#aesthetic ⨠ I’ve always been more comfortable in chaos

[worldsokayestmagicalgirl]

The first batch of pictures for Amoré's character journal are here! Also I have been so super sick that I've literally had nothing to do but to work on this for like almost 2 weeks so...

The cover to cover tour officially starts here. All I can say about the front & back is that I lament my lack of experience with my Cricut when I made these decals. I only had 2 "fun" colors to work with at the time & I was still getting comfortable drawing in Procreate, so my silhouette art leaves a lot to be desired compared to some stuff I've made recently. I also found it's incredibly easy to burn this leather book.

But she's volume one, everything with her is a learning experience, & I realized as much as it helps to have a mini heat press for tight corners & small spaces, the cloth barrier they suggest you use between the vinyl & the iron tends to make things harder to press on this scale. So instead I gotta quickly tap straight on the transfer film & hope I don't burn anything around it :(´◦ω◦｀):ﾟﾟ

So at the risk of thoroughly exposing my inner theater kid, Amoré set the precedent with how I went forward creating campaign characters. I started off collecting 5 songs to make a mini story arc (almost like a show choir set list 🙃) that helps me figure out an outline for the kind of story I wanna give them.

Somehow Amoré ended up with a truly horrendous blend of rock & theatre. Absolutely incredibe. No wonder she's always such a dramatic bitch.

It was a lot easier to go in & add little decals around these lyrics. I'm definitely cursed with the Too Much™ gene, but I enjoy the little pops of color they give ✨ plus it justifies me hoarding all these vinyl scraps printing stuff this small lol.

Stat sheet!

In all honesty, as my first character I had no fucking clue what I was doing when I placed these & if I could go back & change one thing I'd probably swap her Intelligence & her Wisdom. She’s definitely more people smart than book smart.

But everything else is...very accurate. She has all the upper body strength of a chicken nugget. Plus on top of the (already) negative I traded disadvantage on everything DEX for magic crystal shoes that can be periodically harvested. Just a way for her to carry around the family fortune without actually having to return to the vault✨

For something that started so average, her CON became a monster & always comes in clutch for her alcohol tolerance. I've played variations of her across a few different one shots & I always manage to roll well for anything alcohol related. The dice do respect a bit 🤣

Spells on the other hand, I floundered with a lot at first because we’re not a combat heavy game, but then I found Chaos Bolt & that was that. It’s essentially Amoré in spell form & I’ve had a ton of fun with it over the years. Also Mage Armor cuz my girl is SO DISTRESSINGLY SQUISHY.

Cantrips were more or less a bit of a toss up. Message was fun for the sheer idea of her using it to talk shit during social events without being caught. But aside from Light serving fun backstory purposes the other 3 are kinda just what looked fun ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ unless you count the idea that she would absolutely delight in zapping handshakes.

From there, I wanted to extend the world map made by our wonderful DM @cappierong into a full scroll. Ya know, for the aesthetic ✨

Our campaign started in Civania, where Amoré's main Estate is. I just wanted a quick mock up to reference, so I edited a preexisting picture I found that checked all the boxes (large, on a plateau, accessible only by bridge) and then absolutely smothered it in flowers.

But anyways... This is primarily where Diana & Amoré grew up together in their decade of backstory ✨

There was probably waaaay to much back & forth trying to keep the continuity between stuff I've already drawn & this big reference. But I think it turned out pretty ok? Not like if I make a mistake anyone will really know lol.

Scaling was also another big issue I had, & I moments where I thought something was too big I just kinda handwaved it away like "ehhhhh she's from a stupid rich family." But now I have a NEED to draw baby Diana & Amoré around like, the statue gardens or something cuz I feel like certain parts of this place are definitely ominous 👀 especially for children...

And lastly we have the back cover & the High Noble political relationship map! I normally have this closer to the front but for layout purposes it'll be here. I kinda feel like I need to do more for the decoration of it but I can’t think of anything else to add at the moment.

Sam if u read that no you didn't.

But now! Other than a family portrait that I've always wanted to draw, I think I'm ready to move onto the art for Season 1 : Arc 2. It's a pretty hefty amount of art in comparison to others, so I gotta get busy. Especially since I think I'm gonna have to draw a few comics *sobs*

If you made it this far, thanks so much for reading! I'm always excited to talk out our little idiots so thanks for indulging me ❀(*´▽`*)❀

#duo rong #dungeons and dragons #dnd character scrapbook #duo chronicles #amore bellridge #diana blackthorn if you squint #dnd #dnd character #dnd pc #dnd oc #character creation #character study(?) #dnd backstory #season 1 #dnd art #dnd campaign #campaign art

[slasher-sweetie]

hello ! it’s very nice to meet you ! i use they/she pronouns ! and i’d like to request a match up, please :]

let’s see,, my appearance,, (going off a list or else i’ll just start rambling!) i’m 5’3, and slender, i’ve been told my eyes are very doll-like in terms of their roundness and the size of my iris (and they’re super dark!) pfft. my hair is dark brown and styled into a wolfcut which is so fun bc i like to curl the side lengths inward ! my aesthetic varies from wearing an oversized horror movie shirt with some baggy pants w my doc martens) think street style or grunge ! ) but lately i’ve been gravitating more towards earth tones and whatnot ! that comforting grandpa aesthetic if that makes sense? but i still dress very much in corsets and grays and blacks from time to time ! a lot of layered necklaces and rings too !

my hobbies include consuming large amounts of media and just adoring the hell out of it. i adore literature and film, i love dissecting the hell out of them and seeing the layers that make it become one great big thing. no matter how small it is, i’ll find myself completely enamored without the idea of the book or film and get excited over that detail. i also really enjoy writing ! most of my writings are emotional pieces as i use them in order to vent out any emotions that i might be experiencing ! i also enjoy art, though i haven’t had much time for it lately ! i’ve been studying towards a sociology degree of lately and just finished my first year at college ! (yay!) i really enjoy things like eating in the garden, walks in woods, art museums, cafes, movie nights, and just in general very comforting and warm environments like those that these things provide! :]

for my personality, hm. i’ve always really connected with the description of infp and get it every time i get any sort of personality test, so let’s go with that ! i’m a very introverted person as well as sensitive, and i feel as though i feel strongly in tune with my emotions as well as others. i really enjoy doing stuff with my friends that doesn’t involve very large crowds, those make me very anxious, ah. i’d like to say that my humor is a bit on the more on the dry humor, or just me being on my general daily fuckery. if i was a genre i’d be something like The Yellow Wallpaper, Possession (1981), type of thing. unfiltered female emotion has never looked so sexy /j

random fact about me: today i will deny god’s will.

thank you so so much for doing this in advance ! i hope that you’re doing well !

So, just from your ask, I immediately knew who you'd be perfect for, and that is Stu Macher, otherwise known as ½ of the OG Ghost Face. Your brand of chaos matches his to perfection, and the two of you get along like a house on fire.

You sat snuggled up with your boyfriend, watching the third horror movie of the night, The Thing. Every time a particularly gruesome death took place, the room was filled with Stu's laughter. It was hard not to enjoy the movie when you saw how happy it made him. It was why the two of you spent most of your nights like this, attached at the hip, snacking on popcorn and candy, and watching as many horror movies as possible before you could no longer keep your eyes open.

Just as the two of you were coming to the part of the movie where you knew the guy's chest was going to break open and chomp down on the hands of his unsuspecting coworker, Stu let out a cry of glee, thoroughly enjoying the gory imagery.

He turned to you, the dimples in his cheek popping with his signature grin, "Sorry babe, that's my favorite part."

You rolled your eyes affectionately, "Don't apologize, silly. I love your reactions. You're really cute."

"You're really cute, too," he told you, leaning forward to place a noisy kiss on the tip of your nose, "It's why we're perfect together."

He pulled you back against his chest, laughing as someone else met an untimely demise. In moments like this, you couldn't help but agree with him. The two of you were perfect together.

#slashers #slasher x reader #slasher x you #horror #horror movies #stu matcher x reader #stu macher #scream #matchups #asks are always appreciated

[itsoktocallmegay]

(Redo of my entry post, will edit and re-edit when I feel like it.)

Name Collection: June/Penny/Hunter/Moth/Gabriel/Trixie/Ace/Aro/Peachie/Pear/Sapphy/Sky/Tempest/Luna/Sunny/Celeste (This isn't my full collection, just what I'm most comfortable sharing. Know this will be forever changing, but I will try to update it when I can. I'm trying these out, so please bear with me here.)

Pronouns: He/They/Xe/Fae/Doe/Fawn/Pup/Cat/Bun/Crow/Star/Cloud/Luna/Night-Nocturne/Pear/Peach/Honey/Rose/Aro/Ace/Imp/Moo/Berry/Shark/Void/Chaos

Preferred Terms: My preferred honorifics are Mx. (pronounced mix) and Mistrum. I am most comfortable being called Boy/Girl/Enbian/Xenbian. I prefer not to be called Dude or Bro. Calling me A dude is ok, it just feels different for me.

Alterhuman: I am questioning whether I’m Alterhuman in some way but am having trouble finding info on alterhuman identities that aren’t Therian and Otherkin. Currently I identify as demihuman and Copinglink. Personally, I feel that a lot of my relation to being alterhuman is trauma related, but I’ve always felt a connection to being nonhuman from a young age, so it’s hard to pinpoint where one begins and the other ends. I do experience species dysphoria on some level, I think, and I do identify with some aldernic terms that my dysphoria relates to. I am still new to alterhuman identities and other labels related to that, so this is subject to a lot of possible updates in the future. I’m not sure if I want to keep up with my alterhuman identities on here.

Gender: I currently identify as Rozurfluid, Genderfloren, Genderslyphen, and Fluidflux for the most part. I am usually multigendered and ID with the term boygirl as well. I am more comfortable IDing as a Nonbinary Boy and Nonbinary Girl than using the terms Man or Woman for myself. I do consider myself on the Agender spectrum and identify a lot of my girl-aligned genders with being more agender-aligned. I have been considering using the term Gxrl for that reason. My boy-aligned and girl-aligned genders do not always feel masc or fem-aligned in the typical ways, and I feel like a fem-aligned boy and a masc-aligned girl usually. I usually ID as a Rosboy and an Azurgirl at the same time. I am also Aprogenderspec and at times feel full of gender but removed from most other gender alignments. This could fall under Anonbinary, as well as my xenogenders, but I am exploring that label a bit more before I fully identify with it. I also collect a lot of xenogenders but will not be keeping up with those on here. I typically consider myself to be androgynous in some way, shape, or form since I feel a weird mixture of genders, lack of gender, and fem/masc-alignments at the same time (the exact mixture changes sometimes also.) My NDs do affect my gender a lot, so I do ID as Nuerogender as well. This also goes into why I ID as Traitblur, being that my personality also affects my genders a lot (most specifically my xenogenders.) I am considering identifying as abrogender as well because I relate to the term a lot, but either way, I will still identify with the other terms I have been identifying with.

Mspec Orietation: I am Mspec and ID as both Bi and Pan because I feel a connection to both terms personally. I am a questioning Abrospec as well and am still trying to figure out that part of myself atm. Because of my multigenderedness, I ID with the terms DiamSapphillean, Achilligirl/Turigirl, and Sapphboy as well.

AroAcespec Orientation: I am on the Aspectrum and am a Partnering, Heartless Romo Arolovic AroAce. I am Romo favorable, Sex Ambivalent, Touch Ambivalent, Platonic Ambivalent/Favorable, and QPL favorable. I Also ID as a Grey-AroAce/Angled AroAce/AroAcespec and do experience some romantic and sexual attraction, though neither are typical attraction and are very hard for me to discern from platonic or aesthetic attraction, etc. at times. My relationship with attraction is very complicated, so I mostly ID as AroAcefucked-weird. I am also AroAceflux and both fluctuate between Aspec identities and from Allospec to Aspec (I am not sure I ever feel fully Allo however.) At times I feel DemiAroAce or ReciproAroAce and do consider myself on those spectrum at times. I ID as CupioAroAce and BambiSapphic AroAce as well.

Tertiary Orientations: I am still questioning on most of my tertiary attractions, but I have been thinking more about it lately. Currently I ID as Pan-Platonic/Pan-QPL but am questioning Omni-Platonic/QPL as well. I also ID as Pan-Aesthetic. I am also questioning whether I am on the Aplatonic Spectrum as well because I have a complicated relationship with the platonic attraction and referring to others as my “friends.” Atm I am questioning if I am Demiplatonic or ReciproPlatonic or Aplatonicflux? I mostly ID as Pan/Omni Sensual (I’m still questioning on which one,) but I do think I’m on the Asensual spectrum. I feel like I mostly fluctuate between Orhcidsensual/Cupiosensual/Demisensual/Asensualflux?

Relashionship Orientation: I ID with relationship orientations more than lifestyle, and I will admit that I have little relationship experience outside of my current one and have never had multiple partners before, so my polyam orientation is mostly in theory and still have a lot of things to sort out life-wise. I currently ID as Ambiamflux and PolyAffectionate. I am open to QPRs and am considering being open to other relationship types like Soft Romo relationships or Waverships.

Disabilities: I am not sure how many physical disabilities and neurodivergencies I have, but I will list these: Autism, ADHD, OCD(idk what types,) Severe Generalized Anxiety(I don't remember if Social Anxiety is a diagnosis,) and Depression, and multiple Phobias(phobias like thalassophobia for example, I'm not going to list all of my phobias.) I also have 8+ Allergies, including food allergies, Polyarthritis, TMJ, and PMDD. I also have Parasomnia. I'm not sure what exact sleep disorder I have, but based off of my symptoms, I definitely have one. There are other disorders I am trying to figure out if I have them or not, but I am unable currently. I was not properly informed about my diagnosis and was diagnosed young for some of these, so I do not know exactly what I have and may also have undiagnosed disorders.

Credit for my profile pic: https://potato-lord-but-not.tumblr.com/

Link to Picrew I used for my profile pic: https://picrew.me/en/image_maker/1473879

#intro post #long post #text post #redo of intro post #lgbtq #my pronouns #name collection #label collection #my orientations #my genders #pinned post #my identity is complicated and forever changing so please don’t expect consistency here

[myastrotarot]

I did a zodiac spread a week ago for this Libra season and have been contemplating on it for a while to figure out what it could mean. And I had some revelations on how each card I pulled that spread could be related to planet placements in my natal chart. 

House 1: The Devil. Acceptance of the shadow side of myself. As a rising Taurus, I’ve realized I struggle with the Taurus - Scorpio polarity (Scorpio is the opposite and therefore shadow side). I also have Pluto here, right in the seventh house. I always thought this was only about other people and my relationship to them, but I’ve come to realize this can also be about me. What are the things I hide away from others that I haven’t quite accepted of myself. It’s easy for me to hide these things away (I have a lot of Capricorn energy in my chart, so everything is about having a professional appearance and being in control). One thing I can relate this is the sacrifices I have to make to achieve a greater sense of comfort. These sacrifices (mostly in financial terms) tend to bring up repressed emotions that I don’t want to deal with. I thought this should relate more to house 2, but the more I sit with this, the more I realize this could be house 1 related specifically for my chart. 

House 2: king of cups. Emotional and mental balance, in least in my material possessions. My sun is sextile my moon, so my emotions and intellect or “soul desires” are pretty much aligned. Having house 2 in Gemini means I value intellectual pursuits and exchanges. If I bring something into my possessions, it’s something I really want and give great value to. Also having sun in Aquarius and moon in Aries means I generally have no problem striving for what I want (unless my sense of comfort and financial stability comes into factor. See house 1). 

House 3: strength reversed. When it comes to my thoughts and communication, there’s a fear of being vulnerable. I have no problem speaking my mind. But when it comes to certain topics dear to me, there’s a sense of vulnerability there. Astrology and spiritual topics are one of them. This makes me think of my moon in house 12. House 12 is the place where we hide certain things away from others, where we sweep things under the rug. I don’t wear my emotions on my sleeves and am slow at opening up to others. Again there’s that sense of feeling vulnerable and not stepping into my strength when it comes to communicating with others. It’s something I’m trying to get better at. 

House 4: lovers. This card to me symbolized balance in my home life and private affairs. Although I feel a bit stressed at times, home is where I feel most balanced and will clean up any chaos. This also seems to be related to cancer ruling my fourth house and my Jupiter being in this sign as well. 

