#the forbidden crack! untamed prompts

[a-very-fond-farewell]

The forbidden crack! Untamed prompts: 19/?

Wedding Planner AU [xicheng edition]: “Chickens on the Loose”

[let me have this]

Jiang Cheng doesn’t believe in love and that’s precisely the reason why he plans other people’s special day. The most extravagant, the boldest, the loudest, the better. Because if there’s something he got to accept over the years is that people aren’t willing to pay for something realistic, but for something unattainable instead. Over-compensating bland, ordinary reality with fantasy and dreams is his job and he’s well aware that no one can compete with his genius. Not with his father owning a catering and food chain company. Not with his mother being the most sought out wedding gown fashion designer on the market. They taught him everything there is to know on how to make other people’s dream come true before the inevitable envelope of a dainty, innocuous divorce application can make its way in a once happy household. Better make the satisfaction last, because Jiang Cheng will only accept advanced payments in cash, no monthly installments allowed.

His sister YanLi may have married honoring tradition over useless exaggeration, but what did her love bring aside from suffering and neglect? Marrying into the richest family in the country to the heir of a textile empire has given her nothing but sorrow and a husband too proud and distant to even visit her regularly. Jin Ling growing up without a father, spoiled rotten by the wrong side of the family who lured him into their shining world of nothingness day after day. At least Jiang Cheng’s family did rise from nothing and learned to trick the rich into relying on useless services soon enough. But Jin ZiXuan and his family had never worked once in their life and didn’t know how to take care of their loved ones. Not that Jiang Cheng’s parents could do any better, their marriage a wasteland where no love could grow, but at least they were honest about it. Better enjoy a dream while it lasts.

That is why if even Wei Ying’s marriage were to turn out to utter shit like YanLi’s, at least it will not be Jiang Cheng’s fault. Everything needs to be perfect, from the vows to the tea ceremony, from the food to the color scheme, from the seat arrangements to the music. Hell, some of his stepbrother’s requests may be too much to handle for most, but not for Jiang Cheng and if Wei Ying wants a parade and a whole week worth of celebrations, Wei Ying will have exactly that.

Hence he will not, under any circumstance, allow anyone snooping around as he plans the wedding of the century. No, not even the fiancée’s overprotective older brother asking people for blackmailing material on Wei Ying behind Jiang Cheng’s back. Not even if he pays him in nature, no ma’am.

... . ... . ... . ...

Lan Huan is the best divorce attorney in town precisely because he believes in unconditional love. That’s why he doesn’t see the point of two people (or three people, on one memorable case in Europe) spending the rest of their life together if change is inevitable and something to be expected. He would much prefer to get the best deal out of it for his clients and prevent children to suffer from it in the process.

Judges fear him and his diplomatic smile that can never hide his tunnel vision drive for victory. His trusty private investigator Nie HuaiSang is equally terrified by his assets, but still feeds him with the juiciest details whenever Lan Huan asks for favors, discreetly requesting the younger man to do background checks on this or that subject. Settlements may be nice, but not if the (soon to be ex) husband or wife in question can be easily found guilty of adultery, gaslighting, or even violence. Not on Lan Huan’s watch.

That’s why his world gets completely turned over the moment his younger brother Lan Zhan announces his intention to marry a man he hasn’t known for a full three months yet. Truth to be told, Lan Huan had never seen him this happy: glowing with something akin to adoration, affection dripping from every pore, love spilling all over just by mentioning one name, Wei Ying. In case this rascal happens to crush his precious baby brother’s heart, Lan Huan needs to find dirt on this man and squeeze everything he has out of his dead cold hands the second his brother files a request for a divorce.

But for some reason Nie HuaiSang cannot seem to be found for the job this time around. Not unlike most of his other contacts and informants, who have seemingly disappeared at the mention of his brother’s fiancee’s name. If this Wei Ying is such a big fish in the sea to make even Lan Huan’s most loyal colleagues dissolve into thin air, then he must find the answers by himself.

And if it means to bomb the wedding preparations to get shit done, oh he will. He’s not above flirting to get what he wants, but if this Wei Ying turns out to be a good person in the end... well. Lan Huan prays things won’t get too messy to proceed with the celebrations in the end. Hopefully, that is.

[fun stuff under the cut.]

NHS went to uni with Wei Ying and he knows LXC won’t find anything on him bc WWX himself is a blackmail master and will 100% diss you in front of your children calling you out on your deepest secrets so no. NHS will not mess with that and he urges to do as much to all LXC’s informants and sources.

JC looks scary but his staff loves how dedicated he is and they make bets on when he’s going to lose it and sleep with someone out of frustration. although they think he gets more turned on by going over every point in his check-lists at times...

LXC’s colleague always ask him if he’s dating anyone, clearly to set him up with someone (who will not be of LXC’s liking, he’s sure). to which he answers by smiling and lying saying he has a terrible personality. since nobody believes him, he asked his friend Meng Yao to make a scene at the firm once: (all too pleased to mess with his bestie’s reputation) Meng Yao murder-walked into the office and demanded to meet LXC, only to cry in front of everyone and smack him across the face for cheating on him. THEN his sister A-Su made her sudden appearance and smacked LXC’s other cheek lamenting the same, ridiculous thing. the two siblings gaped in fake horror at each other before spitting on LXC and storming off of the building.

NMJ laughed his ass off for weeks after the sharade. he started dating A-Su not long after (with both JGY and LXC’s blessings) bc he was mildly impressed by her willingness to jump on the opportunity to make a fool of both LXC and her brother at once. LXC thinks they are a good match, but he worries A-Su might be too tiny and full of undiluted mischief for NMJ to be able to handle her antics.

NMJ used to date LXC, but they were too driven and competitive to let their relationship get in the way and in the end they stopped seeing each other. they still care deeply for one another, but they love their jobs at the firm too much and making things messy at the office wasn’t worth it. A-Su knows about it and doesn’t feel left out because of it, glad that they settled into their respective lives while still being loyal friends to each other.

JGY tries to set LXC up with a new woman every week, saying he would benefit from having a cute wife taking care of him. but LXC doesn’t know what business JGY has to talk about women that way when Meng Yao’s been a raging homosexual since the first time he has landed his eyes on another boy in kindergarten. too many crushes on boys to even be aware of how many hearts he has broken in his life. all those pretty girls falling for his looks, poor kids. only JGY’s younger brother Mo XuanYu could rival his victim count, but barely so.

ZiXuan is secretly keeping an eye on his half-brothers and half-sister while he works as a representative for his family company and this is mainly the reason why he has distanced himself from YanLi and Jin Ling in these past few years. he would like to approach his three half-siblings and maybe have a chance to rekindle lost relationships, but by stressing over it he is losing sight of the found family he actually has. YanLi wants him to come around, eventually, but she knows how lonely ZiXuan has been with no siblings and how secretly jealous he is of the bond that she has with her family. so she won’t pressure her husband, but she feels lonely nonetheless.

the two wangxian lovebirds are too happy to notice the mess LXC is making and they don’t even realize he’s there until like, three days before the actual wedding.

LXC may be a shark but he’s not subtle. JC doesn’t know what he does for a living but he assumes he has too much time on his hands, hence not someone worthy of his time. but LXC always causes troubles on the venue or messes up with the flower arrangements or prods for information to the wrong people and JC is over it.

“if you don’t have anything better to do help me find the sommelier so I can ask him what’s wrong with him and if he studied anything at all” or “if you have so much time to waste be useful and learn how to make flower crowns for the children to play with” or “if you can sit on your ass all day at least look over my nephew while I go look for someone to emotionally bully to let off some steam.”

Jin Ling is five and even more bossy than his uncle and orders LXC around to be his pony when JC should babysit him at work. LXC discovers the boy is JGY and A-Su and Mo XuanYu’s nephew and that JC doesn’t what any of them to interact with Jin Ling. but LXC secretly lets them hang out with the boy when JC is too busy to notice.

JC and LXC get closer the more the latter understands that there’s not much dirt on Wei Ying (aside from some questionable pictures taken during a university party back in the days, but that’s beside the point). LXC appreciates how crafty and ingenious JC is, always helping others around instead of just shouting orders...even if his temper is atrocious at times.

JC forces LXC to take dance lessons with the lot of the main family members and LXC meets JC’s mother for the first time. she is competitive about her dancing skills and Wei Ying tries to win her over by asking her to show everybody how it’s done by leading her ex-husband in a tango. after publicly humiliating her ex-husband (and making him fall in love with her once more), she insists on practicing a waltz with LXC and basically threatens him to cut off his balls if he dares to lead JC on with his charms.

