Wizened Tumblr Crone (30+), accepting that my friends are weary of History3 spam and thus, a BL sideblog was born. (aka Where I reblog all you giffers and ficcers so you know that I love & appreciate you.) Main: fangschreckenkreb
So last year @/jingyismom commissioned this piece:
everything is just about the same but they're all fairies...
wwx coming back after being dead, and seeing lwj for the first time with his huge beautiful iridescent wings dragging mangled and useless behind him
and then I dithered, intimidated by the concept, for about six months before starting, then dithered for about another six months before pulling myself together and finishing it.
Anyway it's DONE NOW. Thank you rara for the opportunity to indulge my fairytale illustrator dreams
Wen Chao kills Wei Wuxian at the Wen Indoctrination camp to intimidate the heirs of the clans.
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ao3
Untamed
1
āYou know they all think youāre dead,ā Meng Yao said. Heād come to check on the status of the latest nightmare torture machine that Wen Ruohan had ordered to be made.
āI know,ā Wei Wuxian said, his lips pressed tightly together. He was fiddling with the machine, which really only needed a few minor adjustments to do what Wen Ruohan wanted it to, adjustments that heād managed to drag on for nearly a month and a half without making, and both he and Meng Yao knew it, and knew that the other one knew that they knew. The fact that Meng Yao hadnāt told anyone was the only reason Wei Wuxian was bothering to have this conversation with him now. āThat was made painfully clear early on, thanks.ā
Normally his viciously bitter tone was enough to convince people to stop asking.
Meng Yao wasnāt exactly what one would call normal, though.
āHowād he manage it?ā Meng Yao asked, and Wei Wuxian looked up at him with a glare. āWen Chao. Heās too stupid to actually manage to fake someoneās death properly ā heās the sort of person whoād mess up breathing if it didnāt happen naturally. Howād he manage to do it with you without actually killing you in the process?ā
Wei Wuxianās smile was ghastly.
āStupid question,ā he said. āYou should know better than to make such a mistake.ā
āMistake? What mistake?ā
āThe mistake you made,ā Wei Wuxian said gently, āwas assuming he didnāt kill me.ā
2
āI saw Wei Ying.ā
If it had been anyone else, Jiang Cheng would have screamed at them. He would have pulled his sword and tried to stab them, and, lacking that, he would have gone at them with his bare hands, to try to punch them or strangle them until they stopped, one way or another.
But this wasn't anybody, it was Lan Wangji.
Other people had commented, usually sourly, that Jiang Cheng had grown closer to Lan Wangji during the war. They were usually trying to imply that he'd sought to replace one shixiong with another, and from another sect to boot, more than likely trying to capitalize on Jiang Fengmianās sorrow and anger upon hearing Jiang Cheng's dull report of Wei Wuxianās death at the hands of Wen Chao, perhaps the only thing that could have moved that otherwise peaceable and easy-going man to militancy. The implication was as wrong as it was filthy, of course - no one could replace Wei Wuxian, not in a million years - but there was some truth to the fact that Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji were better friends now than they had ever been before.
In fact, Jiang Cheng would go so far as to say that there was no one on earth who knew Lan Wangji better than him, possibly even above his own brother and uncle. After all, they had not been the ones that had been there when Lan Wangji had seen ā when he had witnessed ā when they had both witnessedā¦
Jiang Cheng thought sometimes that it had been the depth of Lan Wangjiās wild and terrible grief that had allowed him to survive Wei Wuxianās death. That Jiang Cheng would have let it break him, shatter his mind along with his heart, only that Lan Wangji was a little quicker than he down that path, and Jiang Cheng was a man born overly responsible; he couldn't shatter as long as there was someone who needed him to stay strong. And Lan Wangji, who had already seen his home burn, his brother vanished, his father killed, his uncle tortured, and now his secret beloved murdered right before his eyes...he'd needed Jiang Cheng. He'd needed the only other person, excepting only Jiang Yanli, that felt the same thing he felt, the only other one who truly and unreservedly loved Wei Wuxian.
Even though Lan Wangji had never confessed his feelings, never said anything until the moment he'd unburdened his heart too late, Jiang Cheng the only one listening or able to listen, he had still suffered, and in so suffering, he gave Jiang Cheng the same feeling back - the knowledge that there was someone else out there that understood the enormity of what they'd lost in a way that no one, excepting again only the distant Jiang Yanli, would or could.
Because it was Lan Wangji, Jiang Cheng didn't attack.
Physically, anyway.