House 5: hermit. Silence and contemplation is how I seek pleasure in my world. Which seems true for the moment, hence why I’m making this blog. Also this seems to correspond with my house 12 Aries moon. I do like exploring new aspects of spirituality. This is probably why I study tarot and astrology. Because it’s esoteric but also has a lot of information that can be studied because both are so old. If I was still Christian, I would probably study much of the historical aspect of the religion and how the Bible was constructed. It’s fascinating to me. 

House 6: page of pentacles. Diligence and a dedication to new adventures. I feel like this is related to my Saturn and Mars in Capricorn. There’s a sense of responsibility to my life but also if I want to explore something (both of these planets are in my 9th house). But this is the house of service to others and this could be a sign of being a hard worker. At least that may be the focus in this month’s regard. 

House 7: queen of pentacles. Luxurious, practical, resourceful. Seems to be related to my Venus in Capricorn since that feels sophisticated. Yes I can be shy in love but there is an urge to be refined and to like aesthetics that seem of the past. Perhaps when it comes to relationships this is why I’m drawn to men who can dress well and have an air of confidence to them. 

House 8: Ace of swords. Breakthrough ideas, having clarity and seeking truth. House 8 is all about change and transformation. This seems to be related to my Jupiter in cancer, at least in my third house (my house 8 is empty). I had to think about this one for a minute, but I do seem to always have new ideas even if I can’t act on them right away. I’m always seeking truth and clarity in everyday life. Embracing change is a part of life. 

House 9: Six of Pentacles. Giving and receiving, compassion and generosity, understanding. This is the house of ideology and philosophy, and this one again seems related to my Jupiter in Cancer. This placement is all about nurturing and wisdom, about learning at least on an emotional level. Again it’s in my third house, so I value exchanging information when seeking wisdom. Knowledge is power. 

House 10: eight of swords reversed. Freedom from pain, choosing to seek the truth. This seems related to my Neptune in Capricorn, as this placement dissolves whatever restrictions that have been placed on us. It also makes me think of my Uranus in Capricorn, which seeks freedom from those same restrictions. So again this is geared towards both freedom and creativity, but in a big way. The fact that I am striving for a creative career not bound by time and location proves this (content creation and author). 

House 11: ten of wands. Feeling overburdened and taking on too much. This is definitely related to my Saturn in Capricorn, right on my midline (midheaven).  This is why I’m such a hard worker and dedicated to work. But of course, I can take on too much and be so focused that I forget about other areas of life. So this will be a constant struggle. In regards to community, I think this is related to me saying yes to projects friends want me to be apart of, but that I feel are too taxing for me. I can definitely think of one upcoming project I wish I had said no to. 

House 12: two of swords. Procrastination, scared to choose. I feel this is related to my Moon square Mercury. This represents a tension between my heart (desires) and my mind. Constantly questioning what’s right and what decision to take. When I was younger, I constantly questioned myself if I was doing the right thing. I’ve since learned to not be so scared to make a decision and see where it leads. But lately I’ve been questioning big changes again. Should I move in this direction or should I wait? Seems like I need to go ahead and just make a decision. 

This is a lot of information so I’ll see themes come up and placements to focus on. 

#monthly tarot reading

[pxppxrminty]

Hi!! Can I please get a matchup for stranger things, both eras of Harry Potter and lotr please? I'm a straight female and my pronouns are she/her

Physical description - I'm 5'9 and I have long and curly dark brown hair and brown eyes. I have a fair skin tone, I'm slim and I've got full lips and slight dark circles under my eyes. I dress mostly in relaxed suits, blazers and coats and I love the occasional dress or sweaters layered over a white button down! I think my aesthetic is dark academia with a little bit of 90s mixed in?

Hobbies/likes - I love reading, my favorite genres are poetry, Russian lit, and mysteries! I love learning about new things and knowing a little bit of everything, I'm very interested in psychology, history, mythology and folklore, and fashion! I adore adventures, witty and playful banter, joking around and having indepth discussions on anything and everything! I adore all forms of art and I have quite a few creative hobbies! I listen to a lot of modern/indie rock and I love watching psychological thrillers and romcoms.

Personality description - It takes me a while to feel comfortable around new people but once I do, I become really talkative and outgoing. I love helping out and I'm the therapist friend, people come to me to vent or for advice and comfort. I'm smart and ambitious; I love being the best at everything I do. I sometimes struggle with the hardwork and conviction needed to get there though, and I'm deathly afraid of failure and disappointing the people I love. I'm quite the hopeless romantic and I love being in love! I also daydream a lot and I can get lost in my own world for hours. I can be quite dramatic and stubborn and I tend to be withdrawn and distant at times. I get frustrated easily and I'm quietly competitive. My love languages are quality time (receiving) and acts of service (giving)

Thank you very much!! I hope you have a wonderful day 🌟

Hiiii! Thank you so much for this request!! I’m so so sorry it took me so long to get to this! I’ve been dealing with some stuff offline, but I’m back now and I hope this will suffice!

I’d match you with SAM!

— Oh my gosh, he would adore you so much!

— I feel like at first he’d be super shy about showing you off and stuff but really he loves bragging about you to the others

— your guys’ matched stubbornness and determination can either cause friction or be a powerful asset against whatever you’re up against

— he’s always checking up on you and making sure you aren’t overwhelming yourself with work or with other people’s problems

— I definitely think he’s got a garden or something where he’d take you to relax if you’ve been over stressed

— he’d also be such a good listener

— if you took up gardening, he’d be ecstatic

— I mean little hobbit boi would be thrilled that he can share something he’s passionate about with someone he’s passionate about

— ugh cuteness overload

I’d match you with REMUS!

— ok my academic-rivals-to-lovers senses are tingling

— ok ok it’s cliche sure

— but c’mon

— once you both realize that you like each other, you stop fighting over O.W.L. practice exam scores and instead help each other study

— now that doesn’t mean you guys don’t stop being academic rivals, just more tame

— the Marauders had definitely teased Remus about liking you for ages before he got fed up and just asked you out

— now you just kinda got absorbed into the Marauders

— I feel like you guys are that couple that just like cuddle and read books together that every book nerd is envious of

— Hogsmeade dates are a must

— when you found out that he was a werewolf he was terrified you would shun him or break up with him

— when you assured him that you wouldn’t and that you weren’t terrified or disgusted by him he was so relieved

— he definitely fell in love with you then

I’d match you with FRED!

— Oh dear lord the chaos he’d cause in your life

— he’s always playing pranks on you

— he also constantly tries to remind you to loosen up if your in a work slump

— despite his chaotic nature, he really would love you

— he’d be your number one supporter and make sure to encourage you in everything you do

— And I mean everything

— he’s also definitely going to be big on pda

— constantly has an arm around you

— kisses all the time

— he also always knows what to do to engage you in a deep discussion

— like please he loves listening to you ramble

— so sometimes he comes over to you with a really bizarre or obscure question either about what you’re reading or about mythology

— just so he can hear you rant about it

I’d match you with STEVE!

— I feel like you two would have such like domestic old married couple vibes

— like he’d come home from dealing with the kids and he’s just like “let me tell you what those gremlins did today-“

— And then you’d have to unwind with a movie 

— if you come and visit him at work, trust, he will be trying to (and probably failing at) showing off for you

— Also, now you and Robin are besties because that’s just how it works

— he loves your style and always wants to go shopping with you

— also I’m 90% sure that playing with his hair is necessary

— He’s also going to encourage you no matter what

— “It’s not just you against the world, you’ve got me too”

#matchups #the lord of the rings #stranger things #harry potter #marauders

[familiar-wandering-fey]

baked po-tay-toes

one of the god-tier foods on the planet; fluffy, customizable, fairly easy/low-effort but can be given fancier jackets and warm and comforting.

I think that describes my core pretty well. A human-sized hobbit. I like sci-fi and fantasy of most types. I use my potato powers to play games of all kinds but I do have many favorite franchises and then just a lot of random things I’ve tried with friends (my avatar is a screencap from the Crusader Kings III loading screen that makes me laugh the most, the aesthetic is very, “I’ve had enough of your shit Eustace, come and say that to my face”). Keep reading for the deep dive, no promises on rambling. 

Call me Ashlynn, or Ash, I call myself Ash a lot. She/her/they, a millenial verging on that elder line, bi-pan romantic, agender femme comfortable (femme euphoria is *chef’s kiss*), demisexual riding my starship through the internet voids. 99.99% autist (self-dx, always trying to keep learning to make sure the brain gremlins stay somewhat contained *lolsob*at the even more likely audhd combo and the constant brainfight between Order and ~*chaos*~). Is that why we all love to hyperfocus on mythology? The eternal struggle between divine order and chaos?

Even now I’m reigning in the urge to get side-tracked when this was supposed to be straight-forward, a little fun ‘hello’ and now I want to write ten-thousand essays all at once. It’s why I tend to lurk (bringing it back). I’ve been on Tumblr a long-time and quit during the great banning of tiddies protest in whatever 20-year that was. I wasn’t super involved anyway. This was once a blog where I role-played as Marius from AR’s Vampire Chronicle’s. That used to be a huge pass-time of mine actually, text-based RPG’s on forums (anyone remember Avidgamers/Acornrack? That’s like the real deep cuts of forum-based rpg-ing and it was so cute and customizable in an early internet Myspace sort of way. I would say it’s collapse definitely taught me some deep lessons about retaining data/copies because it was literally there one day and gone the next with zero warning and just so many beautiful things and connections lost to the void). I really sympathize with (some) Twitter users and (most) Reddit users that either have already had that happen or are precariously on the verge of having that happen. Here’s hoping that Tumblr isn’t on the verge of tripping right when I was getting back to it.

I decided just to private the RPG posts, there aren’t that many it wasn’t really my main Tumblr blog at the time of the great logging out. The trend of Tumblr RPing was fun though, I don’t know if that’s still a thing people do actively or seek out but I guess I’ll find out. I think that’s enough to start, see ya’ out there.

#baked potatoes #musings of the fey wyld

[arcrootkill]

* // TAG DROP !

#* // ‘ they want to see me dead but i’m looking like a god ’ ( verse 001 ) #* // ‘ & all the kids cried out ; please stop you’re scaring me ’ ( verse 002 ) #* // ‘ we’ll be safe & sound when it all burns down ’ ( music ) #* // ‘ there is a circuit in my chest unconnected from the rest ’ ( aesthetics ) #* // ‘ if you think i’m pretty ; you should see me in a crown ’ ( visage ) #* // ‘ i’m meaner than my demons ; i’m bigger than these bones ’ ( body ) #* // ‘ nothing satiates me & i don’t think that i hate me ’ ( desires ) #* // ‘ you are part of the machine ; you are not a human being ’ ( headcanon ) #* // ‘ i can’t focus on what needs to get done ’ ( ooc ) #* // ‘ excited with my words but i’m nervous & i’m bored ’ ( ooc answered ) #* // ‘ already choking on my pride so there’s no use crying about it ’ ( answered ) #* // ‘ ‘cause I’m a stalker ; i’ve seen all of your posts ’ ( promo ) #* // ‘ cover me in concrete ; turn me into a street ’ ( selfpromo ) #* // ‘ you got your finger on the trigger ; but your trigger finger’s mine ’ ( memes ) #* // ‘ the danger is ; i’m dangerous & i might just tear you apart ’ ( verse 003 ) #* // ‘ i think there’s a flaw in my code ; these voices won’t leave me alone ’ ( study ) #* // ‘ don’t ask questions ; you don’t wanna know ’ ( musings ) #* // ‘ maybe i’ve always been more comfortable in chaos ’ ( attire )

[altcomics]

damn bitch, you live like this?

in defense of the poor bedroom (feb 2020) 

Ivan Johansson

Untitled (My bed), 2018. Meme.

the poor bedroom is a battleground of moral superficiality. it leaves your clothes reeking when you exit, sticks to your feet. melting the material and metaphysical artefacts of adolescence-adulthood transition together, eradicates distinguishability. it upsets comforts, distills, organises, entices, and depraves through its construing of lethargic middle class disidentification. it’s inherited through the quasi-poor bedrooms of the grown, functioning, hard working, depressed, balanced, disenfranchised, safe, unemployed, and rich who can no longer claim the poor bedroom.

Iku Nagae in a messy room, 2018. Posted to Funnyjunk by @greeeed.

the poor bedroom is rebelling against, not only its parents, but its maid. it’s re-gentrifying, nature-reinforcing, eco system-embracing, liquifying the fixed notions of precious and disposable, letting laziness cascade in utter refusal of home styling conformity. between days of dried plates, forgotten-about tea cups, face down books, entangled tights, chords, cash, personal letters, official documents, ripped packaging, torn pages, an undeniably assertive space is constructed. equally a signifier of neglect and detailed planning, the poor bedroom jumps out, startles its tourists and demands a negotiation of standards, values, levels of taste.

Instagram Posts, 2019. Dasha Nekrassova (@dash_cam).

the poor bedroom does not moralise over hygiene, discomfort, or 21st century allergenicity. it feeds off overtime, covered shifts, all nighters, and apathy hours. the poor bedroom devours every last bit of stressed essay writing, depression holes, single parents, and maraton ravers it can get its hands on. it is aware of its borders, there’s no poor bedroom in the home of a hoarder, but emphasises the potential limitlessness that it carries where its edges crumble. it whispers of the poor society, a thing that might have been but more importantly as an insurrection flickering on the horizon. by enhancing a chaos that is otherwise contextualised as a belonging of the past the poor bedroom, just like the dirty alley and the contents of a torn garbage bag spread all over the bus stop, scratches the varnish that envelops sociopolitical mechanisms, urging us to redefine our ethical relation to the neat and tidy. it tells us; i’ve been here all along, you did not use to despise me, and yet, we have ended up in this situation.

Otaku room pinned by @Rinji_Mifuzu on pinterest.

the poor bedroom is not an invention but an invitation. entering is considered, rather than an action taken for granted. furthermore the poor bedroom insists on that consideration being kept in motion by innovating technology through sloppiness, reformatting conventions of the home experience, and stripping the room of one's own bare from voyeuristic ideals leaving always-altering ruins of the everyday that passed just moments ago. and what bounty within those ruins, the poor bedroom offers us its treasures only through scavenging; fragments of a living in every kind of condition.

Shitty battlestation found on /r/shittybattlestations.

when the poor bedroom gets cleaned up it, in fact, does not die. it has no enemies. under current circumstances it cannot be destroyed, only transferred from one form to another. it respawns at any given checkpoint, it is always given another chance until it defeats the boss. it lurks in the walls, the air even, awaiting its next opportunity of expansion, like a parasite hangs on a strand of grass in anticipation of a passing by mammal to bite in to. the poor bedroom hits you and it feels like a kiss.

Tweet, 2017. @elotepreparado.

the poor bedroom is the success of the adolescent class. the poor bedroom is chaos, thus feminine, and its pubertal afflictions on the nuclear home is intimately tied to the young-girl. the poor bedroom is not featured on hoarders nor obsessive compulsive cleaners, since it manifests through passive strategizing rather than pathology. it needs not be saved, but recognized and dealt with as its discrete foundational ideological stances. the poor bedroom spreads, swallows bathrooms, closets, kitchens, it is the metamorphosis of the living space induced by a disavowal of norm-architectural structuring of ‘the room of one's own’. there is no negligence present in a poor bedroom, but precise and intricate re-distribution of order executed with warm care. the poor bedroom is shocking, merely in its upsetting radiance of love. the poor bedroom is skinny, fuck satisfactual lives. no soap is cut, no sand is squeezed, in the poor bedroom, without engendering an overcompensatory mess. the poor bedroom feeds on caffeine. it fears not konmari, for its inherited self-awareness of resilience.

Top: Domain (Still), 2006. Guthrie Lonergan. 

Bottom: Dorm Daze, 2011. Ed Fornieles in The Hangover Part II at Carlos Ishikawa, London.

the poor bedroom maneuvers skilfully through networks of aesthetic-conventional imperatives to successfully breach and dissolve coherent borders of dignity within the context of the home. the home at its fundamentals is questioned through the poor bedrooms mimicry of unsupervised alleys. the streets and the subway stations are the poor bedrooms allys. the poor bedroom is an ecosystem on which surveillance inflicts harm. the scar tissue of the poor bedrooms skin grows thick and resistant.

