#HANDS. OFF. MY. CHENG. XIAO. SHI.
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Welcome to this episode of guess what new show I'm currently binging based on my rbs!!!!
#im obsessed#i finished season 1 in 4 days#and the chibi shorts season in only 1 day#now im on s2ep9#please just let them be happy#i HATE tian xi#HANDS. OFF. MY. CHENG. XIAO. SHI.#and Lu Guang KEEP SLAYING!!!!#love my bois <333s#link click#shiguang daili ren#sgdlr
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The Indulgent Friend
Posted here first at AO3
Summary:
As a good friend of Hua Cheng, you know how to get him to help you without falling into debt with him. And Xie Lian learns that you had made 800 plush dolls of him.
The reader is called Dúzhě (读者) which means “reader”
Kinda crack-ish, it is like 2 am when i wrote this
Duzhe is good friends with HuaLian and Beefleaf
Duzhe is implied to know Hua Cheng since the beginning of his ghost ruling but I left is vague
Duzhe calls Hua Cheng, Gege, and Xie Lian, A-Lian
though that doesn't mean Duzhe is younger than Hua cheng
Probably OOC He Xuan
Happier timeline
Duzhe has shadow powers just cuz
Duzhe statues of being ghost or god is left unsaid so interpret what you want
“You want me to ask Hua Cheng a favor for you?” You asked He Xuan.
“Yes,” He Xuan replied.
“Why?” You questioned.
“My debt is high enough as it is and he won’t be too harsh on you,” He Xuan replied.
“What is the favor you want me to ask?” You ask after some thought. Out of curiosity, you will probably help out He Xuan plus he has forgotten he will end up owing you a favor.
“I need a present for Shi Qingxuan’s birthday, one that will outshine his older brother’s,” He Xuan stated. You looked at He Xuan incredulously but then shrugged.
“Alright, I have an idea,” You slightly laugh menacingly.
—
“Hua-gege,” You called Hua Cheng at the bottom of the stairs that led to Hua Cheng's seat.
“Xiao Duzhe, what brings you here?” Hua Cheng asked.
“I need you to get me a birthday present that Shi Qingxuan would enjoy incredibly,” You stated.
“Am I expected to do that for free for you, Xiao Duzhe?” Hua Cheng asked.
“Of course not, I have something to trade for that favor,” You smirked.
“Would it be really worth it for all that effort I may have to go through?” Hua Cheng questioned.
“Absolutely,” You grinned as a pedestal rose with a box covering the item from your shadow. You walk to the side and place your right hand on top of the box. “I know you are incredibly rich, Hua-gege, with vast wealth and treasures but I also know what will entice you and I have made you something that will get you to help me with what I ask for,”
“Oh?” Hua Cheng was intrigued. It is not every day that you show your devilish side.
“Behold,” You pulled the box off the pedestal and chucked it into your shadow which sunken away. On the pedestal was a fabric doll (Image the plush doll by Mini Doll) of Xie Lian in his Daoist attire. “Xie Lian,” You presented and your tone changed lightheartedly. You were originally going to give the fabric doll to Hua Cheng on his birthday but decided to do it now as you wanted to see his reaction. And you decided to make a porcelain doll of Xie Lian instead for Hua Cheng’s birthday. After all, your artistry surpassed Hua Cheng’s.
Hua Cheng’s left eye widened as he gazed upon the cute fabric doll of his husband. Handmade by someone he probably could call his closest friend, not that he will ever say that to your face. You smirked again,
“Well, Gege? We have a deal?” You prodded. With an intense stare at you,
“Deal,” Hua Cheng stated.
—
“Duzhe-er?” Xie Lian called.
“Yes A-Lian,” You replied.
“Was it you that made 800 fabric dolls of me?” Xie Lian asked.
“Yes,” You nodded. “Isn’t the doll cute? Like you?”
“Duzhe-er, the dolls are cute and I thank you for that compliment,” Xie Lian smiled. “But… It’s taking up our bed,”
“Ehhhh Hua-gege has all 800 that I made on your bed?” You questioned.
“Yes, it was fine in the beginning, San Lang even built a bigger bed but he gets sad when he finds even one that has fallen off the bed,” Xie Lian sighed. Over the centuries you have handmade and given Hua Cheng many fabric dolls of Xie Lian as it was your way of being a good friend. You had thought Hua Cheng would have some plush doll Xie Lians on the bed and the others spread around his mansions. You assumed wrong.
“If you distract Gege long enough, I’ll move the majority of the dolls to the room near his office. It’s spacious and with the help of Yin Yu, we can add shelves and have all of the dolls displayed,” You suggested.
“Alright, thank you,” Xie Lian said.
—
Now sitting in the room you dubbed “Plush Xie Lian padded room” you looked at your hands.
“How the hell do I make so many?” You mumbled. Having most of the plush dolls neatly organized made you realize that you made enough plush doll Xie Lians over the centuries to fill a room. And this room could have been used as another parlor.
“Didn’t you in a moment of sadness, you locked yourself away and sewed like 10 years away?” Yin Yu mentioned.
“Ah, that might have done a good majority of this plush,” You grimace. “When will the couple get back?”
“Later probably,” Yin Yu replied.
“Shall we grab dinner now?” You asked.
“Yes,” Yin Yu replied.
—
“Xiao Duzhe, how could you?” Hua Cheng does not whine perse but you know he is slightly upset with you.
“With that many fabric dolls of Xie Lian and even with the size of your marital bed, you and Xie Lian will have to lay on top of most of the fabric dolls,” You explained. “I thought you have some on your bed and the rest displayed or spread around the mansion but all 800 hundred on your bed, that’s too much, Gege,”
“There can never be too much of Dianxia,” Hua Cheng said.
“But you have the real one next to you every night though. Do you really need 800 dolls of him in your bed too?” You asked.
“...Dianxia is glorious on his own too,” Hua Cheng replied. You smiled indulgently,
“Yes, he is,” you laughed.
—
“Thank you, again, A-Duzhe,” Xie Lian thanked.
“As your most devoted follower’s supportive friend, anything for you Dianxia,” You joked.
“Also…” Xie Lian started but trailed off.
“Yes, A-Lian?” You question.
“Can you… Can you also make a fabric doll of San Lang?” Xie Lian asked. You smirked as a large pedestal raised from your shadow.
“Already ahead of you,” You took the cover off the pedestal and two plush dolls of Hua Cheng were displayed, one in his San Lang form and the other in his ghost form (Again, imagine the plush dolls from Mini Doll). “I have other forms of Hua Cheng in the making,”
“Ah, so cute,” Xie Lian smiled as he grabbed the dolls and rotated them around to look at your craftsmanship.
–
Later you saw a plush doll of Xie Lian and San Lang tucked in on Hua Cheng’s and Xie Lian’s marital bed. You were in their room to replace the tub in the bathroom.
“Dorks,” You mumbled and shook your head in fondness.
When it comes to favor Duzhe asks of Hua Cheng, the form of currency Duzhe gives him is Xie Lian merchandise Duzhe made
Hence the 800 plush dolls of Xie Lian in various outfits
The implication that Duzhe probably did the presentations again and again for many of the Xie Lian dolls
Oh and Shi Qingxuan’s birthday present from He Xuan was better then what Shi Wudu gave him
#tgcf.tif#tgcf#tian guan ci fu#heaven official's blessing#hua cheng#xie lian#hualian#hua cheng & reader#xie lian & reader#tgcf & reader#mxtx tgcf#mxtx#mxtx & reader#gender neutral reader
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What W2 Wrote in 2023
Considering that I'm prrrrrobably not going to manage to put out anything else this year, yeah, let's do a roundup now while I've got a moment. (Note: Only includes fun stuff; no professional shit here.)
January
I can't even remember January. Nothing happens in Januaries.
February
to the beat of your heart, ch. 3 (MDZS)
The ongoing adventures of a self-indulgent happy-ending everybody-lives-and-also-bones WangXian canon-divergent AU; a joint project between my wife and me.
It’s Hard to Say “I Do” When You Don’t (@shousetsubangbang)
Original story about a guy whose long-time crush asks him to pretend to be his boyfriend at a family wedding. Fake dating ensues.
March
Kintsukuroi (DMBJ)
This heihua piece may be the best thing I've written all year? Look, I'm just very proud of how I made it exactly what I wanted it to be.
April
Head (@shousetsubangbang)
This was a last-minute fill because the story I wanted to write failed to make itself writeable. Oh well! Still a funny and cute blowjob.
May
to the beat of your heart, ch. 4 (MDZS)
I want to be where all the stupid shit I say sounds so romantic and true (Guardian, WeiLan)
Someday I will write a longer and more complicated series of Guardian sex pollen shenanigans, but until then, enjoy this one.
The Rightful Ruler (The Blood of Youth, Lei Wujie/Xiao Se)
Still the only English-language story on AO3 for this pairing! Includes maybe the funniest line I wrote all year? You make the call!
The Doctor is In (Psych-Hunter)
I know nobody watched Psych-Hunter, and with good reason, but I did, and I think Jiang Shuo should get to spy on the sexy gay doctor if he wants to.
June
A Single Explosion (DMBJ, Pangxi + Xiao Ge)
For PingPang Week, with @pangzi in mind. Here's the missing part of Ultimate Note, where Pangzi takes care of Xiao Ge in the hospital.
Dog (The Disguiser, Ah Cheng/Ming Lou)
This was actually written before I saw the post going around about how the sexiest thing one guy can be is another's dog. But it's true!
And I am green, and you are wood (DMBJ/Mystic Nine)
Another exchange fic, where Liang Wan gets a chance to meet all of Zhang Rishan's old (boy)friends, especially Ba Ye.
Reverse Cowgirl (Not Gay as in Take Off Your Pants and Jacket, Queer as in Dude Ranch) (@shousetsubangbang)
Is this the hottest thing I've ever written for SSBB? Might just be. Lesbian ranch hands recruit a city girl.
July
Stay (Beyond Evil, Oh Jihwa/Yu Jaeyi)
Because you know what that show needed? Small town lesbians.
Little Spear (The Blood of Youth, Sikong Qianluo/Xiao Se)
This show has some cute het, but how it would work in bed is another matter entirely; or, two gay people try to have straight sex.
动须相应 (live-action Hikaru no Go, Yu Liang/Shi Guang)
It's hard to get much gayer than the actual show without adding explicit sex, so ... here you go! Post-series boyfriends.
One Quiet Night (Kingdom, Seobi + Lee Chang/Yeongshin)
This is the other thing I'm really proud of, because it too came out pretty much exactly the way I envisioned it. A nurse, a prince, and a scrappy piece of shit more or less all fall in love.
August
Hooks in My Sides (Beyond Evil, JWDS)
This certainly was the most popular thing I've written all year. It's unfortunately easy to write poor Juwon having a gay meltdown.
A World Made Up of Silver and Copper (@shousetsubangbang)
A prince-and-pauper scenario, this time focusing on the prince's adventures in being mistaken for himself. (Hint: they are sexy.)
September
...Funny how the first months of each semester are usually a complete wash for me creatively, huh?
October
to the beat of your heart, ch. 5 (MDZS)
Over My Dead Body (@shousetsubangbang)
Nothing like the romance of possessing a corpse only to find he's not actually dead. (Note to DMBJ fans: This should taste like heihua.)
