I've finally gotten to the epistolary chapter of the Meng Yao in Lan story (currently guessing about 60K for this one), which is slower going because it's so many different pov/voices, but I just had to post a snippet from Wen Ning's:

Auntie Hong sends her greetings and specifically said to tell you that Jiang-zongzhu has a temper just like yours but is far more yielding, and so that should be a good match.

I'm just saying what she said, Jie.

He is the snarkiest little shit, in a very understated way. Unlike Nie Huaisang, who just lets the good times roll, at least when he's talking to Meng Yao. Letters that I'm pretty sure need to go in this chapter so far also include Jin Zixuan to Jiang Yanli, Wen Ning to Jiang Yanli (quite possibly about Jiang Cheng), Lan Xichen to Nie Mingjue, and quite possibly Wei Wuxian to Lan Wangji.

Okay, so I'm a detail oriented kind of person when it comes to fic research, as many of us are. Research something for two weeks, for one throw-away line? Yeah, right here.

So, when I got to Sunshot in the "Meng Yao winds up in Lan instead of Jin" story, I immediately went and looked up the actual locations of all those districts they keep throwing around the names of (Yunmeng, Gusu, Lanling, Qinghe, Qishan). And then I carefully marked them on a map, and glowed with the feeling of a mind well-oriented in space, satisfied that I could describe the campaign and make some kind of sense.

And then, while rewatching for details, I got to the line about how Gusu /and/ Qinghe were both closer to ANY GEOGRAPHIC POINT, LET ALONE ONE IMPLIED TO BE PROXIMAL TO QISHAN than /either/ Jin or Yunmeng is, Yunmeng implied to be furthest away.

*looks at her map for a long moment*

*balls up map and throws it over her shoulder*

FANTASY GEOGRAPHY IT IS.

Ep 25
Look at that Jin Zixuan acting like a human being who’s enamored of a girl. And then promptly being an asshole to WWX (not without some provocation, to be sure).

Theory, based on how Meng Yao smiles about the Wen prisoners put in front of the targets, and then looks straight at WWX: this was at his instigation, to try to make WWX make a scene. Meng Yao is definitely displeased by WWX’s bravura move of blindfolding himself, shocked by his shot, and promptly withdraws his move (and the prisoners) after the five-arrow shot succeeds. Jin Zixun is not nearly that smart, of course, little pill.

(Note that, despite the full-body eye roll over WWX’s request for his headband, LWJ nearly /smirks/ when the blindfold goes on, and again when he returns.)

And we have the zhuji speech! Context is really interesting, here, because WWX is remembering Lan Xichen warning him not to be careless of those who care for him, and his response to that memory is to /not call out/ to LWJ (distance people to protect them, once again), but boy does WWX light up when LWJ spots him and comes to him. And then LWJ offers his new (illicitly researched) calming songs, and WWX more or less tells him to knock it off (annoyed by lack of trust). And then the parallel questions from each, what kind of person do you think I am/am I to you. WWX answers he /used/ to think LWJ was the one who knew him down to his soul, which suggests that it’s LWJ’s apparent lack of trust/belief in him that made him change his mind. But LWJ insists that he still /is/, which nearly makes WWX accept his offer (now reading it as concern instead of distrust). At which point, they’re interrupted by the courting Yanli and Zixuan.

God, Zixuan is so awkward. Vastly entertained that LWJ keeps WWX from interfering, knowing perfectly well what’s up with Yanli, and apparently feeling that /someone's/ love life should make some progress today.

Note that it’s only LWJ and shijie’s opinions of his musical trick with the prey that matter to WWX.

Note that it’s the remark about ‘only the son of a servant’ that snaps WWX’s temper (denial of his being clan to Jiang). And it’s Yanli’s repeated confirmation that WWX is her little brother that finally calms him all the way again. Unconditional love and clan-belonging are of equal importance to him, and quite possibly directly linked in his mind. (No wonder he always goes all-out for Xiao Xingchen, lineage uncle.)

Props to Jin Zixuan that he says in front of others it was him who wanted Yanli there, even if he failed the landing on declaring himself more explicitly.

Ep 26
Hard to believe that Meng Yao didn’t know Su She’s past, but he does seem genuinely upset he might have troubled Lan Xichen. Not so much he refrains, though.

Note that Jin Guangshan obviously keep Jin Zixun around as an attack dog who dares to trample all over other sects but could be disavowed if he goes far enough to cause trouble. Love that LWJ is so clearly snubbing him.

