Asexual Enjolras

yet another MDZS fic I won’t write but wish existed: au where CQL timeline enough that Wei Wuxian dies at Nightless City 2…and so does Jin Guangshan, and Jiang Yanli doesn’t, leaving her at least half in charge of Jin Sect…and when she gets Wen Ning out of the dungeon, he immediately drops to his knees and offers his eternal service to her and her son, in the best recompense he can offer for killing Jin Zixuan. So begins at least 50k of political intrigue starring Jiang Yanli, too frail to wield a sword but more socially and politically astute than anyone gives her credit for, with the fucking Ghost General as the strong arm of her law (also, as a rule, more socially and politically astute than anyone gives him credit for, not to mention sneakier). Dealer’s Choice if Jin Guangyao also conveniently died or if he’s running around making his own play for control of Carp Tower. Absolute Requirement: heavy inclusion of Madam Jin as a mentor, her old friendship with Madam Yu, and how Jiang Yanli has been influenced but will not be defined by either of them.

Some of you may not want to hear this, but sometimes autism accommodation means giving that socially awkward person who said something that came off as passive aggressive or uncomfortable the benefit of the doubt. Not everyone is capable of reading social rules and cues effectively, I thought this was autism 101.

#like jiang cheng's desire to die about it also has this #but he had some specific shame issues #and the realistic assessment that rebuilding his sect and getting revenge was now impractical #and his problem was never really feeling like his place in the world was actually going to be taken #just like he failed to deserve it #whereas wwx had his secrets to keep but even after he'd lived up to most of his obligations #during this period #and i think it's what he's so mad at himself about looking back #during the Empathy flashback #that he valued his pride and clinging to his status when it turned out #it did jack-all to help and he got everyone killed #(Present-Day wwx is not an objective source on himself lmao) #and this in turn is why in the present-time of the novel he's so willing to lean into the indignity of mo xuanyu #he now has nothing to lose and it's liberating #but during his march-toward-death era having any more of his self-respect and conceptual status stripped away was agony #because it felt like an unpersoning #and some of the disability angles around this come up in fandom sometimes but #the fact that he internalized the idea that not having this specific type of power means you lose your personal freedom looking at jyl #doesn't really #and i think she Very Much informed his relationship to #power gender disability and #marriage (via whetstonefires)

I'm so curious as to where the idea in the fandom that Joyce is older than Monty and Ivor came from. Because in real life she was the youngest of the Montagu siblings and it's such an odd detail for so many people to change. Like how did that start and somehow become everyone's headcanon?

The most interesting question you can ask about any character is not what do they want. it's what do they believe they deserve. because those two things are almost never the same and the gap between them is where your entire story lives. a person can want love completely and believe they don't deserve it and that belief will destroy every good thing that comes toward them in ways they won't even notice they're doing. write the gap. the gap is the character.