November
A fair amount of November was spent writing something that I just couldn't finish for December's SSBB, once I realized how long it'd have to be and how little free time I had. Maybe next year!
December
Antivenin (@shousetsubangbang)
A mean bisexual and an even meaner lesbian team up to distract their gay boss from his terrible crush.
-
And that's it! It always feels kind of weird to see it all gathered in one place, like ... wow, that's not nearly as much as I thought it was. But at the same time, it involves a couple of pieces I feel very good about, so overall I'm going to take the win.
The most fun I had was doing my Small Fandom Summer thing, where I wrote fic for fandoms that had <1000 English-language works on AO3. Maybe I'll do that again next year!
Anyway, if you do wind up reading something, especially the original stuff, thanks. A lot of this can be a very lonely process, especially when there's not much of a built-in audience. Saying you liked something makes me feel a little less like I'm screaming into the void.
Onward to 2024!
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☃️ plotting / starter call for the (now-annual) winter market! ☃️
i mostly adjusted from last year, plus added my new characters! please LIKE this if you want to plot and i’ll shoot you a message (probably on discord) sometime this week; or you can REPLY if you just want to claim a starter with/without plotting.
no starter cap, but there is a date cut-off, which is december *21. i’m not accepting new starter requests after that~
wei wuxian -- starters for: atlas kipling (hiddenangcls), marlene mckinnon (mcrcki), jester lavorre (circleofstarrs), vic weasley (drvcxrys), wen ning (coreofgold), benedict bridgerton (recklcssabandon), ???
last year, he was heavily involved in the snowball fight! he had a good time, but he doesn’t quite have that level of energy in him this year, so he’s probably going to be a little more chill-- but he’ll pitch in to help your character’s team in the snowball fight or snowman building competition if they need a hand. he’ll also be freezing his ass off in the ice bar.
yuri plisetsky -- starters for: caitlyn kiramman (masqce), aj campos (wvsteria), five hargreeves (lcnelyhearted), victor nikiforov (irresistiibles), xiao lanhua (tragcdysewn), addison montgomery (hxartbreaker), doom (youllalwaysbemyporcelain), elizabeth swann (irongcld), lizzie midford (drvcxrys), albus severus potter (recklcssabandon), lan jingyi (coreofgold), ???
yuri was talked into offering FREE ice skating lessons at the ice rink. as a professional ice skater, he will help teach your characters how to successfully navigate the ice; however, he will not be very patient about it, so keep that in mind.
orpheus -- starters for: blue (hiddenangcls), rosemary winters (mcrcki), seth gecko (hxartbreaker), jade west (strwbrrymccn), luke patterson (irongcld), annabeth chase (drvcxyrs), ???
orpheus is running a winter karaoke tent! as long as the song is festive or holiday-ish or winter-ish in nature, the lyrics will be loaded up on the karaoke machine. open for soloists, duets, small groups, whatever! if your character wants to show off their vocal skills, or just enjoy the festive music, drop by. if orpheus catches your character making fun of the singers, though, he’ll be sad and disappointed.
wen kexing -- starters for: steve rogers (svnlvght), zhou zishu (youllalwaysbemyporcelain), emily fields (wvsteria), zhang chengling (coreofgold), ???
last year he mostly spent time painting ornaments and heckling hot santa, and will most likely be indulging in much of the same this year. he will probably also enjoy a carriage ride or two, and would gladly share the carriage with your character.
xie lian -- starters for: josh washington (purelybilateral), shi qingxuan (irresistiibles), tylor tuskman (youllalwaysbemyporcelain), jinx (strwbrrymccn), hua cheng (coreofgold), ???
he may not celebrate these holidays but he really enjoys the warm atmosphere of people coming together to celebrate festivities like this. he’ll be bundled up by the bonfires or oo-ing and aa-ing over the creativity of the snowmen others have built. he might try building a gingerbread house, and after some bartering, he’ll probably be wrapped in a collection of 2-5 handmade scarves from the crafts stalls by the end of the week. **he will also be getting tipsy for the first time in his life, accidentally, due to poorly labelled mulled wine
blathers -- starters for: missandei (wvsteria), jack kline (lcnelyhearted), zhongli (irresistiibles), jeon seol (youllalwaysbemyporcelain), qui-gon jinn (hxartbreaker), xiao xingchen (coreofgold), ???
once again, he will be getting as involved as possible, and with an enthusiastic attitude. if given the opportunity, he will talk to you about anything and everything he has recently witnessed at the market, and i imagine he’ll be spending a lot of time at the hot chocolate and sweets stalls.
he xuan -- starters for: gu chan-seong (strwbrrymccn), stiles stillinski (recklcssabandon), ???
if you see a man dressed in all black seemingly consuming every edible item offered at the market within a one-mile radius, that’s he xuan.
sha hualing -- starters for childe (masqce), nymeria (hiddenangcls), james sirius (svnlvght), diana meade (lcnelyhearted), luo binghe (coreofgold), ???
she wants to try everything, the ice skating, the snowboarding, whatever. she wants to crush the competition at the snowball fight. she will run your character’s sled over with her own, or possibly toss it in the street. she’ll be the fastest person in the polar plunge, even though that is not necessarily a competitive situation lol. she will (unfortunately) be documenting it all on tiktok, and she will also be hanging out around the ice bar.
and then i have a small collection of characters who will NOT enjoy the market, either because they have zero percent festive cheer (most of them don’t celebrate christmas or the january 1 new year anyway) or because they are too stressed to properly enjoy a market like this, or some combination of the two: loid forger, liu qingge, dongfang qingcang, & chu wanning! but they’re still open for starters if you’re interested lol. -- starters for: yor forger & loid forger (tragcdysewn), ???
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Rules: Pick ten of your fics, scroll to somewhere in the middle, pick a chunk of lines, and share it! Then tag ten people, if you'd like.
I was tagged by @shadaras in aggregate and I am likewise tagging all my writerly friends who see this! :P
I have 8 pages of works on AO3, so i’m gonna pick a couple of my oldest fics and then one from every newer page. :D It’s kinda fun to look at my progression as a writer over the last five years or so.
1. In The Garden - The Arcana (Visual Novel), Julian/Apprentice, Explicit
Julian’s moans are punctuated by half-uttered curses as I work. I can feel his hips trying to buck and I can sense that it arouses him further that he can’t. His right hand still covers my left but he hasn’t stopped me messing with the wound. I think he’s leaving that hand there as permission. Something about that cool palm, those long fingers, covering my own makes me feel safe.
2. But, After All, I Am A Wen - The Untamed (TV), currently pre-relationship for ChengQing, Teen and Up
“Look,” Jiang Cheng says, exasperated, when Sect Master Yao asks for what feels like the fifth time why the Sunshot Campaign should go out of its way to help someone from the Wen clan. “They didn’t have to take us in when Lotus Pier burned. In fact, it was dangerous for them to take us in when we were being directly targeted by Wen Chao. They didn’t have to take in and heal Song Zichen either and it’s thanks to him that my jiejie was able to make it safely to Lanling. Hanguang-jun and I found Wen Qing in the dungeon of the Yiling Supervisory Office. It was the Wen sect that put her there. She’s demonstrated multiple times that she’s on our side.”
3. “Rolling Down to Old Maui” but it’s the Five Great Sects Night Hunting - The Untamed/Mo Dao Zu Shi, Filk, General Audiences
Once more we fly over mountains high,
To the home of Qishan Wen.
Our dire crows, our lava flows,
We soon shall see again.
Fully half our force was carried away
Into the Burial Mound—
The living dead are after us,
Thank the gods we’re homeward bound.
4. Friendship Famous in Story and Song - The Untamed, Juniors friendship, General Audiences
“I don’t think I’ve ever told stories around a campfire either,” Lan Sizhui said. “I mean, when I was travelling with Wen-qiánbèi, we’d tell each other stories, but mostly it was answering each other’s questions about our past. I don’t think those are the kind of things you mean, are they, Jingyi?”
“Well,” Lan Jingyi replied, hedging. “It could be, if that’s where the night turns to. But, well, no, usually it’s existing stories. Here, you suggested it, why don’t you start us off, Zizhen-xiōng?”
5. Rivers and Lakes, Towns and Cities - The Untamed/MDZS, Middle Earth AU SongXiao, General Audiences
Song Zichen taught him the ways of Men, and together they wandered the rivers and lakes, the towns and cities, of Rhûn. They bargained at market stalls and spoke with great dragons, defended small farms and great merchant caravans. And when Xiao Xingchen began to look with longing west toward the Sea of Rhûn, Song Zichen smiled his dry little smile and said that he knew a ship’s captain familiar with long sea voyages.
6. Sun Showers - Rogue One, Baze/Chirrut, General Audiences
Baze watches him from inside the doorway of the temple, marveling at the way water droplets sparkle on his hair, in his lashes, so that he seems gilded in the sun.
7. On Naihe Bridge - MDZS, Wen Qing & Qin Su in the afterlife, General Audiences
The last doctor of Qishan Wen looks at the bowl between her hands for a long time; it never loses its warmth, no matter how long she waits.
8. before we face our deaths - The Untamed, Jin Zixuan/Nie Huaisang, General Audiences
"We might all die soon." He's surprised by the words as they leave his mouth. He's faced death before — in the Xuanwu cave; on the way back to Lanling with Jiang Cheng, hiding from Wen sect patrols; on every night hunt, technically. This is different, though. Deliberately going out to meet other cultivators in battle. Perhaps it's no surprise that he can't sleep.
9. not familiar but friend - The Murderbot Diaries, Queerplatonic Murderbot & Mensah, Queerplatonic Murderbot & ART, Fantasy AU, General Audiences
Hmmm, ART said, lifting its head. We waited. I didn't fidget only because I wasn't capable of it. You may stay. The giant head swung around to face Mensah again. ArcUnit's bed is still where it was. You may use it until I ready a better space for you.
10. I’d Call As You Climbed - Arcane: League of Legends (Cartoon 2021), Caitlyn/Vi, Teen and Up
Somehow, this, more than anything, took Caitlyn aback. Sorley was clearly just a bully, but this person with their little gang seemed—well, they had rescued Caitlyn, whether either of them would admit it or not. The depth of contempt in the word “topsider,” from a seemingly decent person, shocked Caitlyn.
#puck writes#tumblr tag games#fanfic#arcane netflix#the murderbot diaries#the untamed#陈情令#mo dao zu shi#魔道祖师#arcana visual novel#arcana game#filk
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Saturday-Tuesday T & G reading
The usual
Finished
Teen:
the trembling of a beautiful moment, by Krissy
“Yeah, yeah.” Wei Wuxian waved it off, a spring in his step as they entered the yard. “Lan Zhan’s my match. It took me ages to find someone like him. Someone who can beat me. No offense, Jiang Cheng.”
☾
Jiang Cheng observes Lan Wangji’s and Wei Wuxian’s relationship over the years.
All boys suck (except some of them), by FlutterbyIrene (5 chapters)
Wei Wuxian had been love with Lan Wangji for so long that everyone else pales in comparison. But when his closest friends and some others start confessing to him, he tries to deal with it and ends up in a bigger mess than before. Now, he’s about lose all his friends, is close to a breakdown and Lan Wangji hates him. Or so he thinks.
Drowning in the Sun, by Zelos
He was vengeance, he was hatred. He was the last sons of Lotus Pier, combined.
A fill for a kinkmeme prompt: Golden Core transfer, but Jiang Cheng's aware.