Enter WWX like the spirit of wrath (accurate enough, given what he just learned from Wen Qing). And he says flat out what everyone is clearly thinking, that Jin is trying to take over Wen’s empty spot, and that Jin Zixun is a nasty little sadist. Interesting that LWJ tries to interfere at that point, obviously knowing this is the issue that’s going to open up WWXx’s temper.

Note that everyone is clearly so afraid of what WWX might be able to do that they all back down from an outright challenge, including Zixun. And that it’s /this/ that causes Jin Guangshan to lose it; the knowledge that he can’t use the unspoken threat of force, as the largest sect, to get his way, not while WWX is alive. This whole banquet is cultivation politics in miniature, laid brutally bare.

And LWJ says, just as flat out, ‘was he wrong?’. Matching morals. And LXC tells him to go after WWX (still shipping it).

Note that, when Jiang Cheng is so pissed off he shatters his cup, Meng Yao smiles a very satisfied smile. He’s definitely targeted WWX for removal from the political board.

Note that WWX hangs on until the Jin start killing everyone to attempt to conceal their other cruelties, and at least intends to set Wen Ning after the ones who killed /him/. He's not lost in revenge yet. Interesting implication: the resentful spirits created by atrocity inhabit Wen Ning (with his ravaged spiritual consciousness) and are what take him out of WWX’s control. When WWX draws more of that very power into him, he can call and be heard. He's definitely doing /something/ with the resentful energy he takes in to alter/control it.

LWJ frames the great breakout as ‘abandoning classic teachings and rebelling against orthodoxy’ and WWX shoots back with their promise over the lanterns; possibly the final, irreconcilable framing that lets LWJ see the contradiction between orthodoxy and the moving target of human compassion and justice.

Ep 27
WWX’s arguments are all on very /aware/ moral grounds. He’s examined these issues and decided what he can and can’t live with. Based on that, his offer to have a fight to the death with LWJ (implication that he’s the one who will die, which, Core, yeah) is both a) the ultimate expression of his dedication to his morality and b) his offer to give LWJ his death if that’s what LWJ decides to value. God, no wonder LWJ looks so gutted. (WWX too)

This makes LWJ’s gesture of letting the umbrella fall interesting. He’s leaving himself open to the rain, and on the one hand, yes, grief, the sky is crying for him, but on the other... that’s finally a giving in to natural forces.

Note how WWX looks at his flute when he says he’s friends with the Burial Mounds. Suggestion there that he only made a kind of peace with it and its spirits when he hit on music as his mode of controlling (yes) but also (recalling how Lan uses music) /communicating/.

During the sect debate over WWX’s actions, we get a closeup of Jin Guangyao while Nie Mingjue is being inflexible and thereby damning Wen Qing and Wen Ning. Implied that he knew good and well this would be NMJ’s reaction, and is using it. Jin Guangshan also looks very satisfied by that. Meanwhile LWJ is looking quietly disapproving. JGS is really transparent about trying to split the power that WWX represents away from Jiang Cheng. Also, god Yao is such a tool. Note that LWJ is the one who speaks up to contradict JGS’s spin, and JGY recovers the core move without contradicting LWJ. He’s the only one with any subtlety at all. MianMian also sees it happening and tries to interject sense/facts; it looks as if Jin Zixuan appreciates her words. He’s clearly upset by her dramatic renunciation of the clan. JGY actually looks uneasy over it, which suggests it might have worked under other circumstances. LWJ likewise stages a walkout in her wake. Neither does a bit of good, which is this world in a nutshell.

Lan Qiren continues to shoot himself in the foot by being bound to the rules over justice. Darkly amused that he compares LWJ’s actions re WWX to his father’s actions re his mother. LWJ visibly upset/conflicted at this point, clearly doubting his uncle’s answers to life and the universe.

Behold, Jin Zixuan finally declares himself, god, it only took him twenty five episodes. Jiang Cheng looks distressed over this, probably over losing /another/ of his older siblings.

WWX adorably excited over Wen Ning finally moving and being a little aware. Wen Ning likewise. Cinematography note: all the positive, warm human interactions get shown by the ones associated with WWX. Including adorable kid interaction. WWX and Wen Qing continue a natural big sister-little brother pair.

Note WWX’s talismans keep out anything short of Zidian, even without a Core.