LXC realizes he’s been playing and flirting too much with the man for him not to notice, but JC seems oblivious. no. he’s completely oblivious and kind and beautiful as he dances with Jin Ling and twirls him around in delight. LXC played too hard and now he’s in too deep.

the only source of drama in this would be JC finding out LXC let Jin Ling hang out with his other uncles and aunt despite the warnings. JC was starting to trust the man... and LXC stabbed him in the back. he would have much preferred not to discover it from his nephew (who let it slip that LXC “told him not to speak of his uncles and aunt to Jiujiu”), because he would have given LXC a chance to explain himself otherwise. but no. JC cannot have good things apparently and now he’s heartbroken without even knowing why.

without the lucky charm that is JC (holed up in his flat eating junk food to forget the pain of being an afterthought in other people’s lives), everything goes to shit three days before the wedding: the chef quits, the tea set for the ceremony breaks, one of the maids has accidentally torn apart one set of wedding robes and so on.

the venue gets flooded with live chickens when a truck transporting them breaks down in front of the building and the chicken escape. Jin Ling is loving every second of it, but everything gets destroyed in the ruckus and JC’s hard work is ruined.

Wei Ying is heartbroken and Lan Zhan silently accuses LXC of being the cause of this and urges him to fix the mess unless he wants to receive the cold shoulder for the rest of his days. but LXC is a cowards and spends his time actually fixing the broken things or replacing them or finding seamstresses to help with the garments and so on himself. anything but facing JC and be rejected.

ZiXuan comes to his senses and blurts out that “he really just wanted to have a loving family” the moment JGY, A-Su and Mo XuanYu come check on LXC. they hug and cry and laugh and YanLi gently reminds them that this is not about them right now and that they should help with the preparations if they have so much time on their hands. her mother is very proud of her and nods appreciatively at ZiXuan’s shocked and weirdly intrigued expression after being humiliated so boldly in front of everyone. the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree indeed.

the day before the wedding Wei Ying threatens to call the wedding off if JC doesn’t show up for his big day: not because he’s the planner, but because Wei Ying wants him close on his happiest day and he will not have it any other way.

LXC goes to fetch JC in his apartment himself the night before the wedding and they yell and they make peace and then they make love and then they woke up late the next day and they have to rush to the venue.

Wei Ying is livid until JC appears and then they celebrate the wedding of the century. A week of celebrations later Lan Zhan deadpans that they actually got married already like, one month in after meeting each other, but Wei Ying wanted a big wedding and he didn’t want to deny his husband a single thing.

JC tries to strangle his brother as the last family picture is being taken.

give me an award already.

#mdzs #cql #the untamed #the forbidden crack! untamed prompts #xicheng #wangxian #mdzs/au: modern #mdzs/au: wedding planner #mo dao zu shi

[foularcadebanana]

A Thousand Rules More

Day 29 Prompt for the Untamed Fall Fest is ‘Carving’. This idea came to me like a flash of lightning and I have been so, so excited to write this fic, so I hope you all enjoy it!

Summary: Everyone always wondered the true reason for the Gusu Lan sect rules to have increased from 2,000 to 3,000. They suspected almost everyone, but only Lan Qiren knew who the true culprits were. It was the pair of uncle and nephew that no one seemed to suspect. Jiang Wanyin and Jin Ling.

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Lan Qiren knew his disciples had theories, that they suspected the increment of the rules from 2,000 to 3,000 had been in part due to Wei Wuxian, and then Wangji. There were other theories too, mostly about him. That Lan Qiren was so strict, that he hated to see his disciples having fun to such a degree that every time he saw them following the rules and having fun, he just put up new rules. That Professor Qiren was actually a sadist, he loved dishing out punishments.

There were theories that in another few years, there would be 4,000 and then 5,000 rules. The disciples would be forbidden to even breathe without being punished. Fingers had been pointed at every single person who resided in the Cloud Recesses, had lived there in the past, or had even stepped foot there.

Everyone from Jin Guangyao to Nie Huaisang was a suspect. Even the deceased Jin Guangshan and Nie Mingjue. Although what they may have done remained unclear. And some of the theories, Lan Qiren would rather not listen to.

There were only two exceptions. Two people who the figurative finger had not been pointed at, and those just happened to be the two people most responsible for the addition of an extra thousand rules to the Gusu Lan sect. Sect Leader Jiang and his nephew.

Lan Qiren had known Jiang Wanyin since long before he had begun to attend lectures at the Cloud Recesses. He still remembered a tiny Jiang Cheng toddling towards his father during their meetings held in Lotus Pier. Jiang Cheng had been an adorable child, truly kind and well-mannered. This had been before Wei Wuxian had become a part of their family.

Lan Qiren had been to Lotus Pier only once after Wei Wuxian had begun to stay there. He remembered walking along the docks, hearing the laughs and shouts of threats of two voices in a distance, until one of them had knocked into him.

“Who are you?” the bushy haired kid had asked, with curiosity and a smile that could melt the coldest of hearts.

He had been nudged by his brother, elbowed in the stomach, and that was when Lan Qiren had laid his eyes on Jiang Cheng again. He had grown taller, not a tiny child anymore, but still a kid, and he’d had a hand placed on his mouth, to muffle his laughter and cover up any signs of a smile.

“That’s Sect Leader Lan,” Jiang Cheng had whispered, “You need to bow to him, and you can’t be so rude. You need to be more polite when you ask people that.”

With that explanation, Jiang Cheng had bowed dutifully in front of Lan Qiren, and bushy-haired kid had followed.

“And you might you be?” Lan Qiren had asked the bushy haired kid, although he’d had an inkling of who he might be.

“I am Wei Wuxian, Sect Leader Lan. The son of Wei Changze and Cangse Sanren.” The kid had bowed again respectfully, and Lan Qiren had immediately decided to forgive him for being rude earlier.

Lan Qiren had nodded his head and patted Wei Wuxian’s head. “I used to know your mother.”

Wei Wuxian had blinked, brightened up at that response. “You did?”

Lan Qiren had nodded, but before he’d had a chance to respond, Jiang Fengmian had called out to him. He had turned back to the boys only to notice that the boys had continued to run and chase after each other, their conversation with him already forgotten.

The next time Lan Qiren had met Jiang Cheng had been during the lectures held in the Cloud Recesses. He had been just as polite, kind-hearted, and obedient as he had been during his childhood. But even then, Lan Qiren had spotted the streak of independence in him that was needed to become Sect Leader, as well as an emotional sensitivity that Lan Qiren hadn’t expected to come from the boy.

Most people who had seen the two brothers roaming around had identified Wei Wuxian as the independent soul, as the more emotionally sensitive of the two, but they had been wrong. Lan Qiren had known better, having had to keep an observing eye on the two teens during their time at the Cloud Recesses because he had known that Wei Wuxian tended to get himself into trouble.

Lan Qiren had known even then that it had been Jiang Cheng who had been the more independent one of the two, who had carried the burden of being a future sect leader with ease, as though the title had belonged to him and he could be willing to put in the hard work required to deserve it. He had been the more emotionally sensitive of the two, always wanting and working to keep his family together and out of trouble, always getting into trouble because of it, but also staying happy because of them.

Lan Qiren had always admired the boy. He had achieved the impossible and become the kind of sect leader that Lan Qiren was sure his parents would have been proud of. So when it had finally been time for Sect Leader Jiang’s first visit to the Cloud Recesses after it had been newly built, after the unfortunate deaths of his sister, brother, and brother-in-law, Lan Qiren had only hoped for the same kind of behaviour to carry on then, but he could not have been more wrong.

All cups, and most of the rest of the utensils kept in the Cloud Recesses were glass, and hence, quite easily breakable. If Lan Qiren had been able to see the future, or atleast sense it, then he most certainly would have carved the rule out on stone a lot earlier.

After greeting all of the rest of the sect leaders who had arrived for the discussion conference in the Cloud Recesses, as well as Lan Qiren himself, and Xichen, Sect Leader Jiang, who would always be Jiang Cheng to Lan Qiren, sat down in his assigned seat for the conference. Lan Qiren shouldn’t blame himself, it wasn’t his fault, nobody could have foreseen it, and yet, Lan Qiren thought to himself that he really should have known better. He truly should have known better than to give Sect Leader Jiang the most delicate and pristine glass-made cutlery.

He had heard of Jiang Wanyin’s reputation as Sect Leader Jiang and the Sandu Shengshou. He was known to have a short temper and to use his whip on the daily. Lan Qiren had thought nothing of it, and he still thought nothing of it until 25 minutes into the conference. Sect Leader Jiang and his disciples sat next to Nie Huaisang, who had just newly been appointed as sect leader, with his disciples.

Sect Leader Jiang was holding a porcelain cup when it happened. Exactly 25 minutes into the discussion conference, Sect Leader Yao opened his mouth and spout out an incomprehensible amount of trash. Before anyone could even hope to react to Sect Leader Yao and his words, a clear ‘crack’ing sound was heard, and echoed throughout the silence of the discussion hall.