I Want To Hate You Again But I Cant, Because In The End I Understand, by BeHappyWithTheLittleThings (2nd in a series)
Jin Ling wants to hate his dead uncle. He also wants to hate the wens. And it was so easy at first. But then he grew taller then the one with lotuses in her hair. And then he grew taller than the oldest boys with shaky hands. And then he was old enough to realize that Lotus Pier has opened its doors to a dead man. And now it’s so much harder to hate them.
Black and white, by apathyinreverie
The thing is, Sizhui knows that nothing in this world is ever truly black or white.
Pneumothorax, by ourribbonsmeandeath
Someone falls into the burial mounds.
A Splash of Color on Your Lips, by SereneSorrow
The Phoenix Mountain Hunt ends with a proposal instead of a disaster for Wei Wuxian.
Silk and Comb, by ArgentAconit
His eyes were closed softly despite the desperate feeling in his stomach to want to keep them open and watch through the slightly warped, golden bronze tone of the polished metal in front of them. Ears aching to catch the way cloth whispered, how breaths came in slow, soothing waves- the same sounds he had become so accustomed to in a library far up in the mountains where not even birds dared to chirp to break the peace.
Skin sensitive with anticipation as thin fingers parted dark strands so slowly and with so much care.
General:
Would you like to marry my dad?, by Speechless_since_1998
Wei Ying loved children. He had always been good with them, and it was no surprise to anyone when he chose to become a kindergarten teacher.
He loved his work and wouldn't change it for the world.
"Teacher Wei, would you like to marry my dad?"
Even though the kids were asking weird questions as fuck.
Wei Ying smiled. It wasn't even the strangest question one of his students had ever asked him.
For You, by Befallings
For the Untamed Winterfest 2019 Prompt 21: For You
The Garden Of Treasures, by stiltonbasket (44th in a series)
On the first month-anniversary of Wei Wuxian’s wedding, he wakes up to find himself uncomfortably warm, and more than a little cloyed for breath. It is early summer in the Cloud Recesses, but summer in Gusu is far cooler than the hot season in Yunmeng; so he lies still for a moment and wonders why the air seems so thick before opening his eyes to find Xiao-Yu sitting on his chest.
“What are you doing up there?” he laughs, pulling the baby down into his arms. “Little baos should still be sleeping at chen shi, Xiao-Yu. You need all the rest you can get.”
“But A-Yu is awake,” Xiao-Yu says, beaming from ear to ear. “A-Niang, it’s my first school day.”
Did No One Notice That They Weren’t The Monsters You Were Looking For?, by BeHappyWithTheLittleThings
The whole world is convinced the Wens are monsters except for Lan Wangji.
Everyone is convinced Wei Ying is a monster except for Lan Wangji and Jiang Cheng and the old merchants at lotus pier that remember the boy with the brightest smile and the saddest eyes who would wander and take more food than they paid for, they never cared. And the Jiang Disciples that remember their head disciple and his patience and kindness, who remember how the corpses didn’t attack then at Burial Mounds. So basically everyone but Lotus Pier and Lan Wangji. The rest of the world won’t realize that innocents were slaughter at Sunshot and Lanling until the ghost come back. Because what the world forgot is to wipe out a clan you can’t just kill the adults and the cultivators. You have to kill the too thin farmers, the expecting mothers, the crooked pigtailed girls and the scabbed knee little boys... To wipe out a clan you have to slaughter
(Or the AU where Wen Qing and Jiang Yanli are watching the world insult their baby brother and the Wens and do something about it by sending all the innocent Wens back as ghost with their wounds)
Naughty / Nice, by Befallings
For the Untamed Winterfest 2019 Prompt 22: Naughty / Nice
Confrontation, by LtLJ (4th in a series, 4 chapters)
It's time for the final battle at Lotus Pier, and everybody finally talks about their relationships. It's still not easy.
Your Touch is Like the Clouds, by ReformedTsundere
Wei Wuxian has been traveling now for six months, cultivating and camping and pretending that he hasn't looked back every single step away from Lan Zhan he's taken.
or
Wei Wuxian finally decides he's tired and goes home.
Point of Accord, by LtLJ
There's only one thing Wei Wuxian and Lan Qiren agree on.
Gift, by Befallings
For the Untamed Winterfest 2019 Prompt 23: Gift
Unfinished
Teen:
Time Does Not Pass, It Continues, by Maze_VK
Chief Cultivator Wei Wuixan's favourite set of juniors (don't let anyone know, he isn't supposed to have favourites) are missing, and it is his duty to bring them home.
If he ends up creating an alternate universe where most persons remain untainted by the actions of others? Well, that's just a pleasant side-effect.
Coil Tightly, by Thunderstruck (Blueyed_Impala)
When Wei Wuxian stumbles across a shady pet store in the back alley of his new town he ends up leaving with a companion for life, and more than he bargained for.
Shards of Hope, by Dreaming_Days
He had built his life with the coldest calculation. Clawed his way to power with unhesitating ruthlessness. Destroyed anyone who would impede him. Betrayed even the few who had truly cared for him. And, in the end, utterly forsaken, Jin Guangyao died.
Then, 25 years earlier, Meng Yao woke up.
Here With Me, by iamwish
Wen Qing finds him on the roof of where he’s been staying, nursing a jar of Sishu’s wine.
“Wei Wuxian! What are you doing up there?”
Wei Wuxian hasn’t had nearly enough wine to get tipsy, let alone drunk enough for his words to slur, but he slurs them anyway for nostalgia. “What if Lan Zhan doesn’t fall in love with me?”
-
Wei Wuxian finds himself in the past, a few months before the Gusu Lan lectures, and decides that his best shot at hiding his trauma fixing the future is faking his own kidnapping and asking Wen Qing who all he needs to kill before she or someone she trusts is in charge of QishanWen. Clearly, he thought this through.
Or: Wei Wuxian creates a No War!AU, and then he has to live in it.
Discordant Rhapsody, by nirejseki
“Become my personal disciple,” Lan Qiren said to Wei Wuxian, feeling the weight of what he said on his tongue, the bitter taste of it mixing in with the ash of the Burial Mounds. “And as your shifu, I will bear the shame of your actions for you.”
Battle Chefs, by sami
BATTLE CHEFS IS COMING!
by Qin Su
The new season of Battle Chefs is upon us, and once again I will be recapping every episode. Join us to discuss the latest season of everyone's favourite video-game-themed cooking contest!
Wen Qing is returning as the Referee and Jiang Cheng and Jiang Yanli will be our Players for the PvP section once again. Raid Boss Wei Ying is sure to make things interesting as always, and the trailers for this season promised us new heights of drama and excitement.
They honestly could have just promised us pretty. It's going to be great!
An arrow to the heart, by IsilmeLasgalen
If you try to kill someone make sure they are dead or it might actually make them stronger.
Wei Ying can take a lot as long as he knew his A Yuan and his Lan Zhan were safe and sound but they should have never, ever hurt his family.
catch and release (and catch again), by Gaez (bell_flowers)
Before he can even puzzle out what’s happened he’s falling. Falling but still holding Lan Zhan’s hand. Still holding Lan Zhan’s hand because Sandu has severed Lan Zhan’s wrist.
(Lan Zhan was not supposed to catch him. He most certainly wasn’t supposed to follow Wei Wuxian over the cliff.)
A Jealous Flower Tries To Break The Sun's Silver Moon, by Preludian_Staves
Believing his mother when she said that no good son of a servant owed everything to the Jiang Sect, Jiang Wanyin tries to guilt Wei Wuxian into giving him his Golden Core after finding Wen Qing's Golden Core theory.
Or
Wei Wuxian learns how to rediscover his place in the Cultivation World during the Sunshot Campaign and after the War. Possibly with help along the way.
General:
Gentle Bright Spring, by Veronica_G
My husband is an unparalleled hero.
Oh, how about you?
Coincidentally, I am one, too.
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Okay I’ve decided to do a single rec after I finish one novel hahaha because if I wait to get around to it all it’ll never happen! Anyway because @sarah-yyy has been reading it and I’ve gotten a lot of asks/replies on this, I’m just going to do one huge list for one of my faves so everyone knows what’s going on and where to find things XD
- Part of Min’s ‘Why You Should Read’ Series -
Summary:
This is set in a historical setting where men can marry other men, but it’s usually reserved for sons who were not borne by the official main first wife of the patriarch of the family, i.e. a son born by a concubine in a family may be forced to marry a man to keep him from being able to become the next family’s patriarch for example. This is because any family’s next leader needs to be able to have children with a wife who married in as a zheng shi (lawful wife), and not a ce shi (second wife) or any other concubines/mistresses etc. Most of these men who marry other men have to take them as their zheng shi and lawful spouse in a sense, and the same goes for the royal family.
The story starts with third prince Jing Shao, who was forced to marry Mu Han Zhang, a Marquis’ second son, by the Empress and Emperor, thereby officially and effectively cutting him out of the race for the throne. He’s mocked by the public as everyone knows what this means, and for the next 10 years, he neglects Mu Han Zhang, blaming him for his predicament, and deliberately showers his three other concubines with affection in front of him, but 10 years later, when Jing Shao is accused of treason, everyone leaves him except for Mu Han Zhang. They are chased to the edge of the cliff by soldiers, and Mu Han Zhang dies in his arms having taken an arrow meant for him earlier, and Jing Shao jumps off the cliff with his dead body, and promises that if there’s a next life, he will do everything Han Zhang says, and love him.
He wakes up immediately on the night of his marriage with Han Zhang, and realizes that he’s been given a second chance to make everything right. Han Zhang is definitely afraid of him, humiliated and angry when he first wakes up after how rough Jing Shao was with him earlier on their wedding night, and he has no memories of their past life. Jing Shao then sets to SHOWER HAN ZHANG with affection, love and basically everything, because he realized that this is the only person who stayed by his side until the end, and then he falls in love with Han Zhang properly this time, and also deals with every single person who maligned and schemed against him in his previous life, with Han Zhang by his side.
Read:
Novel (Online) | Novel (Print) - Not Available | Novel Translations | Manhua (You’ll have to download the KuaiKan app, the chapters are currently all free)
Characters:
1. 景韶 Jing Shao - 3rd Prince and is the first out of his three other brothers to be given a title 成王 (cheng wang). He’s referred to as 王爷, and also 小勺 (xiao shao) by Han Zhang. Went out on his first war when he was 14, and was thus given a title before any of his brothers. He’s known for being a merciless, cold and fierce army general/commander, but this was before his second life with Han Zhang, where he puts on like his doting mode and is basically a dumbass XD who listens to Han Zhang with a lot of trust, which is cool and all.
He marries Han Zhang when he’s 19, and in his first life he was very reluctant and resistant, and neglected Han Zhang for 10 years, until he was charged with treason and hunted down.
In his first life he wanted to snatch the throne, even from his blood-related brother Jing Chen, but more out of spite than anything else because he felt he was dealt an unfair hand by having to marry Han Zhang. Not only that, but Jing Shao is not his father’s favourite son, and he always felt that the emperor was biased against him. Anyway, a huge accumulation of daddy and anger issues, which is fair.
When he realizes that Han Zhang died for him, he decides he will be good to Han Zhang if they are reborn in their next life.
