hiii! for the ask game, an au where jc gets de-aged post-canon to his freshly traumatized 17 year old self? playing happy family in cloud recesses, wwx is brutally pulled out of his ‘the past is in the past’ bubble when he finds out. for extra knives, maybe wn tells him
1. I think it should be JL, and not WN, who tells WWX. JL is invested in JC (and in JC and WWX’s relationship)! WN is mostly invested in #getwreckedSLJ.
WWX doesn't really understand what JL expects of him - WWX’s heart leaped when he understood the content of JL’s letter, and his belly twisted as though he was going to be sick, but he managed to calm down enough to write a reassuring letter back to JL. (Surely that was what JL expected, right?) WWX had to sit on his own hands to keep from doing something stupid like grabbing a sword and flying off, and then he had to ask to LWJ to distract him, because it keeps buzzing, buzzing under his skin.
There's no new letter from JL. WWX forces himself to think it means everything went back to normal. And makes himself distracted (he loves his husband!) before his mind trips down the path of what if not. (JL wouldn't write then. He'd show up.)
2. There’s no second letter but JL shows up. WWX, who's been thinking that there was no reason for JL to come but if things had gone worst with JC, doesn't know what he looks like when he sees JL and doesn't really register the sound of people sliding their swords out.
“You have to come, why didn't you come! I had to leave jiujiu because you weren't coming, and I'm going to have to return to Jinlintai once I’ve brought you back, so grab your things, shibo. Oh, you don't need to take much, LP will put you up with what you need. What matters is going back so jiujiu can see you.”
JC is alive. JC is alive. Once the news break through the dull rushing sound in WWX’s ears, tension he didn't know had frozen his body seeps away.
The Jin disciple accompanying JL puts his sword away, under the misapprehension that WWX isn't ready to leave right away. LWJ says WWX’s name and presses his arm, and WWX nods fiercely. No time to waste, is there? Now JC wants him there.
3. There’s a disciple of YMJ as a welcoming committee when they fly down, or maybe two; WWX doesn't pay attention, he leaves JL and LWJ to deal with them - “hey, wait!” JL yelps, “do you even know where you’re going?”
WWX’s feet slow, stop. LP is changed. WWX isn't even sure JC left the infirmary where it once was.
JL catches up with an annoyed, worried huff. He sounds just like JC. “Here, this way.”
4. JC looks– JC looks.
WWX’s legs give up from under him.
JC looks at him with an intense frown, features almost twisted in desperation - WWX’s name on his lips. WWX scrambles on the ground, knees banging on the polished wood, fingers feverishly untangled as he reaches for the long-lost shape of WWX’s shidi, crumpled as discarded hopes, slight as a memory.
“You– why are you here?” JC's words fall like stones on WWX’s bones before WWX can reassure himself JC’s real. “They told me you live in Gusu. You don't even look like yourself, why did you come back?”
How like JC! One thousand words to cut through WWX like one thousand blades. WWX ignores him, fists his hands in JC's robes, presses his face against JC’s thighs. He needs to feel the warmth of JC’s body, make sure he’s not a ghost, not a dream.
JC's hand on his shoulder, shaking. WWX is suddenly reminded of JC’s hands pushing him down, this same JC throttling him. It feels like the last time they touched, did JC ever touch him after that, did WWX let him?
5. “I’ll fix it – I promise, JC, I’ll make it right,” WWX breathes, recklessly, helplessly. How easy it is to fall back into these old, dizzying habits!
JC’s eyes are full of shattered distrust and cloudy hopes, like he’s been told WWX lies, like he still believes WWX first.
I truly believe Wei Wuxian wouldn't be able to live in a world where there is no Jiang Cheng. Throughout his life Jiang Cheng has always been a presence there, a figure that bleeds into the background on mundane days and outshines even the sun on the brightest. Wei Wuxian has always lived with the knowledge that Jiang Cheng was safe somewhere.
Even when he's Yiling Laozu, in the back of his mind he knows Jiang Cheng is out there, breathing, fighting. He sees him often despite exiling himself, has Jiang Cheng practically knocking on his front door even when the world sees them as enemies.