As the sound slowly tapered off, Lan Qiren registered that the crack had sounded suspiciously like the breaking of one of the cups from his favourite porcelain cups set. His eyes surveyed the hall and came to rest on the person responsible for the cracking noise. Sect Leader Jiang held the broken shard of the remain of the porcelain cup, glaring at Sect Leader Yao hard, with Zidian unfurling and flaring up at his side, a pure purple colour that matched his robes perfectly.

All eyes were on Sect Leader Jiang, as though expecting an outburst, but all Lan Qiren could think of was how his porcelain cup set would now be incomplete. Turning to one of his disciples, he ushered them in closer and told them to get Sect Leader Jiang another porcelain cup.

Sect Leader Nie blew his fan into his face as he looked at Sect Leader Jiang with amusement in his eyes. If they had still been teens, Lan Qiren would have taken that as a sure sign than Nie Huaisang was up to his usual mischief. A Lan disciple bowed down to Sect Leader Jiang and replaced his broken cup with a second one.

It was another hour into the conference, when Wangji, who had recently come out of seclusion, and been persuaded by his brother to attend the conference, spoke that it happened again. Another crack.

Wangji had spoken out against a point that Sect Leader Jiang had made, one that Lan Qiren had personally agreed with and hadn’t known any solid reason for Wangji to speak up against. Lan Qiren hoped he was hallucinating, seeing, and hearing things that were not really happening. He wished that the cup in Sect Leader Jiang’s hand, his second porcelain cup, was not really broken, into precious porcelain shards. Again.

“Bring him another one,” Lan Qiren demanded from another disciple. Break another one, Lan Qiren dared Jiang Wanyin internally. Break another one and I’ll make this into a rule and carve it into the stone with my own hands.

Everything had been going well. Lan Qiren had been happy that the conference was about to end. The conference was about to end, when Sect Leader Ouyang called out to Sect Leader Jiang and asked him about the marriage proposals. The marriage proposals Sect Leader Jiang stopped receiving because he had been blacklisted by all matchmakers. Everyone knew about this.

Lan Qiren’s heart stopped beating. Cold sweat broke out across his forehead. He was only seconds away from thrashing Sect Leader Ouyang with his flute. He was milliseconds away from qi-deviating on the spot. Jiang Wanyin was holding Lan Qiren’s third and last replaceable cup. His favourite, most precious—

The crack that resounded through the halls was one that Lan Qiren felt in his chest as his heart broke. Along with his last and only porcelain cup.

Lan Qiren clenched his fists around his flute before he roared. “That is it! All of you, out!”

Everyone’s attention shifted from Jiang Wanyin to Lan Qiren, startled by the fury and rage they saw on his face and the tenseness in his posture. Even Xichen and Wangji blinked.

“Jiang Wanyin,” Lan Qiren’s voice lowered and softened only slightly. “You stay.”

Jiang Wanyin looked like a deer in the headlights as he nodded and was forced to stay. Lan Qiren spotten Nie Huaisang mouthing a ‘good luck’ to Sect Leader Jiang, but when he realised that Lan Qiren had seen him say it, he sheepishly smiled at him, hiding his face behind his fan, and quickly walking away.

Lan Qiren gave him a two-hours lecture where he told Sect Leader Jiang exactly how he had come across the porcelain cups and how he had acquired them, how they had been so precious to Lan Qiren because they had been one of a kind, how Jiang Wanyin had broken three of the those cups in a span of just a few hours, and how now, Lan Qiren had three less porcelain cups than he'd had before their conference had started.

After his lecture ended, Jiang Wanyin profusely apologized for what he had done, and maybe Lan Qiren might have a bit of a soft spot for the boy because his heart immediately melted at the sincerity he saw in the Sect Leader’s features. Still, he wasn’t going to let it go so easily. He had made a promise to himself, and he intended to keep it.

Accepting Jiang Wanyin’s apology and resisting the urge to pat him lightly on the back as he had done often in the past, Lan Qiren let the Sect Leader go. He had no doubts that Sect Leader Nie would hear about all of this in great detail.

The next day, all of the disciples of the Cloud Recesses, and Lan Qiren’s own nephews, watched as Lan Qiren stood near the large block of stone where all of their rules were written, and began carving another one. It had been decades, hundreds of years since rules had been added to the stone, but there Lan Qiren was, carving out a new one.

‘No breaking of any cups or utensils shall take place in the Cloud Recesses, porcelain, glass or otherwise. It is forbidden!’

The next time Sect Leader Jiang visited the Cloud Recesses, he came with his nephew. Jin Ling was a little toddler, barely out of the crib, and he had clearly just learned how to walk. His tiny hand tightly clasped onto Jiang Wanyin’s fingers, walking unstably towards Lan Qiren, and Lan Qiren mused on how similar he looked to the tiny Jiang Cheng he had seen during his visits to Lotus Pier. He’d had that same expression of determination and a slight frown set into his features as Jin Ling did now, as if all of the kid’s concentration was going into putting one step in front of the other.

Jin Ling toddled around the room where the meeting was taking place, blubbering, and chattering nonsensical syllables with his mouth as he did so. Jiang Wanyin looked as though he wanted to pay attention to the meeting, and he was, but Lan Qiren found his eyes wandering over to his nephew every few minutes.

The meeting seemed to be commencing smoothly, there was not a single breakable cup or any other utensil in Lan Qiren’s sight, when suddenly there was a slight knocking sound. Lan Qiren didn’t pay any attention to it and neither did Jiang Wanyin, but his head whipped around sharply as Jin Ling’s cry cut through the air.

“Jiujiu!” The toddler cried. He was sitting on the floor, his hands holding a bleeding knee. Jiang Wanyin reached his nephew before Lan Qiren could even blink.

“What happened, A-Ling? Who did this to you?” Jiang Wanyin roughly pulled Jin Ling into a hug, glaring at everybody present in the room with them.

Jin Ling sniffled and pointed to somewhere in the room. Within  the span of another one of Lan Qiren’s blinks, Jiang Wanyin stood in front of the offending object with Zidian slowly unfurling from the ring on his finger. Lan Qiren stopped breathing for a moment. The object Jiang Wanyin stood in front of was an enormous flower vase that had been gifted to Lan Qiren by a close friend from another sect. A friend who was now dead, of course.

Lan Qiren knew what was about to happen, but he still thought not the vase, not that vase, please not the—

Jiang Wanyin whipped Zidian and the beautiful vase shattered into numerous pieces, almost unrecognizable now. Lan Qiren willed himself to take deep breaths. It was fine. Everything was—

“There you go, A-Ling,” Jiang Wanyin spoke. “Your jiujiu destroyed the vase, okay? Are you alright now?”

Jin Ling made grabby hands at his jiujiu and the Sect Leader walked over and scooped Jin Ling into his arms in one smooth motion.

“Don’t worry, A-Ling. Your jiujiu will always protect you and never let any harm come to you. He will whip anyone who tries to hurt you with Zidian,” Jiang Wanyin added, and let his threat hang and spread in the silence of the room.

Lan Qiren felt the start of a headache creep up on the edges of his consciousness.

Two more rules were carved in after that incident.

‘The use of Zidian or any similar weapons is prohibited in the Cloud Recesses.’

‘Breaking of any object or damages to any object is strictly prohibited and will lead to severe punishments and consequences.’

Nobody needed to know that Lan Qiren had let Jiang Wanyin get away with it, and the Sect Leader had visited Lan Qiren again the next day with an exact replica of the vase. The only difference was the words etched on the inside of the vase, at the top.

‘To Professor Qiren,

I’m sorry for breaking your vase. Thank you for making an exception and deciding not to punish me. You always were my favourite professor while we were studying at the Cloud Recesses. I promise to not cause you any more trouble.

From Jiang Wanyin.’

Lan Qiren still sometimes stopped to look at those words and smiled. After all, Jiang Wanyin had been Lan Qiren’s favourite student as well.

The third time Jiang Wanyin arrived was not for a meeting or any such formalities. He had been called for the anniversary of the fall of Cloud Reccesses. Again, his nephew had come with him. This event was a sobering one, so Lan Qiren knew that nothing would go wrong this time, and no more new rules would be carved out, right?

It happened after the ceremony had taken place. Sect Leader Jiang and his nephew had disappeared, and Lan Qiren found them an hour later, cuddling up against rabbits. Lan Qiren felt a soft smile growing on his face as he watched Jiang Wanyin gently caressing and holding a rabbit in his hands. He sat close to Jin Ling, whose brows were furrowed as he tried to copy his uncle’s movements.

“Jiujiu, they’re so cute and cuddly!” Jin Ling exclaimed, and Jiang Wanyin warmly pulled Jin Ling closer to him, gently keeping a rabbit on his lap. Jiang Wanyin had a few on his own lap. “Oh, it tickles, Jiujiu,” Jin Ling giggled and Lan Qiren found a familiar warmth spreading through his chest as he watched them.

He watched the young sect leader gently push the rabbits off of his own lap as he pulled Jin Ling onto it. “It tickles, does it, A-Ling?” Jiang Wanyin asked with a tone of mischief and mirth in his eyes.