2. 慕含章 Mu Han Zhang - The 2nd son of Marquis Bei Hou’s, born to a concubine. He’s called by his 表字 which is 君清 (jun qing) by Jing Shao. Official First Wife Bei Wei Hou-furen and her son (who is in line to inherit the Marquis title from his father) has bullied him all his life, and wanted to push him into greater desperation by marrying him to Jing Shao, knowing he will suffer at the hands of the supposed merciless/heartless wangye. He has a weak body because of an accident when he was younger, and in his first life he was really sick after being neglected for 10 years, and knowing this in their second life, Jing Shao does everything he can to take care of him.
He is incredibly smart, has a brain for business and sales, and is also very good at handling people, especially scheming ones. He aids Jing Shao in the beginning of their second life, and then Jing Chen later as well, as both brothers begin to fight to put Jing Chen on the throne, against the 1st and 4th Princes. Is an incredibly good tactician in war as well.
3. 景琛 Jing Chen - 2nd Prince, Jing Shao’s blood related older brother who is handsome af too. His title, given later in the novel, is 睿王 (rui wang). He was misunderstood by Jing Shao in the first life as Jing Shao thought it was his brother who led to him marrying Han Zhang, and because he’s not very good at expressing himself and shows his concern to Jing Shao by nagging at him, Jing Shao always thought he hated him. In their second life, Jing Shao already knows that Jing Chen loves him and did a lot for him in his first life, and so trusts his brother and supports him right off the bat, because Jing Chen is indeed the most suited person for the throne.
He has a wife and a concubine, 3 sons and 2 daughters at this point. He ends up helping Jing Shao a lot, and when he realizes that Han Zhang is way more adept at politics and the whole scheming thing than Jing Shao is, he begins trusting Han Zhang a lot more as well! There’s a surprise with Jing Chen hahaha which I loveee and could see, but wasn’t sure until they confirmed it in the last few chapters AHAHAHAHA.
Other Notable Characters:
1. Song Ling Xin (Second Wife) on the left, and two other concubines on the right
They’re pretty much vying for Jing Shao’s attention, but at this point apparently he hasn’t slept with any of them before. Song Ling Xin is the daughter of the Military Department’s Head Song An, and Jing Shao married her initially out of interest. The right most concubine (I forgot her name oops) was a gift given to him by his oldest brother, the 1st Prince. The two of them played a huge role in Jing Shao’s downfall back in his first life, and so in his second life, he especially detests Song Ling Xin. Plus the three of them keep bullying Han Zhang in the beginning, but thankfully Jing Shao is like: “Anything my Jun Qing wants”. They don’t stay around for long either, watch as Jing Shao gets rid of them like he’s swatting flies.
2. Xiao Yuan & Zhou Da-Ge
This is another male couple who’s been married for 7-8 years if I recall. Xiao Yuan is one of Jing Shao’s important allies and friends in the second life, because in Jing Shao’s first life, this was one of the only young officials in court who spoke up for him when the accusations of treason came about. Zhou Da-Ge is his husband, who is a cook running a restaurant in the city. Whenever Zhou Da-Ge bullies Xiao Yuan in bed a little too much, Xiao Yuan punishes him by making him wear colourful clothes out (pink, bright yellow, purple, etc.) and thus he has a reputation for being eccentric and a weirdo, but oh well, all for love.
3. Gu Huai Qing
One of Jing Shao and Jing Chen’s most powerful allies, and he becomes blood-sworn brothers with Jing Shao without realizing who he is. Later he takes a liking to Jing Chen.
(Will update with photos when they come out, but they’re a bit further into the story so we won’t have them for a few months yet ahahaha)
Amazing Scenes:
Jing Shao & Han Zhang first looks in the manhua
Jing Shao being THAT clingy husband and helping Han Zhang to wear his clothes properly so cute!!!!!
Han Zhang and Jing Shao in their first lives (10 years later), about to die, sad and then Jing Shao jumps down the cliff with Han Zhang’s corpse, regretful cuz he a dumb bij
Jing Shao unable to resist kissing Han Zhang’s cheek, realizes what he’s doing, and gets embarrassed LMAOOOO 没出息!!!!!!! (This is different from the novel, because in the novel Jing Shao just kisses and is done with that, the embarrassment part is drawn in only in the manhua hahaha)
Other Things I Like in the Novel:
Jing Shao is like, he does a 180 entirely and he is very cognisant of all his faults and what he did wrong previously, and how badly he treated Han Zhang, so he legit forces his brain to go “I will listen to Jun Qing from now on” and he really sticks to it!
Loves kissing and teasing Han Zhang, but doesn’t force him into bed after their wedding night, and instead goes to Xiao Yuan and asks for tips on how to make his partner feel less scared about sex
The both of them end up with a pet tiger?!! That’s called Xiao Huang (little yellow) LMAO
They nap together a lot which I love <3333
Jing Shao knows he’s bullied at home, so when they go back to the Marquis Bei Hou manor, he holds Han Zhang’s hand in front of everyone to let them know Han Zhang has someone to back him up
Brings Han Zhang to war because he “cannot concentrate if Jun Qing isn’t with me at all times” - and asks for special permission to do so
Han Zhang notes that since he married Jing Shao, as the ‘wife’ he is supposed to serve Jing Shao, but it’s always Jing Shao serving him - Getting water for him, bringing him to baths, putting clothes on for him, putting food in his plate if it tastes nice, massaging his back and waist etc. - and best is he doesn’t have to deal with any in-laws?!! HAHAHA
Jing Shao gets revenge on those who hurt Han Zhang when he was younger for him, and the outcome is pretty hilarious but well-deserved
EPILOGUES are cute af!!!!
#the wife is first#you own my all#qi wei shang#妻为上#danmei#danmei novel#stebeee recs#min's why you should read
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best dramas I’ve watched so far in 2021 (and some not so good ones) part 1 out of god knows how many
Word of Honor - based on danmei novel Faraway Wanderers by Priest. The gayest thing I’ve seen in my entire life. Exhilarating story line, excellent villains, tight fast pace with no screen time wasted. Superbly acted by the entire cast. Emotionally devastating and devastatingly rewarding. Budget of two pieces of string and duct tape. A drama I will be obsessed with for at least the next two years and then some. 11/10
Nirvana In Fire - based on historical novel Lang Ya Bang by Hai Yan. Every drama I’ve ever watched and rated 10/10 has been downgraded. This is, hands down, the best drama I’ve ever watched in my life. The plot, the acting, the characters, the goddamn ending, everything in this drama will ruin you. As someone else said, the only problem with Nirvana In Fire is that there are no other dramas like Nirvana In Fire. 10000/10
Dance of the Sky Empire - based on wuxia/xianxia novel of the same name by Bu Fei Yan. Short and entertaining. This drama is like a light, sweet snack. You can probably expect to be hungry an hour later. It starts off with excellent potential for complexity and growth, but then… nothing really happens. Mediocre budget. Good found family tropes. Xu Kai does a decent job, but hardly even stretches his acting muscles. 5/10
The Lost Tomb: Ultimate Note - based on Grave Robbers’ Chronicles by Xu Lei. Honestly, I put off watching this because I was sure it wouldn’t be as captivating as the Sound of Providence, so I didn’t wanna end up disappointed. I was wrong. It is amazing. At no point did the different cast throw me off; absolutely incredible job done by everyone involved. Visually stunning, intricate plot, excellent horror elements. Ends in a cliffhanger so be wary if it’s the only season you plan to consume. If Xiao Ge is your weak spot, this season will fuck you up hard. 9/10
The Lost Tomb (2015) - based on Grave Robbers’ Chronicles by Xu Lei. The first, and by many accounts, the most shoddily done season of the Lost Tomb. That said, I love it to pieces. Wu Xie wears a studded belt like it’s 2009, and Xiao Ge has peak emo hair. Prime pingxie fanfic material. Absolutely ridiculous and enormously entertaining. A an absolute gem of a drama that deserves a cult following. 8/10
The Legends - based on xianxia novel Ostentatious Zhao Yao by Jiu Lu Fei Xiang. This meandered to hades and back, multiple times, for the entirety of the 56 episodes. Beautiful visuals, set designs, and choreography. Depressing as fuck. An emotional rollercoaster that Love and Redemption can only dream about, without the bonus of the happy ending. I was mentally numb to every aspect of it by episode 40. However, Xu Kai is pretty amazing in this role, and this drama is the sole reason why I’m willing to fancast him as Hua Cheng, so take from that what you will. 6/10
Douluo Continent- based on xuanhuan novel Douluo Dalu by Tang Jia San Shao. Probably the most entertaining, fast paced drama I’ll watch this year. Interesting premise and a plot that doesn’t meander. Contains the first het couple I’ve been invested in so far this year. Immensely satisfying found family tropes, plethora of female characters, relatively satisfying ending, especially considering that season 2 is uncertain, and may not have the same cast. 9/10
Still in the process of watching:
My Roommate is a Detective
Detective L
The Lost Tomb 2
Looking forward to:
Immortality - based on danmei novel The Husky and His White Cat Shizun by 肉包不吃肉 starring Chen Feiyu and Luo Yunxi
Winner Is King - based on the danmei novel Sha Po Lang by Priest starring Tan Jianci and Chen Zheyuan
Step By Step Lotus - based on historical novel Return to Ming Dynasty as Prince by 月关 starring Zhang Binbin and Luo Yunxi
The Wind Blows From Longxi - based on historical novel of the same name by Ma Bo Yong starring Chen Kun and Bai Yu
Sword Snow Stride - based on the xuanhuan novel The Snowy Path of the Heroic Blade by 烽火戏诸侯 starring Zhang Ruoyun and Hu Jun
Heaven Official’s Blessing - based on danmei novel of the same name by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu - cast unknown
Thousand Autumns - based on danmei novel of the same name by Meng Xi Shi - cast unknown
Joy Of Life Season 2 - based on wuxia novel of the same name by 猫腻 starring Zhang Ruoyun and Li Qin
A League of Nobleman - based on danmei novel The Society of Four Leaves by Da Feng Gua Guo starring Song Weilong and Jing Boran
Flying Phoenix - based on danmei novel of the same name by 風弄 starring Dai Jingyao and Shu Yaxin
The Long Ballad - based on wuxia manhua by 夏达 starring Dilraba Dilmurat and Wu Lei
Luoyang - based on a historical drama of the same name by Ma Bo Yong starring Wang Yibo and Huang Xuan
The Story of the Bat - based on danmei novel Bat by Feng Nong starring Mao Zijun and Zhang Yao
Jade Bone Ballad - based on xianxia novel Mirror: Zhu Yan by 沧月 starring Xiao Zhan, Ren Min, and Zhang Yunlong
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Hi lise....How are you? If you don't mind me asking, who are your favorite “villains” (or antagonists) in all of MXTX novels? (Whether you want to do a ranking or just write out in no particular order)...Sorry if you've answered this question before....
I am stressed, depressed, and holding off a mental breakdown but keeping it together so far! and distractions in the form of thinking about my villain beloveds help.
asdlskjadf oh man. so it’s not quite “all of them” but it is... “several.” no ranking here because rankings are hard, so here’s in no particular order my personal greatest antagonist hits from mxtx’s novels
(this post will contain hella spoilers just to let you guys know)
1. He Xuan. I just finished (well, for a given value of ‘just’) rereading the Black Water Arc again and ahhhhhhh. Ahhhhhhhhhhh. I love He Xuan so much, I love everything he chooses to do, I love the fact that he has a choice between revenge and a friendship he does seem to value and ultimately still chooses revenge, I love his cold anger, I love the part where he just fuckin...rips Shi Wudu’s head off with his bare hands, RIP Water Master but that was pretty badass.