And even when he comes back as Mo Xuanyu, Jiang Cheng lurks in the background. He knows by filtered gossip that Jiang Cheng is safe, that he's in the highest position to be so, that the core that spins in him has kept that promise of protection. Wei Wuxian can keep his distance because he knows Jiang Cheng can protect himself, understands that being around him would only cause more pain for them both.
And yet if harm came Jiang Cheng's way, no matter how far across the land Wei Wuxian was, he'd know and he'd come running.
And if Jiang Cheng died then Yiling Laozu would show himself again.
Jiang Cheng, on the other hand, has to live. It's not just his pride that keeps him alive but his honour for his family, his sect. He cannot let his own life end when he needs to avenge theirs, when he holds a little Jin Ling in his arms and knows he needs to protect that child. But the death of Wei Wuxian? That kills his spirit, takes a small part of who he is away. That's the reason why he continues to hunt Demonic Cultivators, why he tries to reason with himself that Wei Wuxian isn't dead, that there's a way to find him, bring him back kicking and screaming if he has to. Jiang Cheng refuses to acknowledge the death of Wei Wuxian because if he does then that means it's real, right? And Jiang Cheng would have to live with the knowledge that the only last person to know who he was, Jiang Cheng and not Sandu Shengshou, A-Cheng and not Jiang-Zongzhu, was truly utterly gone.
They really are the soulmates born in the wrong place at the wrong time.
AllAlone!WWX would most definitely breach containment after original WWX and JC leave. Because why would he stay in his own empty/lonely world if he doesn't have to? There must be plenty of JCs out there, surly one is in need of a shixiong? Who knows, maybe he could even gain a whole collection of them too.
An adult JC because he always wanted to see JC grow into his gorgeous self, a teenage JC, one that he himself saved even, to fix his past sins, a child JC because he's simply too cute to leave out, same goes for the catboy version he found, and he especially had to save his shidi, this time shimei, from being married off to Wen Chao of all people. With so many JCs he would never be alone again! . . . Oh god he would start a sort of Shidi war now wouldn't he?
Oh, he'd absolutely get ideas after meeting Another Himself from a different dimension where Jiang Cheng survived. He'd 100% interrogate the Canon!WWX and learn that there are other worlds where JC lived.
And it would stay with him and torture him for days, weeks, months... And he'd tell himself that he won't do it, that he can't, that Jiang Cheng that's happy where he is should be left there, that he couldn't hurt them...
But, if there was Jiang Cheng that wasn't happy where he was? If there was Jiang Cheng that was left without Wei Wuxian? Alone in a ravaged, sect, without his golden core without support, unprotected from the greed of other sects... His shidi that was always trying to hard, that was ready to give from himself until nothing was left for the safety of his loved ones... How could Wei Wuxian leave him to such terrible existence?
And so it starts, the mission of finding a shidi for himself. And the longer it goes, Wei Wuxian isn't even lying to himself anymore - he's doing this for himself. He cannot be in a world where his Jiang Cheng isn't. He cannot live with himself and his guilt anymore. He won't.
woke up today with a mighty urge to put chengxian in a haunted house
fic concept: jaskier is restless to get to sleep most nights, so geralt tends to drop off before him. as jaskier watches geralt falling asleep, he notices an odd behavior. geralt touches himself-- not sexually or anything, just things like firmly squeezing a bicep, running his fingers over his collarbone. it seems subconcious, like he maybe doesnt even realize he's doing it, and jaskier cant figure out why he does it. but a few weeks after he starts noticing this behavior, he starts putting things together. he sees geralt flinch back from people's hands, and more importantly sees people flinch away from geralt. geralt's hand brushing an innkeeper's as a room key is passed on gets flexed fingers, a contemplative look. geralt's so touch deprived, his skin hunger is so bad, he unconciously soothes himself to sleep by replicating the feeling of someone else touching him, touching patches of skin that likely havent been touched in years.