“Yes, Jiujiu,” Jin Ling said, smooshing a rabbit’s face against his cheek.

“Does it tickle like this?” Jiang Wanyin asked, his fingers creeping around Jin Ling’s waist as they tickled him.

Jin Ling squealed, almost dropping the rabbit in his arms. “Aaah, Jiujiu. No, no! Stop, that tickles. Jiujiu!”

The Sect Leader laughed uninhibitedly. “What was that, A-Ling? I couldn’t hear you?”

“Jiujiu!” The child screamed with laughter, and although it was louder than was allowed in the Cloud Recesses, Lan Qiren found that he didn’t mind it, just this once. Jin Ling wiggled in Jiang Wanyin’s grasp and Jiang Wanyin finally stopped tickling his nephew.

Lan Qiren watched as Jin Ling slowly relaxed into his uncle, his chest rising and falling rapidly as he took quick breaths. Jiang Wanyin’s fingers brushed through his nephew’s messy hair as Jin Ling’s eyes drooped.

“Jiujiu?” Jin Ling called out.

“Hmmm?” Jiang Wanyin responded.

“Can we play catch with the rabbits?” Jin Ling asked. Lan Qiren’s eyes widened, but he forced himself to relax. Jiang Wanyin was an adult and a Sect leader now, he was a responsible, mature individual with common sense, surely he would not—

“Sure, A-Ling.” Jiang Wanyin said, and Lan Qiren looked on with his heart in his throat as Jiang Wanyin walked away to increase the distance between himself and his nephew. Jin Ling stood up.

Lan Qiren saw Jiang Wanyin gesturing to Jin Ling to throw the rabbit, and Jin Ling prepared himself for the throw, before he actually threw it. Lan Qiren was sure that the screech he had emitted could be heard throughout the Cloud Recesses.

‘Throwing of rabbits around the Cloud Recesses is forbidden. They are not objects or your personal playthings. They are animals. They are delicate. Treat them as such.’

The next time Sect Leader Jiang came to the Cloud Recesses, he had a more grown up child trailing behind him. A miniature version of himself. Lan Qiren had already picked the space where he would be writing the new rules, and he was ready when it happened.

‘Threatening to break a child’s legs or to feed anyone who hurts them to a dog or any kind of animal is forbidden.’

‘Screaming at a child or chasing them through the Cloud Recesses and disrupting the lessons is also forbidden.’

With each visit to the Cloud Recesses, the rules only grew, but Lan Qiren was the only person who knew why, and he refused to tell anyone else (gossip was forbidden in the Cloud Recesses, after all) or to punish the uncle or his nephew for their wrong doings. They had faced enough hardships in their young lives and been punished for faults that had not been theirs, perhaps they deserved for their mistakes to be overlooked once in a while.

#foularcadebanana #Yesimawriter on ao3 #untamed fall fest #untamed fall fest 2020 #the untamed fanfic #the untamed #mdzs fanfic #mdzs #lan qiren #jiang cheng #jin ling #gusu lan sect rules #the cloud recesses #lan qiren is so done #jiang cheng is angry and trying his best #jin ling is an adorable little baby who has done no wrongs ever #read this

[yilingradishfairy]

April Fools' Rush In (2063 words) by SakuraKage Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: 魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù, 陈情令 | The Untamed (TV) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Lán Zhàn | Lán Wàngjī/Wèi Yīng | Wèi Wúxiàn Characters: Lán Zhàn | Lán Wàngjī, Wèi Yīng | Wèi Wúxiàn Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, April Fools' Day, Kokuhaku, Honmei choco, hope I'm using those terms right, Untamed Spring Fest 2020 Summary:

This is it. Today is the day. Lan Wangji was going to tell Wei Wuxian how he felt. He didn't have a lot of experience, but, thankfully, the anime that he watched with Wei Wuxian had taught him what to do. But why, today of all days, has everyone in the school seem to have gone crazy? Every two seconds, a prank is going off or someone is covered in apple juice. It seems like his love confession is going to get buried underneath a pile of stinking vegetables (literally). Or will it?

The prompt for Untamed Spring Fest 2020 – Day 1 was April Fools' Day. I swear, this started as a Yunmeng sibs gen fic, all shenanigans and no plot. But then I needed a mouthpiece, and a clueless LWJ sounded like the funniest way to go. And then I needed a WangXian subplot, but this is just a oneshot. So then it became the whole plot. So yeah. Enjoy :)

This is it. Today is the day. Lan Wangji was going to tell Wei Wuxian how he felt.

He didn't have a lot of experience with love or relationships, in general, platonic or otherwise. He had grown up on books and had only just started his first year at the school where his uncle teaches. At first, he had been mortified at how unruly his classmates seemed to be, so flippant and ridiculous, but he got used to ignoring them after a while.

Well, he got used to ignoring every student except one. The one named Wei Wuxian who sat next to him and bothered him at every moment. The one who insisted he call him "Wei Ying" and called him "Lan Zhan," in turn. The one who acted like he was his best friend and dragged him to his house after school and forced him to watch anime with him to "culture" him and, yeah, after a while, Lan Wangji had to admit that he wasn't being forced anymore. At some point, he had begun to look forward to Wei Wuxian’s daily Lan Zhan~ 's and Wei Wuxian’s special smiles and Wei Wuxian’s adamant resolve that Lan Wangji was his friend. Until Lan Wangji realized he no longer wanted to be just Wei Wuxian's friend.

And thanks to the anime they had binge-watched together, Lan Wangji knew what he had to do.

Lan Wangji entered the classroom several minutes early, which was not an irregularity for him. What was unusual was the small unassuming box of handmade chocolates and letter addressed to Wei Wuxian that he cradled protectively. He laid both on Wei Wuxian’s desk, and took his usual seat next to him, cracking open a textbook.

Students began to file in, and it seemed that it was an unusual day for them as well. Several of them were smuggling in food of some kind, and those that weren’t carried some sort of office supply with them. He spared them no more thought, though, when Wei Wuxian tumbled through the door.

“Lan Zhan!” As usual, Wei Wuxian paid no attention to his own desk, choosing instead to perch atop Lan Wangji’s. “Guess what happened!”

“Wei Ying,” he greeted him. “On your desk.”

“Oh!” Wei Wuxian jumped off and grabbed the chocolates. “Did you make these?”

“Mn,” he nodded, hiding how nervous energy thrummed through his veins. “For you.”

“Mm, Lan Zhan, these are amazing!” he mumbled around the chocolates he had just shoved in. “You’re really good at this!”

Arrogance is forbidden. Arrogance is forbidden. Lan Wangji repeated the rules to himself, but he could not prevent the pleased flush from spreading through his body.

“Mmm,” Wei Wuxian hummed in delight. “Wow, I love this!” He gobbled up another chocolate. “But you know,” he continued through a mouth of chocolate. “You weren’t really supposed to make good food.”

Wait, what? He knew? How did I do it wrong? What was wrong?

Although Lan Wangji did not say anything, Wei Wuxian read the quizzical set of his brow. “I don’t know how you knew about the food thing we were doing today, but it’s supposed to be prank food. And it’s kinda supposed to be for the whole class, though I can’t be mad at you for making it all for me.” He smiled charmingly, which would normally pause Lan Wangji’s brain processes, but his words set his mind racing.

What’s today? Prank food? Whole class? “Food thing?” Lan Wangji managed to get out.

“Yeah, for April Fool’s!”

“April. Fool’s,” Lan Wangji repeated slowly, waiting for him to explain.

“Look, watch,” Wei Wuxian motioned towards Mianmian, who had been circling the room and was finally approaching them.

“Hey, guys,” she winked at them, plopping down her donut box onto Wei Wuxian’s desk. Right onto his still unseen confession letter. “Can I interest you in a donut?”

“Not today,” Wei Wuxian just laughed. “Show Lan Wangji what you’ve got in there.”

She obligingly opened the case. Lan Wangji peered in. “Radishes?” he murmured to himself before turning to Wei Wuxian quizzically.

“Bleh, potatoes are better,” Wei Wuxian told MianMian, sticking his tongue out in disgust. She just shrugged and went on to Nie Huaisang, who was sitting behind Wei Wuxian.

He turned back to Lan Wangji. “Yeah, it’s April Fool’s Day! Everyone just plays pranks on each other. For fun! You get it, Lan Zhan?”

Wei Wuxian leaned in to whisper something in his ear, but he was interrupted by his brother’s arrival. “Wei Wuxian!”

Lan Wangji turned to see Jiang Wanyin huffing at the door. His clothes were all rumpled, and as he stalked closer, Lan Wangji could see that the beads of sweat rolling down his forehead had a reddish tinge.

“What happened to you?” Nie Huaisang’s mouth was hanging open.

“You-!” Jiang Wanyin grabbed the front of his brother’s shirt. “How dare you-”

“Jiang Cheng,” Wei Wuxian laughed nervously. “Did you like your surprise?”

