Both? Both. Both is good.

some memes for these trying times

sldjfslikl first of all anon, it’s WILD that anyone would address me as 老师 and i’m simultaneously flattered and gobsmacked. (i’m really really really not qualified to be called 老师 friend—thank you, like, a lot?? but yeah, i gotta say i’m not that cool) thank you for reading my fic and liking it and apparently my one meta enough to come talk to me!! also, SORRY this took approximately a million years i’ve been working on it on/off for like. two weeks. (@the other anon who also requested meta—pls forgive me im really doing my best apparently these take a lot out of me)

confession: I wrote a WHOLE ADDITIONAL essay in response to your opinion about show vs. novel that i ultimately decided to cut because it flies a little too close to the discourse sun and you didn’t ask for that hahaha. if it turns out you are interested in it, feel free to hmu and i can post it (though i’ll probably try to keep it out of the tags for my own mental health’s sake im not cut out for this lmao)

that all being said, who do I think fell in love first? it was definitely lan wangji, and it was right here:

[id: screenshot of lan wangji watching wei wuxian making a wish to “protect the weak and curb the strong, with a clear conscience for all my life” from episode 7 of the untamed drama. wei wuxian’s eyes are closed, his hands clasped. lan wangji looks on with a surprised tenderness. /end id]

wwx is crafty and creative as heck. he comes up with really weird, inventive, but ever so slightly dangerous pranks that lwj endures with a straight face, while internally he’s like “WHAT IS THIS? DOES THIS MEAN HE LIKES ME? OR DOES HE WANT TO KILL ME?”

lwj, on the other hand, after doing some solid research on the subject (he’s got a good sense of humour but pranking doesn’t come naturally to him), turns out to be fucking excellent at pranks wwx Does Not See Coming. utterly harmless, but totally unexpected.

like, when wwx pranks lwj, he’s normally lurking nearby with a suspicious look on his face, shooting lots of little looks in lwj’s direction until the prank goes off. lwj though, nothing in his demeanour changes, and he has no problem with pranks he doesn’t have to be present for. the goal is to mildly inconvenience wei ying? then he shall mildly inconvenience wei ying. that is what’s important, yes? the outcome, not the prestige?

hmmm, trying to put into words why the untamed makes me so crazy. really trying to understand why I’ve gone so nuts over it. literally i haven’t been this obsessed about something in years. im losing my mind. why is this happening.

Probably it’s, 

reframing of devotion story. 

listen…this dynamic isn’t new. there’s tons of stories of two people, one on a crooked path, or on a path leading to their destruction, and the person they leave behind, who is constantly chasing after them. i mean….yes naruto and sasuke, but also most romantic dramas. 

but the protagonist is always the person doing the chasing. the story is always on the person who’s following, the person who’s devoted, the person who never stops believing in the one they’re chasing after. we’re used to sympathizing with them, and their struggle, and also being like ‘man naruto, you can do better than sasuke, why do you have to keep chasing him?’ or ‘man, she needs to stop chasing after that werewolf/half-angel/brooding male hero of choice, it’s not her responsibility to save him’. 

but in the untamed we’re in the shoes of the one being chased after! the one who’s receiving that unrelenting devotion! and i dont know! it hits different! no longer are we sighing wistfully at our protagonist’s relentless quest to save their loved one, and maybe thinking they should give up on them, or they could do better. in the untamed it’s like, god, you want to take wei wuxian by the face and be like ‘stop running, you deserve to be loved, stop running, you’re not as bad as everyone says, stop running, let him catch you, you deserve his devotion, you deserve to be loved’

shit hits different!! when the protagonist is the one being chased!!! i don’t know!!! it drives me insane i can’t stop thinking about Them!!

also it’s

grumpy/sunshine, but slightly to the left

And then, the thought that appeared to me in the midst of a Kahlua/coffee haze:

Lan disciples who are about to get into fights take of their forehead ribbons, partially as a safety measure, but also as a warning that shit is about to go down. (Lan Wangji has lost over twenty forehead ribbons this way whenever somebody badmouthed his mother or his brother).