But yeah, I think what most draws me toward him is that...pull, where you can see him trying to give Shi Qingxuan an out, and he’s not going to abandon his revenge, would never, but he will bend it just a little, or he would...but ultimately Shi Qingxuan fails the tests he gives them and that’s it.
Also “you called the wrong name” will probably live in my head, as they say, rent free, with lines from literature that stick with me.
2. Xue Yang. Obviously. I feel like...I don’t even know how to talk about him here without repeating myself. Love at first sight and I never looked back. It only got worse. There’s a whole lot of buttons that he’s hitting all at once and...god, idk, okay, I’ve written more fics about him in a year and change than I wrote in the entire Silmarillion fandom between 2009-2021, and some of those are long. It’s a lot.
3. Jin Guangyao. I feel like I don’t always talk enough about Jin Guangyao and that’s mostly because I feel like other people have said the things I’d want to say but better already? But...god, love him. He’s such a psychological mess of paranoia and anxiety and insecurity, he’s so up in his head, constantly thinking about three or four things at once, is he enjoying the experience? Not necessarily.
I’m always going to be a sucker for a clever schemer and Jin Guangyao’s got that going for him, and I also really enjoy a good juxtaposition between seeming fragility and insane endurance/ability to keep going well past the point it’s reasonable. His drive to escape his origins, to prove himself, to gain an approval that’s always going to be just out of reach...I’m love him. Very very much.
4. Shen Jiu. Does he count, considering he’s mostly SIr Not Appearing In This Novel with the exception of the extras? I’m counting him. It feels very silly and also very me that my favorite SVSSS character is this guy because like...he’s not even technically present in the novel proper as an actual person? Even Xiao Xingchen at least gets a corpse cameo.
Whatever, I’m counting him anyway. I was going to be like “I know he’s awful” but come on, this is a list of antagonists and I love characters dealing horribly with their trauma and also passing their trauma on to others in the worst way, and also characters who come to bad ends, and also characters who will see people thinking the worst of them and go “fine! sure! I will do nothing to correct these assumptions at all because fuck it, if people are going to hate me might as well go all in.”
5. Jun Wu. I know, I know! I feel like this is maybe the most unpopular of mine actually but I have a thing for...antagonists who are disappointed idealists who are now trying to ruin everyone else’s day/life to prove their point while at the same time (this is a read, but I think I can support it) wanting to be proved wrong, but also absolutely certain that they won’t. And his interactions with Xie Lian in book four as Bai Wuxiang are...well. they sure do hit a nail shaped like my character dynamic kinks right on the head
and I’ll talk about this more in my favorite TGCF moments answer that’s forthcoming (I’m just finishing the book first so I don’t forget anything!), but I also find the conclusion to his arc very satisfying in ways that I very seldom get in media.
honorable mentions: Ling Wen (honorable mention only because I don’t know that she actually counts, she’s only an ‘antagonist’ for a hot minute and she doesn’t actually do anything to our protagonists to seriously hurt them), Shen Qingqiu’s internalized homophobia (honestly probably the biggest antagonist of SVSSS, lbr), Xie Lian on a rampage, He Xuan’s skeleton fish.
I do also have a soft spot for Bingge even though we only see him for a hot minute. he’s just awful and a disaster and I love that for him.
are we counting Jiang Cheng as an antagonist? because I don’t but if we were he’d be on this list too.
honestly the only antagonists I actively dislike (as opposed to just find relatively uninteresting) are Jin Guangshan and Jin Zixun.
#thanad zid#conversating#the sad queer cultivators show#dysfunctional gods and ghost kinks#i need a custom svsss tag#i'm not going to tag this as meta because it's just me like. fucking gushing#but i will tag it as#top five meme#so i can find it again and since i did end up with five
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may I request, for renouncement verse, something abt the inherent romance of ur partner letting u warm ur cold hands and feet on them. or just general Soft And Tender Domesticity tbh I'm weak. I hope ur doing ok w all of the bs going on!!!
my friend, i am absolutely going buckwild wwx style and im here to provide fluff so here goes!!!!
(brief author’s note: please reblog if you can, since that’s how we get prompts for future chapters!)
During the first week that he and Lan Zhan spend sleeping in the same bed, Wei Wuxian discovers that his husband’s feet turn icy cold the second he falls asleep. This, he realizes, is due to Lan Zhan’s cultivation; he’s used to the cooler Gusu climate, and he runs cooler than Wei Wuxian does in the summer, so it only makes sense that he turns into a human glacier the moment hai shi arrives.
Wei Wuxian doesn’t mind Lan Zhan’s cold feet touching his, and he knows that Lan Zhan doesn’t actually feel cold, but it still makes him uneasy to think of just letting him stay that way, especially since he knows exactly what to do about it.
A lifetime ago, when Wei Wuxian was still small enough to sleep in Jiang Cheng’s bed, their sister always put hot bricks at the ends of their mattresses in the winter to keep their feet warm, and rolled them up in a pair of thick towels so they wouldn’t burn their toes. The luxury of it made going to bed Wei Ying’s favorite time of day, even when he and Jiang Cheng were older and had to heat the bricks up themselves, and Wei Wuxian even put the practice to good use after he was cast into the Burial Mounds.
Wen Qing was fascinated when he showed her what he needed a new oven for, and promptly prescribed hot bricks at night to soothe Uncle Four’s cough, and her fondness for having her blankets warmed before dark was enough to convince Wei Wuxian that Lan Zhan might like it too, or at least not find it unpleasant.
Unless hot bricks are somehow against the Lan precept of asceticism, in which case all wagers are off. But Wei Wuxian himself is against at least half of the Lan sect laws and Lan Zhan still seems to like him well enough, so he goes ahead with his plan the very next day.
Yanli’s preferred method of heating the bricks--which Wei Wuxian follows without alteration, because his shijie’s talent with all things domestic was completely irreproachable--was to stack them up in a clean corner of the oven under her soup cauldron while she was making dinner, and then go about her work as usual until it was time to put the fire out. After that, she would wrap the bricks in small, thick towels and put them under the covers of her bed, and her brothers’, and sometimes her father’s when Jiang-shushu had one of his headaches; but never her mother’s, since Madam Yu grew up in the frigid mountains of Meishan and found Lotus Pier uncomfortably hot until the lake iced over.
After he puts the bricks in the oven, piling them up single stack just like Yanli always did it, Wei Wuxian makes a quick meal for three (bamboo shoots with mushrooms and rice paired with spicy tofu and danhua tang made in the broth from last night’s lotus soup) and sits down to eat with his husband and children, all of whom spot the bricks at once and glance at him in confusion.
“What are those for?” Sizhui asks, holding Xiao-Yu back by the skirt of his robe to stop him from trying to touch them. “Xian-ge?”
“I’m going to use them to keep the sheets warm,” Wei Wuxian tells him. “Your fuqin’s toes are going to drop off at this rate, and so are A-Yu’s.”
“Xiao-Yu lost his toes?” the baby demands, horrified. “Where?”
He pulls his little shoes off and struggles with his soft white socks for a minute before sticking his tiny feet into the air. “Yuan-gege, count. Xiao-Yu has ten?”
Sizhui smothers a quiet laugh in his brother’s fluffy mop of hair. “They’re all there, A-Yu. Don’t worry.”
Xiao-Yu nods and stares suspiciously at Lan Zhan’s long feet under the table. “Papa, see toes?”
Lan Zhan actually smiles, at that, setting off an alarm bell in Wei Wuxian’s head as his beautiful face lights up like a moonflower shaded from daylight. “I have all my toes, Xiaohui,” he promises. “Now let me finish feeding you your dinner, so we can all go to bed.”
---
“The bricks were a great success,” Wei Wuxian announces the next morning. “Jingyi refused to get out of bed until chen hour because of how comfortable he was, A-Yuan actually slept in for twenty minutes past mao shi, and you definitely liked it, too.”
“Mm,” his husband acquiesces, wrapping his arms tighter around Wei Wuxian’s waist and giving him a kiss on his forehead. “I liked it very much. But you kept me warmer than the bricks did, xingan.”
Wei Wuxian feels his cheeks go scarlet. “Lan Zhan!”
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Do you ever just sit down and think about how much tragedy is incorporated in Mo Dao Zu Shi because I can't for the love of God get my mind off that. *Spoilers ahead*
WWX suffering through the tragic incident of losing both his parents at such a young age and then left out in streets to fend for himself.
The Lan jades losing their mother.
Jin Guangyao and his mother to deal with repercussions of Jin Guangshan crimes.
WWX having to face humiliation at the hands of Madam Yu.
Jiang Cheng being brainwashed towards WWX.
WWX giving up his core to save Jiang Cheng.
Then facing betrayal by the same brother and getting killed.
The extermination of Dafan wen Clan.
LWJ taking the Disciple whips for his beliefs.
A-Yuan losing his entire family within a span of a few hours.
Mo Xuanyu bullied and manipulated by JGY to suit his purposes.
NMJ being made a pawn to suit clan politics.
The whole tragedy of Xiao Xingchen, Song Lan , A-Qing and Xue Yang.
Jiang Yanli having to lose his husband and then her life again due to JGY machinations.
Existence of Shu she( the biggest tragedy of all)
If you look closely you can see how each and every character goes through a series of tragedy which humanizes them (excluding Shu she) to the audience. However much I try, I can't hate JGY for what he did, and Xue Yang for all the psychopath that he was, still made me cry( that candy scene).
#mdzs#mo dao zu shi#the untamed#wangxian#lan wangji#wei wuxuan#cql#chen qing ling#no honestly why can't i just turn my brain off mdzs#i have finals in 4 days#tell me to write about application of differential equations and watch me hyperventilate myself into early grave#ask me about mdzs and watch me ramble off a 3 page explaination as to why Mo Xuanyu deserved better
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Link Click: commentary + post-watch thoughts (spoilers!)
Comments from while I was watching:
link click episode 2 has one of the best pre-established mechanic jokes I've seen in a while fkdjhd (un-consented high five, smh CXS)
i'm assuming it only happens when Lu is holding a photo (edit: I think it’s when they look at it? bc of the climax... unsure though) though because otherwise they could never hold hands and that'd be very tragic
ahem IS THIS A JOJO REFERENCE
yooo episode 4 beginning already hitting hard. i love pain... hell yeah
oh. it wasn't real (maybe?). oh well pff- but still nice angst so.
first off, goddamn the angst of witnessing a death in those circumstances with his own trauma oh man ;-;
second, thats a setup for main duo (trio?) separation if i've ever seen one (edit: :>)
it’s sobbing time
"i'll do it as a repayment for the milk tea you got me in the rain"
"ah. the person who's buying it for you isn't me"
me, trying hard to conceil my squealing bc this story is so much more than me having my gay goggles on: haha. aw. :)
THEY WENT OVERSEAS TOGETHER???
*ahem* haha. i am okay.