“What do you thi-”

“Heads up, hands down, and phones away!” Lan Qiren barked from down the hallway. “School is in session!”

All the students scurried into their seats as the honored teacher finally entered the room. Jiang Wanyin slowly released his grip on Wei Wuxian and slid into his seat behind Lan Wangji.

He could hear Nie Huaisang and Jiang Wanyin whispering behind him during class, but he ignored it. After lunch, on the way back to class, Wei Wuxian threw himself over Lan Wangji. “Lan Zhan, look what my brother did to my phone~” he whined, pushing the phone into his hands. “What an awful April Fool’s prank!”

Lan Wangji accepted the phone that was thrust into his hands and pressed the power. A picture of the tiniest, fluffiest, most adorable dog covered the screen. Knowing Wei Wuxian’s phobia, Lan Wangji immediately turned the screen off, tilting the phone so it was facing away from its owner. “How did he do this?” he asked.

Wei Wuxian pouted. “He stole it from me before class, when he grabbed me. Sneaky brother.” He wailed, “And now I can’t use my phone!”

“Tell me your passcode,” Lan Wangji said.

“Ah, Lan Zhan is the best!” Wei Wuxian immediately brightened and told him his password.

Lan Wangji clicked through his phone and changed his lockscreen to an inane picture of bunnies. “There.” He handed the phone back.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Wei Wuxian chirped. He flipped through his notifications quickly, since he had been unable to handle his phone for hours.

They made it back to the classroom and sat at their seats. Wei Wuxian began to put his books away and found the letter that had been buried beneath all the books.

"Ah, Lan Zhan, is this for me?" he waved his confession in the air cavalierly. Lan Wangji gave no answer, busily trying to calm his nerves. Wei Wuxian smirked as he opened the letter.

Lan Wangji held his breath as his eyes skimmed over the letter. Suddenly, Wei Wuxian clenched his fist and struck the table. "What a horrible joke," he hissed.

He doesn't like it. Of course, he doesn't feel the same way. This was a horrible idea. Lan Wangji swallowed thickly. "What?" he croaked eloquently. He watched as Wei Wuxian carefully hid his feelings behind a smile.

"Haha, it looks like Jiang Cheng pulled another prank on me," he forced a laugh. "He pretty much nailed your handwriting, though. Look!" Wei Wuxian waved his painstakingly crafted love confession in his face. A prank. He thinks it’s all a prank, Lan Wangji realized numbly.

“As if you’d say something like this.” Then, to his horror, Wei Wuxian read aloud his own words to him in a flat voice. Wei Wuxian gave another hollow laugh. "What does he think you are, a Japanese schoolgirl?"

"Mn," he heard himself agree from far away, unable to form words.

Wei Wuxian said something else, but he didn’t hear him. Didn’t know what he said. Couldn’t make the white noise go away. Thankfully, class started again, and he had several more hours to put his heart back together.

As they packed up at the end of class, Wei Wuxian sidled over and nudged his shoulder, eyes bright. “Are you coming over?”

No, I need to go home and nurse my broken heart. I need to get over you. "Mn," he found himself agreeing. He seemed to be addicted to pain.

Later, binging another anime with Wei Wuxian – a ninja anime this time, not one of the school ones that had led him so astray – Lan Wangji wondered if he could just ignore it. Tape over the hurt. He could just pretend today never happened.

Then Jiang Wanyin banged his way into through the door. “Wei Wuxian!”

Wei Wuxian scrambled to greet his brother at the door. “Hey, Jiang Cheng! What took you so long?”

“You know what,” Jiang Wanyin seethed. Lan Wangji stood up, edging closer to Wei Wuxian protectively. “I can’t believe you-”

“Boys,” Jiang Yanli cut in smoothly, ever the peacekeeper. “Play nice. I’m making soup.”

Jiang Wanyin calmed down, but he still shook his head derisively. “I still can’t believe you did that to me.”

Wei Wuxian bristled, “Well, I can't believe you changed my lockscreen to a murderous dog. You know how evil they are!”

“Well, I can't believe you put red hair dye in my shampoo!” Jiang Wanyin shouted back. “It took forever to wash out, and I was almost late!”

“That wasn't nearly as mean as your stupid love confession prank,” Wei Wuxian retorted.

“My love confession prank?” Jiang Wanyin made a face. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“The one you pretended was from Lan Zhan! That was really mean,” Wei Wuxian clicked his tongue disapprovingly. “He would never do something like that.” Wei Wuxian looked to Jiang Yanli for encouragement.

“Oh, A-Xian,” she sighed, looking back and forth between him and Lan Wangji. Jiang Wanyin facepalmed in the background.

Wei Wuxian turned confused eyes to Lan Wangji. "You did the prank?"

Lan Wangji shrank back against the wall, even though there was nowhere further to go. He could feel his ears blaze under Wei Wuxian's scrutiny, but he found no words.

Wei Wuxian’s eyes softened in understanding. "Lan Zhan?" Wei Wuxian whispered.

Lan Wangji swallowed thickly. "It, uh, it wasn't supposed to be a prank," he mumbled, unable to meet his eyes.

"No, you really meant it, huh?" Wei Wuxian gave him a gentle smile, looking at him in wonderment. Wait, he wasn’t disgusted by the thought?  Wei Wuxian took a tentative step forward. Does that mean… “Lan Zhan?” he asked.

Oh god, am I gonna say it? "I did," he admitted, hardly daring to breathe.

"I'm sorry," Wei Wuxian apologized, stepping forward again. "I'm sorry I thought it was a joke. That must have been very cruel to you, Lan Zhan." He drew ever closer until he was standing right in front of him. He paused and looked away, vulnerability filling his eyes. "I just didn't think...I never thought that you..."

"I do," Lan Wangji breathed, waiting on bated breath for his next words.

Wei Wuxian finally looked up, and hope lit up his beautiful face. "I do, too."

Jiang Wanyin gagged loudly in the background. "Eugh, guys! Get a room!"

Wei Wuxian jolted, as if out of a spell, and backed away from where he had all but pinned Lan Wangji against the wall. He laughed awkwardly, waving his hands in the air. "Ah, sorry, Lan Zhan. I know you don't like touchi-"

Wei Wuxian cut his own words off when Lan Wangji grabbed hold of his flailing hand. Slowly, Wei Wuxian turned his wrist in his grasp and closed his fingers around Lan Wangji’s wrist in turn. He looked up into his eyes, his gaze a silent question.

“I want to touch you,” Lan Wangji nodded. “I always want to touch you.”

He distantly heard Jiang Wanyin gag again in the background, but he paid him no mind. He was too wrapped up in the person that he thought was too far out of his reach, not an hour before.  “Never mind!” Jiang Wanyin shouted. “Do not get a room! And definitely don't get my room!”

Wei Wuxian laughed, squeezing Lan Wangji’s wrist gently. “Would you like to stay for dinner?”

“I would love to.”

JYL: Would you like to stay forever?!

Disclaimer: I used a reference to the practice of love confessions from anime, but uh ... When I went through my anime phase, I paid way more attention to ninjas than to school slice of lifes so I probably got something wrong. But I told myself that I could get away with it because LWJ didn't totally understand it either. So sorry for any inaccuracies or misrepresentation.

Alright, I had more pranks planned, but it’s getting late so the down-low is that WWX stuck red food dye in JC’s shampoo and cream cheese in his deodorant, JC stuck a note on WWX car that made people honk at him all day (which probably isn’t much different than any other day), and someone taped over Lan Qiren’s projector remote, resulting in JC’s detention and subsequent lateness in getting home. Or maybe he was late for, like, student government reasons. IDK.

#WangjiWeek2020 #HappyBDayLWJ2020 #cql #cql fic #mdzs fic #lan wangji #fictional birthday #wei wuxian #post-canon #my writing

#untamed spring fest #mdzs fic #cql fic #the untamed fanfic #wangxian fic #lan wangji #wei wuxian #fluffy #my writing

#untamed spring fest #mdzs fic #cql fic #the untamed fanfic #wangxian fic #lan wangji #wei wuxian #fluffy #my writing #april fools day

[thaisibir]

La Vie en Rose (Bede and young!Opal time travel fic)

La Vie en Rose (Life in Pink) Rating: T (for character deaths and language) Chapter 3/10 - Beginnings (length: ~3k words) Summary: Bede doesn’t get why that loony old bat Opal wants him to be the next Fairy-type Gym Leader. To help him understand, Opal has Celebi take Bede back to the time of her youth.

(For other chapters, look up the tag “pokemon la vie en rose” or go to my profile)

When the light faded, Bede cracked his eyes open. Slowly he let go of Celebi’s hands. He noticed the same ring of tiny yellow mushrooms, the same curtain of moss hanging over the big old tree. The only difference was that Opal was nowhere to be seen. It didn’t feel like he had jumped back seventy years, but that was because he hadn’t explored yet.