Instagram story, 2019. Anna Khachyian (@annakhachyian).

the poor bedroom does not only ‘bring joy’, it is the principle of joy, the condition for anything to bring joy, within contemporary childhood. during the incongruous infantilizing process of growing up in a world composed by roles that keep precarity and speculation as their ideological fundaments the poor bedrooms ability of recourse and sanctuary is perpetuated out of desperation, as a last nostalgic resort that persuades its own continuous re-establishment. the poor bedroom is allowed to hide, it conceals and contours in order to keep its process of rooting and rotting going during moments of mania and post-cum clarity.

SKEE, 2019. Bora Akinciturk and Iain Ball at Narrative Projects, London.

no space is as ideologically unbound as the poor bedroom, which in its anarchy disrupts neo-liberal facades and while maneuvering its compliant consumption – articulating a capitalist plea – boasting both puppy eyes and a contemptuous laugh in the face of whatever hegemony it comes across. don’t try anything in its presence, staring into these puppy eyes you will soon find its the predecessor to orwell’s big brother, but a reversed entity – blind as a bat, only peering inwards, structuring its chaos, engaging a mosh pit of commodities as a pastime. establish a new decadence, drink it in, let it enrich you.

Tweet, 2016. @og_pochahontas.

#Ivan Johansson

[doriana-gray-games]

✨ Some answers to your questions  ✨

First, I want to thank the people who have sent their support 💖 Thank you!

And now I will attempt to answer some of the questions that have come up:

What is the controversy I mentioned?

The controversy: https://northern-passage.tumblr.com/post/664690366870618112/ive-been-outspoken-against-cog-for-a-long-time. @northern-passage​ says it so much better than me. 

And https://evertidings.tumblr.com/post/664764708763631617/someone-mentioned-the-nft-disaster-what-is @evertidings​!

I feel, for me, the NFTs chaos is the straw that broke the camels back. There were other things, and there were fears about Twine that held me back—but after I've seen more of Twine lately, I now feel that Twine could truly make a game version that will be great! ( As long as there are no unforeseeable circumstances) . 

So, if you are on the fence, please stick around a little bit longer and at least try the Twine demo when/if it arrives :)

I don’t like Twine because X:

- I will work really hard to make an intuitive, user-friendly, readable, comfortable version that works on mobile (and on desktop, but that is less hard to do). I consider readability to be extremely important!

- There is no reason to expect there to be less choices or content with Twine, quite the opposite. And as far as I know, everything one can do with choicescript one can do with Twine. 

- When the game is still a demo, the game will be run through a browser on itch.com (probably). But once the game is done it might be possible to create an app with twine, for the people who want a downloadable copy running on phones.

-----------

Further pros:

I don't have to worry as much about keeping the vices safe for CoG rules—which probably means serious vice scenes (but fade to black will always be an option).

✨Aesthetic✨

I can make the puzzles, relationship, and hub systems that I always wanted to make 💖 I have some really fun ideas! 💖

Have a lovely day!

[nyasth3tic]

prompt: reader has a very soft and cute aesthetic, but is chaotic as hell requested by: anon! characters: Rantaro Amami, Celestia Ludenberg pronouns: they/them, reader is gender neutral warnings: one f-word because I’m a bad bad boy and swear at every second that I can, you pull out a knife, you also cause arson a/n: Anon this is big brain. I love this idea!! Had lots of fun with this one, thanks so much for requesting! <33 Sorry for making you wait, I’ve been feeling unmotivated for a while. ^^’ Either way, I hope you enjoy! 

CELESTIA:

Ok right off the bat, Celeste ADORES your aesthetic.

You two are so different and yet match so well?? It’s like you were meant to be!

You always borrow each other’s jewelry and clothing, especially if you’re into lolita fashion like she is. And if you also wear skirts, you’re constantly exchanging petticoats!!

She always found you attractive - both looks wise and in general! She couldn’t help but be drawn to you.

But when you pulled out a knife on someone who was making her uncomfortable once??

*will smith voice* ah that’s hot

After finding out how chaotic you are she embraces her own chaotic side. Now you two are hot and making it everyone else’s problem.

You two are literally on the same wavelength!! Both of you are a lot more than what meets the eye, and she finds so much comfort in knowing she’s not alone. She feels like you’re her other half. <33

RANTARO:

Oh my god he adores you what-

You’re so!! Precious!! He literally melts every time he sees you!!

He would literally never guess that you are this 🤏 close to causing arson on the daily.

And he’s either the voice of reason or goes along with your shenanigans and there is no in between.

He genuinely finds the fact that you’re a fucking chaos machine so funny- he loves seeing people’s reactions to you casually lighting a trashcan on fire HDG-

“S/O WHAT ARE YOU DOING”

“arson~!! o((*^▽^*))o💞💖🌸🌈 ”

While Rantaro just stands on the side sipping on a caprisun like “yup. That’s my pardner.”

He’s quick to jump in if he thinks you may get hurt, so he’s a bit protective, but other than that he doesn’t mind your vibes at all!!

You two are an unlikely ass duo but you get along super well! He feels like you bring a lot of Energy™ and Excitement™ into his life - the kind that, without you, he would never get to experience, even during his trips around the world.

And honestly, he wouldn’t have it any other way. <33

#pawing away ... 🌸 my writing #danganronpa x reader #danganronpa thh x reader #celestia ludenburg x reader #celestia x reader #celestia x reader hcs #celestia x reader headcanons #danganronpa v3 x reader #v3 x reader #rantaro amami x reader #rantaro x reader #rantaro x reader hcs #rantaro x reader headcanons

[lena-in-a-red-dress]

The Darkest Timeline, Part 9

Living with Andrea feels like slipping into a second skin. It's familiar, yet entirely foreign to Lena after the coziness of Kara's apartment. Andrea's condo is all bright lights and sharp lines, aesthetic over material comfort. Lena keeps her sunglasses on, swallowing against the onset of a migraine.

"Make yourself at home," Andrea offers. She peels off her coat and hangs it on the stand beside the door.

Lena hugs her bag of belongings to her chest. "I'm actually pretty tired..."

"Oh, of course. Sorry. Here, I'll show you the bedroom."

Lena follows her deeper into the condo, and breathes a sigh of relief when the bedroom proves to be dimmer. The second thing she notices is that the bed is unmade, a fact Andrea immediately tries to rectify by twitching the covers back into place.

"Yes, I'm still a slob," Andrea jokes. "I've got an extra pillow somewhere around here..."

Lena meets Andrea's gaze. "I can take the couch--"

"What? No! This bed is huge-- we'll both fit no problem." Andrea smiles. "It'll be fun. Like a sleepover."

Lena remembers their sleepovers, all giggles and limbs beneath the sheets. Lena remembers feeling carefree with Andrea in her corner. She remembers how deeply it had cut her to see her best friend wearing the medallion that bore the symbol of Acrata.

"I lost my memory," Lena blurts.

Andrea falls still, surprised by the revelation. When she stares, Lena rushes to fill the silence.

"Five years of it, roughly. So if there's anything I need to know, please-- tell me now."

In an instant, Andrea's features crease in concern. "So you don't... you don't remember selling me CatCo? Or-- Acrata?"

Lena's scowl deepens. "I remember you stealing the medallion and letting me believe that I had lost the last remnant of my mother, of that's what you mean."

"No, I mean..." Andrea trails off. In the end, she sighs. "Okay-- maybe you should sit down."

Lena sits on the edge of the bed and listens as Andrea tells her everything. From the deal she made in the temple to the powers granted to her by the medallion itself, how Leviathan said they would one day call on her, but never did.

Lena doesn't believe it at first, not until Andrea demonstrates by walking into one shadow and coming out of another on the far side of the room.

"You told me that if Leviathan ever did reach out to me, you would help me," Andrea finishes. She comes to sit next to Lena, hands folding in her lap.

Lena looks at her, then reaches out to take Andrea's hand in hers. "I don't remember making that promise," she says quietly. "But I will honor it."

Andrea looks at her with tear-filled eyes. Lena smiles. "You jump, I jump, remember?"

Laughing wetly, Andrea turns and wraps Lena in a long hug. "I've missed you, Lena," she whispers. "So much."

Later that night, Lena lies awake next to her best friend, fighting tears of her own. She doesn't carry the anger that she used to, for Andrea. But that doesn't keep her from wishing it was someone else sleeping next to her.

---

In the days that follow, Lena loses herself in learning everything she's forgotten. She digs into old news feeds, charting her move from Metropolis to National City at the behest of her brother. Though the information is tainted by the fact she knows this reality isn't how her story started, it does give her an unbiased glimpse into her own life. She watches any televised interview with herself that she can get her hands on, and with Andrea's ties to CatCo, there's a shocking amount of footage to wade through.

The version of herself on the screen is charming, quick-witted, and engaging-- everything Lena feels she is not. She learns of the charity and outreach initiatives she's helmed, the profits earned by LuthorCorp's expansion to the West Coast. Everything is clean and good, but Lena can't help but wonder how much of the truth she's still missing, how much of her life was kept from the public eye like Lex's has been.

"It doesn't feel real," Lena says to Andrea one night. They're folded up on their respective ends of Andrea's couch, each sipping on a glass of expensive Malbec. "It feels like someone else's life. Not mine."

"What would help it feel more like yours?" Andrea asks.

Lena doesn't expect the question, and doesn't have an answer to give. She shrugs. "I don't know."

"Well, what does feel real?"

"My memories. What I remember from Metropolis. My brother going insane."

She vividly remembers the light of that red sun, the bite of the plastic ties binding her to the chair as she watched the world descend into chaos. She remembers the thundering of her heart in the courtroom after, confessing to wearing a wire. She remembers the way Lex's head had finally lifted; he had expected her to cooperate with the authorities after his arrest-- he hadn't imagined she would take the initiative to work against him beforehand.

But none of that mattered. Not anymore. None of that had happened here, and not even Andrea could fathom the loss she felt, knowing she was adrift in a reality completely different from the one she remembered.

"It sounds like you need to make your own memories," Andrea comments, sipping her wine.

Lena scoffs. "Fat chance of that while Lex is gunning for me."

"Then we take the fight to him." Andrea's features are hard, solemn-- though she has no reason to suspect Lex's villainy, she takes Lena at her word. She always has.

Lena nods.

"I think I have an idea."

---

A plan starts to build. Andrea's dining table soon becomes Lena's workbench as she cobbles together anything she thinks could help. Within a few weeks, Lena has the how: all she needs is the when and where. Luring Lex to a secluded place would prove difficult without allowing him the chance to outleverage her.

Their timetable is forced to the forefront when Andrea comes barreling in the front door, her hair windswept and harried.

"We have a problem," Andrea says, shoving her phone in front of Lena.

Lena takes the phone and struggles to focus on the text window. It's a new contact channel, consisting of an image and a single text message.

"Time for us to have a chat, ace."

Enlarging the image, Lena can just make out the red and blue shape of Supergirl sprawled on a cement floor, unconscious.

Lena's heart starts to pound, making her vision pulse with every beat. As she stares at Kara's unmoving form, the phone buzzes in her hand. A new text message pops up, containing a set of coordinates.

Taking a deep breath, Lena sets the phone down. She swallows thickly against the bile in her throat.

"It's trap," Andrea tells her point blank.

Lena nods. A trap it certainly is, but that doesn't change the fact that Kara is in danger. Danger she helped create. She lifts her head, meeting Andrea's wide eyes with a steady gaze.

"I'm going."

#supercorp #darkest timeline #now whos in peril #dun dun dun!! #lena still needs a hug #dont matter who its from at this point

[alj4890]

I got an ask we know Riley gets kidnapped by Anton but what if Anton was in love with her and he didn’t wanna kill her but makes her his. What if Olivia killed Claudus for shooting drake.

I love the way you think, Nonny! I actually would have eaten this up with a spoon if that had happened in canon. To be honest, I really liked Justin in book 2. If he had been a new love interest, I would have done a play through just to see what happens if Riley chose him 🤦🏻 Of course then we find out he is behind all the bombings and such so...oops, LOL. When I first saw your request, I made an aesthetic with just Justin/Anton and Riley in mind. I completely forgot to add a definite OTP of mine, Drake and Olivia, to it. Smh. The story though will definitely include them along with Riley and Justin. I am so tempted to turn this into a series 🙊

@gkittylove99 @krsnlove @kingliam2019 @texaskitten30 @yourmajesty09 @mom2000aggie @ofpixelsandscribbles @twinkleallnight @lodberg  @amandablink @neotericthemis  @mm2305 @sfb123 @iufilms

Masterlist

True Intentions

It had happened when he had not been paying attention. It shouldn't have happened at all. He had one goal. One mission. Nothing had ever come to mean more to him than that. Nothing. No one.

Until Riley.

He knew he shouldn't have spent so much time with her. He shouldn't have helped Maxwell in picking the right dresses for her. He shouldn't have stuck around to see her come out of dressing rooms, an excited smile upon her face, as she twirled around for them to give their opinions.

It had taken all his will power to keep from telling her what he truly thought. Riley's beauty was simply stunning, not because of her outer loveliness, but more that he saw her inner beauty shining through each trial she faced. Her strength amazed him. Her wit brought a smile to his face. Her kindness touched his heart.

It made him begin to long for things he shouldn't. They shouldn't be a part of any dream or plan he had.

And yet...she was beginning to crop up in his thoughts. In his dreams.

In his plans.

He winced as he tried to get comfortable.

His plans hadn't exactly gone as he had hoped. In fact, he should have talked to his men and explained that Riley was not to be a target.

Thank God for Drake. If he hadn't jumped in front of her, she would have been taken from me.

His lips twisted in another painful grimace.

"Are you in pain?"

Justin looked up and tried to smile. "Just a little."

His nurse shook her head. "I told you to buzz before it got too bad." She gently checked his wound.

"I don't want to be a bother." He mumbled.

"You aren't." She patted his hand. "You aren't any trouble at all." Her nose wrinkled. "We had a few nobles cause unnecessary problems when the attack happened."

"Really?"

She rolled her eyes. "Some were knocked down during the chaos and demanded they be admitted."

He chuckled softly. "Sounds like something they would do."

"It's a shame that good people like you were seriously hurt while those spoiled nobles try and take all the attention." She readjusted his covers after administering some more pain medication in his IV. "I don't know why King Liam is so hellbent on bringing them back to court."

"What do you mean?" Justin tried to fight the effects of the pain medicine. "What's he doing?"

"He and Lady Riley are going on some type of tour to some of the major houses to personally invite them to their wedding."

His brow furrowed.

A unity tour. That would work on these small minded individuals. It was a smart move. The public were already Team Riam. Once the royal couple convinced the most powerful houses to come to their wedding, all the other minor lords and ladies would follow suit.

"Well played, Liam." Justin's eyes drooped closed. "Well played."

**************

He couldn't believe that they not only convinced Madeleine's entire family, but also somehow got all of Portavira on their side.

"What's the plan?" Claudius asked.

"We need something big to remind everyone that we aren't a one trick pony." Justin told him.

He looked out the window. Leaves were beginning to change with the first hints of autumn in the air.

A hint of a smile appeared as a plan began to form.

"It would be a shame if Cordonia's apple orchard had a bad year, wouldn't it?" He eyed his second in command.

Claudius chuckled. "It really would."

******************

Justin watched as every channel showed the devastation of the orchard near Applewood. He couldn't help but smile over Riley making the people love her even more for her righteous anger. Her promises to bring those responsible to justice along with making the orchard bigger than before made him nearly burst with pride.

She had grown into her role more so than he had ever imagined. Gone was the timid young waitress from New York who uttered no comment when reporters surrounded her. She was a confident woman now who could think on her feet.

Justin thought she was more attractive than the first time he had seen her floundering in front of the cameras, in desperate need of a hero. It hadn't been a bother to rush to her side then and put his arm around her. Her wide eyes had lifted to his and he had nearly melted from her beauty.

He still couldn't believe that she forgave Liam for choosing another over her. Granted Madeleine impressed him with how she could manipulate reporters into spinning a story to her advantage, but Riley was so many things that the cold countess was not. She deserved better than what she got.

And he planned on giving it to her.

*****************

A week after the orchard burning, he turned to see the one rarely far from his thoughts.

"Justin!" Riley rushed over to engulf him in a hug.

"How's my favorite media darling?" He asked.

She leaned back and gave him that smile that was brighter than flash bulbs. "Much better now that I know you're recovering." She playfully glanced about before whispering, "Save me from Madeleine!"

He laughed as he hugged her once more. "I don't know. I've seen her work and can't find fault with it."