"Have you started having delusions?" he demanded irritably. "If so, stop it: we have a war to fight, so there's no time. You want to lose your mind, do it after we're done."
"I saw him," Lan Wangji insisted.
"You saw him die, too," Jiang Cheng snapped, voice tight. "Remember that? You and me, we were both there. We saw what Wen Chao did to him. We saw what he did with the corpse, after. There's no way he's still alive."
"I know."
"Good, I'm glad that you know! Then what's this nonsense about?"
"I saw Wei Ying," Lan Wangji said. "I saw him alive and whole, though not the same as he once was. I cannot explain it, but I would not have mistaken him."
That was true. Anyone else, maybe. But not Lan Wangji, who had loved him.
"How can it be?"
Silence.
Jiang Cheng pursed his lips. It was probably just a delusion, or maybe some sort of newfangled trap that personalized itself to each person. Something like Wen Chaoās stupid owl with its confusing fog, only more pointed. Of course, if it was that, then it was a threat that needed to be stopped, needed to be hunted down and eliminated by the two best hunters the Sunshot Campaign hadā¦
That was the only reason he was thinking of agreeing. The only reason.
It definitely wasn't because his heart had seized up, filled with impossible hope.
Attempt the impossible.
"I'll get permission for us to track the rumor down," Jiang Cheng said gruffly, and Lan Wangji nodded, his shoulders relaxing a little in silent gratitude. "We leave tomorrow."
3
āNo, Meng Yaoās right. Iām pretty sure that rock is the only thing keeping me here,ā Wei Wuxian said. āDestroy it.ā
Nie Mingjue glanced back and forth from his traitorous former deputy to the man whose supposed death (real death, he supposed) had been the initiating factor to kick off the Sunshot Campaign in a way even the burning of the Cloud Recesses hadnāt been. Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji had recently grown obsessed with Wei Wuxian, meaning more than the usual amount ā they swore up and down that theyād seen him, or possibly his ghost, or something like that ā and while he hadnāt exactly disbelieved them, since who even knew these days, he hadnāt actually expected to meet the man in the living flesh.
Possibly non-living flesh.
Yin Metal possessed flesh?
āYou canāt destroy it,ā Meng Yao argued, and even though he was speaking to Nie Mingjue he was glaring indignantly at Wei Wuxian. He looked actually passionate, for once, and not in the way he had before, when Nie Mingjue had thought he was passionate about things like saving lives and the welfare of the common people; this was less beautiful, but more real. He was grimacing, his face twisted and ugly in a way heād never before permitted it to be. āIf you do, he will die, and die permanently!ā
āThatās what people generally do, I think youāll find,ā Wei Wuxian said with a laugh that was mostly fake. āMeng Yao, I donāt know how many times I need to remind you: Iām already dead. That Wen Ruohan resurrected me through some sort of bizarre sorcery based on some stupid rock he found, probably out of morbid curiosity as to what he could do with it, doesnāt mean that Iām meant to be here.ā
āBut āā
āMeng Yao, you know better than most how awful he is, how terrible it would be if someone as insane as that actually achieved all that he wished to achieve! Wen Ruohan canāt be allowed to succeed in any of his aims. We have to destroy the Yin Metal. That I die is of no matter āā
āWen Ruohan is a master of arrays,ā Nie Mingjue interrupted, and they both looked at him. āHis power is not based on a rock, no matter how unorthodox or interesting. Defeating him and destroying the rock ā er, the Yin Metal ā are unrelated, and the latter is certainly not a prerequisite to the former.ā
Wei Wuxian looked taken aback. āWhat?ā
āYouāre confusing correlation with causation,ā Nie Mingjue said, and shrugged. āThat he started playing around with thisā¦rock, this Yin Metal, whatever it is, doesnāt mean that itās responsible for why he is the way he is, or even why heās as powerful as he is. He would come to the Unclean Realm quite often when I was a child, and he was pretty different back thenā¦anyway, my point is, can we stop talking about the rock and focus on killing him instead?ā
āLooks like your horrible self-sacrifice is just going to have to wait,ā Meng Yao told Wei Wuxian, looking especially smug in the face of Wei Wuxianās gaping disbelief. āToo bad.ā
Nie Mingjue hated that he liked Meng Yao better this way.
āKilling now, debate later,ā he said, deciding to think about that at another time. āUnderstood?ā
Not that they would have time to debate later, if he played his cards right. As soon as they found out about it, Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji were going to make absolutely sure that whatever the rock was that was keeping Wei Wuxian alive ā and despite what he said, Nie Mingjue thought he was in fact still alive, if only by the barest thread ā was explored in full, no matter what.