“Where do I go from here?” Bede asked Celebi. “Lead the way.”

“Bi!” The Pokemon flew ahead of him through the glowing mushrooms, but at a steady, hovering pace so he could keep up with it.

Out of the corner of his eye, Bede thought he spotted the pink horned ears of Impidimps as they scuttled through the undergrowth. Could they see him? He hoped not. When he was building his new team, he had refused to catch and raise one of those creepy little buggers.

Celebi led him out to the trail that took them to the Ballonlea Gym. It flashed the same pink neon lights and emblem, but the doors had hinges and the Gym was half the size he expected. Bede guessed that both the regional population and enthusiasm for watching Gym battles had climbed since the 1950s, and at some point, the Gym underwent renovation to increase seating capacity and allow Dynamaxing. And automatic sliding doors hadn’t been invented yet.

“I wonder what it looks like inside?” He asked out loud. He made for the doors, but Celebi halted him mid-stride by tugging on his sleeve. Just then the double doors burst open. They could have swung right into him if Celebi hadn’t stopped him. A tall, dark-haired young woman sprinted past the doors, past Bede, and down the opposite path he had taken to reach the Gym.

“That’s Ms. Opal,” Bede exclaimed.

Celebi took off after her, prompting him to run after them both. He tried to follow them past the cluster of cottages and down the flights of stairs. Ballonlea Town hadn’t changed much in seventy years—just as Bede would expect out of an enchanting little town touched by Fairy type Pokemon. Opal sprinted into Glimwood Tangle without a pause or slowing down. Despite the gloom and patches of thick, tall grass, she clearly knew her way around as she wove back and forth through the labyrinth-like pathways and ducked into the gaps under fallen tree trunks.

“Ms. Opal, wait,” Bede called out. Then he remembered that he had no physical presence here. She wouldn’t be able to see or hear him. Bede had been one of the faster boys in the orphanage, if not the fastest, but he pumped his arms and legs hard in great effort to keep up. “Bloody hell, she’s fast,” he managed to say between pants. Definitely not the slow old woman as he had first known her.

Ahead of him, Celebi made a sound close to a tinkering laugh. Bede thought that the chase would go on and on, and he would lose Opal in the thicket, but she slowed down. He pressed both hands to his knees and tried to catch his breath just behind her. She gently tapped at a nearby mushroom, sending a stronger green glow around them.

“Mother,” Opal said softly. “I knew you would be here.”

Bede peeked around her to spot an older woman curled up by the ledge. He recognized that tangle of long dark hair, and her long nose, though the old photo hid the fact that the woman’s shawl was actually a dull yellow, not gray. It took him a few seconds to realize that Opal’s mother, Ruby, was hugging a Mimikyu to her chest. Her Mimikyu, Bede guessed. The Pokemon extended a shadowy claw through its Pikachu-like cloak to rub soothing strokes on Ruby’s shoulder.

Celebi beckoned at Bede to come closer. He edged farther in, feeling weird about eavesdropping on what was supposed to be a private moment between mother and daughter, but that was what the present-day Opal wanted him to do, anyway.

Opal knelt down to rest a hand on her mother’s back. Her right hand. It was bare, and Bede saw no scar there.

Ruby shuddered and let out a heavy sigh. “I’m sorry, dear. You know how I am around unexpected guests.”

Opal’s eyes narrowed and her frown deepened, briefly adding a few more years to her young face. “Those reporters were quite rude, barging into the Gym like that for an unwarranted interview. I’ll place more security around the Gym to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”

Ruby made a small, wan smile. “You’ve become such a mature and responsible young woman, despite everything I’ve done.” She shook her head. “No, because of everything I’ve done. Look at me, Opal. I can’t even handle being around a couple of news reporters without suffering a panic attack. You’ve had to keep the Gym running while I would be away trying to pull myself together. I’m sorry to put that burden on you, dear.”

Opal shook her head. “You’ve trained me for this, Mother. I’m happy to do my duty.”

“Speaking of duty, I think that my time as Gym Leader is over.” Ruby had been stroking the top of Mimikyu’s head, and she lowered her hand to rest it on top of her daughter’s. “I apologize for the lack of ceremony...but Opal, dear, starting today, you will be the next Gym Leader of Ballonlea Town.”

Opal jerked her hand away. “What? Now? But I haven’t-”

“I know, your eighteenth birthday is three months away, and I had planned to hand over the Gym to you then. But in all honesty, I don’t think I can bear another three months. I’m at my limit, Opal. You know as well as I do that I am at odds with civilization. I am quite odd, aren’t I? I won’t be offended if you think so.”

Opal frowned. “There’s nothing wrong with feeling more connected with Pokemon than with people.”

“But feeling so connected with them that I want to cut off people forever?”

Opal stared at her with silent, wide-eyed shock.

Ruby closed her eyes, and Bede saw how the dark bruised look of them contrasted with the paleness of her face. “Yes, I’ve thought about it for years. I grow tired of human chatter and rabble. I can’t stand the roaring and cheering in the Gym stadium. I get this terrible ringing in my ears. It drives me mad. Every day I feel the wilderness and its wild Pokemon calling to me, drawing me away from society, promising a cure. Only in that quietness and seclusion can I find peace, and my ears don’t ring anymore.” Ruby opened her eyes to return Opal’s pitying gaze. “I’ve kept my post as Gym Leader for your sake, so I could teach you what I know, everything I know about Fairy type Pokemon. You may not be eighteen yet, but I believe that you are ready. Consider this an early birthday present from me.”

Opal pursed her lips. “Thank you, Mother,” she murmured.

“You’re welcome, and good-bye, my dear.”

Opal drew back and blinked many times under a scrunched up brow. “Good-bye? You’re leaving today?”

Ruby’s voice was gentle but firm. “This will be my last day among people. No more human contact after today.”

“Even me?”

“Yes, Opal, even you.” Ruby took her daughter’s hand and squeezed it. “That is not to say that I don’t love you. Not at all. A parent is not supposed to have favorites, but of all my children, you are my absolute favorite. I’m sure you know that already.”

Opal smiled. “Well, I’m the only one who can understand you.”

Ruby nodded. “You chose to come with me when your father and I got divorced. You chose to leave behind all the riches in Wynwall, your father and your brothers, to train under me and learn the ways of Fairy type Pokemon. That was not an easy choice to make.” She lowered Mimikyu to the ground and rose to her feet, pulling her shawl tighter around herself. “You have been good company, and a good student, but now that I’ve passed on the torch to you, your place is with Ballonlea, while my place is elsewhere. The best option for us both is to part ways.”

“Where will you go, Mother?”

Ruby tilted her head to one side in thought. “Deeper into Glimwood Tangle, or perhaps into the Slumbering Weald. I heard that the locals in the nearby town are forbidden from entering it.” She smiled. “That sounds like an ideal place for someone who doesn’t want to be found. I will live off the salt of the earth, eat berries from trees in the forest, and drink from the rain and the river.”

Ruby’s sincerity behind that declaration made Opal take on the look of a girl half her age, frightened and overwhelmed. “I won’t ever see you again? You’ll be alone to the end of your days?”

Ruby placed a hand over Opal’s chest. “I’ll always be in your heart, if you care to remember me afterwards, and I’ll never be alone. I’ll have Pokemon by my side. I’ve always taken delight in their company, and I’ll continue to do so for the rest of my life.” She pursed her lips to let out a soft whistle, and from the bushes nearby, a Sylveon, a Shiinotic, and a Florges joined Mimikyu around Ruby. Her team of Pokemon, Bede realized. The only ones who would follow their Trainer into a life of untamed isolation.

Ruby pulled her daughter into a hug—or tried to, as if she had never quite grasped the motions. “Good-bye, my dear Opal. May you be brilliant and glorious as the precious stone I named you after.”

Opal returned the hug with arms wrapped tightly around her mother, and Ruby’s eyes widened as she received the entirety of that embrace. Opal pulled away and nodded. “Good-bye, Mother. Safe travels.”

Ruby tightened the shawl around her body once more and stepped away from the paved path, taking nothing with her but the clothes on her back and the Pokemon she had trained. Her Pokemon followed her into the undergrowth.

Thinking of how his own family dropped him off at the orphanage and didn’t look back, Bede wanted to shout after Ruby, “Go back to your daughter. You can’t just leave her like that.”

But he couldn’t make himself heard, so he wondered if Opal would. She didn’t call after her mother. Nor did she break into pursuit like she did before. Instead she stared at her mother’s retreating back, up until the darkness and mist enveloped her. Finally, she turned away and walked back the way she came. Back to the town.

Even while walking, Opal had a long, quick stride that Bede had to put effort in matching. Once at her side, Bede looked up at her to notice with surprise that tears had been welling up in her eyes. A muscle in her jaw twitched from clenched teeth. Suddenly she stopped near a tree stump to lean on it and let out a sob into her sleeve.

