A thought about WWX

[rhysiana]

I've spent all of the last week reading Untamed fic, to the shock of no one, I'm sure. There's so much in this fandom and it's all so good, so I'm definitely enjoying myself. One of my weaknesses already is modern AUs, which is unsurprising since I love AUs in general, and there's been some stunning character work on display, but there is one thing I've been a little surprised not to see come up yet, which is WWX's heavy drinking. Part of it, I think, is probably due to how unmarked heavy drinking is in classical Chinese lit in the first place, and thus probably also the historical drama sphere as well, although that's just a guess since I haven't watched that many. (The lit I feel fairly confident on, having taken a college course on it (in translation.)) Anyway, my point is this: in a modern context, I would interpret this as an effort at self-medication by a person with that always fun combination of giftedness + ADHD. My brother was on meds for his ADHD from a very young age, but he still drank *a lot* all through high school, and I just feel like there's something similar at play for our surface-cheerful genius cultivator who annoys all sect elders with his out-of-the-box thinking and unasked-for innovation. Good thing he grew up with the Jiangs, at least, where his innovation stood half a chance of being appreciated, Madam Yu's personal opinion of him notwithstanding.