Suspect some of JC’s dark look, visiting the Burial Mounds, is seeing WWX with a different family. Also, really want to smack him upside the head for the cold shoulder he gives Wen Qing. Also, also, JC still cannot control his temper worth a damn, and you have to wonder if it’s nature or nurture, really.

Ep 23:
The end of the first battle at the Nightless City. Favorite part: how LWJ is also up on those steps but completely ignores the opportunity to kill Wen Ruohan in favor of catching a fainting WWX. Second favorite part: how Jin Zixuan arrives late to the party and /clearly/ (despite his minions promptly declaring victory) knows that WWX stole /all/ his thunder.

Conclusion from the confrontation between Lan Xichen, Nie Mingjue, and Meng Yao: LXC has a Thing for people who need his protection and are (I don’t know enough Chinese for the right word, in Japanese it would be sunao) about it. Also, Meng Yao knows both this and that NMJ can’t actually kill in cold blood very well.

Vastly entertained to note that WWX is clearly /flustered/ by LWJ taking care of him. *dying of the adorable* Theory: this registers as a significant intimacy; possibly, WWX can feel the direct effect of the music on his qi. And he /does/ accept it. Again, we have here the struggle between LWJ’s learning (the influence of evil objects) and WWX’s philosophy (living will can determine one’s heading). (Fascinating parallel in how Meng Yao manipulates LXC’s sympathy with the question of whether he’s evil.)

Note that WWX obviously knows the yin metal can’t have been destroyed and that a claim it was means that /someone/ is plotting over it, but LWJ seems to buy the official word. Trust in official leadership that’s going to be smashed, there.

Increasing tension between LWJ’s concern reading as suspicion (to some extent being suspicion) and WWX’s belief (and need for trust) in his own strength of mind/spirit (somewhat over-estimated). The question of what help LWJ intends to give, vs what WWX will accept as help instead of interference in justice.

Awkward Political Dinner of Awkwardness: Jin Guangshao is a bottom-feeding prick. Note that he’s very careful to bow at a shallower angle than anyone else, save NMJ. Note that he also seems to use NMJ’s predictable distaste for the Wen throne to take center stage himself. Further note Meng Yao may have taken note of WWX as someone observant enough to need taking out.

Perhaps 24:
Nie Huaisang is suddenly alert, and Meng Yao smiles knowingly, when WWX intervenes in the push to re-declare the engagement. Suspect Jin Guangshan did not expect Yanli to have the brass ones to tell him that now is Not The Time. Strongly suspect, from the /deeply/ satisfied smile, the fall hunt was Meng Yao’s own idea and JGS didn’t hear about it until that moment. Interesting that Jin Zixuan’s body language suggests he maybe didn’t approve of pushing Yanli right now, either, for all he still wants her regard.

Note JGS hops up on the Wen throne as soon as everyone else is shooed out. /Really/ obvious what his intentions are. Meng Yao takes the /first/ opportunity to suggest WWX has the yin metal, thus setting him up to be cleared off the board.

Lan Qiren is /also/ a first class prick, and clearly the source of LWJ’s underlying sense that rules are more important than justice or mercy or (most critically, I think) living judgement. /This/ is the conflict between LWJ’s teaching and WWX’s whole life.

Note that, in taking hold of the clan, Jiang Cheng reaffirms the clan rule to do even what is impossible, if it is the right thing. A pledge he will eventually break, kind of like WWX’s about being his right hand.

WWX clearly pining for LWJ’s company so much that he teases LXC as a kind of stand-in is /adorable/. Foreshadowing of not leaving Cloud Recesses for three years, ow. Entertained that LXC has so obviously come to explain LWJ’s actions and absence, and to put in his two cents that WWX should take other people into account and they’ll help him straighten up his cultivation, totally contrary to LQR (he so ships them). Yet another moment of regret on WWX’s face, suggesting that he would tell the Lan brothers, if it were only his secret.

Dead of the adorable when WWX asks Jiang Yanli why one person likes another, and promptly tries to pass it off as not wanting her to get married. (Cue WWX’s Sudden Realization in re liking someone when complaining how could she possibly like someone so annoying.) Also WWX and JC being total gross little boys together is so sweet and heartbreaking. Also, WWX is /such/ a momma’s boy in re Yanli.

*pauses to squeal over LWJ flat out disobeying and sneaking into the library’s forbidden books for WWX’s sake*

These are so meaty, I think I need to do them in smaller chunks.