Riley pouted. She linked her arm with his as they walked down the hospital hallway. "I prefer your guidance to hers." Her nose wrinkled. "It's weird being told how to act by Liam's former fiancée. I know there wasn't anything between them, but still."

Justin patted her hand. "Tell you what. If Madeleine is unable to do her job or you decide to fire her, then I will gladly step back into my old position." He dug around in his pocket for the earpiece she had used during Liam's engagement tour.

Her smile reappeared. "Old faithful."

"I'm always Just-in-time." He teased.

*****************

It had been too close. He hadn't expected Riley to go anywhere near Constantine. And there she was, by Liam's side, graciously accepting some necklace from the old man who had destroyed her initial happily ever after.

His heart had nearly stopped as he watched rubble fall around them. Riley had frozen in fear over Liam's safety. It was a nightmare come to life as pieces of the wall and ceiling began to collapse.

At least one good thing had come from this: one king was dead.

It sadly wasn't the king he needed to die.

Justin began to plan how he would comfort Riley once Liam was gone. He wouldn't have to tell her it was he, himself, who orchestrated his death. But he would make certain to enjoy the benefits of it.

His eyes narrowed over another slight problem he had.

He was going to have to kill his own wife too.

******************

Lythikos...

It had been almost too easy. Madeleine was already in need of a distraction after hearing Liam gush over how excited he was to marry Riley in a few weeks. Once she requested a fruity cocktail, he knew then that the poison could go undetected taste wise.

The bartender left to go replenish the champagne. Madeleine's irritation over having to wait on a refill was drawing attention.

"Here." He grinned at her. "Allow me to make you another."

Her eyes widened. "Aren't you that press secretary that helped Riley?"

"I am." He began to mix a strong cocktail for her while adding the poison, all right under her nose. "And I must say you are the best I've ever seen."

Madeleine's irritation disappeared over the compliment. "I am, aren't I?"

"Riley's lucky to have someone so knowledgeable in ways of both the court and public like you." He added.

"Yes, she is." Madeleine muttered. "I'll do anything for my country, even if it is a thankless job."

"You should be recognized for your sacrifice." Justin handed her the deadly drink.

"Yes, I should." She took a gulp.

"How is it?" He asked.

"It's the only good thing here." A tipsy grin appeared on her face when she saw Riley. She grasped Justin's hand and pulled him in her wake. "Let's go say, hi."

"Boooooo!" Madeleine giggled when Riley turned around. "It's the ghosts of press secretary past and present."

"The what now?" Riley lips trembled with suppressed laughter as she looked up at Justin for clarification.

"I'm the ghost of press secretary past." He winked at her.

"OoooOooo!" Madeleine swayed where she stood.

"Whoa, there." Riley tried to steady her. "You okay?"

"She's had a little too much." Justin mimed drinking.

"It's a party!" Madeleine slurred. "It's in the worst place ever but it's a party and I'm going to...going to..."

"Enjoy it?" Riley offered.

"Extractly!" Madeleine's brow wrinkled over that not being the right word. "Expactly?"

"Exactly." Justin corrected.

"That."

The crowd quieted around them when Olivia took the stage to offer a final toast of the evening to Liam and Riley's wedding.

"Woo!" Madeleine cheered.

Riley and Justin tried to shush her.

Her giddy smile fell as her rosy cheeks drained of color. "Somefing's not..."

"Madeleine?" Riley lost her grip on her when she swayed violently to the right. "What's--"

Madeleine hit a table, causing the plates to clatter and the vase of blood red roses to fall over.

"I hate this place." She collapsed on the floor.

"Madeleine!" Riley dropped to her knees and tried to bring her to. "Liam! Mara! Come quick!"

Justin stepped back as the two came to see what was wrong. He watched as Olivia made her way through the crowd to find out what the all the fuss was about.

"What's wrong with her?" Riley asked.

"She's been poisoned." Mara whispered.

*******************

Justin loved seeing the delighted surprise once more on Riley's face when he said he would take over Madeleine's duties for the rest of the tour. It would have been a perfect moment if Liam had not been standing there. He was ashamed to think of his nearly giving himself away when he panicked at the sight of Olivia walking in behind him.

He wished Lucretia would quit trying to push Olivia into going into the family vault. She had a sick sense of humor in wanting her niece to discover she was already married. For some reason, she did not approve of the way her niece depended on her friends for support.

Justin knew the power friends could have. Had he not been trained by his own parents' friends, he wouldn't be the worthy man next in line to the throne. His comradery with his own men inspired their loyalty and willingness to die to make him king.

He needed to distance himself from Lucretia the moment they got out of Lythikos.

****************

She was supposed to come alone! Why did she bring Riley? I can't kill her. I need her. I deserve to have a choice in the one I want ruling by my side. The people already adore her, much more so than they admire Olivia. I was supposed to become free of this marriage. Once she and Liam are dead, I'll be able to be king and have--

"Justin?" Riley's eyes were clouded with confusion as she looked first at a picture of him dressed in a royal uniform. "What is this?"

"I'm sorry, Riley." His voice cracked on her name.

Justin reached in his pocket and pulled out a revolver.

Lucretia cackled with glee as she told her niece the truth about her marriage.

Justin stood there silently as the woman he loved shook her head in denial.

She's so incredibly sweet to doubt a friend could be the bad guy. I hate that I can't pull her away from all this and simply explain why I should be the ruler of Cordonia. I deserve it. I worked for it. My entire life was made for me to take the crown. She would be able to understand that. Look how far she's come in her own life. Who could imagine a waitress from some dive bar in America would come to be the next queen of a small European nation?

"Do it already!" Lucretia hissed. "Shoot her!"

He couldn't do it. Even as he held the gun steady, pointed directly at the woman he loved's heart, he couldn't shoot Riley.

"Get away from her!" Liam ordered.

Justin spun around to see the king and guards filling up the narrow passageway.

"I thought you said this was secure." Justin snapped at Lucretia.

"It was." She held her hands up in surrender.

Justin watched as she stepped forward, pretending to stumble.

His eyes widened as once again his love was trapped within a collapsing room.

He managed to see her safely end up in Liam's arms before escaping through a hidden passage.

He left Lucretia to the guards. She had served her purpose and was sadly of no use to him any longer. Now he could plan what he truly wanted to happen.

*******************

Liam and Riley's wedding day...

"I don't care who you kill. Olivia and Riley are to be taken alive." Justin told the small team of men he was sending in. "If you have to wound them to get them here, make certain Riley's is non life threatening.

He ignored the questioning look Claudius sent his way.

"Bring them both to our stronghold." His eyes narrowed. "Do not fail me."

****************

Later that night...

"Good work." Justin straightened his jacket. He wanted to look his best when he saw Riley again.

Claudius smirked at him. "Just think of all the men we would still have if you had let me go alone."

Justin chuckled. "True, but at least we are free of our weakest links." He smoothed his hair back. "Now take me to our guests."

***************

"I know the real Justin is somewhere in there." Riley leaned as far forward as her bindings allowed. "You helped me gain the love of the people. You know that if you kill me, the people will not readily accept you as king."

He couldn't help but smile. "I know and that is why I don't intend to hurt you."

"Then why kidnap us?" Olivia demanded.

He turned toward her. "If I'm to be king, then I have to take the necessary steps to claim the throne." He motioned for Claudius to come in.

"You're the one who shot Drake!" Olivia shouted, struggling against the ropes biting into her tender skin. "You'll regret that."

"And you tried to kill me!" Riley added, narrowing her eyes.

"That was a mistake." Justin quickly said. "You were never to be harmed."

"Then why all the attempts?" She asked. "Why do you persist in--"

"You weren't supposed to be here, Riley." He knelt down in front of her. "You should have stayed in New York until the time was right"

Her eyebrows drew together. "What are you talking about.

Justin asked Claudius to remain with Olivia while he took Riley somewhere private.

"If you think for one second that I will remain with this man while you take her away go do only God knows what," Olivia's chair creaked at her straining to break free, "then you don't know what a Nevarkis is truly made of!"

Justine rolled his eyes over her rant as he untied Riley from her chair. He kept her ankles and wrists bound together. He swept her into his arms and carried her out.

Olivia's shouts were silenced by the sound of a hard slap.

Riley struggled in Justin's arms. "What did he do to her? OLIVIA?!" Tears streamed down her cheeks. "Justin, please don't--"

"Nothing's happened to her." He took her into a surprisingly clean, yet drab, sitting room.

Riley was dropped on a chaise lounge. She eyed the door then Justin.

"I'm not going to hurt you." He repeated. He gently cupped her cheek, fingers brushing along her jaw line. "I love you too much to ever harm you."

Riley stilled. She looked up at him. "You what?"

He knelt before her. "I'm in love with you. It didn't hit me until you told me you had accepted Liam's proposal on the train. I didn't plan it, but I refuse to hide my feelings any longer." He smiled at her. "You've proven yourself as the rightful Queen of Cordonia. Once Liam and Olivia are dead, you and I can rule this country as we see fit. We'll--"

Riley shook her head. "Justin," she believed he was deranged and knew she had to handle this carefully, "I'm flattered. Really I am. I mean, we both know I would never have gotten this far without you."

His smile grew at her realizing she owed him for her meteoric rise within the court.

"But if you kill Liam and Olivia, the people will not feel any love or loyalty for you." She tilted her head as she studied him. "Surely you see the problem with this plan."

"People respect power." He explained. "They respect someone who fights for what is rightfully his. Since my birth, I have been meant for something greater. My parents, Olivia's family, even my soldiers realized that I alone am worthy to rule over this country." He focused once more upon her. "And I've seen that you are the one to do so by my side."

Riley shook her head. "Justin, I am honored," her voice cracked on that lie, "to have your love but I can't accept it." Her eyes filled with tears. "I'm in love with Liam."

"Riley, he didn't choose you." Justin argued. "He left you on your own to fight against nobles, the press, even his own father. You deserve so much more than being an afterthought."

Tears slipped down her cheeks once more. "That wasn't what he did. He was trying to protect me. And I--"

He leaned down and kissed her.

She froze at the touch, refusing to participate.

"Once Liam's gone, you will see the truth." Justin promised.

"I won't." Her eyes narrowed. "As long as I live, I'll hate you with everything within me for taking him from me."

"You don't have it in you." He shook his head in amusement. "You've forgiven everyone. Olivia, Penelope, Madeleine, even Constantine. You never hold a grudge."

"You'll be my first." Riley vowed. "Liam is the love of my life. If you ruin my chance to finally be with him, I will never forgive you. As long as there is breath in my body, I will find a way to destroy you."

"You are amazing." He murmured, knowing she was speaking from her heart. He couldn't wait for that devotion to be for himself.

"Anton?"

The two turned to see Claudius in the doorway. "Liam should be here any moment."

Justin nodded and told him he would meet him and the rest of the men downstairs.

He lifted Riley in his arms and placed her back in the cell with Olivia.

His wife had the bruised imprint of Claudius's hand on her alabaster cheek. Blood had dried on her bottom lip. No tears had fallen from the force of the hit. Her left eye was bloodshot as she glared up at him.

"Liv?" Riley choked out. "Are you--"

"I'm fine." Her harsh answer echoed in the chamber. "It will take more than some two bit thug to hurt me." Her eyes did a quick scan to make certain Riley wasn't hurt.

"If you will excuse me, I have to go prepare for Liam's last night on earth." He retied Riley to her chair.

She threw her head back with all her might to connect with his face.

His glasses broke from the force of her strike. Blood poured out his nose as he stumbled away from her.

"Don't ever," his voice dropped to a hiss, "do that again, my love." He gripped her chin and jerked her face up toward his. "You will learn how to behave soon enough."

He slammed the cell door and left them alone.

"Did he hurt you?" Olivia whispered.

"No." Riley bit her bottom lip. "Not yet."

*****************

"Where is my wife?" Liam demanded.

Justin couldn't help but be impressed. The young king was standing before him, completely outnumbered, yet didn't show the slightest flicker of fear.

He asked the one question that he himself would have asked if Riley was taken from him.

"She is well." Justin replied. "Which is something I can't promise about your own well being."

"I want to see her." Liam bit out. "Now!"

Justin's chuckle was interrupted by a hastily whispered message from Claudius. His head jerked around to search the dim hallway as if doing so would reveal the missing prisoners.

How had they escaped?

"You don't get to make demands here." He snapped at Liam.

"Let Riley and Olivia go." Liam ordered. "And I will take their place." His eyes narrowed. "I know it is a temporary one."

Justin couldn't help but smile. The man was indeed brave to trade his life for Riley and Olivia's.

"No!" Riley screamed out from the stairs.

Chaos broke out as she led the charge to attack the Sons of the Earth. Justin watched as she ran over to protect Liam's back.

The couple were doing their utmost to protect the other from harm.

Their friends were taking his well trained soldiers out one by one. It was embarrassing to see how pitiful his men fought.

Olivia moved into his line of sight. Fury blazed across her delicate features.

"I'm impressed." He told her, unsheathing his sword. "I should have searched you myself."

"Trust me." Olivia circled him. "It will be the last mistake you'll ever make!"

She lunged at him. He easily parried her attack. "I think you've forgotten that it was your parents who gave me the same training you had."

"I think you talk too much!" She twirled about, bringing her daggers up to stop his sword from meeting her shoulder. He grunted from her heel piercing his leg as she pushed off to break his hold.

They continued to try and deliver punishing blows to the other. She was desperate to kill the man who was after her friends and country. He was anxious to be free of their marriage.

He noticed from the corner of his eye Claudius and Drake fighting. His second in command stunned the commoner with an uppercut to his jaw, causing Drake to stumble back into a wall.

Olivia heard the scuffle and followed Justin's line of sight. Her face paled at Claudius moving towards Drake to end him once and for all.

With a flick of her wrists she not only slashed Justin but threw her other dagger at Claudius. It struck true along the side of his neck, cutting into his jugular. He let out a garbled scream as he fell to the floor.

Justin hissed at the deep gash she had made along his ribcage.

Seeing that it was a lost battle, he hopped the banister and began to rush upstairs. He would have to go into hiding once more before orchestrating another attack.

"This ends now!" Riley yelled out at him.

He spun around to see both her and Liam rushing toward him. He raised his sword, determined to put an end to the man who stood between him and the throne. He hesitated when Riley jumped in front of her husband.

"You're not taking him from me!" She raised her battle ax. "Every time you try, I will stop you."

Does Liam know how lucky he is? She waited on him to choose her. Twice! And now she stands here, ready to defend him to the death. How could any man not fall in love with Riley?

His refusal to fight her was his downfall. He was pushed over the banister by the royal couple. While his breath was knocked out, Maxwell and Hana bound his hands together behind his back.

He looked about at his fallen and captured comrades. His attention was drawn toward Olivia and Drake. The pair were covered in blood and bruises, yet they were leaning against each other. Drake had his arm around her while softly speaking. Whatever was said caused Olivia to press even closer to his side. Her arms slipped around his waist. Her eyes were closed tight as she allowed him to hold her.

Justin had suspected something more between the pair. It looked like his coup for the throne had accomplished something for them.

Bastien and the rest of the King's Guards rushed in. After talking to the king and new queen, he collected Justin and hauled him outside.

On the way, Justin met Riley's eyes.

There were so many things he wanted to explain to her. He believed she would have been on board with his plans for the kingdom. Once he had killed Liam and Olivia, he would be the benevolent king the country needed. Gone would be the purpose for pompous nobles. He would have established a council of Cordonia's citizens from all walks of life to advise him. People would be rewarded and honored for their service instead of simply being born to the right parents.

And she would have been his queen, guiding and protecting all she deemed worthy.

"Riley, I..."

"You will never ever hurt those I love again." She hissed.

"Take him away." Liam ordered, keeping his arms locked around his wife. "He will be dealt with in the morning."

Justin knew then that it was pointless to try and explain. She would never give him a chance after all that had occurred.

For the first time in his life, he realized that his intentions didn't matter to the one he loved most.

#the royal romance #trr #choices #trr liam #liam x riley #drake x olivia #justin x riley #choices the royal romance

[whumpersdump]

Project Rebirth - CH4: Final Touches

Content! From Whumper’s POV. (They’ll get a title soon btw, I just haven’t decided on a name yet).