*someone talks bad about Lan Xichen*

:NMJ: *swears and threatens and waves Baxia* LXC: NMJ don’t worry, it doesn’t matter.

*someone talks bad about NMJ*

LXC, rolling up his sleeves, fully prepared to use that Lan arm strength to knock this bitch into next month: NMJ, hold my forehead ribbon.

Lan Qiren has only taken off his forehead ribbon once, and only once. And that was to fight Cangse Sanren.  He lost. Badly.

The disciples of Qinghe who fought alongside several main branch Lans during the Sunshot Campaign never speak about it. One got married by accident. Another was so traumatized he joined the farthest sect from GusuLan as possible. 

When the Lan Sect retook Cloud Recesses, Lan Wangji was the first to take off his forehead ribbon. He tied it to a tree just before the entrance, on a low hanging branch. By the time Cloud Recesses was reclaimed, the tree was entirely blue.

Lan Sizhui has never taken off his ribbon. Yet.

Wen Chao was punched in the face by LWJ’s shimei, Lan Lin, after his poor attempts at flirtation with Jiang disciple Zhu Jiachen in the Library Pavilion got on her nerves. Jiang Yanli held the ribbon.  Wen Qing refused to heal him.

@cangse-sanren took one for the team the other day and bore the brunt of my yelling about this post because I love this concept so much

anyway I couldn’t stop thinking about the the first day Lan Wangji emerges from his three years of seclusion, and he overhears someone in Cloud Recesses badmouthing Wei Wuxian or something

and then before that person can take another step Bichen is at their throat

unnamed Lan disciple just raises an eyebrow like “hello Hanguang-jun, nice to see you again, shouldn’t you take off your forehead ribbon before you draw a sword on me?” and Lan Wangji just says, "no. this is me showing restraint" 

5. Jiang Yanli

A rumour made all the more delicious for the layers of scandal packed in. Sect-brother-who-might-a-bastard-brother-who might-be-secret-lover, known for violent fits of rage on her behalf and unchaperoned visits with her alone. Three servants at Koi Tower have been caned for gossiping about it, which has only given the story new wings (though now no one speaks of it within earshot of Jin or Jiang allies). Poor Jiang Yanli is more aware of it than her mother-in-law or brother would like and she channels her fury into periodic spells of violent bread making.

4. Luo Qingyang

Mostly mad because the story of her ruinous association with the Yiling Patriarch is being used to defang her speech to the sect leaders. No one trusts a bewitched woman. When she shows up at her parents’ door they’ve already heard that’s she’s run away to marry a demon. She takes a second to be angry, though she’s not sure at who. Maybe Sect Leader Yao.

3. Wen Qing

Was pretty much resigned to this as soon as the reality of their living situation sunk in. He’s an abomination, she’s a witch, of course people think they’re doing unholy magic together. She tries to have a good sense of humor about it, it’s not like these sorts of insinuations haven’t been a part of her life for years, but it does irk. If she was going to turn to a demon to slake her cruel Wen lusts she’d pick someone less obnoxiously tall.

2. Wen Ning

Honestly, not super aware that the crueler half of the cultivation world thinks his Ghost Generalling extends past the Blood Pool and into the Inner Sanctum. Girls get taught a keener sense of reputation awareness! He is very busy with radishes and his family. Nevertheless, thinks it would be chill? He’s still got a baby crush and puts his trust in Wei Wuxian’s hands for a reason. Most of what he does hear is ridiculous, which helps. Overall, neutral to intrigued by the salacious whispers that crop up. Some of them seem very anatomically unlikely.

1. Lan Wangji

The cast and crew of The Untamed never had “bromance” in mind; they set out to film a love story, and here is the evidence – actors having a heated lovers’ spat about when they fell in love, while directors try to calm them down.

extremely bemused customer: um…… aren’t you the firelord???

Alternately:

My amazing commission done by @daloochsdoodles I absolutely am in Love with it!!!!

TRCmonth | Day 8 – OTP

on one hand, I respect and appreciate the production crew for all the hard work they put into creating this fantastic world pretty much from scratch (waves at Hengdian as it goes by)

The head of Medusa carved from BC Jade