Twenty-one is full of the really obvious beginnings of Wei Wuxian’s ostracization for daring to depart from the One True Way of cultivation (with Jin I-am-scum Zixun stirring the pot right away, and very offended to be told to rack off). The rigidity of the cultivation world self-evidently contains the seeds of another cycle of tyranny.

Notable are Lan Xichen trying really explicitly to chip away at Lan Wangji’s black-and-white worldview, with only middling success (courtesy of Lan Qiren, you poisonous old stick); and also Nie Huaisang being very sensitive to the interpersonal nuances around him, intervening on behalf of WWX when he can and clearly knowing something is quite wrong.

Also, really beautiful Jiang sibling emotional bonds, which are pretty much instantly set in tension against Jiang Cheng’s efforts to act as sect leader among sect leaders. Once again, politics and policy, in this world, stand directly counter to emotional truths.

Twenty-two gives us the tense reconciliation between LWJ and WWX, LWJ still being convinced of the black-and-white method for judging rightness. I think it might be the struggle this is for both of them, that I like best--for WWX to let /anyone/ know enough to even try to help, and for LWJ to at least /try/ to believe that WWX is not irreversibly contaminated by his choices.

Fight choreography continues fairly dreadful, but does make it clear that both Jin Zixuan and Jiang Cheng are supposed to be very skilled, on the general scale of things, and only poor on comparison to the likes of LWJ or WWX (and possibly LXC, who is later shown to be exceedingly badass).

This is also where we see the new layer of Meng Yao’s machinations, at Wen Ruohan’s side but passing intelligence to Lan Xichen after, we may recall, taking one long look at Wen Chao on the doorstep of the Unclean Realm and going to let Xue Yang free in order to get in good with the Wens. I find it interesting that we never see Meng Yao with just one loyalty or just one agenda; he’s /always/ trying to play both ends against the middle, and I’d argue that it’s /that/ more than anything else, that the story is trying to demonstrate is a dead end approach.

This is also the ep where we see WWX totally /lose his shit/ on behalf of Jiang Yanli and make a good start on beating the shit out of Jin Zixuan, right up until LWJ intercedes. And you can see that it’s still hard for him to draw back, even then. Definitely being affected by the malice he’s channeling. (Also interesting that Jin Zixuan doesn’t resist, clearly accepting that he was in the wrong to be such an asshole to Jiang Yanli.)

This is also where we get the first battle of the Nightless City, in which LWJ is very protective of WWX’s swordlessness, despite WWX holding his own just fine. He really doesn’t want WWX to start using his new cultivation path, and he’s always paying attention to WWX, once he starts, looking very worried, and even conflicted about WWX’s turning the tide by taking over the lava orcs. Sorry, the ghost puppets. But he still stands there, guarding WWX instead of backing off like everyone else.

*takes a moment to squeal over them.*

Lots of parallelism in this set of episodes.

There’s the eye-donation thing between Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan, after the recipient lashes out at the donator in pain and loss, see also Jiang Cheng kicking Wei Wuxian in /the/ sorest spot.

One that won’t play out for some time, but is /painfully/ evident on rewatch is when Wen Qing says to Jiang Cheng that he can protect her, but can he protect her family and clan? Which he implicitly answers ‘no’ by not answering, and which Wei Wuxian later answers ‘hell yes’ by acting.

I also find it fascinating that the spirits of the Burial Mounds (and possibly also of the yin metal) offer/demand revenge to Wei Wuxian. That’s clearly (especially given what he does to the Wens) the way he channels all of their power to control it as much as he does. And that’s /also/ pretty much where Lan Wangji is at, striding through the Wens and strangling them as he goes. I mean, dude, when Jiang Cheng wants you to maybe dial it back a bit so they can question people first, you know you’re in heavy Vengeance mode. And for all that Wei Wuxian apparently carries an overwhelmingly dark aura with him like an extra cloak, these days, /he/ did spare Wen Qing, and he's suddenly got a very similar /posture/ to Lan Wangji, all straight shoulders and hand folded behind his back. They still balance and parallel each other in so many ways.

And however freaked out Lan Wangji is by Wei Wuxian’s new groove, he comes down shielding him, with his /back/ to Wei Wuxian.