[ Previous ] -- [ Masterlist ]

TW: (None of these are graphic) Restraints / blink-and-you-miss it use of  “it” as a pronoun / dehuminization / non-con surgery (non-graphic, whumpee isn’t awake) / lab whump / pet whump / sedation / sensory deprivation (not from Whumpee’s POV) / brain-fiddling? (he talks of an implant that restricts basically everything from speaking to moving. It’s mentioned, not shown)

Everything is set for the first practical stage of Project Rebirth to begin. All that is need is some final surgical attention, and a last talk to Whumper’s new investors. Also no editing we die like Toby’s previous owner...

Whumper sat next to Subject One, like he had every moment of spare time in the past five days. The last two, they barely twitched a muscle. Of course this was in part because of the starvation, but it was nice to have achieved nonetheless. Even if would wear of. Their body may be still, but the occasional twitch, hitch of a breath, told him their mind was racing.

He already picked out a name for them. Their masterpiece, even if it would take nine months before he would see their frantic eyes again. Everything was prepared. Their nursery—which was a rather misleading name, but it fit the process, and the marketing—was almost done, the housing facility would be complete in three months.

Subject One was the only one who really needed to be in the container for the sake of the time that it would give Whumper, but the aspect fit the aesthetic his investors expected. It would be what kept the program running for decades to come.

Subject One shuddered. They’d gotten the message. He’d chosen one of his newly acquired sponsors to deliver it through the earpieces. Not because it needed to be. He could just as easily move, then sedate the subject. Make the chaos in their mind spike just before they’d awake in ominous calm. Comforting calm, though it would take a while for the subject to feel about in that way. They had nine months, it would be enough.

The sponsors needed to feel special anyway. Some of them could make perfect pets, the way they seemed to crave special attention. He could try it someday. With this Project, even they could be reborn.

He nodded at Toby. “Bring them to the surgeon. It’s time for stage 3.”

Toby exited the corner he’d been standing in for the past day. It was a test, to see how obedient he really was. So far, Whumper had been pleased. Sure, seeing pets shiver at the thought of accidentally moving a muscle without permission could be rewarding, but it didn’t bring the type of productivity he needed. Toby’s compliant personality, in combination with Whumper’s training, did.

Toby reached for the subject’s shoulder like he always did.

“Not anymore, Toby,” Whumper commanded. “No more touching of any kind. You can move them, tube and all.”

Toby obeyed. With precision, he took the hand truck out of place and rolled it over to the doors that opened to the medical wing. Subject One would feel this, but it wasn’t enough to skew the results. If anything, it could amplify the result he was looking for.

He followed behind Toby, but entered the door to the watching room instead of the OR like Toby did. That’s where his funding was waiting. He hated having to care about it, but money was simply necessary for him to scale up the Project. “Thank you for coming back,” he told the seven investors waiting for him. “As I’ve said before, most of the program is completely tailored to your pet and the pet you wish they become. That means, no program looks or feels the same. This part though, they all have in common.”

He guided their gazes down to the OR—where the surgeon had sedated the subject—and begun the procedure. Toby watched from his corner, as Whumper had told him to. This would be the only time he was allowed this close to a subject before Rebirth, so Whumper made sure he knew as much as possible. The pet didn’t lie. He used to, but his previous owner trained it out of him.

If he were to fulfill any purpose at all in the future, he would have to learn to. Knowing about the stages before meeting the Reborn subjects was a good way to teach them. After all, he’d be the one to truly push the subject’s minds over the edge.

The investors patiently waited for Whumper to explain what was happening. “The implant all subjects receive is what makes this project so realistic. Like a newborn child, they have to learn everything. Eating, speaking, resisting, if you want them to. All in an effort to recreate them into the pet they were always meant to be. Now of course, some of them have skills we do want them to keep. Take Toby down there, he’s a master on the piano. For each pet, the implant’s functions can be customized.”

One of the investors raised her hand. “What are your plans for this one then?” she asked. “Does it have anything worth keeping?”

Whumper smiled. “In a less dire situation, we might have chosen to keep certain parts of them, but as you’ve noticed this is not the average pet we’re talking about. They will be reborn a blank slate. The only thing any pets are allowed to keep is their understanding of language—so they can obey commands, and their ability form minimal amounts of coherent thought and memory. We’ve found that this process works best if to some extent, the pets are aware of the changes. A risk, I know, especially with this one, but it will prove efficient.”

He straightened his tie. “This one in particular has quite the mouth, and they tend to use a bit too much of what they hear against their trainers. For that reason, we’ve limited their access to their vocabulary a bit more than usual. They’ll be able to understand simple sentences, but we won’t have to worry about their natural perceptiveness.”

“What’s he doing to their eyes?” a second investor asked.

Whumper’s heart fluttered. He’d hoped they’d ask. “Those, are highly sophisticated remote-controlled lenses.” They weren’t necessary, they function was mostly aesthetical from the subject’s perspective. They helped make it all a bit more realistic on both sides, though.

“They don’t have to be removed, ever. Which is why we’re putting them in so early. They control the subject’s ability to see color, and light. Like them implant, we can control them from behind the scenes. They aren’t vital, but they smooth out the transition from the Rebirth into the following stages of the program.”

He glanced down into the OR, where the surgeon was finishing up, and the other staff had begun to prepare the subject for stage 4’s container. “I’m afraid that I can’t show you anymore at this point, so my staff can take on this challenge with as little distraction as possible. However I’m happy to answer as many of your questions as I can.”

Several hands shot up. Whumper smiled.

“What are they doing?” Was the first question.

Whumper gazed down. Four people were removing the restraints and the jacket, and outfitted the subject in the thin white suit that would help keep them healthy and alive throughout the following stage.

They connected the dozens of tubes and wires that would take care of everything they couldn’t handle from outside the container, as he called it. “I’m afraid this is another one of those trade secrets, but what I can tell you is that in spite of how it looks, this will make the pre-Birth stage as realistic as it can be.”

“What about these nurseries that your people kept going on about. I’m sure they’re important, but it all sounds a bit too… human for my taste. I prefer my pets are used to the necessary restraints and housing conditions, so to speak.”

Whumper nodded. He wasn’t surprised to hear this investor thought his standard approach too kind. She’d demanded her pets were kept muzzled and bound at the facility’s daycare, even though they were among the most compliant creatures he’d ever seen.

“As I said,” he answered. “Everything can be customized. This subject I believe, will gain more from approach that teaches them that as a placeable pet, they will be cared for as long they don’t resist. Should you trust us with your pets though, if we decide after the evaluation that another approach may achieve the desired results more efficiently, we’re prepared. We have nurseries of all kinds, and our staff is prepared to fulfill any role they need to play.”

That seemed to please them. Whumper turned to the last question.

“How long does this program take?”

“We have multiple options. The standard program Subject One will go through can take up to sixteen years starting at the Rebirth, with a minimum time of three years. Now of course, that is a long time for a pet to be away. We have two accelerated programs that last either a few months, or even just a few weeks. You’re free to choose, but after the evaluation we will provide you with a suggestion. Not all pets need the full experience. Especially if they’re not old enough to be placed, a longer program can harm the natural development.”

A frown formed on a few faces.

“I can see you’re worried about the results I’ve promised you. You won’t have to wait long. The program may be an intense procedure, but the results will start to show after just a few weeks. The rest of the Project is about making them last, so these—” He dangled the subject’s bright red collar in front of them— “will soon be no more than a reminder of what I’ve solved.”

Whumper clasped his hands. The subject was moved out of the OR, into the container hall. “I must go now. My assistant will be up shortly to escort you out. I should mention Toby’s not allowed to be too talkative around strangers, but he’s still learning. If he breaks any rules, please contact me. He doesn’t respond well to strangers punishing him, he’s a bit too loyal for that.”

Taglist (asks are open if you wanna be added or removed): @suspicious-whumping-egg

#whump #pet whump #non-con surgery tw #lab whump #Project Rebirth #Toby is next up #After that the 'creepy whumper' aspect is really going to start rolling #Also I should mention that 'pets' aren't just used as pets in this universe #Toby for example is a genuine lab assistant. Whumper doesn't care about pet beds and the like #There is a power dynamic and he longs to keep it in place. Period. #Doesn't mean he won't play the part though

[robininthelabyrinth]

i keep thinking about all the yiling patriarch!jiang cheng aus out there and it got me curious: what wild canon divergences would have to happen for it to be jiang yanli who becomes the yiling matriarch? (she doesn’t use a flute, she just asks politely probably) and what would be the eventual fallout of that?

It was Wei Wuxian’s idea, of course.

Jiang Yanli’s big didi was brilliant and talented beyond measure, as reckless and impertinent in his thoughts as he was in every other way, just as her little didi was earnest and soft-hearted and dutiful, the outlines of the serious man he’d become when he grew up just barely visible underneath the baby fat that still lingered in his cheeks.

It was Wei Wuxian’s idea, but it was Jiang Cheng that made Jiang Yanli decide to use it.

Both of her brothers got invitations to sit in on important sect meetings, as senior disciple and presumptive heir; Wei Wuxian apparently made good contributions during the meetings and forgot about them immediately afterwards, while Jiang Cheng listened intently and then worried for days.

“The Wen sect is becoming more and more of a threat,” Jiang Cheng told her late at night when she was making him something to settle his upset stomach – he was like a little bird, with anxiety enough to put him off his seed. “Mother and Father are fighting over how much they need to react, since technically they haven’t come into Yunmeng…”

“Technically?”

“We never signed agreements with those clans, but we’ve been all but responsible for them anyway.” He put his head down on the table, sighing. “What happens if they come here?”

“A-Xian says they won’t dare.”

“He’s just repeating what Father says. I don’t know. Maybe they don’t dare now, but – what if they do, one day?”

Jiang Yanli took after her father in most aspects, but she was still her mother’s daughter: while she comforted Jiang Cheng and told him not to worry, filled him up with warm soup and hugged him until he smiled again, the thought lingered. What if, indeed. Her brothers would need to fight, of course. Her two babies raising up swords against human beings instead of evil creatures; her mother would use Zidian, of course, and her father had his sword, and she –

Jiang Yanli was not un-self-aware. She was an indifferent cultivator, with below-average skills at the sword – good enough to pass basic muster, but not much more than that. Her talismans were about the same, decent but not inspiring, and she could only produce an average number before she exhausted her spiritual energy. She had a golden core, but it was weak, just like she was weak.

She wouldn’t be able to defend her home. To defend her brothers.

And there was nothing she could do about it –

That was when she remembered Wei Wuxian’s silly little idea, the one that had gotten him in so much trouble at the Cloud Recesses, that he’d told her all about in great detail when he’d returned home: to use resentful energy the way they used spiritual energy.

(“– and then poor Nie Huaisang said it would be helpful to someone like him, who formed his core later; he doesn’t have much spiritual energy, so he gets tired easily, but if it’s not his energy he’s using, he wouldn’t be held back by the limits of his own cultivation –”)

Jiang Yanli pursed her lips in thought.

Wei Wuxian had only sketched out the basic idea, without going forward to think of ways to implement the idea – after all, it was all well and good to say you could find a way to channel tremendous external energy into something usable, but another thing entirely to actually do it. It would be as tricky as catching lightning from the sky and using it as a whip.

In other words, it was time to ask her mother for help.

To say that Yu Ziyuan disapproved would be an understatement, but Jiang Yanli knew her mother well: she waited until the initial rant was completed and then pointed out, quietly, that she didn’t have any other means with which to defend herself – and that would leave her at the non-existent mercy of the Wen sect.

Her mother froze. “…I could give you Zidian,” she finally said, but from the expression on her face, even she knew that that wouldn’t work: Zidian required both a strong golden core and a certain knack, a talent that Jiang Cheng had and Jiang Yanli lacked; there had never been any question between the two of them as to who would inherit Zidian. “Or we could buy more talismans –”

“And when the talismans we buy run out? I can’t replenish them myself. But if we try my way, I won’t have to rely on A-Xian or A-Cheng – a-niang, just think about how I’d feel if they got hurt trying to save me! And all because I don’t have a knack for cultivating!”

Her mother sighed. “Fine,” she said. “I’ll help you figure out how it could work in practice, rather than in theory. But it’s only for emergencies, you understand? What you’re suggesting comes very close to demonic cultivation – if you use human-generated resentful energy, it is demonic cultivation – and using that too much damages the body, affects the temperament.”

“Just for emergencies,” Jiang Yanli promised.

“And don’t tell A-Cheng or Wei Wuxian about it,” her mother insisted. “Can you imagine the trouble those two would get into with something like this?”

Jiang Yanli covered her mouth to try to keep from giggling. “A-Xian would probably restyle himself to match the aesthetic – wearing Demon Cultivating Robes, under Demon Cultivating Hair, that he left in a pile on the Demon Cultivating Bed –”

“From which he rested on the Pillow of Evil, no doubt,” her mother agreed, looking amused despite herself. “And your brother would end up trying to keep a small legion of fierce corpses as pets because he felt too bad about sending them back into the earth after having used them.”

“He’d give them names,” Jiang Yanli said, giggling harder. “Princess, or Buttercup –”

“And he’d hide them very badly in a closet or something, too. Do you remember the nest of juvenile fisher hawks that he hid in the armory? They nearly fell on my head –”

“Of course I remember. You nearly stepped on poor little Cloudpuff.”

“Don’t remind me!”

They had two years to work on it, their own little mother-daughter bonding time – the boys ran away in mock fright at the mere suggestion of girly stuff – and Jiang Yanli felt that she and her mother had never been closer. They could even, for the first time, go on night-hunts together, Jiang Yanli summoning corpses with a crook of her finger and a gentle hum while her mother cut them down with her sword or with Zidian.

It was so much fun that Jiang Yanli almost forgot why they’d started it in the first place.

And then, very suddenly, it all became real.

Jiang Yanli was at Meishan, visiting her grandmother, when the Wen sect attacked, but word spread quickly – the Lotus Pier ravaged, the sect leader and his wife both dead, their children missing…

“We have to hide you at once,” her grandmother said after they’d passed through the first flush of grief, her face still wet with tears. “They’ll be coming here next –”

“You will tell them that I am not here,” Jiang Yanli said, and stood up, wiping her own eyes. “Because I won’t be. I’m going back to the Lotus Pier.”

“A-Li! If you do that, they’ll catch you – have you heard what the Wen sect does to female cultivators –”

“Mother and Father are dead at their hands,” Jiang Yanli said. “They must be avenged.”

“Your brother will do that! That boy, Wei Wuxian, he will –”

“I will not let them bear that burden alone,” Jiang Yanli said. “Keep everyone here safe for me, okay?”

She made it back just in time to see Jiang Cheng, her little A-Cheng, the baby she held in her tiny arms less than a shichen after he’d been born, the one she clothed and fed and cared for all these years, being dragged into the main hall by Wen sect cultivators, his face pale with fear.

Wen Chao was sitting in her father’s chair, playing with the sect’s discipline whip. “I’ve always wondered if this thing was as bad as they say. Let’s try it out on him,” he ordered, grinning lazily. “And then Wen Zhuliu can melt his golden core, and we can try it again – to see if there’s any difference in using it on a cultivator and on a regular person.”

Jiang Cheng didn’t plead for mercy, not even as they forced him down to kneel, even as his shoulders shook under their hands – Jiang Yanli turned her face away, nodded at the young Wen cultivator that had snuck her in this far (Wen Ning, she thought his name was), and raised her hands to do what she had to do.

The Wen sect had been lazy in the immediate aftermath of their victory: they hadn’t bothered to either bury or burn the corpses of her Jiang sect cultivators, her shidi and shimei, her martial aunts and uncles; they’d only tossed them outside into a giant pit to be dealt with later.

They were going to regret that.

“Jiejie!” Jiang Cheng cried out when he saw her rushing over to his side: he was bleeding, and badly, from the marks of the whip, but Wen Zhuliu hadn’t had a chance to destroy his core yet, having been distracted by the sight of the Violet Spider risen up from the dead in defiance of all soul-calming rituals.

(Jiang Yanli knew her mother well enough to know that she would forgive the use of her corpse if it resulted in her ripping out Wen Zhuliu’s core with her bare hands, using the elongated nails of a fierce corpse, a fearsome red-clad ghost dressed in purple. They would put her to rest later in the same coffin as her husband.)

“It’s okay, A-Cheng,” Jiang Yanli said, petting his hair. “It’s okay – jiejie’s here. I’ll keep you safe.”

