, fought by each other's side until they were on their last legs before Wei Wuxian showed up– honestly, they would have died by each other's side if he hadn't– and zero. Zip. Nada. No friendship. No bonding. You can't even call them co-workers. They didn't even talk. Most people would have come out of that with a sworn brotherhood, but nope. Not my boys. They breathed the same air, and decided that was enough for them.

You’re smiling!

I was sketching random stuff then BOOM Wangxian angst

Xiao Xingchen is a little tougher than expected...

guess what I just added to the shop

saw a tag that went 'most conflict in romance stories comes from miscommunication, which can be done well' which may be true, idk, but it doesn't HAVE to be the majority of conflict. isn't it more satisfying to have two characters who are genuinely and honestly in love and in tune with how they feel, but have greater priorities and demands on their attention due to more powerful forces they can't control? or even if they're not aware of how they feel, isn't overcoming those more serious challenges to their partnership a more interesting and powerful story than just 'he thought x but actually the truth was y' or, perhaps someone not getting to place where they even CAN be together until they undergo some dramatic epiphany abt themself or other people or the world around them? like idk! I've had fun with some miscommunication romance plots but most of the time it just seems like a shallow and easily fixable conflict. and if people want that lower-stress story that's absolutely fine, but I'd rather get into the underlying principles and behavior and circumstances keeping them apart bc I think that's where the best character development and drama is

GUSU IS COASTAL??????

Ox!NMJ and bird! NHS

xiao zhan wallpapers

2560 x 1440 pixels. completely self-indulgent, made them for personal use. but sharing in case someone else might like them! ♡

HQ links: 1 | 2

cql is interesting bc one second they are saying things that anyone who knows anything about the novels know is yearning af, and then there’s a scene cut and you feel like one of those psychics that touch dried blood splatters in creepy houses and go “something happened here….”

Get out! I don’t need your pity! I don’t want to see anyone from the Wen Clan! I don’t want to see you!

THE UNTAMED episode 17

You know what hurts?

Imagine being Jiang Cheng; you're 18 years old, and there was a moment, after the destruction of your sect, the Fall of Lotus Pier, the deaths of your parents, when you see your brother about to be taken away by Wen soldiers.

Imagine the things you'd think in the span of a few seconds: that if they take him, your brother dies, and you're alone in a war, left to take care of your people and your sister. If you distract them, they take you instead.

But if they take you, you'll die. You'll get tortured and killed in your own home that's bathed in the blood of your family. If you die, your brother will inherit your sect and your responsibilities. He will be the leader your father knew you could never be. You hear your mother's voice, that always said he will bring nothing but trouble, that he'll take away what's rightfully yours.

Imagine that despite everything, not caring about anything, you step outside. You get caught, tortured, your golden core crushed– a fate worse than death, because now you have become what you always thought you already were: useless.

You don't let him know. You don't let either of them know.

Now imagine that despite the deteriorating relationship with your brother, who doesn't seem to take anything seriously, who doesn't help with the sect, who makes trouble in every public appearance you have, you don't let him know. You don't throw it in his face. He must never know.

And years– so, so many dreadful years full of mourning later– you find out your brother made the same sacrifice you did. Except, he tells you that he did it out of obligation. You were a debt. You were a way to repay your father's kindness and your mother's tolerance and your sister's love to an orphan boy. You were the price the man you called brother had to pay for being allowed to live in Lotus Pier. You were his duty, nothing more.

That's what you hear in his words. That's what he means when he says to leave it all in the past. You are the past. Which maybe was fitting, as you never moved on from him. You were a weight that your brother is finally free of, so he can go live a happy life with other people he considers family.

Imagine how it feels, to think that what you did out of love, nothing more or less, but pure, unadulterated love– it destroyed your beloved's life. Everything you have built, everything you were proud of, it was at his expense. Then, your brother trampled all over your love with the cold detachment, although unknowingly.

He didn't know after all.

So, steeling whatever is left of your heart, you let him go. You finally let go, knowing your grip has never been love, to your brother, but a chain, a prison–

So you don't tell him.

You could never admit to it. You could never put him through the anguish you yourself are feeling.

He must never know.

Bestest Bros Only

Fandoms: 陈情令 | The Untamed (TV), 魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù

Words: 9,852

Rating: Explicit

Relationship: Lán Zhàn | Lán Wàngjī/Wèi Yīng | Wèi Wúxiàn

Summary   

Lan Zhan finds Wei Ying on tinder, the first time. He isn't someone Lan Zhan knows, or he would have swiped left. It is his smile that draws him in initially, causes him to swipe right when ordinarily he would have closed his phone again, put on his pajamas, and tried properly to sleep. It is, after all, past his bedtime. Half an hour later finds Lan Zhan, undeniably not in his pajamas, driving down the highway to the next tiny town over.

...

A series of 'first' meetings.

Chapter 2 Summary:

The next time, Wei Ying finds Lan Zhan in the metro, the morning after one of the worst nights he's had in a while.

Lan Zhan takes him home.

For #CQL3rdanniversary

I can hear the melody of The Untamed

Green mountains won't change,

The waters will keep flowing,

We will meet again in the future

The road ahead is long