None of them were going to let him go that easily.
Lord Zhou and the Ghost Valley Master
Cross-posting because i'm just that wild, hah! /jk
More about the art below! --and a little talk about WenZhou and their relationship to power (+ some meta).
So hum, it is no secret that I enjoy a bit of "spice" in WenZhou's dynamic and at times am very prolific on my nsfw twitter account.
Collars and leash stuff have been on and off, and I was recently enabled for more of that by friends going wild about ZZS on a leash, etc, etc. LBR: I don't think you need any reason to go feral about that kind of stuff--but seeing how I myself seemed to regress to the state of a wild horny beast while making this painting, I felt like I may need to adress it a little.
Here are some of my thoughts about WenZhou & power:
WKX and ZZS are both men who are/were in a position of extreme power. Both rose to that position of extreme power, but from very different starting points and motivations.
ZZS was, from what we know from how he describes himself in TYK and from how he behaves in QY, a very smart, cocky, ambitious kid, who probably deliberately sold his services to HLY to keep rising. There were probably ideals mixed in that, but point is, ZZS desired that power, that influence, and was encouraged to reach it. Becoming a sect leader so young was probably a shock, but nothing indicates that this position wasn't wanted. ZZS also mentioned not having a physique as advantageous as ZCL's when he was a child; so he probably had to work hard to reach his goals. Point is: the power was desired and strived for.
WKX has, without a doubt, needed the power, without ever really showing any pleasure nor satisfaction in having it. Surviving in the GV =/= reaching the top; if anything, becoming the GVM put the largest target on his head--but it is likely that reaching the position of GVM was necessary for him to execute his plan (find the key, pull the right strings, obtain his revenge). WKX was a little genius who didn't want to study, and probably wasn't dreaming/aiming for power. Conclusion: the power was a necessity and a tool.
Many various characterisation points/analysis/dynamics can be pulled from this, and it is quite interesting to explore how, later, their relationship to power can evolve, both re:the rest of the world and each other. For the following personal analysis, I also worked with the following points from the book:
ZZS admires WKX's strength and power
WKX seems to have multiple fantasies of control and domination
ZZS seems receptive to many of them (including the biting, the somno stuff, and the cnc suggestions)
WKX admires/envies/resents ZZS' freedom
ZZS has fun becoming a subversion of his past self (swearing, being gross, being ridiculous, being openly cocky)
WKX is a control-freak and is very patient
ZZS is a bit conservative
WKX quite the opposite
Now how does that bring me to ZZS on a leash for the GVM?
(note that this is my current conclusion, not the conclusion)
I like to think that on the one hand, ZZS is that man who sees himself as a man and enjoys a lot of things about masculinity. The power that he likes for himself, he also enjoys seeing it in someone else's hands--he likes fighting for it, but (and this is a very personal interpretation) I like to believe he gets the most thrills from being overpowered; because it shows how strong the other is, bc it subverts whom he is himself. The power he's fought to get, has had all his life, but ended up leaving him alone at the top, feels good when taken from him--or when there's someone strong enough that he isn't alone up there anymore.
On the other hand, I feel like although WKX would benefit from relinquishing some control and power, he does enjoy using it in a personal, pleasurable way, rather than by necessity. While he probably likes toying with presentations, with appearances, and doesn't mind being perceived as the wife, as the more submissive one in their fake-traditional relationship play of husband and wife, having the power, holding the leash---simply out of pleasure and mutual satisfaction is, I think very cathartic and arousing for him.
But then, why precanon?
For the aesthetic bc I'm a simp for TC!era ZZS. And because showing him so strong, so powerful, yet leashed, is kind of a reminder that... It's not about real power. It's not about who, between them, is the strongest, the most powerful, the winner or whatever. It adds that thrill, the aknowledgement that this is out of freewill and choice and pleasure, I guess.
On top of that, man, I'm sorry, but peak TC!ZZS right post-QY canon after he's become the most powerful man in the country but is completely jaded by what happened in the end? On a leash? For a man he respects?? ugh
Anyway TLDR; I think it's hot and all of that gibberish barely has anything to do with my actual motivations to draw this.
When I said the other day that I wanted to draw another super kitschy Wangxian Art Nouveau piece... I indeed meant a super kitschy Wangxian Art Nouveau piece.
It's kind of over-the-top...but I'm kind of in love with it. ā„
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