Wen Ning ended up being the little brother of Wen Qing, who he somehow managed to summon – the famous doctor lived up to her reputation and didn’t so much as blink at being escorted into the main room by fierce corpses in order to care for Jiang Cheng’s wounds. Jiang Yanli was pretty sure that she’d seen her deliberately stepping on Wen Chao’s corpse on her way in, too, so she wasn’t worried.

“No one can know that I was involved,” Wen Qing said, finishing up stitching together Jiang Cheng’s chest and resetting his collarbone. He was out cold, and there were medicines that would work as painkillers for when he woke up. “I have to keep my family safe, too.”

“You were never here, this never happened,” Jiang Yanli agreed. “If you ever decide that the Wen sect is a losing proposition, come to me and I’ll remember this favor.”

Wen Qing eyed some of the fierce corpses standing as guards. “I’ll remember that.”

There was some yelling outside, a familiar voice. Jiang Yanli tilted her head to the side and smiled. “That’ll be A-Xian. He can help sneak you out of our borders without anyone the wiser – no one knows the ins and out of the Lotus Pier better than he does.”

She went out and found Wen Ning trying to talk down a wild-eyed Wei Wuxian, who apparently was on familiar terms with him. Not really a surprise: Wei Wuxian was friendly with everybody.

“A-Xian!” she called.

“Shijie?! What are you doing here? Are you okay – are you safe – did you see Jiang Cheng –”

“It’s okay,” she said. “All the bad Wens are dead; Wen Ning and his sister – and their subordinates – are helping us. A-Cheng is injured, but he’ll heal.”

Wei Wuxian sat down abruptly, all the tension in his body replaced by a mixture of relief and the remnants of his despair. “I only went away for a moment to get some food,” he said, and put his head in his hands. “I only looked away for a moment…”

Jiang Yanli sat next to him and wrapped her arms around him. “You did your best, A-Xian. That’s all that can be asked of you.”

“But – Madame Yu said –”

Jiang Yanli could guess what her mother had probably said.

“Of course you need to take care of A-Cheng,” she said, and let him bury his head in her shoulder. “He’s your didi, isn’t he? Just like he’s mine, and you’re mine, too; it’s our responsibility as older siblings to take care of the younger ones. He’s going to need our help a lot more now that he has to be sect leader.”

Wei Wuxian sniffled. “I told him I’d support him when he became sect leader – that we’d be the twin heroes of Yunmeng, just like the twin jades of the Lan sect. I just didn’t think…not so soon! And now there’s barely any Jiang sect left!”

“My little heroes,” Jiang Yanli said, and kissed his forehead. “It’ll be okay. The Wen sect may have attacked the Lotus Pier, but there are plenty of Jiang sect cultivators who weren’t here – we have them, and we can recruit more.”

He nodded, then paused. “Uh, shijie – a question.”

“Yes?”

“The fierce corpses everywhere…”

“We’ll need to lay them to rest after we’re done,” Jiang Yanli said firmly. Her mother had insisted on that: demonic cultivation encouraged bad tendencies, sloppiness, and the only way to deal with that degradation of spirit was with discipline and righteousness. If possible, she should prefer non-human spirits; human corpses could be used, but only to the degree necessary, and then they had to be laid to rest with honor, as they deserved – furthermore, if at all possible, they should only be summoned from those that would have willingly given up their bodies to help the endeavor in question, rather than using tormenting their spirits by using them against their friends and family.

Somehow, Jiang Yanli didn’t think there would be a problem finding victims of the Wen sect to help.

“But how did you do it?” Wei Wuxian wanted to know. “They listen to you –”

“I’m manipulating their resentful energy,” she explained. “Based on the idea you initially had at the Cloud Recesses – what? Don’t look at me like that, didi; I did tell you I thought it was a good idea.”

“But demonic cultivation is bad for you! It affects the temperament, the body, the heart…”

“Mother used to say that my temperament could probably stand to be a bit worse,” Jiang Yanli said, feeling her eyes go hot as tears threatened. She sniffed and wiped at her eyes. “Don’t worry, didi. We came up with a bunch of rules to try to make it easier and less harmful to use…I’m not a sword cultivator like you and A-Cheng; it’s not my strength. But I can do this, and I won’t be helpless against the Wen sect.”

Wei Wuxian hugged her, clearly terrified by the thought. “Never mind what I said. It’s a good idea.”

Jiang Yanli smiled. “I know. You’ll help me come up with more ways to use it, right? You and A-Cheng – you always did come up with the craziest things when you were together, even more than you alone.”

“Of course!” There was the Wei Wuxian she knew and loved: forgetting pain – or at least, putting it aside – as soon as he had something concrete to work on. “How do you do it? Music? I’d been thinking of using musical manipulation –”

“Sometimes I hum? Mostly it’s just willpower – sometimes gestures, like saluting. It works better if the resentful spirits feel appreciated.”

Wei Wuxian blinked at her. “Appreciated?”

“Everyone likes to feel appreciated, A-Xian.”

“I suppose so,” he said, then shook his head. “Whatever you say is right, shijie.”

“Of course she’s right,” Jiang Cheng croaked from inside the room – he’d stumbled over to the door, and both Wei Wuxian and Jiang Yanli immediately rushed over to help him back to his bed. “Jiejie’s always right…jiejie, what do we do next?”

“Don’t look at me!” she objected. “You’re sect leader; you decide. I’m just here to support you.”

Jiang Cheng nodded. “We have to fight back against the Wen sect,” he said. His voice was raspy with pain and the remnants of screaming: Wei Wuxian lifted a cup of tea to his lips at once. “The way the Nie sect is…the Lan sect, too; I think Father mentioned that Lan Wangji was doing a lot of travelling. Wei Wuxian, you got close to him when you were at the Xuanwu cave. Can you go find him? Tell him we need his help, and the help of any other sects he can help us recruit.”

Wei Wuxian nodded. “You sure you don’t need me here..?”

“There won’t be a ‘here’ if we don’t get people together, and fast – we killed one of Wen Ruohan’s sons. As soon as I’m better, I’m going to go find people for the Jiang sect, whether cultivators who weren’t here or new ones. And shijie…”

“What can I do?”

Jiang Cheng lifted his finger to point at the corpses, which he hadn’t even questioned. “We need more of those. A lot more of those. An army of them.”

Jiang Yanli frowned. “Where am I supposed to find an army worth of dead people? I was planning on picking up resentful souls of the Wen sect’s victims as we went, but that’ll be incremental, not an army…”

“Actually,” Wei Wuxian said. “I have an idea. Have you ever heard of the Burial Mounds in Yiling…?”

#mdzs #jiang yanli #madame yu #yu ziyuan #wei wuxian #jiang cheng #wen ning #wen qing #my fic #my fics #yes she just asks nicely #Anonymous

[rosethornewrites]

Fics I read this week!

MDZS/The Untamed, entirely. Including Tumblr fics here now, even if I shared them as well.

A lot of these are super short since I decided to embark on a journey to clear my AO3 “Marked For Later” list of anything under 3k words by reading them.

This is also a lot of fanfiction and I might have a problem. Any fanfiction addict support groups out there?

Also, I learned that I can only post 100 links. So this is going up early and I’ll separate the Not Rated, E, and M ones into a different post for next week.

Finished:

Not Rated (or Tumblr fics):

Parents, by @bloody-bee-tea

Untitled, by @mondengel

Untitled, by @mondengel

Untitled, by @cerusee

Xue Yang - The Third Jade of Gusu, by inawritingfrenzy

As Long as You're Here, by Aitheriomeraki

You are the last person I need to tell me exactly what I already know. You’re going to tell me to go back to cultivating the righteous path. You’re going to tell me that this is against the principles of a cultivator. I’m going to hear you drone on and on about what’s wrong with what I’m doing. You’re going to tell me that I’m acting like a pure disgrace, completely out of line, extremely unhinged and unruly and every other word your Lan vocabulary can muster up.” His words felt heavy but unstoppable, tears making their way to his eyes.

“You’re-” He was about to continue before getting cut off.

“Wei Ying… zhiji.” Lan Wangji breathed out like a plea, like a prayer. -------------- OR Lan Wangji talks to Wei Wuxian the day after killing Wen Chao.

Things we lost in the fire, by KatAnni

Three instances in Lan Wangji's life that involved fire. One of them certainly ends better than the others.

OR Wangxian can be cute in any situation, even when someone sets fire to their inn.

Sleep Talk, by breezebrocolis

"...But being awakened through such ungodly hours is worth it after all, because Wei Wuxian discovered that, contrary to popular belief about his boyfriend's sleeping habits, there’s a moment when Lan Zhan sleep talks, and he's the only one who knows it."

and

"...for now, after all and a year more, he'd never choose to have those lonesome minutes back. It turns out that filling the gaps with emptiness was necessary once, but it doesn't really fit him anymore. Lan Wangji has Grace on his side for now, the print of Wei Ying's delicate fingers into his skin."

In other words, a study about WangXian's sleeping habits.

Hold On, by voxnoxsox

“And really,” Wei Ying continued, “it makes no sense. Why would they not want to hug you, Lan Zhan, or, like… Do you warn them off or something? Give them the ol’ icy Lan glare?”

“No,” Lan Zhan said, when it was clear a response was required. His mind was a little preoccupied with Wei Ying’s hands still running up and down, up and down.

Rated E:

The Dreams of Youth, by Sami (25 chapters)

"Mother, I have to go, with or without you. Please come with me."

"A-Zhan, you're five years old," she says.

"With or without you, Mother," he pleads. "Please come with me."

Lan Wangji starts again from the beginning.

Rough and Tumble, by SugarMilkTea (3 chapters)

Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian are paired together for sparring, because of course they are.

Wei Wuxian is better than the rest of the disciples, because of course he is - so Lan Wangji takes him to another field to train privately.

Things escalate, because of course they do.

and if we choose to fall (who's to say it isn't flight?), by KiaraSayre (2 chapters)

Wei Wuxian has an idea and makes a talisman. A sexy talisman.

to live this way is not for the meek, by la_muerta

Yiling Laozu and his band The Restless Dead are one of the biggest names in the rock scene, playing to thousands of screaming fans in sold-out concerts all over the world.

But underneath the black leather, makeup, and untouchable, arrogant facade is a side of Wei Ying that only Lan Zhan gets to see.

Awareness, by syriala (last in a series)

Awareness is slow to come to Jiang Cheng, mostly because he doesn’t want to be aware. He’s warm and comfortable and Jiang Xiuying is bound to be still around and that is really all Jiang Cheng needs in life.

But then there’s an open mouthed kiss to the hinge of his jaw, Jiang Xiuying slowly trailing his way down Jiang Cheng’s throat, and it’s enough to get Jiang Cheng’s eyes open, however reluctant he might be.

Jiang Xiuying seemingly knows him better than Jiang Cheng does himself because he is already looking up at Jiang Cheng, his eyes sparkling and a teasing grin on his lips.

“Good morning,” Jiang Cheng says, his voice still rough from sleep and Jiang Xiuying leans up to capture Jiang Cheng’s lips in a kiss.

The heat behind it tells Jiang Cheng exactly where Jiang Xiuying wants to take this today, and Jiang Cheng can’t say that he minds too much.

yours for the taking, by SugarMilkTea

“There’s still time to back out, you know,” Wei Ying says, quiet enough that even the attendants waiting at the corners of their table won’t hear.

Lan Wangji pauses in the middle of reaching for the sash on Wei Ying’s—on his husband’s—outer robes. A pit opens in his stomach. His hand falls to his lap, and he lifts his eyes to meet Wei Ying’s. “Is that what you want?”

---

The components of the marriage ceremony are easy in theory. The handfasting, the bows, the feast... and the Taking.

housed by your warmth, by wangxiians

wei wuxian may never grow to enjoy mornings but he enjoys this, he really enjoys this – stolen time together, bodies reuniting, waking up before the world.

Rated M:

Heaven Hath No Fury, by Lady Mythos (Lady_Mythos)

The two biggest mistakes Yu Ziyuan has made are as follows: assuming Wei Wuxian was the cause of all her problems and assuming Cangse Sanren was dead.

Or, Cangse Sanren has a lot of things to say to the bitch that abused her son.

weird and awkward, by sami (3rd in a series)

At the age of sixteen, Lan Zhan falls in love, somewhat against his will.

Have Your Cake and Eat it Too, by adrian_kres (4 chapters)

Like half of all sound-tied people, Wei Ying was born with words in his heart and needing the melody they belong to. It’s his soul marker, and he’s been searching for his soulmate his whole life. Things change when he hears a tune being hummed in a cafe that matches his lyrics perfectly. Except he didn’t see who was humming it! To help, his brother’s soulmate puts him in contact with the beautiful pianist Lan Wangji, who makes Wei Ying question if he wants to find his soulmate at all…

Until The End, by abCEE (40 chapters)

"When I - when I tied my ribbon around our wrists, I knew what I was doing and I privately honored it." Wei Wuxian's brows continued to meet as he tried to understand where the conversation was going until realization dawned on him. "Wa - wait! Lan Zhan, is it what I think it is?!!" "It is usually done at the end of a wedding ceremony -" "What-" "But it could have been acknowledged as an engagement." "Lan Zhan!" He cannot believe what he is hearing now. "But my ancestor revealed herself -" "And we bowed… three times. We bowed, Lan Zhan!"

In which wangxian are married since the Cold Pond Cave incident, knows how proper communication works, and had confessed in the middle of the Sunshot Campaign. Things went up and down from there.

Breaking The Ice, by aflaminghalo

“Why are are you asking for punishment?”

Bring Your Honor, Bring Your Shame, by Terri Botta (Isilwath) (21 chapters, third in a series)

Nie HuaiSang has a problem. His brother is losing his mind.

Rated T:

don't close your eyes, by howodd5ever

In which Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian actually talk about the porn book.

Another Road, by Rynne

Something in the Guanyin Temple goes wrong. When Lan Wangji opens his eyes, he's fifteen again.

Phobia, by yougetsomekisses

What if Lan Wangji had been thrown in that dungeon with Wei Wuxian?

Snow Hunt, by InsanitysxCreation

A short scene of a winter hunt.

Entirely self indulgent, in that the idea of Lan Wangji in white leather gloves arrived in my brain and wouldn't let me continue until I'd written this.

真金不怕火炼 | True Gold Fears No Fire, by adrian_kres

In the immediate aftermath of a successful Sunshot Campaign, Wei Ying is kissed by Lan Zhan at the Phoenix Mountain Hunt while blindfolded. But when the blindfold comes off, Lan Zhan is nowhere to be found. Now, Wei Ying must deal with this heartbreak on top of forced therapy he was mandated to complete due to using demonic cultivation to end the war. Through it all, Wei Ying learns he has value, and that his assumptions about what happened at the hunt may not be entirely correct.

Fantasy, by snowberryrose (3 chapters)

In which Wen Qing leaves Or: Wen Qing rescues herself

Canon divergence from episode 20

Chapter 2: Qin Su’s choice Chapter 3: Xue Yang’s end

Four Parts Honey and One Part Vinegar, by masked (6 chapters)

“You know,” Ouyang Zizhen says thoughtfully over dinner one day, “I’ve never seen Wei-qianbei get jealous before.”

Lan Jingyi pauses for the briefest second, remembers the sect rule of keeping silence during meals, and decidedly forgoes it. “What?”

“Well,” Ouyang Zizhen continues, “Hanguang-jun always has a lot of admirers everywhere we go, but Wei-qianbei never seems to mind it.”

“Why are we talking about this?” Jin Ling asks flatly.

Four times Wei Wuxian doesn't get jealous, and the one time he does.

sweet dreams, by ShippersList

Distance won’t hinder Wei Wuxian from giving his Lan Zhan a goodnight kiss.

Sugar Baby, by nirejseki

“Huaisang,” Nie Mingjue said, and uh oh, that sounded like his ‘bad news’ voice. “We need to talk about your spending.”

That was worse than Nie Huaisang had thought.

“Is the talk going to be about how amazingly economical I am in making intelligent and aesthetically appropriate purchases?” he asked hopefully, clutching his latest and most aesthetic fan.

“Oddly enough,” his brother said, “no.”

Somehow, Nie Huaisang hadn’t thought so.

He was...No, He was Incompetent, by Corundum_Creations

He was Lan Wangji, a Twin Jade of the Lan Clan and he could face anything... so how did he become so incompetent with taking his Wei Ying and hiding him away?