Bede stood by awkwardly, biting on his bottom lip and shifting his weight. Opal had just lost her mother suddenly, strangely, and was left with a new burden to carry on her shoulders. She didn’t succumb to that invisible weight, nor did she dwell in that spot. She wiped the back of her hand over her eyes. After a few moments, Opal gathered herself to a stern-faced composure. She drew in a shaky breath, straightened the black bow on her white blouse, and combed her fingers through short dark hair that had been messy and windswept from running. She carried on and wore that stern mask into town. Reporters in coats and fedoras streamed out of the Gym carrying notepads and those old-timey cameras with the big round flash bulbs. They assaulted her with their inquiring chatter—a rude, jarring contrast from the quiet, private exchange between Ruby and Opal at Glimwood Tangle.

“Miss Opal, might we have a word with you, please?”

“Did you manage to find your mother?”

“Is the Gym Leader available for an interview?”

Opal fixed them with a chilly look that kept them from coming too close to her. “My mother will not be taking any questions. I am Ballonlea’s Gym Leader now.”

The huddle of reporters erupted into a swarm, like a disturbed hive of Combees. Opal kept her chin high and strode past them, refusing to make eye contact and ignoring their flood of questions and exclamations.

Bede followed after her with growing respect. Opal carried on that commanding presence even to her old age. He remembered her rare League Card: a picture of him standing to attention like a soldier at Opal’s side, ready to be taught under her strict regimen.

“Chin up, back straight, shoulders squared, hands to your sides,” she had ordered. “Top form, now. Look like you’re going to take Fairy type Pokemon seriously.”

A tug at his collar made him stop. Bede turned to see Celebi gesturing at him to take both of its hands. Time-traveling again. He supposed he thought that was all to see at this point. But watching Opal’s mother pass on the Gym Leader title didn’t explain why Opal wanted to pass it on to him. Maybe there was more to see. Bede held Celebi’s hands and grimaced as a brilliant light radiated from the Legendary Pokemon.

#

Bede found himself facing a stage. Spotlights pointed at the stage made the rest of the room dim. He must be inside the Gym, its theatre. Though he had never formally challenged the Gym, as Opal’s protege he had been led (dragged, rather) inside the theatre enough times to know it from front to back. The Gym, like the town outside, hadn’t changed much back then. The stage was made of the same wood and the curtains had the same color.

Next to him, Opal sat alone at a narrow table, with a cup of tea in her left hand and a pen hovering over papers in her right. Celebi had Bede jump a bit forward in time, still in the past. Opal looked a year or two older than the last time Bede saw her. Still quite young to be managing a theatre. She seemed at ease with the role, however, as she presided over stacks of resumes, score sheets, and of course, questionnaires of her own design, and she scrutinized a young man who stepped onto the stage.

Bede frowned at Celebi. “She’s looking for a new Gym Leader already? Didn’t she just get it from her mum?” But no Trainer stepped up to challenge the young man to a battle. Bede realized that this was normal theatre business. Straight-up auditioning for a part in some play.

The man didn’t introduce himself, because Opal already had his resume in front of her, and after clearing his throat, he went straight into singing. Opal closed her eyes and rested the pen on her chin. At first Bede thought she was bored and on the verge of falling asleep. Then he noticed how she angled her head toward the stage, how her brow furrowed a bit in concentration. She was, in fact, listening intently. Bede wasn’t into musical theatre, so he didn’t recognize the lines. He couldn’t tell if the man was doing well or not. Opal kept her expression impassive as she gauged the performance.

She didn’t scribble anything into the score sheet until the man finished. She nodded at him. “Thank you for your time. I will release the results sometime next week.”

He bowed and exited the stage. Bede had noticed disappointment flicker in the young man’s face before he had bowed. That man must’ve been hoping to be told his results right then and there. Opal wrote more comments into the score sheet, then arranged the papers into neater stacks in a way that she would look at them later. As she rose from the table, Bede could hear murmuring and rustling as those behind the scenes shut off the spotlights and pulled the curtains closed. Celebi tugged at Bede’s sleeve, beckoning him to follow Opal out of the theatre. He stumbled after her at the same time a Gym Trainer accompanied her outside.

“How were the performances today, Miss Opal?” The Gym Trainer asked.

Opal propped a hand on her hip and huffed a sigh. “Lackluster, I’m afraid. No one’s up to snuff.”

“Not even alumni from your own school, like that man who last auditioned?”

“A degree from the Hammerlocke Royal Academy of the Arts alone doesn’t make exceptions, nor can it save a subpar performance. ”

At Opal’s condescending remark, the Gym Trainer made a sheepish suggestion: “Perhaps you need to lower your standards, ma’am.”

Opal seemed to balk at that suggestion as she flicked her hand in the air. “I will not settle for anyone less than the very best, who I’ve had no luck finding. Today’s the last day for auditions, but I’m thinking about extending them to the next three days, if that’s possible.”

The Gym Trainer looked down at her clipboard and shook her head. “I’m sorry, ma’am, but we’re running on a tight schedule. We can’t delay production and rehearsal any longer. You will need to settle on who will play Raoul soon.”

Opal splayed fingers through her short dark hair in response. “At this rate, no one will play the part.” She shook her head. “I’ve been cooped up in the theatre for too long. Perhaps fresh air and a walk will do me a bit of good. I will think more over the candidates we’ve auditioned.”

Apparently the Gym Trainer liked that answer as her face and voice perked up. “Very good, Miss Opal.”

And it was apparent to Bede that Opal only said that to appease the Gym Trainer, because as the older woman went back inside, Opal let the frustration settle back into her face. She turned away from the Gym and took a trail farther into the forest.

“Ms. Opal always did set unrealistic standards,” Bede remarked with amusement to Celebi. He and the time-traveling Pokemon followed Opal off the trail and into the thicket of glowing mushrooms and old trees. The soft beat of flapping wings made Bede glance up. A Togekiss drifted from above to settle on a sapling next to Opal.

She greeted the Pokemon with a grin and reached out to smooth back its blue and red plumage. “You can sense my frustration from a mile away, can’t you? Did you come to help calm me down?”

The Togekiss, her Togekiss, trilled and rubbed its cheek against her palm.

Opal withdrew her hand to ball it into a fist over her chest. “What am I going to do, Togekiss? The casting process had never been this much of a pain. Then again, I have to find someone for not just any song, but my absolute favorite song in the play. I guess that makes all the difference. Perhaps my search for the perfect match is like trying to find a Legendary Pokemon.” She raised her hands, then let them fall to her sides in resigned helplessness. “I may be running a theatre, and I have the authority to cast whoever I want, but it doesn’t feel like I have control. I don’t control how someone else sings and acts, and if they all come in not singing and acting the way I’d like, then I don’t have a choice at all.” Opal looked like she wanted to swat at the nearest glowing mushroom, but Togekiss cooed and jumped up to gently land on her head. She took a stumbling step forward and laughed, catching Togekiss with her hands.

“You’re not a little Togetic anymore. Off with you, now, before I fall over.”

Togekiss jumped back onto the branch it had been sitting on, and Opal smoothed her hair back into place.

“You know, Togekiss, the only thing I feel that I have true control over is myself.” Opal closed her eyes, as if drinking in the sounds of the forest.

She drew in a deep breath and sang in rich, melodious soprano that startled Bede and sent chills down his back. The most he would hear from the Opal he knew was a low hum here and there, and he had seen her sing in old photos, but he had never heard her sing like this. He shouldn’t be surprised, though. If she had been a talented actress back then, and acting often involved singing and dancing, then she must have been skilled in those areas, too.

Bede wanted to sit there in the forest and listen to her sing forever, but she stopped after five lines. The forest seemed to swallow up her voice. Then, from a distance, came the following few lines in alto.

Opal gasped. “Togekiss, did you hear that?”

Her Pokemon chirped in affirmation. Opal straightened up and looked around, trying to pinpoint the direction of the mystery voice. Whoever was singing fell silent, prompting her to carry on with the duet and sing the next lines.

Bede didn’t have her ear for what kind of singing was good or bad, but it was evident even to him that this mystery voice had her enraptured. She was bent on locating the source of that voice, pushing through the tall grass and sweeping her gaze across the forest like an explorer on a jungle expedition. Togekiss helped her track down the voice as it flew ahead. Bede followed behind her, curious as she was about who could be singing the duet with her.

Opal lurched to a halt, making Bede nearly run into her. He peeked around her to match her wide-eyed surprise.

Huddled against the tree was a man in a tattered coat. His matted brown hair was so thick and unkempt that it hid his lips and nearly hid his dark eyes. A backpack patched with dirt and bulging at the seams sat next to him. Wrapped about his neck like a striped scarf, a Galarian Linoone bared its teeth at Opal. A Mightyena lying down on all fours lifted its downcast gaze at the man’s feet to stare back at her warily.

The surprise on Opal’s face twisted into confusion. “You...were you the one singing with me—“ Her question turned into a cry of alarm as the man collapsed right in front of her.

