#not his sect or his family or whatever else
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AU where there's no system (or a decidedly less restrictive one) and Shen Yuan transmigrates into an OC rogue cultivator before the start of the novel, and decides he's gonna steal the protagonist before Luo Binghe even gets to Cang Qiong.
The logic is sound -- he'll keep Luo Binghe from experiencing neglect and abuse at Shen Qingqiu's hands, raise him away from the pressure of the sects and the likelihood that anyone else might find out about his heritage and try to harm him over it, keep him fully away from the Immortal Alliance Conference, and then Luo Binghe's course will change trajectory because he'll have no reason to want revenge against the world and no access to Xin Mo. Shen Yuan will be able to spare Luo Binghe some suffering and possibly survive in a world less subject to the harrowing whims of a half-mad tyrannical overlord. Win-win!
However, the tricky bit is that he's not sure exactly how far ahead of the novel he is, and also Airplane didn't specify where Luo Binghe grew up. This means that Luo Binghe could be any age younger than twelve and in any number of places along or near to the Luo river.
Shen Yuan decides he's going to approach this by pretending he is looking for the long-lost son of his sister, traveling through the likeliest areas, asking after abandoned children who might fit the protagonist's description. It's a long shot, he knows, and he's mostly relying on the existence of Narrative Destiny. But eventually he is directed by several people towards a particular city, which is not as close to the river as he'd have expected Luo Binghe to grow up, but then again he only knows that was where baby Binghe was found, not where the washerwoman who took him in ultimately lived.
It becomes clear to him, though, that he's been sent to the wrong target. But also why he's been sent astray is apparent in nearly the same breath, because among the slave children living in this area is a little boy who could be his much younger clone.
Seriously, this kid looks just like him! Or, well, close enough. He looks a lot like Shen Yuan's actual nieces and nephews from his past life. It's uncanny.
Also, because of his search, the slave kids get wind of what he's looking for (his long-lost nephew) pretty quick. The boy with the obvious resemblance to him greets Shen Yuan's own assessment with wary cynicism, but he's just a little boy. So it's not difficult to notice the way he's also practically vibrating with hopefulness, half-hiding behind a protective older kid and looking at Shen Yuan with big dark eyes like he expects to be rescued or destroyed with whatever he has to say next.
Shen Yuan has a big problem now. He just knows that if he says something like "actually no this boy is too old to be my nephew" or whatever other excuse, no one will believe him, and also this poor kid is going to be permanently scarred by it. He's going to think Shen Yuan is lying just so that he can reject him. On top of that, he's not in a good situation here. None of these children are even remotely well cared-for.
Shen Yuan's rogue cultivator self isn't rich on the level of being like a wealthy sect leader or anything, but he's made some money since transmigrating by doing random cultivator jobs and quests along the way here. He uses it all to purchase two little slave boys (Do Not Separate), then takes another job and uses that coin to acquire a somewhat rundown manor which used to belong to the local gentry. The Qiu family (rings some bells but that's not exactly an uncommon name) kept it up for a while in case a branch family sprung up in need of a residence, but they've been in decline and the place is downright decrepit, so they had been looking to sell it instead. It's too big for a wandering bachelor like SY to ever need on his own account, but that's sort of the idea. He makes more money taking on cultivator work, at first taking his boys along with him for lack of any alternative. Nerve-wrackingly dangerous! Eventually he hires workers to start restoring the manor, particularly setting up a yard to be a school area, and then starts taking on any freelance jobs he can get in order to steadily buy out the contracts on all the other kids. He gets it nice enough to house and care for as many orphans as he can acquire.
Not because he's a big old softie though!
His story of looking for his nephew is a bust now, since he's apparently "found" the kid. So he's got to change tactics! If he can't find baby Binghe and the washerwoman, the next best approach is to create an opportunity for them to come to him. So once he's got his new household established, he starts offering free lessons to all the local kids. Not just the ones he's taken in, but also any who come by and want to learn some things. It's a tempting setup for anyone who wants their child to get education but can't afford a tutor, and Luo Binghe's mother had been entirely the sort of person who would have packed up and left her situation if there had been an opportunity for it.
On that note, SY also starts hiring single mothers to help look after his new gaggle of children and do the work he doesn't know how to do in these times, like keeping house, laundry, cooking, actually raising kids, etc.
His "little school" is not universally popular. A few groups try and ruin him, because the poverty in the region provides a basis of business for them. The ringleaders of the human traffickers in the area don't want their trade to dry up, even if it means selling all of their merchandise for this round, so when they find out that their underlings let Shen Yuan buy off all the kids they try and intimidate him into returning them (it doesn't go well for them). The Qiu family also isn't thrilled after it becomes clear what he's doing, and get him investigated by the local authorities (read: use their bribed officials and local goons to try and interfere.)
When that doesn't work either the sects get involved, because the Qiu go crying to Huan Hua Palace that Shen Yuan is sketchy and is trying to establish his own sect. So Shen Yuan talks his way around the matter, and frankly the Qiu are small fish even if they're the biggest ones in the local pond, so HHP doesn't care to pursue things much further. (Read: SY could mop the floor with the disciples they sent to investigate him, and it's not worth it to piss off someone this mysterious and powerful just to bully some impoverished children.)
Shen Yuan is appalled by all this bullshit though. Trust the world of PIDW to make it so hard just for a guy to teach some poor kids how to read and do math!
It makes him dig in his heels about it, because he is at heart a stubborn bastard. The fires that once fueled a thousand angry screeds on zhongdian literature site is now aimed at the local magistrate. One of the women he's hired on has some dirt on the Qiu family, which leads SY to dig up some more until he eventually has enough to turn the tables on them. Local officials won't investigate because they've all been bought, but that in and of itself is of some interest to their superiors closer to the palace, and so SY arranges an investigation of his own that goes way further than he thought? Turns out there are some ugly skeletons in the Qiu closets, and the imperial investigator comes down on them hard.
Well, he can't say they didn't have it coming? Though he does feel bad for the children in the family, especially the oldest son, who gets hauled off to jail along with his father. At least the girl is sent to live with relatives. Maybe he should have done more to shield the minors in the situation...?
His kids tell him not to worry about it, though, that apparently young master Qiu was known to run people down in the streets and beat his servants and do other cartoonishly awful things. SY's not sure how much of it is true and how much of it is his little flock of fluffy sheep trying to ease his conscience, though they do all seem to take a lot of vindictive delight in the whole affair. Especially Nephew, who clings to his sleeves and loudly declares that the investigator should have publicly flogged the discredited nobles so that everyone could go watch, and then begs him for sweets as if that wasn't a creepy thing to hear come out of an eight-year-old's mouth. SY just sighs and tells him he can have something good when he finishes his calligraphy practice.
Of course, it's not exactly easy running what is basically an orphanage-slash-school (and maybe a budding sect...?), especially when pretty much all of the kids have been traumatized and faced stuff like rampant dehumanization, food insecurity, abuse, and neglect. Hiring single mothers soon becomes not only a plan to try and lure in Luo Binghe's mom, but an absolute godsend of an idea because SY has no clue WHAT he would do on his own about the discipline issues or emotional breakdowns or acting out that some of the kids get up to once it registers that they're in a safe enough place to unpack their baggage.
Apart from Nephew, SY's favorite kid is the one who came with him, the oldest of the flock of former slave children. He's the big brother of the group, the one who tries his best to look after the others and to not make any trouble himself. But even poor Little Yue is still just a kid who has been through too much, and he also eventually starts having some meltdowns and struggles with processing everything that has happened to him as a vulnerable child in an unkind world.
SY really didn't mean to start a trauma center for mistreated children!
Though, that's still not necessarily a bad thing for Luo Binghe to one day come across, provided he ever actually shows up...
Eventually, Shen Yuan does figure out that he must be ahead even of Luo Binghe's birth, though he still doesn't put together that he's interfered in the scum villain's backstory. Probably something even more amusingly obscure, like the creation year of some random artifact Luo Binghe used in some wife plot or other, tips him off and he mentally throws his hands up in the air. He's got to wait DECADES? Maybe he ought to try and find Luo Binghe's biological parents and just follow them around at this point!
Not that he can, now, though, because he has to make sure no negative IQ villains (who will probably just be cannon fodder for a subplot one day) decide to send goons to literally burn down his orphanage. Also if he's gone for too long his kids get upset. Probably because no one else is as weak to their puppy dog eyes and pleas for treats and toys as he is.
At least it gives him time to shore up his position, and train Nephew and Little Yue more extensively in cultivation. Despite his initial assurances to HHP that he was but a humble orphan wrangler who was only incidentally a cultivator, Shen Yuan does also teach the other kids some basic cultivation exercises. There are a few reasons for that.
One is just the principle of the thing. No, these kids don't all have the potential to become great immortals or anything, but they can still learn some of it and it's good for their health if they do. The only trouble is if they try and push too hard or attempt things beyond their range, and that's a risk with everyone who cultivates. Or even just exercises!
Another reason is that it helps stave off the jealousy that some of the kids have towards those with more cultivation potential. Teaching a lot of the basics all around makes it into just another topic at school. Some kids might not be as good at it as others, but those kids might also be better at math, or memorization, or board games, and while cultivation can open more doors to people as adults, for the children this is generally enough to satisfy their sense of fairness. Or at least reduce outbursts and fights.
Finally, the impression that any of SY's kids might be a cultivator also makes wicked people more reluctant to try and abduct or interfere with them. Cultivators are revered and nearly mythological figures in the public consciousness. It isn't difficult to see why, if even a rogue cultivator NPC like SY* can mop the floor with most random muggers (*Shen Yuan is not a normal rogue cultivator). Not many people want to risk bringing SY's ire down on them, but of those who might chance it if he wasn't around to immediately react, even fewer want to risk that the kids themselves could kick their asses.
Not knowing that only two of the orphans probably could in fact mop the floor with them helps keep all the rest safer, and is more believable when all of them can conduct themselves enough like disciples to fool anyone who doesn't know what to really look for.
