![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
July recs
Hello, I’m back on my Untamed streak again! I’ve got 8 Untamed recs, 1 Word of Honor rec, and 1 Nirvana in Fire vid rec. I’m putting my four favorites above the cut and everything else under, because everybody went in for extra long summaries this month for some reason.
THE UNTAMED
Always Light My Way by cqlorphan / @jingyismom
Lan Wangji looks down at his own hands, steadying himself. It is easier to think clearly when he is not looking into Wei Wuxian’s eyes. He takes the scroll from his pouch.
“Research has uncovered a method,” he says. He does not mention the forbidden nature of said research, nor does he elaborate on the method itself. He will not venture to speak it aloud. He hands the scroll over.
Wei Wuxian looks at him for a long moment as he takes it, and Lan Wangji holds his breath, waiting for him to decide. Waiting to see if he is at least interested enough in the possibility of a new core to read it.
Lan Wangji offers to help Wei Wuxian develop a new golden core via dual cultivation. He struggles to keep his feelings in check.
Exceedingly good pining-while-fucking post-canon CQL story, with some travelling battle couple action (feat. archer!WWX) in addition to some very hot smut. I’m very picky about this trope because it can easily tip into frustration with the characters being oblivious, but the author tuned this story beautifully, with LWJ’s determination not to hold on too tightly balancing against WWX’s fears of not being wanted or belonging, and the phantom of LWJ’s 16-year grief very much present.
Walking Back to You by mrsronweasley
They bring him in just before dawn. Wei Wuxian does not remember it, not really. He remembers nothing but pain.
Just some very very tasty post-canon hurt/comfort and get-together, featuring WWX’s trauma around obligation and debt and feeling useless. Mmmm, good stuff.
places under the sky by narie
Wei Wuxian braces himself for what might come next, the story of how this man died by the Yiling Patriarch's hand—at Nightless City, at the Burial Mounds, as the rest of the sects tried to bring that great villain to account. "What was his name?"
Uncle Gan sits back, twiddles his thumbs as he thinks. "Well, it'd be Wei something, of course."
"Wei Changze, wasn't it?" chimes in a new person, and if anyone agrees or disagrees, Wei Wuxian does not hear them. His wine bowl slips from his grip and the sudden clatter of it barely registers over the unexpected sounds of his father's name. Wei Changze, slipping so careless from a stranger's mouth here in small Taozi, here of all places under the open sky.
Wei Wuxian meets his grandmother. No, not the immortal one. The other one.
Wonderful WWX characterization and bittersweet in the best way, with lush and vivid prose.
hold your tongue and let me love by ilgaksu (Jin Guangyao/Lan Xichen)
There are a lot of things people don’t know about Lan Xichen. At least half of them, in Jin Guangyao’s estimation, hide in plain sight. He, as the focus of Lan Xichen’s sole and long-standing regard, is one of them. Zewu-jun’s honest opinions of his fellow gentry are another.
The joy and humor and trust of this scene in bed together, taking off their masks, becomes absolutely gutting when you think about canon, so enjoy that! But seriously, it’s a pleasure to read, to see this playful side of both of them - especially Lan Xichen.
When Sizhui, Jingyi, and Zizhen are captured with Jin Ling at the Guanyin Temple, they're sure that Hanguang Jun and Wei Wuxian will fix everything - until Su She stabs Lan Wangji through the stomach, and everything falls apart around them. In a last, frantic attempt to undo the damage Jin Guangyao has done, Wei Wuxian activates a deadly array to send the four juniors back in time, sending them to the morning of Jin Ling's one-month celebration. With the fate of everyone and everything they love in their hands, Sizhui, Jin Ling, Zizhen and Jingyi race to prevent the ambush at Qiongqi Pass and the subsequent fallout, but Jin Guangyao has returned from the future as well, and he has no intention of letting what he wants fall through his hands a second time.
I do love a good time-travel fix-it, and this one is an unusual and whumpy delight: from the wrenching prelude, to the juniors being sent back with Jin Guangyao inadvertently swept along to counter them, to how it deals with their trauma. Very long (360K), very heavy on the found/adopted family, and a very good time.
忘不了你的爱 (can't forget your love) by PorcupineGirl
Exhausted from a busy cultivation conference, the last thing Lan Zhan needs is a man appearing out of thin air as he and his brother walk back to their hotel.
Wei Wuxian isn't the first time traveler to appear in modern cultivation history, but that doesn't mean anyone knows how to send him back. As he helps them fill in gaps in the historical record - whether left by destruction or revisionism - Lan Zhan finds himself hoping that he'll stay. Even if there are things Wei Wuxian isn't telling him.
This one’s a much more fluffy time-travel (WWX) fic with a side of reincarnation (LWJ & others), but it strikes a lovely balance against the modern day coziness and the bittersweetness of the original Lan Wangji’s loss.
“Seems like it worked,” says a nearby voice.
Wei Wuxian looks in the direction of the speaker with a flinch, the light streaming in from the entryway momentarily blinding. He barely manages to stay upright.
“I guess he wasn’t so useless after all,” the second voice is calmer, and familiar to him.
“Welcome back, Yiling Laozu,” Jin Guangyao says.
or: Mo Xuanyu performs the resurrection ritual while he’s still living in Koi Tower.
Wei Wuxian can have a little murder? As a treat?...
I do love seeing Wei Wuxian backed into a corner and fighting his way out with cleverness (and yes, a little well-deserved murder), and there’s no better opponent for that than Jin Guangyao. Thoroughly enjoyable and smart, with a side of some favorite ladies not being dead.
try a little tenderness by @ilip13
"Wei Ying, have you never heard of aftercare?"
Mutely, Wei Ying shakes his head. He has learned of many things, from all his guys. The word care has never been included.In response to a kink meme prompt: sub wwx who hasn't had a good dom before meets dom lwj. The story of three nights and a morning.
Immensely sweet, heavy on the emotional h/c in addition to the physical aftercare, and light on the smut.
OTHER CDRAMA
Grant Me Strength That I May Once Again See Daylight by Sporadic_Writer (Word of Honor, gen + Wenzhou)
The AO3 summary was more of an author’s note than a summary, so I will just say this is a gorgeous series of scenes between Wen Kexing killing the old Ghost Valley Master and the trio’s time at Four Seasons Manor, as his mental state changes along with his relationship to his appearance (as armor, as disguise, as something joyful).
Know Better by Rhea / @rhea314 (Nirvana in Fire, vid)
If I didn't know better/I'd think you were still around
DAMMIT RHEA. THANKS FOR MAKING ME CRY.
.