so do you think wwx would still do the core transplant if he knew why jc lost his core? i think he might
Oh yeah. Actually it might depend on what scenario we're talking about here? Is this an AU where JC mumbles out the truth when feverish or something, or is this a time travel situation? Regardless, the following remain true:
Wei Wuxian loves Jiang Cheng very much and JC being sad in his vicinity is basically intolerable to him
Wei Wuxian considers himself to owe a debt to the Jiang
Wei Wuxian loves Lotus Pier and wants it restored and Jiang Cheng is the best chance they have
Wei Wuxian has rock bottom self worth and sky high self esteem, which means he does not consider himself of value while also simultaneously thinking he knows best and has the right to make decisions for other people
Obviously in canon or in a time travel AU where he didn't find out, he's ripping his organs out. If he does know, it kind of depends on timing. Teen WWX who heard JC's mumbled confession is drowning in guilt and self hatred and does it immediately. In some ways this improves the state of their relationship, because WWX now knows that Jiang Cheng considers him more important than his own life or even the sect. He's extremely upset by this, because "Your brother loves you" is the most devastating blow for either of them, but he is not questioning whether JC sees him as family in the same way as in canon. Wei Wuxian had to really tell himself over and over to consider the transfer as repayment or redemption to be alright with it, but this WWX is possibly trying to invent skin grafts to get rid of JC's scars. This is not a positive, but it does change things. However this also means that if JC ever finds out, not only will WWX have tricked him into a procedure he wouldn't have wanted, he purposefully and knowingly overrode his choice. This creates tension in relationships.
If it's time travelling WWX, if he has just found out and/or they haven't fully reconciled, he's having the same breakdown JC had in the Ancestral Hall and once again rips out his organs, possibly while whispering "Thank you and I'm sorry" because character development is not linear and WWX gets a little unhinged about his family. However if they've worked through things and communicated and hashed out where things went wrong and what they want their relationship to look like now and how they're going to achieve this, I think they can develop healthier habits. Wei Wuxian's postcanon advice to Jin Ling is to let himself rely on Jiang Cheng because being pushed away for his own good will just make him feel abandoned, and to respect JC's decision to risk his reputation to help and trust him to handle himself. As wildly hypocritical as this sounds, I think WWX has pretty clearly done some thinking about where he fucked up on that one. If WWX is able to come to this conclusion on his own without having worked through things with Jiang Cheng, I think he is capable of admitting that the core transfer while done out of love was maybe a touch fucked up. I do believe in these clowns being able to talk about the way they hurt each other and were hurt in turn and the misunderstandings between them. Wei Wuxian's character arc hasn't stopped at the end of the story, there's a reason WWX has that moment after Wen Qing and Wen Ning sacrifice themselves for him where he suddenly understands why Jiang Cheng hates when he does this. I think we can even out the self worth/self esteem ratio so WWX isn't constantly sacrificing himself because he knows best, and trusting JC specifically to make his own choices.
...Or at least that was what I was triumphantly going to say, until I saw a relevant gifset and contemplated Wei Wuxian suddenly being faced with a devastated Babie Jiang Cheng for the first time in decades. Jiang Cheng crying is already kind of a one hit KO for Wei Wuxian when they're the same age, can he really look at Babie JC's lip wobble without folding like a cheap lawn chair? I have long thought about them growing past their old mistakes and was confident that WWX could get there but now I am reconsidering this.
something about glorious ovulation
(cheeky version without shower fog for my patr0ns)
I’ve been having some thoughts about sub!Eskel. For he is a rare and elusive creature. Geralt? We all know he loves to be tied up, spanked and called baby. But Eskel? He’d look away and grit his teeth.
I usually write him as a dominant partner if I’m going to write D/s (and I know many people are the same, because he exudes the energy), but I think he would be a very good submissive in a very specific set of circumstances. No pet names, careful negotiation and framing of the scene.
Influenced by discussions I’ve had across several servers about different dynamics, so thanks to anyone who has ever chatted with me about this, you the real MVPs.
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