Developments that surprise Shen Yuan but wouldn't surprise anyone else who is paying attention:
People start leaving unwanted babies and younger children on his doorstep. Not all the time, but more than once has he had to frantically find wet nurses and worry that he's changed things enough that some fishermen might just randomly drop the protagonist outside his gate, and he wouldn't even know because Binghe would be a literal infant??
Nephew (SJ) and Little Yue (Yue Qi -- only Shen Yuan calls him "Little", especially when he gets taller than SY by the time he's sixteen) are prodigies who get really good at cultivation, really fast, and between that and Shen Yuan's OP skills they completely warp Shen Yuan's ideas for what normal cultivation potential looks like. This would probably cause more problems if he wasn't teaching all the kids how to cultivate anyway, but means his students actually do kinda run the usual range of skills for a small sect.
SJ and YQ swiftly reach the point where they need more advanced equipment than just SY's teaching can provide, if they're going to keep building their skills. Gaining access to certain tools, aids, and materials (like spiritual swords) is a real hurdle though, and usually is for rogue cultivators (one of the major disadvantages of no sect affiliation.) Shen Yuan is hesitant to use stuff from the plot, since it's For Binghe, but he eventually caves and starts going after some things that he doesn't think the future protagonist will miss much. He also ends up buying stuff from HHP, since they're willing to sell things like spiritual tools and weapons if the price is right, whereas most other sects like Cang Qiong reserve them for members only.
They get an invitation to the Immortal Alliance Conference. Not the one where the Abyss opens up, obviously, the one where (originally) Shen Jiu reunited with Yue Qi and killed Wu Yanzi. Shen Yuan debates on going but the boys really want to, and things have calmed down enough that no one's trying to burn down the school whenever he leaves these days, so eventually he figures it'll be interesting to see some of the Cang Qiong characters and should be safe enough if he keeps his disciples close.
They don't run into young Yue Qingyuan or Shen Qingqiu on the trip, but Wu Yanzi does show up and get killed, and SY only hears about it and assumes they just missed all that action. (WYZ just got caught by some senior cultivators who recognized him and killed him to avenge some disciples he murdered.) Nephew and Little Yue do meet young Liu Qingge, Shang Qinghua, Mu Qingfang, and Su Xiyan though! Which gives Shen Yuan the opportunity to tell them all (mostly Su Xiyan) that if they're ever in trouble near his school, they can come to him for help. Hint hint.
This open invitation ends up being accepted broadly by a lot of traveling cultivators after the conference, who from then on treat Shen Yuan's school like a free motel whenever they're passing through. Plenty aren't even people SY met, but it seems his statement was taken as a general one to fellow righteous cultivators all around! Luckily, this has some advantages. Shen Yuan has no qualms running off anyone who tries to take unfair advantage of him or especially his kids or staff, and no shame in conscripting anyone who is decent enough to help teach his students, even if it's nothing to do with cultivating, and somehow word gets around and people start bringing school supplies, medicine, food, or other useful things along with them as gifts to help repay the hospitality. Young Liu Qingge comes by a lot on his way to and from various quests, or even seems to just turn up randomly sometimes (he comes to challenge YQ and SJ to fights), and SY's just like "I guess this is happening now" and teaches him to recognize the early signs of qi deviation and advises strongly against meditating in caves.
At one point a young Shang Qinghua turns up in one of the spare rooms, very obviously hiding an ice demon. Shen Yuan again is just like "I guess this is happening now" and shelters them until Mobei Jun has recovered, and sends a message to Cang Qiong that one of their An Ding caravans was attacked and their disciple is recovering under his roof but isn't well enough to travel yet. Much less stressful situation for Airplane (who is desperately trying to figure out what he did to manifest SJ's benevolent uncle from somewhere???)
Su Xiyan seems like the only person they met at the Immortal Alliance Conference who doesn't turn up at their door in a state of emergency at some point.
A few years later, there is a big scandal involving her and the demon emperor. Su Xiyan disappears, Huan Hua Palace accuses Tianlang Jun of plotting against the righteous sects, and Shen Yuan is even invited to the meeting where they try and rally everyone to go kill Binghe's dad. Naturally, he declines to participate in the witch hunt, but the major sects agree to it. By luck (or narrative fortune) Shen Yuan comes across Zhuzhi Lang on his trip back home, and mentions the ambush and his distaste for it (not knowing who ZZL is). ZZL warns Tianlang Jun and the confrontation goes very differently, especially since there's no Yue Qingyuan wielding Xuan Su.
It doesn't go well for the sects involved. Huan Hua Palace gets decimated. The Old Palace Master gets killed. Shen Yuan is like uhhhh that's... whoops? Didn't Luo Binghe need that in the future?? Fuck.
But the sect isn't wiped out completely, they just take a massive beating. Some of their younger disciples end up leaving and turning up on Shen Yuan's doorstep, for some reason. The manor house is becoming too small to account for all of these foundlings! They have to expand. Though the expansions would be a stretch to term a "palace" they end up occupying a much larger chunk of territory, and even investing in farmland and some storehouses to help support the sect. That's still not really a sect, of course. Even if a lot of the business that would have normally gone to Huan Hua Palace starts coming to them instead. Once HHP is back on its feet the stream will probably dry out. Probably?
Zhuzhi Lang starts hanging around. He's actually looking for Su Xiyan or their baby, dead or alive and per Tianlang Jun's instructions, but he uses Shen Yuan's school as base camp for his kind of hopeless efforts to find any traces of them, while also looking for ways to try and repay Shen Yuan. All the kids are just like "oh great, another weird man has fallen in love with Shizun -- someone go run interference" about it.
Some years later, an older woman and her young son turn up. Shen Yuan's off on a quest at the time, so SJ receives them. As is standard procedure he gives the woman a job and places the boy in classes, after giving him the aptitude tests. The kid is cute and precocious, so SJ uses him to distract YQ while he himself sneaks out to go join LQG on a monster hunt (and claim the valuable parts of the beast's remains for himself), and neither SY nor ZZL notice anything until SY's going over the paperwork for stuff he missed while he was gone. Since he procrastinated, it takes him like a week to find out that Luo Binghe is finally under his roof. He's going over the admission form right when SJ arrives with The New Adorable Child to try and distract SY enough that SY will let him go on a solo hunt -- as far as being distracted goes, it is way more effective than even SJ anticipated.
Then he has to figure out how to let ZZL know, so that ZZL can let Tianlang Jun know, so that Luo Binghe will have more family than just his mom and more resources than just a shabby little not-sect! But even once he figures it out and sets up the dramatic reveal, TLJ is just like "great! so can he just stay with you? he's probably fine there" which... irritates SY.
SJ fully conscripts Luo Binghe as a minion in his many cons. He never lost his street kid conman tactics, although he now uses them less as a ruthless survival tool or weapon and more to just get things to go his own way. LBH has the face and disposition of a little angel, which SJ no longer can pull off as a full grown adult, so he fills a gap. LBH also knows full well what's going, especially since a lot of SJ's tactics involve throwing LBH at SY like a smoke bomb.
Luo Binghe inevitably still develops a big fat crush on SY, so this is fine by him. Especially when he gets older, he starts bringing SY tea and making him breakfast and running his errands until even SJ is like "wait a minute, this little brat's stealing my job!" and by then it's too late. Luo Binghe is SY's personal assistant, the disciple at conman puppydog eyes has surpassed the master! While SJ was busy being like "I'm going to trick this idiot into doing my chores" LBH was going "I'm going to trick this idiot into giving me his job".
SY takes too long to officially name his school so everyone calls it the Shen Sect, much to his embarrassment.
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Time travel AU where post canon Lan Qiren travels back in time to when Wei Wuxian is 4 and has just lost his parents. Lan Qiren may hate the man (now boy), but he still follows the rules strictly and will not kill. Instead, Lan Qiren finds a 4 year old Wei Wuxian cowering in an alley hiding from dogs. He protects the boy because the rules tell him that it is his duty to do so.
There is a spiteful part of him that wants to send this boy far away. However, he reconsiders when he thinks of how the Wei Wuxian in his previous life created Demonic Cultivation when left unattended. The best way to keep the boy in line, Lan Qiren figures, is to raise him himself as a ward. Keep your friends close but your enemies closer, they say.
So that is exactly what Lan Qiren does.
Wei Wuxian is brought back to the Cloud Recesses and raised as a ward alongside Lan Xichen and Lan Wangji. Lan Qiren would prefer otherwise, but he doesn't trust anyone else but himself to control Wei Wuxian.
As time goes by, Wei Wuxian proves to be the same and different to the one that Lan Qiren knew previously. He's energetic and mischievous, carefree, with a love for teasing others. Every bit as genius and inventive as Lan Qiren knew of the boy in his previous life. However, there was a strong sense of justice that he didn't notice the last time (or refused to see, but it would take years for him to admit to himself).
And Wei Wuxian thrives in a way that Lan Qiren didn't expect. He knew that Wei Wuxian was powerful and intelligent, yet he did not realize just how so. As much as the boy loved to tease and joke around, he could also be found in the Library Pavilion studying whatever random topic caught his interest. Talking everyone's ears off on what he learned or ways that certain things can be improved upon.
It infuriates Lan Qiren to no end because many times, Wei Wuxian is right. Many times, Wei Wuxian just needs guidance to find the right direction or a different perspective. Since Lan Qiren was raising him alongside his own nephews, the people that Wei Wuxian goes to the most are them: Lan Qiren, Lan Xichen, and Lan Wangji. The latter two always happy and excited to discuss the myriad topics, while the former confused as to the feelings he's having for the boy.
Lan Qiren's sister-in-law passes, and Wei Wuxian kneels next to Lan Wangji in the snow for hours silently in comfort. It's the first indication that the boy is secretly kind and compassionate (not so much if had he paid attention the last time and rid himself of clouded judgments). It's the event that causes the two boys to be inseparable. Of course Lan Qiren is worried but, he tells himself that he will not let them marry. He will not let Wei Wuxian turn into that evil man he ended up being.