The Resentful Cultivator Who Cried 'I'm Fine', by Mikkeneko

"Who's possessed?" another voice joined the scrum, and Wei Wuxian moaned in despair as Jiang Cheng came marching over to join the rest of the party, glaring daggers at Wei Wuxian for being the source of all this trouble. Purple lightning crackled on his wrist as his eyes narrowed. "This idiot got possessed? I can take care of that with Zidian! Stand back!"

"Ahaha, Jiang Cheng, there's no need for that!" he protested hurriedly. "Really, I'm not possessed!"

"Ah," Lan Jingyi nodded knowingly. "That's exactly what someone who was possessed and trying to throw us off the trail would say!"

---

While on a night-hunt with his friends and family, Wei Wuxian takes a near miss from a dangerous beast. Fortunately he wasn't hurt... but for some reason, they have trouble believing him when he says I'm fine.

Why I Can’t Help But Love Red, by spiralingbutmakeitanimerelated

Lan Wangji takes a bath after a night hunt. Wei Wuxian has questions about the night he branded himself.

Not Till Then Dare I Part From You, by forgottenenvy

WangXian share a tender moment as Lan Wangji braids flowers into Wei Wuxian's hair.

Snowmelt, by sugar_shoal

Lan Zhan has been badly injured on a night-hunt. Wei Wuxian panics only a little. Jiang Cheng drags them all to a nearby abandoned hut to wait out the encroaching blizzard.

Head Empty, Only Wei Ying, by nana_banana

Wei Ying is getting married? To someone not Lan Wangji? Fuck. Not if Lan Wangji has anything to say about it.

sparrow heart, by CeliaBlair24 (fourth in a series)

They pass notes through the spaces between their desks about nonsensical, inconsequential things. About the weather and birds, romance novels, and the forest behind the Cloud Recesses where they spend all their afternoons playing.

And Wei Wuxian is smart, both by the books and on his feet. If he wanted to, he could easily play Lan-xiansheng’s favorite class pet --studious and diligent about being studious; creative besides-- but he doesn’t. He listens to Lan-xiansheng and Jiang Wanyin’s complaints with half an ear and when all is said and done, he turns his back on them both and greets Nie Huaisang with his cheeky smile.

Otherwise known as "Nie Huaisang falls into like."

Retrospective on the State of the Field: Qinghe Patron X (QPX) Studies, by bladedweaponsandswishycoats (jeweledichneumon)

"Qinghe Patron X, eh?" Nie Huaisang chuckles, noticing the heading. Licking his lips, he circles the listing for the conference panel with a yellow highlighter. Despite the moniker having become common several years ago, he still gets a kick out of it. Of course he'd have to go to that one. He takes a moment to feel the faint touch of regret that he isn't on the panel himself; it is always more fun messing with people as a panelist than trying to rely on the Q&A period to say something provocative but relevant.

or

In which immortal cultivator Nie Huaisang likes to fuck around with scholars attempting to study what they think they know about him, and other shenanigans he gets up to (both with and without the help of his friends) in the modern age.

or

The year is 2021. Lan Wangji still goes where the chaos is, though these days that can mean a lot more than night hunts. Especially when Wei Wuxian and Nie Huaisang are dedicated to making sure being immortal never gets boring.

A Story for the Ages, by Supernova_Sage

Lan Wangji saunters over to the mystery section. He can hear people whispering, but he isn’t close enough to make sense of the conversation. The lilt in the voice makes it sound like one person is asking a question. Hmm. If he can hear whispering, they’re still being far too loud. He shakes his head and continues his browsing. He pulls his phone out to check the time. It’s nearly 6p. He really should get home. He still needs to feed the bunnies and feed himself and look over emails and—

He stops in his tracks. Stops when he sees the book that he’s been waiting to check out for months now. Every time he’s stopped by, though, it’s been checked out by someone else. And now it’s finally here. Sitting on the shelf in front of him. Once he manages to collect himself, he reaches for it. His fingers don’t touch the spine of the book, though. Instead, he finds his fingers brushing against the fingers of another.

DanTian - Into the Dark (LWJ), by ArchiveWriter (fourth in a series)

Wangji's memory holds images of Wei Ying. Wangji does penance by reliving his memories, and by making sure Wei Ying is loved. Wangji burns the millet porridge he's supposed to stir whilst Wei Ying fetches water for tea.

chasing echoes, by SWANPYRE

Lan Wangji must learn to co-exist with what he has learned his entire life to despise.

Snowfall, by nightflower

During a winter storm in Cloud Recesses, Wangji's old scars ache. Wei Ying takes care of him.

relics of love, by cl410

“Oh my god. Oh my god.”

Lan Zhan pinched the bridge of his nose. “The bunnies were almost eaten.”

“Our son was almost traumatized for life,” Wei Ying said, choking on a laugh. “Lan Zhan, he almost witnessed a double homicide on our own balcony.” He wheezed with laughter, clutching his ribs.

“We will install higher locks,” Lan Zhan said grimly.

Rated G:

A-Yuan's guide to eat the rich (a.k.a. How A-Yuan single handedly stopped a siege from happening and saved everyone), by fanficaddictXOXO

A-Yuan is only three years old. But he knows many things. He knows how to write his name. He knows potatoes are better than radishes (Xian gege said so). But the most important thing he knows is that the handsome gege with a white forehead ribbon is rich.

Obviously You Hate Me, by Sarehz

Wei Wuxian leans across the round table. "Okay, this isn't going to work."

From across the very same table, Lan Wangji raises one puzzled eyebrow. "Mn?"

"This!" Wei Wuxian gestures between them.

Begotten, by ecorie (6 chapters)

“He’s mine.” He echoed what had once been teasingly said in jest, and added, “This is my son.”

Against all odds and without a choice, Lan Zhan brings A-Yuan back to Cloud Recesses. Xichen keeps his brother’s secrets, and shields the child when Lan Zhan could not.

Alone Stands the Quiet, by ecorie

The story of the Yin Iron starts with a celestial war and ends with Lan Sizhui.

A Good Plan, by nirejseki

“The…Lan sect?” Meng Yao said doubtfully. “Are you sure?”

“I am,” his mother said, her mouth tight. She looked upset, the way she always did these days when he referenced, intentionally or otherwise, the original plan that she had had to send him to join his father, sect leader of Lanling Jin. She’d raised Meng Yao on a steady diet of stories of what his life would be like when his father finally took him back the way he’d promised her he would, stories that had filled his days and nights for years and years and years, and then just last year she’d suddenly stopped talking about it entirely. It was as if the person who’d told those stories had nothing to do with her.

Meng Yao didn’t know what had happened, but he assumed it must have been pretty bad.

“It'll be a good fit,” she added.

The Late Great Custody Debate, by stiltonbasket (5 chapters)

"You owe me child support," Lan Zhan blurts, before Wei Wuxian can open his mouth to say hello to him. "Take responsibility."

Or, the one where Lan Wangji's pet rabbit has a better love life than he does, and single father Wei Wuxian develops a healthy fear of attorneys, courtesy of his next-door neighbor.

Switcheroo, by nirejseki

Mo Xuanyu thought that this Wei Wuxian person whose body he’d stolen must have been a really interesting person, mostly because he’d been here for three days so far and nobody’d noticed the switch yet.

A Kiss for you, my love, by Speechless_since_1998

"Ladies and gentlemen."

Suddenly the attention of the whole hall turned to Nie Huaisang, near the orchestra with a microphone in one hand and a glass of champagne in the other, "On this wonderful evening I would like to share with you all the happiness I feel. for a wonderful couple who got married today. " Wait a minute did he say marriage? He must have heard right, even Lan Zhan had stiffened. “Let's give him a wonderful round of applause. To Wei Ying and Lan Zhan newlyweds. " Hot shit. They weren't supposed to attract attention.

The attention of the room focused on them, whispers in the crowd, some scandalized, some excited. Nie Huaisang motioned for him to keep the game, but what was she supposed to do ?! "Lan Zhan, we mustn't ..." He didn't have time to finish the sentence as Lan Zhan kissed him. In front of everyone.

Soulmates, by Yacs_Weasley

Ever since he was a little boy, Wangji had longed to find his soulmate.

Stay with me, by KatAnni

Sizhui's memories come to him in pieces, and some of them in dreams. This time, he dreams of Wei Wuxian putting him in a tree. He runs to the Jingshi immediately, to find his Baba.

The truth, by syriala (first in a series)

“Do you even remember a single person of those you killed after the war?” he demands to know and Jiang Cheng turns his glare on him.

“Why should I?” Jiang Cheng asks and a fearful hush falls over the crowd. “Do any of you remember even a single person you killed in your lives?” he asks them and is met with a pretty telling silence.

“You’re a monster,” someone whispers, but in the quiet it rings out loud and clear.

Jiang Cheng has heard these words a lot in the past sixteen years, and so he simply smiles at them, even though they sting like always.

He reminds himself that the people that matter know the truth, that they know him for who he truly is, and that it has to be enough.

Boys, by nirejseki

“Hey,” Lao Nie protested mildly. “Who’s the father here, me or you?”

“If a-die wants a new wife, little uncle will find one that isn’t inclined to kill him.”

That sounded like a recitation.

“Then what’s even the point,” Lao Nie grumbled, and reached out to ruffle his son’s hair, enjoying how Nie Mingjue yelped when he did, glaring up at him with offended dignity.

Loss, by FlutterFyre

Lan Wangji knows something is wrong.

Hearsay, by syriala (second in a series)

“A girl went missing a few days back,” Wei Wuxian says, voice serious, and Jiang Cheng can just imagine the accusatory look on his face. “Coincidentally you were seen in that area during the same time.”

“So?” Jiang Cheng wants to know and Wei Wuxian makes a frustrated sound.

“What did you do with her?” Wei Wuxian asks him, even though he clearly already made up an answer for himself.

An ally, by syriala (third in a series)

“I just don’t want you to force yourself to face them,” Jiang Cheng finally says and Jiang Xiuying smiles at him.

“I’m not forcing myself. I am going on my own free will. It will be fine. And besides, Lan Xichen was never the reason I left.”

“But he didn’t stop you either,” Jiang Cheng mutters, and then rolls his eyes. “Fine. Accompany me, see if I care.”

“All I see is you caring,” Jiang Xiuying honestly gives back and Jiang Cheng flushes bright red.

Escalation, by syriala (fourth in a series)

“How can you lie to him like that?” Lan Wangji wants to know but it seems to be morbid curiosity more than anything else, because he goes right on. “You’re coming with me to the Cloud Recesses. There will be a trial.”

“A trial,” Jiang Cheng scoffs out, because it’s a farce and nothing more.

Lan Wangji has already decided on his sentence. And they all know it's going to be death.

Resolve, by syriala (fifth in a series)

“Regarding the accusations made against me today,” he starts and cuts his glare over to Sect Leader Yao, who has the good grace to shrink back at the venom in that glare, “I have something to say.”

“Speak,” Lan Wangji demands, but he doesn’t sound too sure all of a sudden, doesn’t seem too happy with the proceedings, and Jiang Cheng does rather enjoy the feeling of triumph it brings him.

“I am innocent. I did not kill any demonic cultivators, nor did I torture them.”

His voice rings out in the courtyard because everyone is silent for two seconds, but then chaos erupts. The voices calling him a liar are the kinder ones, and Jiang Cheng shakes his head at them.

“And I have proof,” he continues, raising his voice so that it carries over the others.

Devotion - Gather, by syriala (sixth in a series)

“What?” Jiang Cheng asks, because for once he is in no immediate danger of being murdered by the other Sects and Jiang Cheng really doesn’t think that look is fair.

“You absolute asshole,” Jiang Xiuying hisses at him and Jiang Cheng knows that if he wasn’t injured Jiang Xiuying would try to slap him over the head or shake him until he sees sense.

“What? What did I do now?” Jiang Cheng wants to know because he was asleep! There is no way he could have done something to upset Jiang Xiuying like this!

“I don’t even know where to start,” Jiang Xiuying says and starts to pace Jiang Cheng’s room, without giving any thought to the fact that this is Jiang Cheng’s bedroom and he really shouldn’t be here.

Well, Jiang Cheng is not going to say that to him, because with the mood Jiang Xiuying is in right now it wouldn’t go over well for Jiang Cheng, Sect Leader or not. Not that he actually cares anyway.

It’s Jiang Xiuying after all.

Home in Lotus Pier, by syriala (seventh in a series)

Jiang Cheng's angry frown turns into a confused frown when he sits down for breakfast and finds a box next to his bowl of congee.

“What is this?” he asks into the room, because someone is bound to be around, but he doesn’t get an answer and Jiang Cheng heaves out a sigh.

He tugs the box close and opens it and he’s surprised to find that his favourite tea is in it. It’s hard to come by lately, as it is entirely seasonal and only grown in a small spot in Sect Leader Yao’s territory, and after everything that happened at the Cloud Recesses a few months back, he already mentally said goodbye to it.

He wouldn’t be getting any more supplies from Sect Leader Yao after all, so this is more than surprising.

But the gifts don't stop there.

Parallelism, not equivalence, by DreamaholicsAnonymous

Wei Wuxian reminded him of Xingchen, Song Lan thinks, not for the first time.

Bring Your Secrets, Bring Your Scars, by Terri Botta (Isilwath) (fourth in a series)

Nie MingJue keeps his promises.

All Your Madness, I Will Tame, by Terri Botha (Isilwath) (fifth in a series)

Wen Qing in the Burial Mounds.

Puppy, by Speechless_since_1998

Returning home, Lan Zhan found his husband hiding behind the sofa and A-Yuan sitting on the ground playing with a puppy dog.

The puppy must have been a few months old, probably hadn't even been weaned. It was harmless, but Wei Ying didn't care. It was enough that it was a dog to be afraid.

“Ah, Lan Zhan! You finally arrived! Take that monster away!" Wei Ying pleaded, refusing to come out of hiding.

A-Yuan puffed out her cheeks, "Shiro is not a monster!"

Heaven, he had already given it a name.

Being Good, by ricochet

Lan Wangji tries to be good.

no shadow can touch, by sunflowersfield

When it is time to hand out the mics, Lan Zhan forces himself to lower his expectations. Their exchange will be fleeting, and Wei Ying will barely even look at him.

Or: Wei Ying is cast in a musical at his local community center. Lan Zhan is the theater technician.

make a mess (inside my heart), by avenqelic

Wei Wuxian looked comfortable against Lan Wangji’s white sheets, curled up in his blankets. Lan Wangji’s chest ached, mind swirling with possibilities – falling asleep looking into Wei Wuxian’s eyes, waking up in his arms, holding each other close as the moon shifted across the sky and the sun rose.

Finding a way home, by ThisIsWhereTheMagicHappens

Prompt idea for a less than one thousand words one shot! Lwj walks into a coffee shop and barista wwx cannot stop flirting with him while both of them are dying on the inside because the other is so handsome! Wwx writes his number on the cup! Up to you if lwj has an existencial crisis after finding the number or if he even finds the number. Bonus points if the oneshot ends with lwj going back to the cafe and wwx smiles at him when he sees him! — this is a.a. now with a prompt

DanTian - Planting Gentians (LWJ POV), by ArchiveWriter (1 chapter plus art)

Wei Ying's been up their old mountain early in the morning. Wangji does needlework and indulges in watching Wei Ying's hands. A slice of domestic contentment because I like them happy.

Tease, by annjellybean

Now, Wei Ying had long outgrown teasing his husband mercilessly the way he used to back in their childhood days, they had been through so much since then, he had honestly forgotten how to do so. That being said, it did not mean Wei Ying had completely forgotten his gremlin roots, and as a self-proclaimed gremlin husband, today he wanted to tease.

Pure Morning, by ShizunThirst

It’s on mornings like these that Lan Wangji can love Wei Wuxian the way he deserves to be loved.

deeper etchings, by fensandmarshes

“And remember, a-Yuan,” comes the voice, lowered but still loud as though it shuns the petty boundaries of the house, “you absolutely cannot tell diedie about this.”

Lan Wangji pauses, there in the middle of the portal array, halfway through setting down his bag, and tilts his head just slightly.

Caring Warmth, by MountainMist

Wei Ying is sick and lonely. Head empty only Lan Zhan.

And how Lan Zhan takes care of him.

just them, together., by adeptiwings

It was okay, now that it was just them.

the boy with rabbit ears, by dragontea

Lan Zhan got lost in an amusement park and found his way home in the company of the boy with rabbit ears.

heart-shaped knots, by twigofwillow

There’s been a ghost in Cloud Recesses for over thirty years, but no one has talked to her until now.