AH it's coming together. I love it ohmygod
Is Lu going to reject the case bc it's likely that she died oh man bc of CXS’s interference-
aww man protecc cute but lies hhhhhh
DID- DID THAT GUY JUST USE THE K.O. TISSUE ON HIMSELF BC OF THE SMELL OH MY GOD HE'S SO DUMB idshjd
CHENG XIAO SHI YOU SUICIDAL MFER GET OUT OF THE SERIAL KILLERS CAR and of course the picture is from Emmas case OF COURSE god, CXS. i pray for your sanity in this already
NO NO NO NO NO ARE THEY SYNCING UP TWO MURDERER ATTACKS RN OR AM I STUPID
LU- OH GOD. OH GOD. OH GOD. I KNOW I SAID IT SEEMED LIKE SOMETHING LIKE THIS WAS SET UP BUT I DONT WANT IT ANYMORE- AHHH I LOVE THIS BUT AHHHHHH
oh it was a plan. okay epic. I would have liked to be informed about this more BUT EPIC. also can he appear where he wants??? or did they start the dive in the photo room. very confused. i was prepared for angst oh well.
the predestination paradox is confusing but wooo
di-did i skip an episode what- (edit: yes, 5.5)
.......... i... i am... quite speechless. this better get a 2nd season. Why can't CXS get a bREAK holy shit
i know i wanted murder but I didnt even get real angst about it T^T what a mean cliffhanger. but interestingggg- seems they're not the only supernatural people around.
They better give me juicy angst if they’ll backpaddle on it.
.
idk why episode 5.5 exists as 5.5 and not as a regular episode, it also doesn’t really make sense between 5 and 6 / I don’t think it chronologically belongs there. I think it makes more sense before ep3, that is to say before the basketball-arc. Because it’s weird to have them accept a case when they originally wanted a break / the atmosphere is currently EH-
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the time travel
I’m very confused about the time travel aspect of it... or well not really that, but moreso how they deal with the butterfly effect.
I think they use a sort of predestination paradox, i.e. their timetravels are already included in the present because they come from the future. This is evident in ShanShan’s case.
But I’m confused about it because doesn’t that technically mean that no matter what they change, it isn’t really going to change anything because it already happened that way bc the past includes their timetravels?
But that’s not the case because they sometimes also show an "original" version of the scene they change which implies it did at some point happen that way.
(SPOILERS) I'm concretely talking about ShanShan gushing about the message she got. Which is something we saw before they jumped. But at that point the message was already received so shouldn't what they see be what CXS does (i.e. sitting up, bruting(TM))?
I could accept the paradox of the present including the future time travel already for plot purposes but then they show stuff as if it didn't happen which then confuses me. Esp since we see the security cam picture Update to include CXS later.
The only way i could see it working with that is that... The timeline only "saves" the actions that CXS does IF they change something (i.e. ShanShan gushes but it doesn’t matter, it only matters if she diverted the attack or not. I wonder how she remembers that scene? She just blacks out, like after she drank too much?) - But even then his plotting was integral to it changing so i don't think it could just be ShanShan doing her thing as before and then once the attack happens it switches to CXS's iteration of the scene. And if there was an iteration where they travelled but didn't receive that message, wouldn't ShanShan be dead in the “first” iteration (I mean it’s not completely unlikely that we’re just in the 2nd iteration of the loop in the storyline)? And they would have never gotten that phonecall. Therefore i am just confusion shshsh, like the paradox in itself i can accept but I get confused about the “original way” things happened, especially because it doesn’t consistently jump into it in the middle of a paradox (the ShanShan apartment dive) vs. being the first loop (security camera in the child’s case, in Emma’s case I think it’s the first time Guang entered it so it’s possible CXS would have been on it even if he did it before he dived back -- though technically he checked it out when he denied the case too, so I do think it updated??).
Unless CXS was always on the security cam footage but the police officer seemed to only notice him after he jumped into it, which... confuses me.
I’M JUST CONFUSED AND I DON’T HAVE ENOUGH BRAINCELLS TO DEAL WITH IT.
It makes sense on some abstract plane of existence, I THINK- But i just. low brain.
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final thoughts
I really loved it!! the emotional stuff hits quite heavy; I love how Emma’s case is a sort of throughline through the story, while also being a great pilot, showing off the dark themes pretty quickly.
I hope in s2 we can get more focus on the other characters as well! They’re nice but it does feel like the biggest focus is on CXS, which makes sense. I love how we get only small snippets of how their friendship came to be but I’d still like to see more of that; and of course see how the show deals with multiple supernatural forces (and if that person’s is also something photo-driven or if it’s only present spirit control).
I’m also not sure if they’ll backpaddle on the cliffhanger or if s1 was just the setup for a sort of saving someone timeloop. Which could be quite oof because the show established that death is a major note and all that :) (which does beg the question if red-eyes is a sort of corrective force? after all if it wasn’t for them, Emma would be alive... god,, i can feel the brainfuck already pff-)
Despite my confusion with the time travel it's moreso an exploration of people's lives more than it is a real twist-heavy time travel story anyway (I like how they actually use the mechanic of the time travels, i.e. the clapping, instead of the actual time travel as the finale’s solution!! bc that's much more easy to grasp and therefore feels more established and grounded to me than a purely big brain time travel solution).
Especially because while the existential/logic questions of the timetravel are very confusing, I think the story largely utilizes it in intuitive ways. I just think too much dsuhdjs
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also the op is a banger *head bangs*
also-also I love that the OP can also be understood as “come back from the dive... back in time” as in... “Come back in time”, which... I guess he did not come back in time, huh TvT i’m hurting myself with this interpretation but I love it pff-
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Additional notes and ephemera for Restoration. Read with caution! There are spoilers at the end of this post.
Fun fact: the fic as posted to AO3 is 84,709. The amount of fic I actually wrote is 122,284. That means there’s 37,575 words of material on the cutting room floor. Oof.
Pinyin place names:
Fumodong : Demon Slaughtering Cave
Luanzang Gang : the Burial Mounds
Bujing Shi : the Unclean Realm
Yunshen Buzhichu : Cloud Recesses
Lianhua Wu : Lotus Pier/Lotus Cove
Buyetian Cheng : Nightless City/Nevernight
Jinlin Tai : Carp Tower/Koi Tower
Pinyin titles:
Huadan Shou : Core-Melting Hand/Core Crusher
Zi Zhizhu : Violet Spider
I believe all the other pinyin terms used are commonly used in fandom or are sufficiently contextualised to be understood, but let me know if there are any that need clarification!
Spoilers ahead! Gonna list the minor/background pairings.
Some of these are fairly textual, but with the exception of occasional flirtation/references in characters’ inner monologues, almost all actual romance occurs completely off-screen.
Meng Yao/Nie Mingjue (nieyao)
Jiang Yanli/Nie Huaisang (sangli)
(implied) Lan Xichen/Xue Yang (xiyang)
(implied) Jin Zixuan/Wen Ning (ningxuan)
Wang Lingjiao/Wen Qing (lingqing)
I did not intend for there to be Song Lan/Su She/Xiao Xingchen (songsuxiao), but I’m told some people saw it in there, so. Have at.
Here are some notes about names of people, for those who don’t get names in canon. I was ably assisted by merakily and invitan in choosing these and am told they’re not wildly inappropriate! There are some spoilers in the details given.
Starting off with the nicknames for the babies, so if you’re not sure if you want to spoil yourself further you have two paragraphs to back out or continue.
Xiaodou (小豆, Adzuki) or Xiaodou Yeye (小豆爷爷, Grandpa Adzuki) is a nickname given to baby Mo Xuanyu. Adzuki are a type of bean, also called red mung beans, and they’re commonly boiled with sugar to make an extremely delicious paste called anko. In Chinese cuisine it’s commonly used as filling for pastry dishes like mooncakes and tangyuan. The story of how he got that nickname is in chapter 12; in short, he was red and wrinkly, as many babies are, and the nickname stuck. The more common term for adzuki seems to be hongdou (红豆) but xiaodou, chidou (赤豆), chixiaodou, hongxiaodou, etc. are used fairly interchangably as far as I can tell, and I think the version that approximates to “little bean” is the cutest version to refer to a baby with.
Luobo Zhongzi is a nickname given to baby Wen Yuan. I used the characters for the words translated as “radish seeds” in chapter 74. In that chapter, Wen Qing scolds Wei Wuxian because she told him to go buy radish seeds and instead he fought Jiang Cheng. In my head, this is how that nickname came to be:
“Wei Ying,” Meng Yao says, with the fragile calm of someone an inch away from completely losing his shit, “I thought I told you to buy radish seeds.”
“Are you blind, Meng-shidi? Look at this handsome radish seed I have right here!” Wei Ying bounces the baby on his hip. “We’ll plant him and he’ll sprout right up, you’ll see.”
Meanwhile, Xue Yang sidles up to Wen Zhuliu and gives him his biggest, toothiest smile. “Gege, teach me how to punch someone in the soul?”
Some birth and courtesy names:
Fu Xiang (富 祥); the fu here is still a relatively common character used as a Chinese surname today, and can also mean “wealthy” or “abundant” - a good name for a mercantile sect, especially one that wants to curry favour with Lanling Jin. The xiang means “auspicious” - also a fairly common name, in this case given by parents who hoped their daughter would tie them to one of the larger sects one day.
Mo Xing (莫惺). The character 惺 is commonly understood as “tranquil”, although it has an older literary meaning of “wise” or “intelligent”, as Mo Lang tells Mo Yu. However, Mo Yu is not particularly literate at the time she chooses it, and doesn’t realise that Mo Lang is rather unkindly choosing a name that’s homophonous with 猩, which means “ape”, and 腥, which means “fishy smell”.
Mo Lang (莫 角); in modern usage, lang means “jade-like stone”, “clean and white”, or “the tinkling of pendants” but it also has an archaic meaning as “white jade” i.e. the most valuable jade.
Mo Yu (莫玉); yu also means “jade”, but in this case, just regular jade, not fancy white jade.
Mo Lihua (莫 莉花). Li, “jasmine”, and hua, “flower”. The character used for her surname is the same as all other members of the Mo family, meaning “no one” or “do not”, but sometimes Mo Lihua likes to troll people by writing her name as 茉莉花, which is the full name for a jasmine flower (the literal translation would be “jasmine jasmine flower”.) Mo Lihua is a reference to the popular folk song Mo Li Hua, which definitely post-dates the CQL timeframe, but I already disclaimed my ahistoricity so we are all just going to deal with that. It’s very popular - Celine Dion and Song Zuying performed it at the Beijing Olympics - and I thought it was particularly appropriate because of a translation singeli showed me:
Oh beautiful jasmine flower / Oh beautiful jasmine flower / Sweet-smelling, beautiful, stems full of buds / Fragrant and white, everyone praises / Let me pluck you down to give to someone else / Jasmine flower, jasmine flower
LET ME PLUCK YOU DOWN TO GIVE TO SOMEONE ELSE
ahem
Meng Jingqiu (孟经秋); the jing comes from the Shijing, the Book of Songs, which really does use the same character as Meng Shi’s birth name (诗). The qiu comes from the Chunqiu, the Spring and Autumn Annals. These are two of the Five Classics of Confucianism.
Meng Fuqiu (孟府秋); the fu comes from yuefu (乐府), which is a genre of classical poetry intended to mimic folk songs (class issues, anyone...?), and also means governance - something Meng Yao excels at. The qiu, again, comes from Chunqiu and links his courtesy name with Meng Jingqiu. I thought it was nicer than linking him to Jin Guangshitbag.