Years keep going by, and Lan Qiren finds himself slowly warming up to Wei Wuxian. He's there for many important firsts (losing his teeth, golden core formation, getting his sword, etc). He will never admit that his heart squeezed when the boy accidentally calls him A-die without thinking because he's so excited about something he's learned.
Jiang Fengmian comes to the Cloud Recesses when he finds out that Weo Wuxian is there. Desperately, he tried to convince Lan Qiren to let the boy become a part of Yunmeng Jiang. But Lan Qiren is adamant in his refusal. The boy was raised there the last time and look at how he ended up! He doesn't know that this fundamentally changed Wei Wuxian's destiny. From a tragic hero given a second chance to a free boy allowed to be happy.
The Jiang sect leader mentions during this visit that Wei Wuxian owes Lan Qiren a life debt. It's something that hadn't crossed Lan Qiren's mind. Not really. He had been raising the boy selfishly to change a horrible future. Sure. However, it was against the rules and his own morals to demand a child pay reparations to be allowed to live. He has felt the same way when Lan Sizhui, his good perfect Lan Sizhui, had been adopted into the family. To Lan Qiren, it was unfathomable to demand payment from a child in such ways.
And anyway, Wei Wuxian's genius was already making itself known. If the boy invented even half of what he came up with in his previous life (Lan Qiren crossed his fingers for no Demonic Cultivation), then the Lan Sect would be paid in full from the proceeds.
Still, years continued to creep by, and Lan Qiren began to feel pride in Wei Wuxian. He followed the rules decently well, received his punishment with little protest, and had an insatiable thirst for knowledge. The boy could be seen at any given moment debating an array of topics with seniors, elders, and peers.
When Wei Wuxian started going on night hunts with Lan Xichen and Lan Wangji, the three became known as the Three Jades of Lan. Pride bloomed even more in Lan Qiren's heart. He had successfully turned Wei Wuxian into a good and polished man. What he didn't realize was that he gave structure to a boy who needed it and didn't make him feel guilty for existing.
The Wens came and tried to burn the Cloud Recesses down but didn't succeed. Between Lan Qiren, Wei Wuxian, Lan Xichen, and Lan Wangji, the wards were strengthened, and the books copied and protected. The Sunshot campaign took longer to fight because Wei Wuxian had learned long ago of the dangers to the mind and body that it caused. He had also learned that he shouldn't rip himself apart to help others. Lan Qiren had implored the boy to never try and had used the boy's love and adoration for Lan Xichen and especially Lan Wangji to convince him.
After the Sunshot campaign, Wei Wuxian comes to Lan Qiren about the innocent Wens cultivator and noncultivator alike. By this point, Lan Qiren can agree that innocent people should not die because of selfish greed and blind prejudice. There are years of trials completed by a multisect jury. The Wen sect survives but becomes a minor sect by the time the trials and reparations are completed. Under Wen Qionglin, they focus on medicine and archery.
Wen Qionglin swears brotherhood with Wei Wuxian. It doesn't surprise Lan Qiren in the least bit. Had it been a lifetime ago, it would've infuriated him yet with all these years and direct dealings with Wen Qionglin, he respects the boy. Admires the gentleness that hides a fierce strength and sense of justice. Especially admires Wen Qing, who Lan Xichen ends up falling for and marrying. Again, had it been a lifetime ago, he would've lost his mind. Now, Lan Qiren can see Wen Qing for her genius, her directness, strictness, and her advancements in medicine.
After Lan Xichen and Wen Qing marry, Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian approach Lan Qiren and Lan Xichen to ask about marriage. There is no denying them at this point because he knows that the Wei Wuxian of his previous life is nothing like this current Wei Wuxian (he is but Lan Qiren has no one to admit it to). And anyway, he knows the two will simply elope if denied.
It's several years later, when Lan Qiren finally sits Wei Wuxian, Lan Wangji, and Lan Xichen down and tells them a story from a lifetime ago in a forgotten timeliness that may exist somewhere out there if you believe in multiple universes (not surprisingly Wei Wuxian does). They patiently listen as Lan Qiren details everything. There is silence for a long, unbearable moment when he's finished speaking.
Eventually, it's broken by a hug from Wei Wuxian, "Thank you, A-die, for giving me another chance in this life."
"I should be the one thanking you, A-Ying," Lan Qiren says softly, himself grateful for his second life.
#mdzs#the untamed#Lan Qiren#Wei Wuxian#Wei Ying#mdzs fic#the untamed fic#Lan Wangji#Lan Zhan#Wangxian#Lan Xichen#me writing a fic in 2024?!#holy shit more likely than you think#this is good uncle Lan Qiren though he probably selfishly wants to be bad uncle#he just adopted a child amd thought he wouldnt grow to love the boy as his own son#what a moron
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Tell us your theory on why he says that PLEASE. I don’t think it’s true they have to fix things 😭
So, this post points out a huge flaw in Wei Wuxian's response and its discrepancy to what we know of their relationship in canon. The Golden Core transfer is one of MANY things they need to discuss to get past their estranged, brittle, slightly obsessive relationship.
When we take a close look at why Jiang Cheng is so angry and so hurt here, it's not just about his family or any debt Wei Wuxian might have had to his parents. Ultimately, it's about Wei Wuxian's promise to remain by Jiang Cheng's side. He lost his parents and their entire sect, then he lost his own core trying to protect Wei Wuxian (who doesn't know!) then his "martial brother/brother/best friend/whatever" not only goes missing for three months but returns with new powers and new issues he won't share with anyone. Not even Yanli.
Jiang Cheng wanted to protect Wei Wuxian but was unable to due to larger political circumstances and the fact that he didn't know about the transfer. He didn't know why Wei Wuxian was using demonic cultivation! He warns Wei Wuxian again and again that there are larger risks of his cultivation, and he turned out to be right. Trouble found Wei Wuxian even when he ran off and hid peacefully! And he never knew why.
To Jiang Cheng, Wei Wuxian asking to leave the sect -- regardless of whether or not it was to protect them from further scrutiny by the other sects -- is him asking to leave Jiang Cheng's side. To break their promise without any explanation. He already lost so much and all he can see here is losing another person he loves.
I want to drive that point in, really.
Any insecurity Jiang Cheng feels over Wei Wuxian's capabilities is often outweighed by his sense of responsibility towards rebuilding his sect and attempting to protect what remains of the family he had before the attack on Lotus Pier.
He didn't want to tell Wei Wuxian about why he lost his golden core for the same exact reason that Wei Wuxian kept the surgery a secret. They didn't want to hurt each other with the knowledge of such a great sacrifice. A sacrifice no one would have ever asked of either of them, no matter what was "owed." The Transfer was experimental and pretty much something no cultivator would even attempt. That's what made this choice so risky and so hard to account for.
Neither had any real way to weight the risks and consequences of this situation, and by never talking about it even during a tearful argument, we got canon events. (I've seen people talk about how Wei Wuxian's circumstances meant he had very little else to choose but survival, but this is true for Jiang Cheng too.)
And really. They both tried so hard to survive. And yet, when faced with terrible choices, they chose to protect each other. Putting their cultivation on the line to save each other's lives is not something anyone would normally do. Duty could have been a factor, but in my opinion, it wouldn't have taken Wei Wuxian that far. It wasn't even a factor in Jiang Cheng's.
And I think this is why people feel so put off by Wei Wuxian claiming it was done out of duty to the Yunmeng Jiang family. But it doesn't start with him. Their entire confrontation starts out with Jiang Cheng questioning what the sect meant to Wei Wuxian, if everything they gave him (everything they were to him) was worth nothing. This is almost entirely a projection of what Jiang Cheng asks when he cries. What he really feels is hidden in questions about martial duty.
"Why did you not tell me?"
For all his words, it was less about their sect and so much more about Jiang Cheng feeling like he was worth nothing to Wei Wuxian.
We know this. But Wei Wuxian doesn't.
I didn't notice it immediately, but Wei Wuxian's whole thing is deflection. It's about telling small truths and laughing things off or forcing himself to forget entirely. By the end of their confrontation, he does it again by asking Jiang Cheng to let it stay in the past, now that it's out there, but this does nothing to reduce the tension. It just deflects it again.
I think Wei Wuxian's response to Jiang Cheng's questions was to focus on what he thought was most important. Duty, debt to the Yunmeng Jiang. It was a deflection from what was really wrong. He didn't want to address his own complicated feeling, much less try to untangle whether Jiang Cheng hates him or loves him, so he doesn't.
Whatever broke between them wasn't about duty of any kind. It was about sacrifice, and the pain of carrying its burden alone. It was about loving someone enough to do something so drastic and never being able to say it.
Jiang Cheng hearing that the transfer was out of duty hurts him deeply, because he doesn't know that Wei Wuxian loves him. But Wei Wuxian doesn't know that's what Jiang Cheng is looking for. He hears the first part of their confrontation and responds to that.
Not, "Why did you never tell me?" But 'Did the Yunmeng Jiang mean nothing to you?'
Those are two different questions.
Wei Wuxian is trying to tell Jiang Cheng that it did mean something. That Lotus Pier's destruction, the Jiang parents and Yanli's deaths mattered to him. He's trying to release Jiang Cheng's burden without realizing that, by saying it had nothing to do with him, he's saying that Jiang Cheng didn't matter enough.
This is not how Wei Wuxian feels, we know this. But, again, Jiang Cheng doesn't.
They're talking right past each other, and because of all their other issues, they not only don't realize it, but might never be able to truly address it. They're so used to keeping their feelings hidden from each other that they can't even see how much they, as individuals, matter to each other.
TL;DR.