It’s also notable that while Wei Wuxian manages to deflect Jiang Cheng pretty well from where he’s been and what happened, Lan Wangji reasons out promptly what path he’s using and Wei Wuxian spots that he’s knows it. He tries to keep some distance. When that doesn’t work, he tries a joking deflection. When that doesn’t work either, he slides straight into straight-up defiance and refusal of Lan’s ways/rules, but I also notice that he’s parting glance is not nearly as hard or angry as he’s been acting. So I’m reading that as yet another way to distance someone for his own good, and yet... not just that. Because Wei Wuxian /is/ riding the tide of revenge, and it clearly /is/ affecting him.

Jiang Yanli seems to be the only one he doesn’t completely keep face in front of.

You know, it gets increasingly clear as we go on just how much Lan Xichen does /not/ approve of how Lan Qiren managed to raise his little brother. By the time we get to the "punished for (extremely mild) drunken carousing" he's downright frowning. And then, of course, immediately pitches Wei Wuxian into the bathing pool with Lan Wangji, just to make it abundantly clear what horse he's backing in this race.

And I also note that WWX kind of reflexively tries to take the blame on himself in /any/ situation where he and someone he likes are in trouble. Have to wonder how much of that is so he can reduce the variables before he tries to talk/spin his way out of it.

Also, the black-and-white-pair costume parallels between LWJ and WWX on the one hand and Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan on the other are /extremely unsubtle/. It does nicely draw attention, though, to Lan Wangji's moment of revelation, watching them, which I really read as the first time he realizes that it's /possible/ to be two individuals instead of Jiang's first disciple and the second son of Lan, with the web of obligations that implies. The first tiny shiver of an eventual avalanche.

Lan Sizhui and Lan Jingyi do the "communicating plans with a look" thing while fighting the sword spirit at the Mo house. I am 100% writing porn for them.

Jin Ling is a very good archer, which is an interesting connection with his most troublesome uncle.

Wei Wuxian seems to use birth names whenever he wants to be friends with someone his own age (eg Wen Ning, Lan Zhan), only sticking with courtesy names when it's the only one he knows (Nie Huaisang). Which makes it a little heartbreaking that no one in his family calls him Wei Ying. Even Jiang Yanli calls him a-Xian, which is sweet and familiar, but not reciprocal and not the way she calls Jiang Cheng (a-Cheng).

Intimacy, among the Lans seems to be indicated by using given names alone, albeit courtesy names. No diminutives. Good grief, they're so formal. Interestingly, Wei Wuxian seems to try to abide by this, at first, a little, and calls Lan Wangji Ji-xiong.

Jiang, on the other hand, is much more familial and informal. Jiang Cheng introduces Wei Wuxian as his shige. I nearly died of the adorable.

Lan Xichen explicitly thinks Wei Wuxian will be good for Lan Wangji to be friends with, which really makes one wonder about how little he may agree with his uncle's method of raising them and how hard that took on Lan Wangji. And possibly also about his sense of humor, since he clearly thinks it's hilarious that Lan Wangji has an i-dont-know-its-a-crush on Wei Wuxian.

The whole lecture-at-Lan experience is a not-fun one for Jiang Cheng. /Every/ time Wei Wuxian goes larking off with someone else (Nie Huaisang, Lan Wangji, even Wen Ning), he looks like a left-behind puppy.

I'm just trying to write some decent porn here, and Wei Wuxian is apparently /also/ a genius at getting in his own way.

It's funny, you know, he doesn't have trust issues /until/ you get right up close, but when you do the issues turn into positive volumes. It's a damn good thing Lan Wangji did spend sixteen years getting his emotional ducks in a row, is all I can say.

Though, actually, one of the interesting things I'm running into with their internal voices is that Wei Wuxian seems to think of himself as Wei Wuxian, but Lan Wangji thinks of himself as Lan Zhan. And I'm not sure but what LWJ may have formed that habit around the fact that WWX always calls him Lan Zhan.

They're so adorable, and /so/ messed up.

You know, if there was one kind of fic I would never even /bother/ to say "I'll never write that" it would be kid-fic. I am one of those people to whom "child free" is, actually, /exactly/ the correct term, and expresses my inherent alarm and wariness when faced with a child.

And yet.

I now appear to be writing kid-fic, because when I really poked at the question of "how did Lan Wangji get from only /just/ breaking out the The Rules to being fully Rules, What Rules?" the answer is apparently "Lan Yuan".

*hands* Okay, then, I guess this is happening.