Wen Guijiao (温 圭角); this is a little complex. A gui was a long jade tablet or scepter, often shaped like a sword (here’s a plain one) (here’s one with poetry on it) (and one with animal masks) (and a very fancy one with dragons) held by imperial rulers for certain ceremonies. The pointed tip is called the guijiao (literally “corner of the jade tablet” but more usefully “tip of the scepter”, I believe). So literally the guijiao is the most delicate piece of an incredibly delicate and ornate piece of jade, but figuratively it means “talents displayed”, as in the chengyu bulu-guijiao (不露圭角) which is literally “do not reveal the tip of the scepter” and means to remain inconspicuous by hiding your talents. And I thought that was nice, for Our Lady of Hidden Badassery.
(here are some more examples of cool gui)
Update: can’t believe I forgot the comically long list of Wen sect heirs in chapter 11!
Wen Qing = as per canon, “tenderness”
Wen Xu = as per canon, my best guess is approximately “warmth of the rising sun”
Wen Chao = as per canon, approximately “warmth of the dawn”
Wen Liang (温良) = “warm and kind”
Wen Budun (温布顿) = Wimbledon, as in the tennis event
Wen Rou (温柔) = “gentle and soft”
Wen Nuan (温暖) = “warm” (as in, temperature)
Wen Hepai (温和派) = unusual variant of the word for “dove” but more commonly “moderate faction”
Wen Shu (温 淑) = “a gentle and kind woman”
Wen Gehua (温哥华) = Vancouver, as in the Canadian city
Wen Cun (温存) = “tender affection” or “to be attentive” in the romantic sense
Wen Huo (温和) = “lukewarm”
Wen Chadian (温差电) = “thermoelectricity”
Wen Hexing (温和性) = “tenderness”/“gentle character”
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Untamed TAZ Balance AU? Don't have to write anything, just consider that (is Wen Ning Lucretia in this or is he too nice for that)
NHS IS LUCRETIA, NHS IS ABSOLUTELY LUCRETIA, I HAVE THOUGHTS, my girlfriend yelled at me for these thoughts. Hell this got long, I’ve literally been saving it in my drafts until Tumblr fixed the Read More issue.
WWX is Taako, JC is Magnus, WQ is Merle, JYL is in the umbrella (became a lich to keep her brother from doing it), WN is the Red Robe (became a lich because he thought it seemed reasonable), NHS is Lucretia, XXC is Davenport, LWJ and LXC are mutually Kravitz (LXC sets his bro up with the death criminal wizard), Wen Zhuliu is John Vore, LSZ is Angus but also a baby Reaper
ONE
So Wei Wuxian isn’t really a wizard, is the thing. Like, he does the wizard magic, and apparently he has strong Wizard Vibes because wherever he travels, people ask him if he can solve their magical bullshit problems, but he’s, like, barely a wizard. He’s an inventor, technically, except that a few years back some stuff went explosively awry while he worked with this traveling show and–yeah. So he’s working as a wizard because, hey, he can cast Magic Missile and he needs to eat and he’s an Evocation specialist, anyway, so it’s not like he’s out here making food from rocks. He’s hired on with a couple other random jackasses, a fighter who took a dislike to Wei Wuxian right off the bat and a cleric with a bad temper and an itchy Sacred Flame finger, and they’re doing a job for some dwarf, or whatever. The dwarf has a guy hired on as muscle, but he doesn’t look like much, all wide eyes and baby face. He calls himself Qionglin, no last name, and stares at Wen Qing like he’s never seen a cleric before, and Jiang Cheng spends the entire trip to Phandolin messing with his whip, which is the stupidest weapon Wei Wuxian has ever seen.
Well, then everything immediately goes horribly wrong, though, and turns out that Jiang Cheng is pretty okay with that whip. Qionglin (Wei Wuxian spoke to the man all of one time, but he was sweet, if a little awkward) gets himself kidnapped by a bunch of goblins, and their employer is gods-know-where with whatever a Black Spider is, and suddenly this very boring escort mission is a very not boring rescue mission.
There’s a skeleton in the cave. Wei Wuxian takes an umbrella from it, and it crumbles into dust beneath its red robe. There’s a very annoyed man with a sword who calls himself Song Lan and speaks in static, and he’s somehow not the weirdest part of this whole day.
Phandolin doesn’t survive its brush with the Zidian Gauntlet, and neither does Qionglin. Wen Qing screams when he dies, and Wei Wuxian grabs her under the arms with Jiang Cheng and books it for the empty well in Song Lan’s wake, and they just hide.
And then they go to the goddamn moon, apparently.
TWO
The goddamn moon is run by an older man with hair still a glossy black, toying with a beautifully painted white fan in his hand. He calls himself the Director and–after some testing–hires them more or less on the spot. Something flickers over his face when Wen Qing, bemused by her own upset, makes an offhand mention of a man named Qionglin who died when the Gauntlet brought down so much lightning that it turned Phandolin into black glass. But it’s not Wei Wuxian’s problem, so he doesn’t worry himself over it too much. He takes the payment offered to him by the Director’s aide, a blindfolded, stunningly handsome man in Bureau blue and white who rests his hand on his own chest and says “Xiao Xingchen” and not another word.
The Bureau is–weird. They’ve got a giant jellyfish and a store run by–something Wei Wuxian Does Not Trust and a dorm. Wei Wuxian laughs and kicks Jiang Cheng cheerfully in the ankle and says “Just like college, huh?” and Jiang Cheng gives him a dark look and snaps “I never went to college.”
“Yeah,” Wei Wuxian says, blinking. “Me neither.”
Whatever. They go on a train adventure and there’s a kid, a kid who blinks and stares at Wei Wuxian like he’s seen a goddamn ghost and immediately walks up to introduce himself as Lan Sizhui, boy detective.
Wei Wuxian fucking loves this kid. He’s not sure why this wide-eyed fifteen-year-old latched onto him so hard, but he’s smart, funny, loyal, and extremely easy to pick on. 13/10 child rating, in Wei Wuxian’s book.
(Sizhui, for his part, more or less kicks down the door to his father’s offices in the Astral Plane the second the Reclaimers are gone and shouts “I HAVE A LEAD ON WHAT HAPPENED TO THE WORLD.”)
(His father, Lan Wangji, the Grim Reaper, is very interested to hear all about it–especially when his son casually name-drops three of the biggest bounties that the Raven King, his adoptive elder brother, has ever sent him after, with the exception of that absolutely insufferably sweet-tempered lich Wen Ning.)
THREE
So…the Crystal Kingdom.
Is it Wei Wuxian’s finest hour, shouting obscure tentacle-related threats at the second crystal construct they’ve seen in the past twenty minutes? No, probably not. But it’s been a stressful day, they’re already down one Regulator and Song Lan is fuck-knows-where with Mianmian and, again, this is the second menacing crystal construct they’ve seen in twenty minutes. Or maybe it’s the same one?
Whatever, doesn’t matter. They’re here to hunt down Meng Yao, a scientist who’s been dicking around with some seriously ill-advised necromancy and also the Philosopher’s Stone, and a crystal construct or two isn’t going to stop them.
Wei Wuxian actually physically cannot help himself, though, when the Reapers appear in the mirror, a matched set of beautiful men, and he grins broadly at the one glaring at him most viciously. They get let go on a technicality, along with a conduit still containing Meng Shi’s memory of a vision beyond the cosmos, and Meng Yao leaves with his life and not much more.
Later, Lan Wangji is absolutely betrayed by the realization that his brother willfully set him up to be the primary go-between for the completely breathtaking deeply irritating wizard-by-way-of-death-criminal. And that’s before the whole lich revelation. (He does get a kiss, though, after he watches his brother pulled under by the Hunger. That’s nice. He hopes Wei Wuxian will mitigate the death crimes now that they’re dating.)
FOUR
The seven Relics are as follows:
The Zidian Gauntlet, which can generate a lightning blast so powerful that it can obliterate an entire city. (Jiang Cheng–he watched the others try to lay in protections, try to make their Relics harmless, and he knew it wouldn’t work. All the Gauntlet does is damage. It can melt a city down to black glass, but it can’t be twisted, it can’t be made into any more of a nightmare than it already is. He’s a fighter. He knows all about damage, knew all about what he was making. That doesn’t mean it didn’t kill him by inches to watch it leave a path of destruction–so much that his beloved jiejie tried to seal it away.)
The Oculus, which can make any construct real. (Xiao Xingchen–Nie Huaisang didn’t take everything. He doesn’t remember the mission, or his own past. Something strange got confused in the process, and he lost most of his speech. But he remembers how to fight, handles his sword as cleanly and effectively as ever, and he remembers that he doesn’t think much of Nie Huaisang’s combat skills. Or maybe it’s just really obvious that Nie Huaisang isn’t much of a fighter. Regardless, Xiao Xingchen insisted on accompanying him, before–before. Then they went into the Felicity Wilds, and…Xue Yang is honestly delighted. He’s never managed to ruin someone so badly on the way into Wonderland before. It’s just a shame that Nie Huaisang sent Xiao Xingchen away before they reached the doors.)
The Healer’s Sash, which can manipulate natural forces like the wind, the tides, and tectonic plates just as easily as it can manipulate a heartbeat or a pair of lungs. (Wen Qing–she prays to Pelor, the Dawnfather, the healer and Lord of Light, but she’s long since lost her faith in him as anything but a contracted boss. It’s a shock to everyone including her when she’s granted a right arm made of glass and magic after losing it. She was so determined to make a Relic that could be used for good, but–well. She supposes she should have known better.)
The Philosopher’s Stone, which can more or less transform anything into anything. (Jiang Yanli–she’s a Transmutation wizard, she’s been feeding the crew of the Starblaster for a hundred years on whatever she can pull together. If the right person found the Stone, it would have ended world hunger. The wrong person found the stone. Jiang Yanli tried her damnedest to hunt it down, but she found the Gauntlet first, and, well–she already became a lich to stop one younger brother from doing it. It’s not a struggle to decide that she’s going to take responsibility for saving Jiang Cheng from his own guilt. Then things go horribly wrong, and she spends the next twelve years in an umbrella.)
The Temporal Chalice, which offers complete control over time. (Wen Ning–he was a strict scholar until his sister was contacted about the IPRE’s creation, but he always did want to travel, and his theories about bonds were too good for Xiao Xingchen to pass up having on his crew. Everything he’s done since they lost their home system has been about trying not to leave his family, about trying for second chances, he became a lich for them, he’s done everything to stay with them, of course his Relic is a second chance generator.)
The Animus Flute, which offers control over the spirits of the dead and, in the hands of a sufficiently competent expert, the living. (Wei Wuxian–he’s watched his brother, his sister, his friends, die so many times. He’s terrified of immortality, but he’s most terrified of being alone. He meant to make something that could keep the dead present, so that they would never have to fear being left behind again. Watching it rip Jiang Cheng’s soul clean out of his body in Xue Yang’s hands is the worst thing Wei Wuxian can remember, even after everything is over.)
The Bulwark, which Nie Huaisang never did explain to anyone, but took the shape of a hand-painted fan. (Nie Huaisang lost the only person who mattered to him when the Hunger ate their home, and then as he slowly, painstakingly, rebuilt something like a family, he had to watch them suffer and die for a hundred years. And then he watched them win, and grieve like dying all over again for the winning. He’s sorry they suffered for his actions. He’s not sorry for what he did.)