Both of them love each other and couldn't say it because of their complicated. Well, everything. Instead, their misconceptions cause them both to focus on the wrong things at the wrong time. By asking about what the Yunmeng Jiang meant to Wei Wuxian, it hides what Jiang Cheng really wants to know: if it was done out of love and protectiveness as his sacrifice had been. By focusing on this deflection, Wei Wuxian hides his own feelings by placing duty to the Jiang sect in highest importance. He gives the answer that he thinks Jiang Cheng wants to hear.
So, no, I don't think Wei Wuxian wasn't telling the truth (or at least not the full truth) either.
In the end, this is not what either of them actually wanted from the confrontation and does very little to address their actual emotional issues. All it really does is open the door for something to change in the future.
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bitches be like “lwj put wwx above his own morality, he’s so mean to jc, he didnt even help lxc post-jgy reveal, him and wwx are SO shamless and disrespectful” and it’s like. seriously. who are you, lqr???
you’re going to paint lan wanji lan zhan our light-bearing lord as less morally upright??? as if mdzs didn’t spend the whole novel going “BTW not everything is black and white also look at LITERALLY EVERYONE being awful while the few who try to speak up r ignored”
As if lxc, in his pacifism, didnt contribute to the treatment of the wen remnants and their slaughter thereafter. as if he didnt call wwx his brothers “biggest mistake” even though that biggest mistake is the reason lsz is even alive. (dont get me fcking started on lsz having to carry the name of the people who helped kill his family)
and its like. lan zhans whole character arc is him coming to terms with the moral failings of his sect. he wasn’t so blinded by love for wwx that he lost all sense of morality. his love for wwx gave him the COURAGE to stand up for wwx and by extension a-yuan DESPITE his sect turning the other way.
and to paint wangxian as selfish, uncaring assholes as if they arent one of the ones who suffered the most because of others failings. ofc lan zhan finds it hard to care for everyone. bc he’s seen which way the wind blows when it comes to what is right and what is easy.
that’s not to say he doesnt care about anyone but wwx. the juniors and the general public clearly respect him and that is bc lwj respects them in turn. he taught the next generation of lans to think for themselves. he respects those who learn from their mistakes. like he did. like wwx does. like everyone else from their generation fails to do.
Gusu Lan sect is lwj home. But they are not above HIS morals. lwj is one of the ONLY characters to consistently do what is right time and time again in the face of adversity and to call him disrespectful is so not supported by the text.
and ofc he hates jc. that man was actively antagonistic to wwx at every turn and would have killed a-yuan without a second thought. he was consistently cruel, no matter his reasons. ofc hes not going to be holding lxc hand after the jgy debacle or prostrating for his uncle when he disregards wwx.
lwj KNOWS what he has done and what he has not. he is not ignorant or blind or letting wwx “walk all over him” or whatever the fck antis believe. he is a man who spent 13 years GRIEVING and trying his best to uphold the ideals of righteousness the rest of the cultivation world has conveniently forgotten about. he finally has the love of his life back. who r YOU to paint him as selfish. wtf.
#ive seen so many ppl try to portray lwj as some unfilial uncaring a-hole as if hes not one of the only characters who didnt k!ll innocents#ig#wangxian#lan zhan#lan wangji#u come into MY house and disrespect our lord and savior lwj.#mdzs
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Didn't want to derail that last post since it's specifically about novel canon, but it got me thinking about the ramifications of the changes that the drama makes:
CQL Mianmian is a Jin disciple. I like this change overall because it facilitates her being a larger part of the narrative and implies that Jin Zixuan has a life outside of being That Rich Guy Wei Wuxian Hates. Still, as is also the case with Meng Yao and Lan Xichen due to them meeting earlier, it means that Jin Zixuan is defending someone already dear to him rather than protecting a stranger simply because it's the right thing to do. Don't shrug off his heroism yet, though, because...
A nameless Jin disciple is the one who tries to hand over Mianmian. Jin Zixuan (and only Jin Zixuan) strikes him down and says in disgust that he can't believe the Jin clan contains such cowards, or something like that. However, Mianmian herself reminds Jin Zixuan when they're giving up their swords that they're under orders from their sect leader to comply with whatever the Wen clan asks of them. Jin Zixuan's choice to defend Mianmian is potentially in defiance of his father's directive. (Why is Jin Zixuan willing to disobey his dad here but stays awkwardly silent during his family's BS at the Phoenix Mountain hunt and conference later on? Well, his dad's not in the room with him here.)
Su She is not involved here, as Lan Wangji is the sole representative from Gusu Lan. The selfishness/cowardice of trying to feed Mianmian to a monster is replaced with his (more socially unacceptable in-universe but IMO more sympathetic to the viewer) revealing the Cold Pond Cave secret. There aren't any Lans standing by as nobody but Lan Wangji does the right thing.
The hostages generally show a lot of solidarity! After Wen Chao punts Wei Wuxian deeper into the cave, everyone else climbs down after him. None of them responds to Wen Chao shouting questions from up above, forcing the Wen guards to climb down to their level to investigate. The Jin guy attacking Mianmian is an outlier, indicating a problem with Lanling Jin culture rather than the jianghu as a whole. They cooperate well when it's time to band together and escape!
So the takeaway in CQL canon isn't that everyone is a coward or overly concerned with politics except for the protagonist, his love interest, and Jin Zixuan for some reason, but more like... here are these young people and future leaders who are fully capable of acting together for the good of the group. They refuse to comply with their captors despite being unarmed, and they'll convince the older generation to take action against the Wen clan. (Nie Mingjue, the only sect leader who's part of the younger generation without an older relative's influence, has already been in open conflict with them.) And isn't it a shame, then, that Jin Guangshan--and his sect culture that would've excused feeding one of his own disciples to a demon turtle--is going to crush all of this.
*I initially assumed, when I started making this post, that Cloud Recesses in the novel gets burned after the indoctrination in retaliation for Lan Wangji's part in killing the Xuanwu of Slaughter. But the wiki timeline has the indoctrination still coming after Cloud Recesses is attacked? If that's the case, how do the Lan have that many disciples to send?
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Yandere!Hakkai Shiba w/ an S/O he 'bought'
(I was sick of waiting for him to win the polls and wrote this myself. OOPS. Angsty too. Set in the timeline that Hakkai became the leader of the blackdragons.)
TW: NSFW Minors DNI, Yandere behavior, Coercion, Manipulation, mentions of possible Prostitution.
Your family is in debt. Huge debt. And you have no choice but to try and sell yourself to save them.
Searching for some kind of work you figure out the best way to make back the money they owe is a 'Host' club ran by a man named Nahoya Kawata.
The process is exhausting, they almost don't hire you. You're very shy despite your pretty face and they don't think you'll be a good fit until they hear you're a virgin.
You should have never said anything but you just blurted it out when they asked. Suddenly Nahoya himself contacts you and explains he knows your situation.
He says people will pay top dollar for a young virgin that is as pretty as you. You'll have to comply with some blood tests and a screening to make sure you're telling the truth but that if the results come back good, he can make sure your families debt is payed off within the year.
Its all a lie of course, as soon as your virginity is gone he'll make sure you're stuck with him for the next five years until you're all used up.
But then Hakkai Shiba sees you. He tells Smiley he likes your pretty face, and Nahoya tells him you're a new contracted girl working for him. He explains your situation to him and Hakkai asks to have you entertain him.
Surprisingly, he doesn't want sex. Just wants something pretty and innocent on his arm for one night to make him seem more menacing in comparison.
What he doesn't expect is to fall in love. Your gentle touches, your sweet voice, the genuine concern you have for him when he gets rough with some punk he tried to make a deal with.
You're too good for this. All of it. And he's sick to his stomach to think how Smiley is going to turn you out.
He then buys out your contract. Pays off your families debt. Smiley tells you what happened and now Hakkai owns you. Nahoya has a new contract drawn out for you, and you sign it without looking at it.
That night, Hakkai is quiet, as he slowly pulls you towards the bed. Loves the pure white lingerie you're wearing. Probably courtesy of Smiley.
Lays you down on the bed, and kisses your lips lightly then trails kisses all the way down to your panties. His rough hands run up and down your legs and finally takes the garment off, pulls your thighs apart and stares down at his meal.
You weren't expecting him to start licking you up and down. You thought it would be the other way around. But he expertly eats you out with long strokes of his tongue, gently inserts a few fingers when you start to get nice and slick, groans at all your whimpers and loves knowing you're never going to be touched like this by any one else.
Takes your virginity, and you don't know what's worse. The fact that a man you know to be a murderous gangster had your first time, or the fact that he was so kind and gentle with you that you actually enjoyed it.
He's big- No, he's huge. But you came on his tongue and fingers and for whatever reason having him fill you inch by inch, raw, felt so amazing. You can feel your pussy pulse around his girth, and you swear you can hear him gasp when you clench around him...
You feel him fill you up, and can't even force yourself to stay awake while he actually goes down on you again. Licking you clean with his own cum leaking out of you.
Hakkai never says one word to you...
Congratulations! The Leader of the Black Dragon Sect is now your sugar daddy. And even though he says he's going to help you, you feel like you're sinking more and more into debt.
Hakkai is also stark quiet with you. In his head he thinks you two are slowly falling in love and that you understand the depths of his affections. But you don't understand why a man who only speaks two words to you, Yes and No, when he sees you is paying for your nice apartment and nice clothes....
The paranoia is eating away at you. He's going to want something from you, not just your little hands on his arm and for you to have sex with him occasionally... even if its so amazing.
But Hakkai insists he just wants you with him. Here a new handbag. His sister told him this is a good brand. What about some diamonds for your neck? You're so pretty...
Eventually you tell him, you want to get a job. Pay him back in a real way. Your breaking his heart baby, he doesn't want you to go anywhere. Don't you know he loves you? Don't you know you're married?
You're once again shellshocked. That's not possible, you'll tell him, he just bought out your contract and had you sign a new one right!?
Through his tears and sniffles Hakkai pulls out the contract that Smiley had you sign and that's when you realize it was never a fucking agreement or contract of any kind. It was an incredibly detailed and thorough unbreakable marriage license.
