#MoXuanyuWeek2023 day one: found family

mo xuanyu has spent his whole life being a disappointment to everybody, so it is to his great surprise when he’s selected to join the handful of jin disciples sent to the lectures at cloud recesses a privilege of his position as jin guangshan’s son, he knows, and not something he earned through any merit of his own. he is, after all, the only one of the chief cultivator’s children who is of the right age, even if he a bastard

well, he’s used to accepting scraps

to get away from the taunting of the other jin disciples, mo xuanyu sneaks away into the dark recesses of koi tower. the places mere disciples are not supposed to go

and here he finds things no one is meant to find sometimes, he hears voices, one he knows and one he doesn’t. jin guangyao and a stranger. the stranger’s voice cuts like broken porcelain. his laugh makes mo xuanyu’s skin crawl. what business would jin guangyao have with such a man?

while experimenting with demonic cultivation, mo xuanyu accidentally turns himself into a cat. he’s a scrappy, skinny little black cat and of course cats can’t make arrays so he’s stuck. he decides to peace out of the mo household and go feral he knows he has to be careful of cultivators in case any of them think he’s an actual cat demon that’s trying to cultivate, so there’s any fantasies about going back to lanling and making trouble for the jins, but at least he’s free

unpopular opinion i miss being able to enjoy h/arry p/otter. i was never the biggest fan or anything but it was kinda hard not be at least a little bit into it, and it sucks to have something that used to be a source of fun and comfort and community turn so thoroughly against you i feel very deeply for the people, especially the queer and trans people, who found a safe space in that world, who found comfort and felt seen there. i feel the betrayal of that love and trust. the complication or loss of that comfort read. i think it’s very sad

while a lot of fic has lan wangji love wei wuxian at first sight, i actually love that in canon he very much did NOT

the fantasy of lan wangji is someone who loves his partner for everything he is, but it takes growth for him to do that i think lan wangji was drawn to wei wuxian, and confused by his feelings for him, but i don’t think he loved or even liked him, because he couldn’t *see* him until they’d actually been through something together

bc the thing about wei wuxian is that he hides his real feelings

lan wangji running a sanctuary for rescued bunnies. he takes them all, surrendered pets, or taken from hoarding situations, or rescued from meat and fur farms. the daily routine of their care soothes him. watching them learn to feel safe and bond with each other makes him happy they are technically up for adoption, but he is very particular about the requirements for adopting his rabbits, and really there are more bunnies than there ever will be adopters. so they all have a home with him, for the rest of their lives

i’m thinking about song lan and wen ning again. the injustice of everything that was taken from them. how existence was a punishment for one and a gift to the other, so how their relationships to being what they’ve become might differ both dead and undead, but for song lan, his undeath was an insult, a punishment, an enslavement by a man who hated him and who he hated

by popular (3 people) demand, here is my sizhui lukewarm take. i get why people often want to take the “perfect boy” and let him go apeshit or have a dark side

but to me, that defeats his narrative arc with the other characters and breaking the cycle of generational trauma yes being pressured to be the perfect boy is harmful and it’s easy to project that on him. but i don’t see him that way. he’s a “perfect boy” not because he was pressured, like wangji or xichen, but because he was so utterly loved. he learned love and compassion and acceptance—

but when twitter falls, where will i scream into the void about my health— i mean my blorbos 🤣 but honestly i really am sad about the prospect of this community we’ve built here just. poofing into so much sparkly smoke

i’m still thinking about my jiang yanli/wen zhuliu fic and what happens after i left off… wen zhuliu a well-kept prisoner. jiang yanli spending time with him while he recovers from the war. bringing him their daughter to play with.

when the marriage is announced, jiang cheng and wei wuxian are furious. don’t they know who he *is*? what he *does*? are they really sending their beloved sister to the *wens*?

jiang yanli smiled through her fears. her core is too weak to be a threat. she’ll be fine.

https://twitter.com/Suibian_gongzi/status/1555199436875259904

even if he takes it, she assures her brothers, it won’t make much difference. they shouldn’t worry. what is best for the sect is best for her.

yu ziyuan doesn’t think her one-time friend will hurt her daughter (unless he’s told to, there’s always that).

jiang yanli arranged marriage to wen zhuliu. yu ziyuan’s preemptive attempt to make peace with the wens after the engagement to the jins breaks. wen ruohan decided she wasn’t good enough for wen chao, and yu ziyuan is secretly relieved. wen zhuliu was once a friend, after all. you can thank my surprisingly detailed, if largely otherwise nonsensical, wen zhuliu pov sleep paralysis dream for this one

the first time zhao zhuliu goes to a gay bar, he’s already had three drinks before he arrives.

he’s 32, depressed, alone, confused. there’s something in him he can’t look at, and it’s eating him alive. what the hell, he thinks. a bar is a bar. he goes in.

https://twitter.com/Suibian_gongzi/status/1532088441374183425

the music is different in here. the vibe is different. the people are… different. he does not fit in.

but zhao zhuliu is a war vet. he works in security now. he’s not going to be scared off by pop music and skinny guys in crop tops. he orders, picks a seat in the corner