FIVE
Wen Zhuliu didn’t mean to make his whole plane give up. But he had spent his whole life being used, and it all just seemed so pointless. It all just seemed so pointless. There was always someone stronger, always something bigger, always a rule he couldn’t break, always something, and he started talking, started telling people as much, and--
Wen Qing is about the farthest thing in the fucking world from a peacemaker by nature, if you ask her, but she’s a healer first, last, and most of all. And, she thinks as she watches the sun sink with a very tired man crumbling away at her side, she might be the only person in the worlds who ever noticed that Wen Zhuliu needed a healer.
(They aren’t from the same plane, but--some of the others have found distant family, on their new home. It’s an unanswerable question, if they might have been family, a few dimensions removed. Wen Ning still thinks about it.)
#the untamed#mdzs#mo dao zu shi#taz balance#taz au#starlight writes stuff#*sprints into the room with this au multiple months late and completely out of breath* H E R E#this has been languishing in my drafts for. mm. ever.#i don't even remotely remember enough of my original thoughts about it to provide a lot of tags#but i do have a case for why wzl is john vore (and it's NOT just that i think he's interesting)#i could've made jgy the hunger BUT the plot of taz requires some...reconciliatory ending structure?#and honestly nhs still being something of a puppet master means that i couldn't justify that with jgy#i needed a villain less close to nhs' heart. so i thought about xue yang but i like him as the wonderland lich TOO MUCH.#so instead i thought about who i should make the parlay person--first instincts were jyl and wn because they're Nice#but then i decided that i didn't actually need Nice nearly so much as i needed Invested#and by god can wen qing Invest#so okay--if she was going to do the parlay then i didn't need someone who could be talked around i needed someone who needed a healer#so: wen zhuliu#i don't have to justify myself to you fools#also jgy is always everyone's biggest bad so he can let someone else have a turn#jyl develops a crush on a completely socially awkward rogue from inside an umbrella by the way!#pour one out for jzx because he is NOT equipped for an ethereal woman of violet fire to blush at him#a queue we will keep and our honor someday avenge#thishazeleyeddemon#asked and answered
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Got tagged by @grapefruitsketches
Thank you! :D
My AO3 is FixaIdea
Fandoms
I’m currently mostly writing for Tian Guan Ci Fu and Mo Dao Zu Shi, but I also have a lot of fic for Maurice and Les Misérables, and a scattered handful of Star Wars and Discworld ones.
Where You Post
Anything resembling a structured story, short or not, goes on AO3, random ramblings, ideas and headcanons on Tumblr.
Most Popular Oneshot
Listed by kudos, it’s an old, old Les Mis fic, In retrospect. ...I mean it’s one of my only Modern AU E/R fics, so there’s that. I’m not gonna disown the idea, but the prose could use a do-over.
Most Popular Multichap
My Discworld/MDZS crossover, Of Hats and Flutes by far. Honestly I thought this was gonna be such a nieche premise, I never expected it to take off, but I’m glad it did.
Favourite Story You’ve Written So Far
It’s gonna sound conceited, but I have a lot of faves - not because they are such masterpieces, but because I’m the only one who knows MY OWN specific tastes and can 100% cater to them.
That said, I’m pretty proud of Zona. It’s a multi-chapter Star Wars/MDZS crossover. Longfic is something I struggle with, but I think this one turned out nicely.
Fic You Were Nervous to Post
Refuge. Boy, was I nervous about this one... It’s a ridiculously self-indulgent miniseries about Hua Cheng and Xie Lian... And sure, there’s no actual smut in it, but it’s still the most intimate (and kinda personal) thing I’ve ever written.
How Your Choose Your Titles
Just before hitting Submit, while crying. Usually it ends up being a very simple phrase that kinda sums up the vibe (or a very simple phrase in Latin or French to give a false impression of sophistication).
Do You Outline
Outlining sounds too sophisticated and too much like I knew what I was doing compared to what’s actually happening.
I kinda... jot down plot points in a spaced-out list, sometimes including phrases I want a character to say, and I come back to expand on whichever segment feels the most inspiring at the moment and then Frankeinstein the whole thing together. The only times I don’t do this is if a fic is shorter than 1000 words and I push the whole thing out in one sitting.
Complete
Almost everything I currently have on AO3.
In Progress
Of Hats and Flutes and Refuge are both collections of self-contained short stories so they can be considered complete, but I think of them as open-ended. Other than that, there’s still a multi-chapter Les Mis fic that lacs an epilogue, and two that died before I managed to get to the point, and am now too lazy to re-visit.
Coming Soon / Not Yet Started
I want to write more in the TGCF canon divergence universe where The Dancer takes place, and I want to finally do something coherent about that MDZS AU where Xiao Xingchen lives and gets to start that sect he dreamed about.
Prompts?
Yes please! I can’t promise for sure that I will answer everything I get - please don’t take that personally, I still love getting them and do my best to fill them! I just... don’t always get around to doing it.
Upcoming Work You’re Most Excited About
The prequel to The Dancer, in which Hua Cheng finds Xie Lian before his third ascension. Or rather, Xie Lian finds him.
Tagging
If you feel like doing it - @eirenical @docmanda
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first lines: fic-writers meme
Rules: List the first lines of your last 20 stories (if you have less than 20, just list them all!). See if there are any patterns. Choose your favourite opening line. Then tag 10 of your favourite authors!
I was tagged by @la-muerta! I've mostly been archiving my kissing fics on AO3 lately, so that's what these will be, probably. I'm going to skip the ones where the first line was given to me by another person, since those are not illustrative. I am also skipping my filks. XD
1. Terms of Care - in answer to the prompt: "wei wuxian & wen ning + forehead kisses"
“Ah, Wen Ning, come join me!” Wei Wuxian exclaimed, waving Wen Ning over to his spot in the bunny clearing.
2. Not To Be Alone - in answer to the prompt: "jiang cheng/song lan - hating separation"
“I was in shock still, and I said such awful things… So I’m looking for him now, to apologise. To say: traveling with you is better than traveling without you.”
3. This One's Spicy - in answer to the prompt: "lan jingyi/lan sizhui - yi city"
Lan Jingyi was still making elaborate disgusted faces, scraping his teeth over his tongue and the like.
4. fell through the cracks, but we're okay - in answer to the prompt: "oyzz/a-qing, au where they meet when they're both alive"
“Excuse me, are there any powerful people around here? Powerful people who cultivate?”
5. All This Burning Sexual Tension - in answer to the prompt: "wei wuxian/wen qing + laughter"
“Qing jiějiě!” Wei Wuxian shouts, bursting into the mess. “Jiang Cheng has brought it to my attention that we need to work out the unbearable sexual tension between us.”
6. In the Officers' Baths - in answer to the prompt: "mu nihuang/xia dong - something fun and not sad"
“Jùnzhǔ!”
7. in this great golden tower - in answer to the prompt: "qin su/wen qing, koi tower"
Qin Su has never asked xiǎo-Qing about her past.
8. sharp words, soft hands - in answer to the prompt: "chengxuan after like a big battle or something and one of them is hurt and the other one is worried and expressing it through getting snappy?"
Jin Zixuan opens his mouth to speak when Jiang Wanyin strides into his tent, but before he can say anything, the Jiang sect leader snaps, “Don’t bother. I saw exactly how it happened. You’d think someone raised in the great Lanling Jin sect would have learned a modicum of tactics.”
9. corpse kiss - in answer to the prompt: "how about wn/jzx with the prompt “qiongqi path”" (content warning: this one is noncon)
There was no longer a flute playing, but Wen Ning was still rushing toward Jin Zixuan like a hurricane in human form.
10. Closed Fist, Warm Mouth - in answer to the prompt: "xianxuan, in the middle of an argument"
It was lucky that Jin Zixuan had stomped away from his entourage as well as from the Jiang contingent, because it meant that there was no one to stop Wei Wuxian from throwing a punch this time.
11. Growing Things - in answer to the prompt: "lan sizhui & ouyang zizhen (my underappreciated boi!), growing things"
The Baling gardens were one of Lan Sizhui’s favorite places.
12. what's left when revenge is over - in answer to the prompt: "Sisi/Nie Huaisang post Guanyin temple"
“It’s done, then,” Sisi says, standing behind Nie Huaisang and beginning to take his hair down.
13. a good bruise - in answer to the prompt: "chengqing, jiang-furen wen qing. after training disciples"
They have been married for just over a year, but it still somehow seems scandalous to Wen Qing that she gets to be here, in Sect Master Jiang’s own personal quarters, as he gets ready for his post-training bath; that she gets to pull at the ties on his outer robes, skim her fingers along his collarbones to feel him shiver, help him shrug off each successive layer of clothes until all that’s left between her and his sweat-slick skin are her own clothes.
14. why the hell not - in answer to the prompt: "wwx/nhs, burial mounds. why the hell not"
“Nie xiong, what the hell are you doing here?”
15. Rivers and Lakes, Towns and Cities - a prequel of my Songxiao Middle Earth AU, where the Elf Xiao Xingchen meets the Human Song Lan after leaving Baoshan Sanren's mountain (which is, like, an Asian equivalent of Rivendell)
Baoshan Sanren always said that the world west of the Mountain was full of corruption and iniquity, that the Western Elves were liars to a one, and that the gods they called the Valar were betrayers.
16. A Hundred Beautiful Things - The Untamed (TV) fandom, Jiang Yanli/Nie Huaisang political marriage set after the Qishan indoctrination arc.
It was an adjustment, to be sure.
17. Taste You In My Core - 魔道祖师/Mo Dao Zu Shi novel fandom, Nie Huaisang/Xiao Xingchen monster4monster porn with Eldritch Xiao Xingchen and Beast Nie Huaisang.
“Are you all right, gōngzǐ?" the young man asks, and Nie Huaisang does his best not to laugh.
18. A Fruitful Correspondence - The Untamed (TV) fandom, Lan Wangji is forcibly befriended by Jiang Yanli (and by extension Jin Zixuan and Jiang Cheng) during the time that Wei Wuxian and the Wens are holed up in the Burial Mounds.
Lan Wangji’s plan upon attending the wedding between Jin Zixuan and Jiang Yanli is to put in the bare minimum of appearances and then go home at the earliest opportunity.
19. Bored - Leverage (!!) fandom, in Season 2, Episode 1, Parker mentioned stealing the Hope Diamond and then putting it back. This is the story of that heist.
Planning the heist still carries the same thrill as it always does: scoping out guard rotations, evaluating the schematics for their new security system (laughable, even with the increased bandwidth to support a greater number of security cameras), visiting the museum as a paying guest… Parker loves this part, and it’s good to stretch her muscles in this way, relying on no one but herself.
20. Best Friends for Best Friends - The Untamed/MDZS fandom (could go with either canon) fic for Jin Ling's birthday featuring the Juniors quartet and a whole litter of puppies - this is an archived threadfic that was cleaned up and then thrown on AO3.
Jin Ling totally forgot about the "no pets at Cloud Recesses" rule, okay?
--
I've noticed that I tend to like to start with some kind of dialogue most frequently; otherwise, something to establish the POV character's interiority. The big exception is the Middle Earth fic where I was emulating Tolkien's narrator, somewhat.
I think of these twenty, my favorite opening line is probably either 7 or 16. They're so sparse, but still set up a lot.
Tagging @hunxi-guilai, @iamwestiec, @bladedweaponsandswishycoats, @shadaras, @withbroombefore, @vyther15, @vivisextion if y'all wanna play! If not, no worries ofc :3
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