"I-I had no idea!" you tell him, feeling yourself about to cry but for very different reasons, "S-smiley didn't tell me! Pl-please Mr.Shiba you have to-!"
He grabs you and wraps you in a crushing embrace, his huge form needing to bend just so he can fully hold you.
"D-Don't call me Mr.Shiba. I'm Hakkai. I'm your husband. You're my wife."
You can feels his tears fall onto where his head is buried in your shoulder, you see the way his own shoulders shake as he cries.
"Please, I'll be good. I swear I'll be good. We'll be a real married couple. Just please...don't leave me.
#yandere tokyo revengers#yandere tokyo revengers smut#yandere tokrev#yandere hakkai shiba#yandere hakkai#yandere hakkai shiba smut
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I have a few questions about the world and other stuff. I’m becoming obsessed with Inver now.
1. What type of entity is the Red King? Do they have a set form or can they change it? What is their personality like? Do they have a human-esque form that you’ve ever drawn before?
2. Are werewolves/lycans considered a type of fae? Or do they simply just worship the fae you call The Immortal Hound? I know they came from Armorica, but I’m curious about their origins. Are they magical or evolutionary?
(If answering any of these spoil any of the books, feel free not to answer)
hiiii thank you for asking!!
1 - The Red King is a barrow lord. There's not strict hierarchy (or strict rules at all) about faeries, but a barrow lord is a faery famous enough to be known by their name & to have attracted many followers and superstitious legends. Barrow lords are usually referred to euphemistically and not by their name (i.e why we don't say 'Puck', we say The Lord of Lies) to avoid attracting their attention. The Ruad itself was named after the Red King who traditionally holds dominion over that entire forest. Sometimes it's called the Red Forest, but that refers strictly to the king and not the actual colour of the forest. The Red King is considered to be in direct opposition to the Immortal Hound, they're ancient enemies.
Until recently, the Red King was considered to be the highest & final authority in all of Inver. Although stories and legends always crop up around the forest, there have been no confirmed firsthand accounts of the Red King in almost a century.
Followers of the Red King were once numerous, but in the 1860s the practise has waned as the Immortal Hound's followers gain more and more power. Small sects remain, particularly in communities close to the edge of the Ruad. The Sons of the Stag/"Stagsons" criminal gang in Invergorken city are adherents of the Red King, and operate under the assumption that the King of Inver's laws are false, because he's not the true king (this is not a valid defense in court).
The Red King is emblematic of Prey. In most stories he takes the form of a red deer with the rotting head of a stag rival entangled in his antlers (that's his crown). Followers of the stag are bound to his core principles of cold, hard survival and fighting for their lives; prey animals get no respite if they show any signs of weakness, and are often more violent and dangerous than any predator, because in every fight, their life hangs in the balance, and not just their hunger, and the Red King is the prey victorious.
Famously holding humanity in utter contempt, the Red King does not take a humanoid form, though some legends of green men are occasionally ascribed to the Red King.
2 - The werewolves are considered to be humans which have been given the ability to become beasts; not faeries of their own accord but definitely in commune with the Immortal Hound (who is a barrow lord). They don't all worship the Immortal Hound (as you'll probably see..) because lycanthropy is hereditary. If your parents were lycanthropes you probably will be as well, but you share a werewolf form with them - whatever werewolf your dad turned into, your werewolf form will look identical, because it is dictated in part by your own physical qualities and in part by a manifestation of your family's pact with the Immortal Hound. Size, physical power, triggering moon phase - these are determined by the terms of the pact your ancestor made (often under the purview of the monarchy, so naturally the higher ranking nobles have the best werewolf traits
So like anybody can make a pact with a faery (if the faery gives enough of a shit to accept), usually the human gets some knowledge in return, mostly about spellcrafting (this is what the title 'witch' refers to in Inver). Technically this means that the werewolves are just witches with very specialised pacts, but not a lot of people think of them that way (Félix is not in this category, he's something else).
Usually 'werewolf' is an umbrella term for anybody in pact with the Immortal Hound, but 'lycanthrope' refers solely to the family line 'body transforming into a big canine beastie' type of werewolf. A 'fleshwolf' is the other type, they do not physically transform but wear the flesh of the Immortal Hound like power armour. The pacts of some lycanthropes stipulate that they can bite someone to turn them into a fleshwolf (fun fact)
#setting: inver#u wanna know what's crazy.. in book 2 we meet a third king who is also red-themed#bearing in mind that king régis (the head of the monarchy) is also red themed#this wasn't intentional btw
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Sip the gossip (drink till you choke)
Sip the gossip, burn down your throat
When Jingyi, Zizhen and Sizhui joined Jin Ling at the newly opened bar near Jinlintai after the discussion conference, last thing they expect was to find him frowning so deeply that he appeared murderous, fingers gripping his cup hard enough to crack it.
"You okay?" Jingyi asked as he flagged down a waitress for some more wine and snacks. "Did someone mess with you or something? I can pretend I'm drunk and beat them up for you."
"No." And Jin Ling eyes darken even more for a moment, his attention drawn somewhere else. "Shut up and listen."
Everyone focuses in on the conversation happened at the table to their right. Two men, one fat and the other stick thin, draped in so much fake jewelry that their skin was beginning to turn green.
"Heavens, what is this world coming to?" The fat one shouted, downing a large cup of alcohol, "Inviting that disgraceful murderer to the discussion conference as if he hadn't been the one nursing Wen dogs all those years ago! Such scum to share space with us, fine people! Why don't they invite other criminals too?! My brother's been locked up for decades for an accidental killing, he deserves to be heard more than that Yiling Laozu!"
"And he's being so liberal around Hanguang-Jun too!" The skinny one completes, finishing his own wine jar and ordering another, "Such whorish behaviors, even for a cutsleeve! And nobody dares say anything! Not even Zewu-Jun! He lets them do whatever, I bet he'd say nothing if they began fucking in the middle of the conference hall!"
"Disgusting! Who does he think he is, flaunting like he doesn't have our families' blood on his hands?! I should just kill him myself and rid the world of that evil again!" The fat one shouts, hitting his fist against the table loud enough for the dishes to clank together. "And burn down that monster of his too, the Ghost General! My God, a Wen dog allowed among us! Treated the same as us!"
"You're telling me! He acts all modest and innocent, but we all know who he's killed! How does Sect Leader Jin tolerate his existence? His father must be rolling in his grave!"
"His mother too! The Yiling Laozu killed her, yet her son is acting so familial with him! Even Sect Leader Jiang says nothing! What kind of an uncle is that?! Did he not care about his own sister at all?!"
"What could he even do? The Lans coddle the Yiling Laozu like he's their most prized possession! And Sect Leader Jin's just some brat that got put on a throne, what does he know? I bet the Yiling Laozu is manipulating him and waiting to take over the Jin sect himself! Isn't he in the body of one of Jin Guangshan's half sons? It would be the perfect pretext!"
"I don't know how everyone is okay with all this! Didn't we risk put lives storming the Burial Mounds decades ago to kill the Yiling Laozu?! We're all supposed to protect him and love him now?! Ridiculous!"
"You know everyone else thinks the same! But they're too scared of the Lans! They've gained so much power recently, all those new disciples they've adopted out of nowhere... orphans! And they're taught by the Yiling Laozu... how does Lan Qiren tolerate this heresy?!"
"Terrible, terrible world we live in! Imagine, me, a sect leader, getting scolded by some Lan junior! All because I said-"
"It was because you are a prejudiced, small-minded, overly privileged piece of shit that became so insufferable someone had to speak up." Jin Ling loudly intervened, unable to take anymore of the tirade. He walked up to the neighboring table and delighted in the horrified looks of the two men. "And you should be glad it was a Lan and not me because as bratty as you lot think I am, I am equal parts as powerful and I could have had you sent into the dungeons with a look."
"If you insist on being detestable in public," Sizhui started, icy anger in his eyes that looked so much like Wen Ruohan's that the two men nearly got war flashbacks, "make sure the people you speak ill of aren't within earshot. This is a bar, and alcohol is being consumed here. Inhibitions are lowered and emotions run high." And he draws his blade out of its sheath just enough for the glare to shine in the men's eyes. "It would be most unpleasant to ruin this establishment's new furniture with bloodstains."
"And anyway," Zizhen added, smiling dangerously, "not everybody is up for hearing all this vitriol. If this is how you think of your generations' most respectable and most powerful members, you must not be that intelligent or useful to maintain relations with either. My father will be hearing about this, what is the point wasting our sect's resources for the likes of you?"
"I'm nowhere near as elegant as my friends over here, so heed my warning. Talk shit of anyone from the Lan sect, which, mind youm includes Senior Wei and the Ghost General, and I'll have you delivered to the Lan sect's punishment quarters myself. Hanguang-Jun will gladly take care of the rest after, and I'll thoroughly enjoy watching." Jingyi spoke, his voice so low and threatening that it made even his friend's skin prickle with fear. He also took the wine jars off the men's table and sent them a glare. "This is for the trouble. On your tab."
They nodded and quickly scampered off.
The four friends began laughing and high-fiving each other immediately after, sharing alcohol and memories the entire rest of the night.
