#xiliu

[a-cutebird]

wen zhuliu / lan xichen / nie mingjue

d2 of the ot3 art meme ❤️💙💚

[bluestarsredmoons]

I have been informed that Wen Zhuliu and Lan Xichen are a ship now and I’m into it so immediately this quick sketch happened. (Yeah lxc isn’t in this pic but the bunnies are proof enough that Zhuliu is spending time at cloud recesses)

@acutebird-fics @aaylwen

[a-cutebird]

me, at the rarepairs conference: *taps mic* um............... wen zhuliu/lan xichen

(lxc tenderly holds wzl's cursed dangerous hands & tells him they're beautiful & that he's not afraid of them; wzl devotes his entire life & being & soul to protect lxc from any & all harm)

[a-cutebird]

took expression/mood requests over on my twitter

1. “the sudden realization that you actually do have a crush & oh no what do you do now???”

2. “when you're zoned out but suddenly remember an endearing thing your friend did"

3. “when u bend down to pick up something off the ground & miss 3 times in a row”

4. “😖🥺”

[a-cutebird]

a ballsy disciple confronts sect leader lan about the... troubling... similarity between his chosen one & his brother

lxc: “... they’re so different, though?”

[ aka lxc sees past the deadpan looks & understands that these two people are fundamentally different (e.g. driven by completely different value systems) despite outwardly displaying many similar traits (loyalty, subdued facial expressions, the desire to see lxc happy & healthy) ]

[a-cutebird]

all i need, darling

is a life in your shape

[a-cutebird]

(from curiouscat):  Zhuliu often comes of as this calm yet powerful man - could he be more gentle with Xichen? or does their relation base on the exchange of this power (Xichen is, after all, one big and strong boi)

i think wzl is absolutely capable of being gentle & would be with lxc - not bc lxc can't handle his strength but bc wzl wants to be tender & soft w him.

wzl's capacity for gentleness can be seen most clearly in the scene where he's taking care of wen chao - and yes, eventually, he gets very stern with him, telling him to stop crying, but he does this while wiping tears from his cheeks. it's honestly kind of a touching scene.

now imagine how much more touching it would be if he were interacting with a man much kinder and more deserving of wzl's caring hands.

[a-cutebird]

I’m not sure how or why this would work but Xiliu arranged marriage Au. Maybe the Wen Ruohan decides instead of burning the cloud recesses he’s gonna do some politics bs and back them into a political marriage. Xichen is the one selected for reasons and bc he doesn’t actually want to send his own sons for that he chooses his ~honored disciple~ (bc he’s gotta play this right and not be too obvious offensive) Wen Zhuliu. Also he didn’t just send Wen Ning or Wen Qing bc he wanted someone he trusts?

yo i love this so much??

i can see this happening in a timeline where wrh wins the war and in his efforts to thoroughly and publicly humiliate the sects that rose up against him, he has all of them marry into the wen sect. lxc gets wzl because wrh thinks it'll make lxc miserable, having such a cold person as a partner. well, joke's on him!!! lxc's been training to love a cold person his whole goddamn life (given that two of his closest relationships are with lwj and lqr - not in a romantic capacity, obviously, but my point being that he knows, to an extent, how to live with a certain amount of ice).

also, out of all the sect heirs/leaders, lxc is the most likely to forgive/understand the fact that wzl is a not-particularly-bad, incredibly loyal person, dedicated to an extremely bad man. and, over time, wzl starts to fall for a man who has every right to hate him but shows him kindness instead.

IDK how this would end... maybe wrh starts pushing more aggressively for all the sects to be folded into the wen, and as a part of this effort, he tries to do something unforgivable (burn down library pavilion again with all their texts inside? desecrate their ancestors' burial sites?) that causes the lan sect to try to stage some sort of rebellion.

there's a betrayal scene where wzl must choose between his husband and his master, and, by doing nothing, he chooses the latter. lxc's trust in him is shattered despite the fact that he always knew, in some part of his heart, that this was the case. and he doesn't want to resent wzl, but it's so hard not to when he is forced to watch his sect be brought to its knees.

it all comes to a head when lwj - the leader of the rebels - is found and sentenced to death. lxc fights as hard as he can to save him, takes down dozens of wen before he's overpowered by sheer numbers. wen xu - who was sent to quash the lan rebellion - orders wzl to melt both brothers' cores and then kill lwj. wzl strides forward. grabs wen xu by the chest. and melts his core before anyone can react.

everything after that is a blur. lxc and lwj are freed by wzl, lan sect disciples rally once more behind the twin jades (and lqr, i suppose; he's there too), and, after seeing wzl defect, a few wen are inspired to join him and fight for the lan sect too. with everyone's powers combined, the wen are pushed out of the cloud recesses - but for how long...?

... this is starting to run away from me now lmao but oof can y'all imagine how juicy the scenes between wzl & lxc after this would be? oh, it would be such a complicated, tangled mess of emotions.

anyways, thank you so much for this delightful idea. i love it and am tucking it away into the special xiliu corner of my heart.