Thinking about how Wei Wuxian and Wen Ning became friends is wild.
Because it’s like: Yeah I only met Wei Wuxian once before but he was nice and my sect was being a massive dick so after the Massacre at Lotus Pier I decided to shelter him from them. :) He almost killed before he realized I was trying to help but don’t worry it all worked out! And then my sister and I helped him remove his golden core to replace his martial brother’s. So that was slightly upsetting. And then, you know, he eventually goes on to fight in the war and murder a ton of my sect members but they were dicks so it’s cool. :) And then after the Wen Sect lost the Jin Sect captured me and put me in a labor camp. That was how I died btw. Oh, but don’t worry! Wei Wuxian brought me back to life and freed the rest of my relatives so after that we were BFF’s. :) :) :)
Absolutely fucking wild.
Do you think the Juniors ever get to hear the (slightly edited) version of how their friendship came to be and just spend like 10 minutes staring into the campfire internally going ‘WTF’.
Thinking about how Wei Wuxian and Wen Ning became friends is wild.
Because it’s like: Yeah I only met Wei Wuxian once before but he was nice and my sect was being a massive dick so after the Massacre at Lotus Pier I decided to shelter him from them. :) He almost killed me before he realized I was trying to help but don’t worry it all worked out! And then my sister and I helped him remove his golden core to replace his martial brother’s. So that was slightly upsetting. And then, you know, he eventually goes on to fight in the war and murder a ton of my sect members but they were dicks so it’s cool. :) And then after the Wen Sect lost the Jin Sect captured me and put me in a labor camp. That was how I died btw. Oh, but don’t worry! Wei Wuxian brought me back to life and freed the rest of my relatives so after that we were BFF’s. :) :) :)
Wen Ning is a complex, multidimensional character like any other in MDZS - he’s a genuinely good person, but he makes an impression of a soft sunshine boy not because he never feels anger, but because he’s too shy to actually express it.
His canonical source of power is all the resentment, pain, hatred and fear that he bottled up and kept inside of him all his life, and we can see how much of these emotions he has when he becomes a fierce corpse. His rage and violence, his gruesome revenge against his murderers, him killing the Jins without a second’s hesitation at Qiongqi path, his outburst after being captured - the reason is not purely someone else’s outside control, but also the sheer power of his own resentful energy that was buried deep and then suddenly uncovered, permitted to run free without the control of human consciousness.
And it’s normal, it’s humanto feel all these emotions, and it’s also normal to actually express them, not just keep them inside until you die (and after).
My favorite Wen Ning moment is actually his confrontation with Jiang Cheng in Lotus Pier, because this is the moment when he finallydoesn’t give a single fuck anymoreand just speaks his mind against the person who makes him mad. And he’s being cruel and merciless about it - needlessly, but understandablyso - he rubs the salt in every one of Jiang Cheng’s wounds, because he’s really, really angry, and you can finally see this side of his personality.
And this whole thing makes you appreciate Wen Ning even more, makes him more real - because you know he’s not a saint, that he can be angry, that he can feel hatred, can want to hurt someone back, and he does it more often than everyone thinks - but he still chooses to be kind, chooses to forgive, to help, to save, despite his hurt, despite the whole world trying to turn him against it, just because he’s good
and
Wen Ning is a pure and precious cinnamon roll who has done nothing wrong, ever, in his life, and deserves so many flower crowns and warm hugs
- are both valid takes that coexist in my mind at all times.
“Wow that’s a lot of white.” Leaning on a maple, doing his best to be quiet and unobtrusive and out of the way of all the suppressed panicking, Wei Wuxian watched the pomp and circumstances upriver.
There were Heralds and Companions all over the place. There were priests of all colors of robes, cotton and linen and practical wool fluttering in the cold wind off the water, waving censers and holy texts. There were reams of gold embroidery, and glints of noon sun from the circlets of the Queen and her Consort, for what could be more important to a true ruler than making sure the center of her very capital was cleansed of resentful energy?
And in the middle of it all were three less than thrilled cultivators in Nie green and Lan white, trying to set up a good, stable formation for when - not if - the waterborne ghosts turned nasty.
“Is that - Bull Rushing?” Wen Ning peeked around the trunk of the tree beside him, shading his eyes with one hand, head tilted like one of the crows being suspiciously quiet in a nearby pine. “I thought that takes four….”
“Looks like Hanguang-jun’s been practicing with Kellen as a backup for qi flow,” Wei Wuxian reflected. “Or I hope he has… eh?”
One familiar priest dressed in quiet cream wool, looking uncertainly around, loosely followed by a gaggle of students in blue and hints of green-
And not all of the blue in the air was light off clothing. Or even visible, to most eyes.
“More air-yaojing,” Wen Ning said softly. “But if they go after magic….” “Nie Huaisang just looks fluttery,” Wei Wuxian smiled. “When he’s interested in something - and he is interested in cultivating, with anything but the saber - you learn from people who love what they’re doing. You can’t help it.” Stepping out from behind the tree, he waved. “Hello!”
A/N: Warning, this chapter is going to take a long while. Work is exhausting, though I’m trying to get back on a regular schedule of writing.
daydreams an elaborate cql au where mianmian saves wen qing from the jins and they run off into the sunset together as a pair of rogue cultivators and then sixteen years later wen qing is reunited with her didi and a-yuan