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AITA for avenging my brother?
hiiiii ^^ so im (30, let's say M for convenience's sake) am currently the leader of a very big sect, which was Not the plan WhatSoEVER (i'll get into it). i was born as the younger sibling to the sect heir, which meant i had free reign to basically do whatever i wanted while he got the responsibilities and stuff! great deal methinks. our father died when we were both still young due to heart issues that run in the family and also being killed. since my brother had a decade or so on me, he pretty much raised me from then on while also having the new role of official sect leader on his shoulders.
again, seems like a good deal! he was strict, and really really insisted i practiced my fighting skills (like that wasn't the literal cause of our family's heart issues) to the point that one time he like kind of burned my paper fan collection in front of me but that's like it's all besides the point okay he loved me and i loved him and we were both there for each other okay? okay
anyway he had this servant/best friend/pretty sure somethingsomething was going on there. he was kind of like a second big brother to me. our interests overlapped and he also preferred stuff like art and poetry over fighting. he understood me in a way that my brother couldn't, and he helped raise me just as much, even accompanying me to my third year of summer courses. which lol was supposed to be a one year course but i failed twice. lmao w/e
things got... bad. a war broke out, the servant betrayed us by letting a dangerous enemy out of his cell, and he and my brother had a horrible fight that ended in the former's expulsion from our sect. fast forward yadda yadda this isn't so much the part of the story it's just context but basically that turned out to be a plan to get close to the enemy sect leader so he could stab him in the back. which turned out to become a recurring theme.
the servant, now a prominent figure in his own sect, my brother, and one basically-a-celeb from another sect became this big trio (and totally a Thing) because of the role they played in ending the war. servant-now-big-boy (let's go with snbb for convenience) used that position to send my brother into a cardiac arrest by playing a melody that was supposed to soothe him differently.
so now i was alone, and with one of the current biggest sects to lead, while all i wanted to do is look cute, paint and be bisexual. you can probably imagine how i felt when i learned who did it, especially considering how not only no one else knew, but he got /rewarded/ for it by becoming a sect leader himself. soooo i got a little silly and here's where i mighttttt be tah :3
basically i started a 10+ years revenge plan. i didn't really plan a /lot/ of it, but i knew i'd have to resurrect one of my childhood friends for it to grab attention away from me etc and such and so on and so forth. but basically i also got a gay and socially rejected teenager killed for that, desecrated the corpse of snbb's mother, paid some people to spread rumours here and there, possibly killed a few cats to lure a group of people where i needed them to be, and adopted a public persona of a useless idiot who couldn't run a sect for the life of me to keep suspsicions off of me for the duration of this, which was Also a part to get back at him because that meant he, as someone responsible and sooo niceys and oh won't you please help your poor little meowmeow with the big scary emails plssss (he basically ran the sect for me lol).
to top it all off i had him killed by the one person that loved him the most (mister sir basically-a-celeb. god his jawline is stronger than my will to live) (he has gone into seclusion and is isolating himself indefinitely to mourn)
but also all this allowed my old bestie to get gay married with his longtime heartthrob
so. aita?
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Okay, so, trying to get into this less refined thing.
As I said before, I actually have an outline for how the Butterfly Effect AU is supposed to go past the point I couldn't keep writing. If y'all don't mind spoilers, I'd be interested in your thoughts.
(But I'm putting it behind a cut for those who don't want spoilers.)
By the time his parents and brother and cousin get close enough to get Huaisang's attention, both Papa Nie and Mingjue are suffering pretty horrible nosebleeds, maybe even bleeding from the eyes too, and Linsong and Zonghui are not doing much better.
Understandably, since this is the day Mingjue died in the old timeline, the blood only makes Huaisang panic more, which makes the shockwaves worse.
Mingjue has no idea how to reassure him, just holding on to him in the hopes that will help somehow.
Suddenly he feels the cold shock of ghostly hands reaching into his body, something that had never happened before since Huaisang had always been partially solid.
While he's still stunned, he can feel something like layers and layers of grime being burned off his core as Huaisang clutches it. As the shockwaves die down, he finds himself feeling... better. A lot better. Even though he was nowhere near the qi deviation he'd experienced in the old timeline, the resentment was still starting to accumulate, and now it's just gone.
Huaisang seems to be just as surprised that whatever he did worked, at least as a temporary fix.
He starts to reach for their dad to do the same to him, but then he... flickers a little bit, like a struggling candle flame.
Oh. Shit. Papa Nie immediately realizes that they are now very short on time and orders everyone else to go get Huaisang's mama, the other siblings/extended family members, and every healer and strong cultivator they have, because they can't hold out hope that Huaisang will hang on long enough for Lan Qiren and Wen Ruohan to arrive. They have to execute the saber preservation plan now and pray it doesn't destroy him for good.
It takes the entire rest of the day and almost all the way through the night to finish the ritual, and by the time it's done, Huaisang is more like a smoke wisp than a glow. Pretty much all of his family is in tears, but he's... smiling.
It worked. Generations of Nies will be able to use the pear tree as a place to cleanse their sabers when they start getting too demanding, and the pears to cleanse themselves.
His brother's alive. His parents are alive. His cousins are alive. He has a sister now. The war never started. He has no more regrets.
Realizing that they really are going to lose him now, Mingjue makes him promise he'll come back somehow, so that they can eventually reincarnate as brothers again.
And then he's gone.
Three months later, Mingjue turns thirty and takes on the sect leader role, his father being the first Nie leader ever to be able to peacefully retire.
Six years after that, a circus caravan is passing through, and is invited to perform for the locals in the courtyard of the Unclean Realms. Nie Xunyao is the first to notice something strange, and immediately goes to get Mingjue.
There's a small boy among the performers, caring for the trained bird flock with surprising ease. He's happy and healthy and greets Nie-zongzhu with a huge grin and an offer to hold one of the colorful parrotlets.
He has bright green eyes and a very familiar face.
#mdzs#nie sect#nie family#papa nie#huaisang's mother#mingjue's mother#nie mingjue#nie huaisang#jin guangyao#with a flap of wings#notes#outline#worldbuilding
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Liushen AU where SY transmigrates into SJ's older brother, and subsequently nopes them right out of the slavery backstory by using his general knowledge of the story and actually being an adult in a kid's body to just leave (basically) with SJ and YQ.
SY carts them both up to Cang Qiong for the next sect trials. It's actually not all that hard, the trickiest part is getting enough to eat and finding safe places to sleep between leaving the slavers and taking the trials (SY manages just barely, with considerable help from his new little brothers.) Nobody bothers to go after them because it's before Qiu Jianluo and this style of human traffickers mostly operate by virtue of their merchandise having nowhere else to go. Chasing down runaways is an expense not worth indulging, given that most of them either come straight back or die of exposure.
Anyway, they take the trials, and as expected YQY gets chosen to become a personal disciple for the sect leader, and SJ gets chosen by the Qing Jing Peak Lord, but also as (kind of) expected (by SY alone) nobody wants SY. He's older the Yue Qi, so too old, and unlike YQ and SJ his cultivation potential isn't striking enough to make any exceptions for him.
SY, however, can't leave it at that. He's spent more than five minutes with the street kid codependency gang, so he's gotten attached to both of them. And he knows what will happen if they're left to their own devices and The Plot proceeds accordingly. (Also, they keep threatening to not stay at the sect if SY doesn't stay too, for some reason.) So with a heavy heart and internal candle lit for himself, SY heads to Bai Zhan Peak. Which is the only peak that accepts disciples by way of them turning up and refusing to leave.
SY's not much of a fighter. He actually really hates the atmosphere on BZP, he's not bad at physical cultivation (his health's pretty good in this life, ironic considering how much worse his situation was) but the random ambushes and survival-of-the-fittest stuff is just not his brand. But that's okay, because it turns out that BZP actually DESPERATELY needs disciples on the actual peak who are interested in things other than fighting and cultivating their own strength. Stuff like, filling out requisition requests for An Ding every time things break, apologizing to An Ding every time things break again, organizing schedules, browbeating senior disciples into actually teaching, educating disciples on virtually any artistic or social skill, hosting lectures on how to beat vicious beasts without just overpowering them, and etc.
Okay so some of this stuff isn't and has never actually been on Bai Zhan's curriculum but Shen Yuan is going to make this place tolerable. And stop these children from needlessly getting acid burns or lyme disease or scurvy or whatever. He keeps internally chewing out Airplane for designing a sect system that means there are a lot of largely unsupervised 12-year-olds running around the wilderness on a mountain picking fights all the time. (When he actually meets Shang Qinghua and figures him out he switches to doing it in person, of course, in twice-monthly bitching sessions that look a lot like budding friendship.)
Of course one of the worst offenders is the Liu kid, who SY would suspect was actually raised by wolves if he didn't know for a fact that Liu Qingge has a younger sister, and also the kinds of nice clothing and letters from home that strongly imply not only does he have a family, but that the family is pretty well-off. Liu Qingge is at first deeply offended by SY being a BZP disciple. He rarely fights anyone, and uses tricks and evasion tactics whenever a fight can't be avoided. And he does other annoying stuff, like pestering him about meals and baths and lecturing him on identifying dangerous plants and the early signs of qi deviation. This is not what their peak is about! He should get with the program already! Just fight stuff until you're too tired to keep fighting stuff!
Also SY's younger brother, SJ, is pure evil (at least according to baby Liu Qingge) even though his other younger brother (?) is cool and nice.
Anyway, Liu Qingge stops complaining about SY after their first mission together, where Liu Qingge doesn't lose a fight but does get into a kind of pyrrhic victory situation where he's really badly hurt, and it's SY who helps him win (correctly identifying the monster and then pointing out its weakness) and takes care of him afterwards and gets him safely back to Cang Qiong. SY expresses surprise at LQG actually being polite to him, and LQG realizes that he's been a colossal ass if people think he wouldn't be grateful to someone who saved his life, so the usual Liushen dynamic proceeds from there. Liu Qingge starts bringing SY fans he leaves behind and hunts down animals that are supposed to be useful for bolstering weak cultivation, SY invites LQG to tea and keeps the critters as pets, etc etc.
SY doesn't get the Head Disciple position, because that's only acquired via beating the current peak lord in combat and lol no. Also he's not interested in stealing it from Liu Qingge, to whom it rightfully belongs (in his mind). But that's fine, because Liu Qingge takes the position when the next generation ascends and then he lets SY exclusively handle all the peak duties SY actually likes (mainly teaching). It's perfect -- Liu Qingge gets to focus on his War God antics and occasional administration/meetings without having to deal with students his has no patience for, but the disciples of BZP don't get neglected because SY is actually teaching and organizing classes and student care. BZP hasn't enjoyed a golden age like this since it was founded!
Things are pretty good overall, but Shen Yuan knows that it's only a matter of time before The Plot shows up, and so he can't rest completely easily.