Setting Suns and Dawning Realisations, by wereworm

Wei Wuxian's plans for a romantic night out in Caiyi with Lan Zhan are ruined when he works late, the sun already setting by the time he makes his way home to the Jingshi. Instead, they enjoy a quiet night in and Wei Wuxian comes to terms with the peace that he'd fought so hard to earn and the life that's he's finally allowed to have.

[For the prompt: a sweet wangxian date night in]

Won This For You, by Preludian_Staves

He looks up as his husband comes into the room with something suspiciously large hidden behind his back.

A single soul (no more), by Lysdance1

The core transfer surgery goes as in canon BUT it leaves the spiritual link open between Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian and, well, what goes one way can go both ways.

"It's what keeps him (mostly) sane, a tether in this dark place where he cannot feed and cannot sleep and cannot escape; through the link he feels - trickles of love, Jiang Cheng's worry for him. It shouldn't be enough, but somehow, in this dark, dark place, it is. It reminds him, faintly, of home, and in the dark he hears the rhythm of one, luminous, far away soul."

To Need Someone, by Preludian_Staves

"A-die?"

"Hm?"

"What does mean to need someone? To want them with you?"

Approval, by Speechless_since_1998

"You look tired, "he said, sipping his tea. He shouldn't, it wasn't kind. But he couldn't resist teasing him a little.

Lan Zhan stared at him blankly, "I've been drinking."

"I saw."

"I kissed Wei Ying."

"I saw that too."

And thanks to the gods there was no uncle because he hated worldly occasions, otherwise he would have a heart attack.

"We had sex at his adoptive parents' home."

"And?"

Lan Zhan raised an eyebrow, "Aren't you surprised?"

"Oh, sorry, now I'll try again ... Really? !!"

"You're not funny."

Unfinished:

Not Rated:

An Obsidian Among Jades, by bluebeads

What happens when a sad lost mantou cheeked Lan Zhan teams up with a cheerful one to find his family in the unfamiliar streets of Yilling. A Yu Ziyuan Ultimatum AU which I submitted a while ago on angstymdzsthoughts Also a Gusu Lan Sect Wei Wuxian.

I've had enough, by pluma1007

He is ascending. They’re minds unhelpfully supplied.

Then, Wei Wuxian is gone.

The cultivators are in disarray.

“Wei Wuxian… Wei Wuxian ascended!”

“How can this be?! A monster ascended?!”

“No! My core! My powers had diminished!”

Hearing that, the cultivators checked their cores. Gasps rang out the mountains. Enraged cries are heard, cursing Wei Wuxian. There are also those who kowtowed, praying for forgiveness. There are others who praised him.

Song of Joy and Regrets, by HelloKitten

The Archery competition at Qishan this year has hit a snag. As the Sects face the wrongs perpetrated by their future selves, Wei Wuxian finds himself adopted by half of the cultivation world who are determined to save him from himself.

Baby Wangxian suffers. Adult Wangxian's job here is done.

"I'm starting to see a pattern to all his plans..."

"Do they all involve him being bait?"

"Yes" came deadpanned responses.

Hua Cheng is not amused.

Rated E:

the long way back home, by Misila

Wei Ying always knew he was the single discordant note in the Jiang household. That was why, after graduating from university, he didn’t return home. With him gone, Yu Ziyuan wouldn’t have anyone to compare her son to, and Jiang Fengmian wouldn’t have to keep avoiding his own family to prevent further conflict.

…Right?

(Seven years later, married to the man of his life and with a four year-old son, Wei Ying returns to his hometown and tries to reconnect with his siblings and befriend his nephew; but, most of all, he struggles to figure out what’s wrong with his brother and how to help him, despite Jiang Cheng not wanting to have anything to do with him anymore.)

Will You Stand Beside Me, by trashgavin

Wei Wuxian takes all his strength and spits blood in Wen Chao’s face. His eyes narrow and he speaks, though his voice is quiet and full of pain.

“Go to hell.”

It only makes Wen Chao laugh. He releases his hair and stands to his feet. “Bring me a whip.”

Rated M:

For the Dust and the Dirt, by Nyxelestia

His breath came out in shaky gasps, but still he could do nothing as the demonic copy of himself brought the blade down to the bare skin of Wei Wuxian’s uninjured shoulder. He whimpered when he felt a small cut, then when the blade lifted. He didn’t have time to even think of relief before it came back, right next to the first cut in a different direction, then again below in a line, multiple small lines in multiple directions like…like a character.

“Like I said,” the demon mused as Wei Wuxian realized what it was doing. “I’ll write it down for you.”

A brutal assault on a Cloud Recesses student leaves the Cultivation world reeling. Wei Wuxian struggles to recover, while everyone else tries to make sense of an ominous message. But since when do demons care about sect politics, anyway?

Between Wen Ruohan's rising aggression, simmering tensions across the guest disciples, and the mysterious fierce corpses still popping up all over the place, Wei Wuxian would rather ignore the confusing, horrifying visions the demon left him with.

If only the demon's taunting predictions didn't keep coming true at every turn.

I Know How Those in Exile Feed on Dreams of Hope, by rabbit_habits & saltedpin

“What does it mean, that Wen Ruohan has all the Yin Iron?” Jiang Cheng asked, dragging himself up into a sitting position – her medicines must have worked quickly, because his ribs gave only a twinge when he moved.

Wen Qing settled down beside him, head bowed as she packed away her supplies, her shoulder brushing his arm when she moved. “It means that no one in the cultivation world can oppose him,” she whispered.

—

Canon divergence AU in which Jiang Cheng and Jin Zixuan are captured by the Wens after escaping from the Xuanwu's cave, before they can return to rescue Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji.

Misunderstood, by Silver_Flame_2724

There is something called a memory ball that shows the memories of a chosen person.

In order to further incriminate the already dead Yiling Patriarch, the cultivation world decides to use this memory ball at the next Discussion Conference to show how evil the demonic cultivator can truly be.

What appears, though, truly shocks them all.

laughing shadow, by ich_bin_ein_stern

During the commotion involving Wei Wuxian, A-Ling refused little sleep. His screams carried across Koi Tower, putting wailing ghosts too shame. He was inconsolable by everyone. It was only when Jin Zixuan unintentionally passed the room holding Wei Wuxian while trying to calm down his son did A-Ling miraculously settle down. Since then, he has slept peacefully every night. Yanli expressed, in the quiet and security of their bedroom, that perhaps Wei Wuxian's spirit soothed A-Ling and continues to do so.

At the least expected times, Jin Zixuan swears he can hear the distant sound of a flute.

But when he stops to actually listen for it, he hears nothing.

Come From My Inkstone, by magicgenetek

“So your plan,” Nie Mingjue said dubiously, “is to move into the Burial Mounds to write and illustrate erotica about you and Lan Wangji seducing the Yiling Patriarch to earn his trust and sell the public on the idea that he's not a threat, then convince him to give up the Yin Tiger Seal?"

“The way I said it sounded better,” Nie Huaisang said. “And you forgot the part about me seducing the Ghost General, that is crucial.”

“I hate this, and as your brother, I am begging you not to actually stick it in a fierce corpse. How much money do you need?”

Rated T:

Here We Go Again, by Alliandra

He looked over to where the swordswoman was still fighting, but her focus seemed entirely locked onto that fight so it was unlikely that she could have had anything to do with the energy drain. He was still wracking his brain for something else to do to assist, so this thing didn’t kill them both, but now he was feeling weak, dizzy and currently not far from helpless.

~~~~~~~~~~

It has been several months since the events at the Guanyin temple and Wei Wuxian is wandering around on his own. After he helps a stranger kill a very dangerous beast he uncovers what seems to be a conspiracy aimed at ending his life. He heads back to Cloud Recesses with his new companion in tow, looking to get Lan Wanji's help in working out what is involved.

Meanwhile, Jiang Cheng and Jin Ling made a surprising discovery under Koi Tower that may well be linked to the threat against Wei Wuxian's life.

Can they all work together to find out what is going on and put a stop to it, before something disastrous occurs?

A place of Gold, by ThisIsWhereTheMagicHappens

A few days after Wei Wuxian has parted from Lan Wangji on a forest path, he gets surrounded by Jin officials in an Inn, who formally ask him to return to Jinlintai to fill in the position of Sect Leader, as is his right and duty.

Wei Wuxian thinks it is an artful prank. Until it is not.

Blossoming flowers in a full moon - 花好月圆, by ThisIsWhereTheMagicHappens

What if Wei Wuxian wasn’t able to get out of Lan Wangji’s grip at the cliff in Nevernight? What if Lan Wangji refused to let go?

All will be well when the day is done, by abCEE

The one where Yu Ziyuan time traveled but she thought that it was her visions of her alternate life.

She learned that there is a brat named Wei Ying who brought destruction to her and her family's life.

And so in her present, she vowed that she will never allow that to happen.

In which Yu Ziyuan found the four-year-old Wei Ying, newly pushed out of the inn where his parents left him, and decided that no, this child must never be associated with her, her family, and their sect at all.

And so Yu Ziyuan thought that she could bring him somewhere where someone may or may not find him but definitely far from where her husband could find him. If he's lucky, he'll survive that winter, if he's not, then death awaits the fevered child.

This is the extent of mercy that Yu Ziyuan could give a child.

With this, she'll raise her children without having to deal with a brat that brings trouble where he goes according to her visions of her alternate life.

Like the tag stated, this is definitely not Yu Ziyuan centric.

Rated G:

How Jin Zixuan Helps Everyone, by BryxcrSt

The Yunmeng Heroes, Twin Jades, Nie Huaisang, The Peacock, Cinnamon Roll Ghost General and Lan Qiren suddenly transport back to the past before the Conference in Qishan, with their very memory of how all their clans battled Wen Rouhan's and now they're all ready to prevent it from happening now that they're back to the past. Especially Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian.

Surprisingly, Jin Zixuan wants to help them instead of standing out of the front line like how he used to but what can he do?

To Repeat, Repay, and Repair, by adrian_kres

Wei Wuxian has died again and his family grieves. Lan Sizhui, now married and with children of his own, grieves the loss of both fathers, as Lan Wangji has entered seclusion. But somehow, he unknowingly sends himself back to the time he spent in the Burial Mounds at three years old. Will his family take his confused, nonsensical warnings seriously? Are they doomed to repeat the same fate?

#the untamed #mo dao zu shi #chen qing ling #cql #mdzs #wangxian #untamed fanfiction

[ja-lin]

Blissful Imperfection (Pride month writing challenge day 3)

Fandom: Voltage Lovestruck Series: Sin w/ Me Characters: Vinca Wordcount: 1050 Notes: Vinca PoV on how she feels about her best friend Yvette dating someone and how she finds inner peace. Thanks to @rockchick82​ for some Vinca info and ideas! Warnings: Some swear words.

Being a professional performer in Vegas is nice and all, but the audience, the sounds, so many damn fans sharing one brain-cell. I kick my heels off and then back kick the door to my room -- my only sanctuary. 

“Fuck. Finally some peace and quiet. I swear I’ll cut the balls off the next man that tries to flirt with me at the show. Laz saved that poor soul today, but next time...next time my blades will speak.”

The ikebana flower arrangements and various potted bonsai plants comfort me. The arrangements and countless nights I’ve spent grooming these plants to perfection. I’ve always been a fan of Japanese aesthetics and I’d kill for a good cup of matcha tea to calm my soul after dealing with the crowds at the show. Especially after that gross pig of a man tried to touch me. He smelled like a mix of stale corn chips and the greasy floor of a kitchen at a fast food joint. Thinking about him makes me shudder.

I look into the mirror at my reflection in frustration, pent up anger boils at my very core. Like a volcano holding in its fiery power for eons, I erupt and scream into the mirror, “Ugh, I’m so fucking done with Thrill of Sin and Yvette flirting with some short little runt wearing a stupid tie dye jacket. The nerve of that woman! The audacity! I’ve been friends with her for longer and she goes running off into some stupid lala land date with some fangirl.”

As I cool down from venting, I have to admit the runt did have nice legs...but my legs are WAY more sexy than hers. I strike a pose, smirk and wink at my own reflection in the mirror, “Babe, it’s you, me, and myself tonight.”

Opening my cabinet, I reach for a box of Kyoto Uji matcha. There’s also a traditional matcha kit next to the box. Both were gifts given to me by a couple from Los Angeles. 

The note they gave me is still attached to the box: 

“Stole this matcha box and kit from my yakuza friend, just like I steal all his girls. XOXO”

There’s no name, no signature, just the mark of her lips in a light crimson lipstick. I feel like I could be friends with this woman. Hopefully I can run into her if I ever go to Los Angeles. Convincing Yvette to go to Los Angeles for a show shouldn’t be too hard.

After I make myself a cup of matcha, I stride over to my work table, there’s a single potted tree I’ve been working on. I’ve been grooming this tree for over ten years, but it’s still not the way I want it. It was a gift from my twin sister Onyx for my birthday. Thinking about Onyx and her horrible relationship with Dorran makes my blood boil, but I close my eyes and take a deep breath to calm down.

Opening my eyes I frame my focus on what’s in front of me, I reach over to open the drawer where I keep my bonsai trimming tools. I keep all my tools organized, everything clean and lined up perfectly. 

I look at the little plant in adoration and smile, “Bby, I’m going to make you perfect. Don’t you worry, you’ll be beautiful like all the other plants in this room soon enough.”

Taking a tool I carefully trim little bits of the tree, shifting back sometimes to look at the overall shape. The trunk curves like a dragon, the foliage and tiny leaves are the dragon’s mane flowing in the wind. Little rough bits of the trunk stick out, the dragon’s claws.

Beauty in imperfection, as the Japanese call it wabi-sabi. The plant is curved, foliage heavier to one side and slightly tilted as if reaching for the heavens. Onyx always struggled to keep up with me, but she didn’t know I was constantly jealous of her happy nature. I may have been the perfect sister, but she was the happy one.

Gently holding the trunk of the plant, for a moment I wonder if I can read its feelings, “What are your secrets to inner peace, to be able to forgive someone? To let go...”

I’m constantly exposed to the neon lights, the chaotic sounds of the Vegas strip. But, with this little bonsai I get darkness, silence, nothingness. 

Suddenly, a familiar voice startles me and I wake up, back to my chaotic reality.

“Vinca, bestie. Stop talking to plants. We have demons to deal with.”

Twisting around and trying to hide by blush, I see Yvette holding a cup with black pearls in it.

I question her about the odd drink, “What the hell is that gross drink!?”

Yvette flips her hair back with her gloved hands and smirks, “I went on a wonderful little date today with my number one fan. She suggested we get one of her favorite drinks. I believe she called it boba? It’s surprisingly refreshing and chewy.”

Yvette plays with the chewy black pearl in her mouth showcasing her skilled tongue. Her lipstick is slightly faded and off and I know she likes marking what belongs to her. Yvette is greed after all.

Slightly annoyed I roll my eyes, unimpressed, “Yeah, yeah...you aren’t the only one who can tie the stem of a cherry with their tongue. Just remember at least I don’t turn plants into ash.”

Yvette rolls her eyes at me and turns to leave, “Ok whatever drama queen, just hurry the fuck up bitch, Laz is waiting in the car.”

After the click of Yvette’s heels against the marbled floor fade, I whisper to the plant, “Hard to believe Yvette found someone to date. And, no I’m not jealous. Me? Jealous? No way.”

I look at the plant, and from this angle one side of the foliage tilts lower than the other as if it’s furrowing its leafy brows at me. 

“I’m being doubted by a plant. Ok fuck it, I lied. I’m severely jealous. If I ever meet that runt I’ll make sure to put on my best bitch face and show her who’s boss.”

The bonsai plant remains silent, firmly grounded, twisting freely with its jagged branches -- peace within my chaos.

End.

#vinca wren #sin with me #lovestruck #my writing #i hope everyone gets a good laugh out of the aurora and yoshimitsu reference #enjoy my 5min sketch of vinca and a giant bonsai #i feel like vinca and aurora might get along #i rushed this so sorry if theres grammar or mistakes lmao #doing one fic a day is HARD omg #theres some characters im more comfy writing and some are difficult #thanks to my friend rockchick82 for help and opinions on vincas hobbies #the japanese aesthetic suggestion was great for story telling #pride month writing challenge day 3