Meanwhile, the will-they-or-won't-they bets on Liushen have been going strong for a while now. The thing is, most of their martial siblings are convinced that these two are already "together", and just being circumspect about it. Those who know SY well (like SJ, YQY, and SQH) know better but think that SY's romantic obtuseness is to blame, whereas those who know LQG well (LMY, WQW, and MQF) are pretty sure that it's actually LQG's obtuseness that's the problem. Of course it's actually both of them, so efforts to "fix" matters by getting through one of their thick skulls inevitably run afoul of the other's.
An additional complication is of course: SJ doesn't like LQG (mutual), and now that he's the leader of his own peak, he wants to poach SY to come and live there. Not only so he can have one of the 2 people he trusts actually close at hand, but also because SJ also hates actually teaching the atrocious little brats on his peak, and would like to have SY come and do it for him. YQY is still a total pushover for him too, and is also now the sect leader, so YQY agrees that SY can change peaks if SY and LQG both agree to it.
Liu Qingge, of course, is a no, but he's a variable "no". He's not going to hold Shen Yuan against his will or anything.
As for Shen Yuan, it's... complicated. He doesn't really like BZP, but it's gotten a lot better than it was at the start. These days he's actually pretty proud of his accomplishments, and it's more comfortable, but it's still a rough and rowdy place with fewer creature comforts, libraries, or other appealing points than QJP. Also, if he goes to Qing Jing to teach, he can personally ensure that SJ doesn't go around persecuting any of his students!
But... SJ never lived with the Qiu family in this AU, and even though SY's not totally clear on what the PIDW backstory for SJ was, he knows he's a better guy now than the scum villain in the book was. He has a reputation for making cutting remarks, not for being an abusive snake or a lecher. SY's honestly less worried about him doing anything bad at all, and there are other people on QJP who can teach. It might even be good for SJ to promote more people to fill out a social circle he can rely on! That guy needs more friends, seriously.
And QJP really doesn't need more layabout literary intellectual types who get into pointless arguments, which is all SY would be if he went there. Just yet another nerdy scholar for the rich kids with middling cultivation that the peak favors to ignore. At least on BZP he's filling a gap.
SY is clearly torn, and the fact that SY's considering it has LQG upset, and LQG doesn't handle being upset very well, so of course they have an argument about it. SY storms off to cool his head and LQG is like, this is it, he's gone to Qing Jing Peak, I've drive him off by being too aggressive and he's probably remembering all those times I told him he didn't belong here and oh no what have I done maybe if I build him a heated bath and get him books he will come back???
Turns out that SY just went to An Ding to vent at SQH while SQH was like "I think you would have fewer problems if you and Liu Qingge just got married and my disciples could call you Shigu to your face instead of behind your back" and SY threw melon seeds at him and sulked on his fainting couch (which is always cold for some reason...)
Thus begins the Liushen Divorce Arc where SY tries to be anywhere but BZP or QJP, Liu Qingge tries to figure out what thing he can punch to fix this not-punchable problem, SJ is like "I don't see what the big deal is they should break up Liu Qingge is awful and I want my brother to teach my classes for me" like the spoiled youngest sibling he's finally allowed to be, YQY is trying to moderate this Hades vs Demeter situation and is all "well maybe SY could spend half the year on QJP and half on BZP?", and Liu Mingyan is going "I know my brother if this doesn't work out he is going to die single and pining like an idiot" and so keeps conscripting other disciples to y'know, lock SY and LQG into storage closets together (ineffective: LQG can punch through walls) or at least get them in the same room (underestimating SY's willingness to yeet himself out of windows to avoid awkward social interactions.)
By the time Luo Binghe joins the sect (as a Qiong Ding disciple), the drama is in full swing and is the main topic of gossip across most of the peaks.
#svsss#scum villain's self saving system#liushen#long post#sy doesn't even realize lbh has already arrived until someone mentions 'luo-shidi' on qiong ding in passing#he nearly has a heart attack#why isn't this kid on qing jing peak?!#(why would he be on QJP now though? SJ's not gonna want him not even to pathologically torment and he's promising enough for QDP)#SY: well I guess... that settles that? not enough reason to move to QJP if luo binghe isn't even there. everything can stop being weird now#LQG: then we shall have a spring wedding#I like to think the changes to the world are so substantial that the setting just shifts to a less angsty action/adventure story#now the cang qiong crowd are the colorful side characters instead of complicit in lbh's many torments
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I have So Many things I need to write and so many WIPs I haven't finished or even Posted but I want to drop everything and write a fic where Wei Wuxian finds out that Jiang Fengmian didn't actually rescue him off the streets -- he kidnapped him. The story that he was close friends with Wei Changze and Cangse Sanren was exactly that, a story, a lie he made up. In truth, Wei Changze never spoke a word to Jiang Fengmian after leaving Lotus Pier. Jiang Fengmian was not invited to the wedding. He didn't even know they had a son until Wei Wuxian's family --Changze's father, his older brother and his wife, his older sister -- showed up at Lotus Pier to ask if the Jiang Sect had gotten any news about strange Nighthunts recently, if perhaps they knew what had become of Changze and Cangze Sanren and little a-Ying.
In this, the Wei clan are descended from Hua Cheng and Xie Lian, who started a family a couple hundred years into their marriage (Hua Cheng shapeshifted and carried the baby) and ultimately ended up with a child who was... not dead. But not really entirely anything else, either. The child, and her children, and their children after them, were able to cultivate normally, but they could also cultivate as the dead did, following The Ghost Path.
At first the family shared this knowledge freely with the world, but that knowledge was abused. They went to ground, only teaching a few worthy disciples, but that, too, led to catastrophe. In the end they changed their name -- Wei, after Hua Cheng's mother's maiden name -- and vowed to keep their power and their knowledge a secret.
Wei Changze believed that the world had changed. So many centuries had passed, the very foundation of the cultivation world had reshaped itself into a sect system. It was time to try again. So he'd earned his place as a bodyguard-servant of the Jiang sect, and used the opportunity to test the heirs and leaders of all the great sects, searching for a worthy student. Someone kind, and righteous, and brave, who did not covet power or bend to the whims of others.
He found her eventually, but she wasn't from any sect. Baoshan Sanren's disciple, Cangse Sanren. Falling in love with her was an accident. He wouldn't change it for the world.
Their adventuring had been partially to get to know the minor sects -- those so small their members never even got invited to the Discussion Conferences -- still searching for worthy students.
I don't have the details hammered out for what could have possibly killed them, but I know it wasn't a result of that Nighthunt. They were murdered, and in her final moments Cangse Sanren placed a protective ward around her son that hid him from whatever had gone after them -- but it also hid him from his family, and eventually they were forced to assume he'd died alongside his parents.
#mdzs#the untamed#wei wuxian#grandmaster of demonic cultivation#Wei Changze#Cangse Sanren#I have too many ideas and not nearly enough time to write them all#I need five more of me
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How about if everyone got the story wrong, and the Twin Jade's father is the one who was imprisoned for murder while their mother went into seclusion?
“What am I supposed to tell them?!” Lan Qiren hissed, slamming his hand down on the table in a most-un-Lan-like manner.
“Do not succumb to rage,” his brother’s wife reminded him.
He ignored her. She was the problem here.
No, that was a lie.
His brother was the real problem, but his choice in women wasn’t exactly helping.
“They are your children,” Lan Qiren insisted. “Both of you chose to bring them into this world. You have a duty to them!”
“A duty you are fulfilling most admirably,” his brother said.
“I am not their father.” Lan Qiren glanced at his sister-in-law and pressed his lips together. “Nor am I their mother.”
He Kexin ignored him, just as he had ignored her. “The decision has been made,” she said. “Your brother has approved it.”
And he’s the real sect leader here, not you, she meant, and Lan Qiren gritted his teeth together.
“They’re too young,” he tried instead. “Lan Wangji is only six. I know that for most children that’s the age they separate from their mothers and go to live with their fathers, but he’s still very attached to you – you have no idea how much he values your time together. You can’t just decide to abandon him.”
“I feel that I have been more than generous with my time,” He Kexin said, and Lan Qiren’s brother winced at the reams of context hidden behind there.
I never wanted to marry your brother in the first place, He Kexin meant. But he gave up his life to kill someone for me, so I married him and bore him two heirs. What more can you ask of me?
Lan Qiren could ask for a lot more, in fact. He could have asked her to actually care about her children, or at least care more about her children than she did about her cultivation; from the very first second that Lan Xichen had been born, she’d been trying to bargain down the amount of time she had to spend with them – he’d only managed to get her to agree to interrupt her precious seclusion for one day a month through throwing an absolute fit over it, and even that one day he knew she begrudged.
After all, now that Lan Wangji was old enough to officially live with his father’s family, she wanted to give up even that.
Lan Qiren’s hands were clenched into fists so tightly that he could feel liquid beading up in his palms from where his nails had drawn blood.
“How am I supposed to explained it to them?” he asked again, nearly begging, and yet his brother wasn’t looking at him at all. He was looking at her, because he was always looking at her – her, and no one else. “What am I supposed to tell them?”
“Whatever you wish. You’re the one raising them, not me,” He Kexin said with a shrug. “If it makes it easier for you, tell them I died.”
“The rules say, do not tell lies,” Lan Qiren reminded her bitterly.
“Then come up with something else, or else don’t and submit yourself to punishment for breaking a rule,” she said coldly. She had always had the bearing of a queen, icy and above it all; she was a cultivation maniac, intent on becoming the next generation’s Baoshan Sanren, and she didn’t appreciate all the obstacles life had placed in her way. Her husband, her sons, and most of all Lan Qiren who kept bothering her with practicalities – no, she didn’t appreciate any of those. “I have already told you: the decision has been made. I am committing myself to full seclusion, not to be interrupted by anyone, and that includes my children. The decision is final.”
“I hope you burn,” Lan Qiren snarled at her, and stormed off to tell his nephew that there would be no more monthly visits.
(One day, many years later, she did – but by then, Lan Wangji had long since stopped trying to visit.)
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For the writing jam!
Either Meng Yao/Jin Ling
Turns out that Jin have a tendency for possession by ghost/souls. They sometimes act like mad leaders long gone, or way calmer than their age.
If possible feat (alice) NHS or NMJ
Ok, so after getting clarification, here we go.
------------
He had been so busy trading volleying invectives with Nie Mingjue that he didn't even hear Nie Huaisang approach until the younger man grabbed them each by the sleeve and yanked.
"Both of you shut up and look at Ling-er," he hissed under his breath so no one else would hear.
"Don't take that tone with-" Nie Mingjue started to snap, then he happened to glance up over his brother's shoulder and his eyes went wide. "Oh. Shit."
Jin Guangyao knew that look. He'd only seen it once before, but he knew that look, and it sent cold dread creeping up his spine. "Not here," he insisted. "Not Jin Ling."
Both brothers looked at him, and the dread bloomed.
Jin Ling was barely three. What use could he possibly have to one of their scheming ancestors' spirits?!
And yet he knew they weren't playing some kind of sadistic joke, because he knew that look.
It had been the one they'd both given him just as he'd "passed out" for two days and woken to find them having snared some four or five or he didn't really care how many generations back great aunt who'd needed a solid body to set up the murder of a rival to one of his many cousins.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, clenching his hands into fists to keep himself grounded. "Can you tell me what the ghost looks like?"
"Male, tall, skinny, shark stare, long beard, middle aged, um... small notch in his left ear, keeps sneering in the direction of the Lans."
Fuck.
He did recognize that one from the portraits around the family vaults.
Whatever Jin Ling's great grandfather wanted to use him for, it couldn't possibly be good. He'd read the records of the last time the old snake had managed to make a spectral appearance by using his own son and-
Fortunately, he'd also managed to carve out enough time in the sect libraries since he'd joined that he knew the techniques for -temporarily, as none of them ever stayed gone for long- forcing their ancestors back to rest.
"Keep an eye on them. Don't let them leave the banquet hall," he said, then turned and headed for the main vault.
#the jin don't care as much about reincarnation#because why lose important memories and start back at the bottom?#just possess someone in your family and get back to business#mdzs#jin guangyao#nie huaisang#nie mingjue#fanfic
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Of Implications and Tandems.
As she stepped out of the Northern Cress Manor house, her well-practiced smile vanished from her face. The chilly night breeze brushed against her cheeks and nose, causing her to wrap the fur-lined cloak tightly around her body, trying to preserve any warmth she could. Memories of the conversations she had just engaged in echoed in her mind, much like the ebb and flow of the tides under the moon's enchanting pull.
There came particular luxuries to balls and noble gatherings; the food, the drink, but most importantly the conversation. The tension within the room as the Starlight gathering ended was heavy, which promoted Ondrea’s visit the following day. Ondrea’s experience with Osric was naught, to say the least. They’ve met in passing, twice before if memory served her, and in those moments she hadn’t seen a man befit to carry their name, yet her cousin had.
“Do you love him?” Ondrea’s chuckle leapt from her lips in a cold, visible vapor as she recanted such a query that happened to be extended to Vahalia by herself. Ill placed but not ill-timed. The fact that it left her faster than she could control it was surprising enough, yet it was in the company of her cousin Vahalia that caused such unabashed honestly from Ondrea as it seemed to flow from her akin to a river flowing downstream.
Vahalia's face displayed a pensive expression that etched itself into her memory. Ondrea could feel the inner turmoil that consumed Vahalia, but she understood that this was Vahalia’s battle, first and foremost. The Cress Lineage’s Northern Sect had distinct customs and separate wealth, much like the Southern house had their own abundant resources and influential connections. Nevertheless, the decisions made by the leaders of the Northern Sect had far-reaching consequences that affected a wide range of people and places.
The distant hum of the aetherite indicated her intended destination, yet she found herself unconsciously straying from it, venturing deeper into the winding streets of Ishgard. The heel of her boot scraped against the stone corridor as she came to a halt, finding ease with resting her weight to the right and listing forward to press her leather clad arms atop a balustrade which overlooked the general scenery. From this vantage point, she could gaze out at the breathtaking panorama that stretched before her.
Osric occupied her thoughts once again. She couldn't help but ponder over his face, his demeanor, and strangely enough, his hands. Did those hands possess the strength and determination to dig through soil filled with deadly spikes? Was he the type of person who would extinguish someone else's life in order to safeguard or elevate the reputation of the Cress family? Ondrea acknowledged that he wasn't entirely innocent, but she rarely considered anyone to be truly innocent, and she had to give him that much credit.
There were pieces of the puzzle she knew she was missing but then it was Damien’s face who waded among the surface. Unclear but distinct enough for her to recognize it was him. The displacement of Damien and Osric’s personalities was palpable but was one more worthy of carrying the name? Had Damien proclaimed such love for Valeria that he was ready to delve into the throes of marriage that quickly?
If anything, this caused but a sense of relief knowing that such burdens were not in her cards although with it came that crippling solitude, a common experience for individuals with familiar inclinations such as hers. Such feelings were washed away with shake of her head.
Ondrea stood alone and surrounded by the intricate architecture of the buildings coupled with the delicate downfall of snowflakes. Everything was beautiful and for a moment she felt her ancestral pull toward Ishgard toy with the strings of her lineage. Something she felt important to protect. She stood by her implications toward Vahalia---that despite whatever reputation Vahalia might believe herself to lose, it mattered little when it came to the big picture.
Osric was a good man and perhaps that was the essence of his downfall. There were too many good parts that were easily discovered and perhaps just as easy to break.
“Good men die every day. It’s the ones who hold power that survive.” A voice dredged from the depths of her mind. A voice she hadn’t heard in quite some time. It was that of her father. He often recanted encouraging sentiments. Ironic that he relayed it to her while on his death bed.
“The men of this House are cursed.” Ondrea found herself replying aloud, a soft whisper which kissed the cold ether like poison. Hoisting a hand Ondrea spread her fingers incrementally as to allow the snow to fall within her leathered palm. “They hold the power that was given to him. Given to them by us.”
Something strange swelled within the pit of her belly. It nestled and anchored there like an intense purpose. These were the burdens of her cousin and she, in every respect, would support Vahalia. In Ondrea’s eyes, her children would be better suited being raised by those of true blood as opposed to those who merely adopted the name. The contemplation of such thoughts did not inflict any anguish upon her, for her involvement in this matter was not as profound as that of Vahalia's. Ondrea frequently encountered the predicament of certain lenses being exceptionally arduous to perceive, although she acknowledged that they might not be the most suitable ones she also recognized that they were necessary.
The pinprick of her eye shifted back toward the portal point and with it did the chill of the evening envelop itself around her. With a quiet shiver, Ondrea pushed herself from her post and proceeded toward the aetheryte to begin her quick yet nauseating trip back home.
Mentions: @vahalia-cress-ffxiv @osric-cress-ffxiv @damien-gray-ffxiv
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alternately: jiang yanli/qin su/jin guangyao/nie huaisang
I don't remember what ask game this went to, so I'm just gonna ramble.
Something something CQL AU where after rescuing Qin Su during the Sunshot Campaign, Meng Yao has to bring her to the war camp for a while, where she works with Jiang Yanli seeing to supplies and food. She's offered a chance to go to Lanling and wait out the fighting, but she's finding herself happy being useful instead of just a daughter in need of protection and making connections within the cultivation world. Qin Su was not trained as a cultivator, so she'd missed out on the Lan lectures, and Jiang Yanli is enjoying the novelty of being able to mentor someone besides the littlest shidis and shimeis.
Jiang Yanli and Nie Huaisang have been pen pals since Lan Camp, and she's still trying to decide if he's angling to marry her himself or match her up with his brother. (She doesn't think she wants a fighter for a husband; she's half-mothered two of them already.) They continue their correspondence as the war picks up steam, where Nie Huaisang proves adept at arranging for a steady supply of the kinds of things that keep morale up in a war camp: snacks and ingredients beyond the basics, good socks, ~inspiring reading material~. (Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian are scandalized when they realize jiejie's how those particular booklets keep showing up.)
When Jiang Yanli and Qin Su write to him that Meng Yao has disappeared, he starts listening to the rumors. Defecting to the Wen makes no sense, even with his messy departure from the Nie Sect. Something else must be going on.
(The end of the war proves him right.)
Something something soup drama doesn't happen, or happens differently, or whatever, and the xuanli betrothal stays dissolved. (Maybe Wen Qing is rescued by Jin forces and accepts a different proposal in this AU, an offer to protect her family from someone who can actually back it up. She never expected a love match anyway.)
Jiang Yanli and Nie Huaisang are courting by now, but slowly—he understands her need to stay with her brothers right now more than anyone. Qin Su keeps them both appraised of her and Jin Guangyao's efforts to secure their parents' blessings. Her mother is strangely resistant, and Nie Huaisang's spidey senses are tingling, and something something SECRETS ARE LEARNED AHEAD OF ANY WEDDINGS OR BETROTHALS.
So Qin Su becomes Nie furen, and Jin Guangyao receives permission to marry out to the Jiang Sect, and Jiang Cheng's not entirely sure why Nie Mingjue still treats it like an alliance between the Jiang and the Nie, but he's not looking that gift horse in the mouth.
(Maybe in a few more years, Jin Zixuan is watching the way Jiang Yanli and Jin Guangyao and Qin Su and Nie Huaisang all orbit around each other and realizes he and Wen Qing might have a better chance with their mutual crush in Yunmeng than they thought.)
(Wen Ning, not dead, falls head over heels for Mianmian. They have the least complicated courtship of anyone in their generation.)
#polyship ask game#westie answers#aiyexayen#fix it au#or at least mess it up differently#the untamed au#jiang yanli#qin su#jin guangyao#nie huaisang
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