Linoone and Mightyena growled at Opal, stopping her from running up to him. She raised her hands at them as a disarming gesture.

“Calm down, I’m not going to hurt him,” she said firmly.

Her Togekiss flew down before Linoone and Mightyena to convey her Trainer’s intentions to them. Only then did the pair of Dark type Pokemon flatten their fur and slink back to let Opal kneel down and gently turn the man over.

“Sir, can you hear me?” She called, and she shook her head in panic when he didn’t respond. Bede heard her mutter, “Please don’t be dead, please don’t be dead.” Then she said, “Togekiss, get help from the clinic.”

Her Pokemon cried out to acknowledge her command and flew out of sight.

Just call for help on the Rotom Phone, Bede thought, but he realized that they hadn’t been invented yet. He knew that there was nothing he could do. Still, he didn’t feel right standing by helplessly as Opal tried to rouse the man.

His eyes fluttered open, making Opal blow out a sigh of relief. “Good, try to stay awake. Don’t worry, sir, I’m getting you help.” She would give him a shake if his eyes were about to close again. “What’s your name? Could you at least tell me that?”

His dried lips quivered. “R-Roger.”

#pokemon swsh #pokemon sword and shield #swsh bede #swsh opal #pokemon bede #pokemon opal #pokemon fanfiction #pokemon fic #bede pokemon #opal pokemon #pokemon la vie en rose

[a-very-fond-farewell]

The forbidden crack! Untamed prompts: 22/?

Drama AU [this is just an idea tho, no plot basically]: “Did you find a bitch in me?”

[JC-focus crackships galore baby! title is from a Marina Diamandis’s song (“Hermit the Frog) but that’s probably not important for the non-plot so... yeah]

*

“So... wait a minute.”

“Hit me.”

“I’m still confused.”

“About?”

“Wen Qing... why should I know about your ex’s exes?”

“Because he’s a bisexual menace and I don’t want him to ruin this for me.”

“Jiang Cheng is not going to sleep with me.”

“What do you know tho? He’s that powerful.”

“Babe, I’m a lesbian.”

“And he has dated everyone in our circle of friends and their significant others.”

“Big lesbian energy, you’re absolutely right.”

“Thank you. I taught him well.”

*

or the only au where there’s only drama and no plot and JC went from experimenting to actively turning people gay or straight just because.

[attn: in this au Jin GuangShan is not, I repeat, not a bitch and did not, in fact, have other kids aside from Jin ZiXuan bc I say so. don’t make me complicate this non-existent plot more, please]

[under the cut for more!]

ok. got it. JC knows he’s no saint. hell, he doesn’t even qualify as a decent human being, alright. he’s that socially abominable. but things have escalated to a point where he doesn’t even know what to do. maybe become a hermit, lock his dick and call it a day. yeah, that should do the trick. because he really doesn’t know when it all started... no. that’s a lie. total bullshit. it was Nie HuaiSang.

so, SO, he may have been 16. sweet bush child with no future nor name. a great big sister, a stupid big bro, an overachieving mother, a distant father, the usual. save for fucking Nie HuaiSang and his stash of porn. and JC was straight. and he just wanted to check if the link his high school friend sent him was a jumpscare or not. he closed the tab right after the first moan echoed in his room late at night, he forgot to put the jack in and his earphones were possibly all the way back in his backpack on the kitchen table. fuck his life. and also fuck HuaiSang for being into weirdly sensual artsy porn on top of that. fuck his life. fuck the replay button too.

coincidentally, HuaiSang was his first kiss, first head, first everything only one year later and JC still talks to the jerk to an extent, but not because he wants to, okay? they were experimenting, but JC was still straight. he wanted to do good on his first actual relationship with a woman, whatever that meant for him at the time. HuaiSang was okay with that, the lying bastard. JC may or may not have grown fond of him by the time their graduation came, but they never got around to talk about it because they were stupid and young.

also, HuaiSang’s brother had caught them once and JC had known there and then why his non-boyfriend had decided to cut things loose afterwards. that jock was scary as fuck.

.

then. THEN. university came and Wen Qing was the one reminding JC he was still very much as straight and unbendable as he could get. it took him three years to not yell at her in frustration and ask her out: the sexual tension between them fueled by rivalry over good grades and the scholarship program they both wanted to have access to for their masters.

she had been the one asking him out. JC was lying about having the balls to do it, obviously. the fact that she also discovered to be a lesbian while being with him could have burned less, all things considered, but JC knew he had made love to her and that was enough for him. letting her go had been the right thing to do and they still talk everyday and she loves his nephew and everything is fine.

JC is FINE.

it only took him the two remaining years of his masters to get over her, but. FINE.

.

he’s not gonna talk about her brother. it happened only once. okay maybe once that particular night, at a bar and they were drunk and Wen Ning was nothing like his sister and the boy always had a slight crush on him and he was the one suggesting it, okay?

Wen Ning was kind and gentle and kissed way better than his sister and maybe after two years JC could get over it and move on and they could still be a family after all and that last stall in the staff toilet had been where JC’s bottom cherry was popped and oh gods that felt so good...

“actually, Jiang Cheng, you’re lovely. but I think I’m actually really straight so... I’m sorry. I hope we can still be friends?”

yeah. JC’s not gonna talk about fucking Wen Ning.

.

maybe the fact that his brother Wei Ying got married so soon was the reason why. it has to be.

JC hated, HATED Lan Zhan. he hated how much in love they were. how softly they moved around each other. how much he wanted some of that as well.

and since he was THAT petty he had to flirt with Lan Zhan’s brother (Lan Huan) because of it. the man was terrifyingly good looking and a gentleman. so much he didn’t want to give in to JC’s requests... because he already had a boyfriend.

JC knew nothing about said boyfriend aside from the fact that he was apparently a snake, whatever Wei Ying meant by that.

Lan Huan looked very intrigued, but he’s also very loyal and JC admired him for that. he didn’t want to have that conversation tho, the one where Lan Huan politely asked him to stop being so charming in his periphery, so JC decided to hide for a month or two and maybe extended that period of time and never show his face again while he’s at it.

Lan Zhan would have also had his head on a fucking plate if he dared touching his precious older brother so, there’s that as well.

.

so he dated a bunch of people after swiping them on apps left and right, got the hitch out of his system and felt miserable about it.

Nie HuaiSang came back into his life like, the day before JC started working for a new company and asked him out for a drink. HuaiSang was crushing for a man too young for HuaiSang’s comfort because he usually liked older men and this boy was fresh out of his bachelor and JC’s friend was well in his late twenties and didn’t have a job yet and...

JC shut him up with a kiss and they felt slightly less lonely afterwards, until they actually talked about their issues and decided to stop being messy and grow out of their bad habits.

JC still fells sick at the idea of being someone else’s “bad habit” though.

.

Wen Chao was a mistake.

Wen Chao’s girlfriend was a mistake.

Wen Chao’s brother was a mistake.

Their bloody uncle was a mistake.

Their father was an even more spectacular mistake.

JC has yet to find out how he survived the year of his thirtieth birthday, honestly. that shit had been wild as fuck.

.

YanLi and her husband offered JC to look after Jin Ling more often in order to make him feel some sense of safety, he knew that much. at the time, JC hated the fact that ZiXuan worried over him and that his own sister didn’t know how to help him either.

people at work had started to treat him differently as well, now that they knew how messy he was. he started getting treated for depression soon after being promoted to supervisor, his workaholic tendencies saving him from himself after years of sleeping around and drinking too much for his own good.

A-Su was YanLi’s friend from university and was kind enough to ask him out one day. she stayed with him for a year before apologizing to him, saying she wanted something more: a family, a future, something JC could have not given her anytime soon.

.

his brother and Lan Zhan adopted a boy and JC became an uncle for the second time. A-Yuan was difficult to look after, having survived stressful living conditions in his early childhood, so Wei Ying appreciated the extra hand when JC offered it to him and his husband.

looking after children forced him to be not so angry all the time and now Jin Ling had a cousin he could play with and was very glad his Jiujiu was feeling better.

.

when Lan Huan came back into his life, JC had forgotten about even attempting to win him over in his early twenties. it felt life a lifetime had passed.

they started as friends this time around, but JC felt nothing for him and he was okay with that. they were good uncles to A-Yuan and that was enough.

.

what really caught JC off guard was when Meng Yao stumbled upon him one day in midwinter, crashing on JC and sending his briefcase up in the air. the older man was apologetic and kind and gods forbid JC still needed some of that in his life. even if it was the other who had crashed into him, JC offered to buy him coffee since Meng Yao’s cup was now sadly rolling out frame on the snowy path.

to his utter astonishment, Meng Yao accepted.

JC took his time with him, willing to slow down and really get to know this new man who seemed so welcoming and easily approachable... yet so impossibly far and unreachable.

Meng Yao confessed cheating on his previous partner with his best friend five years prior and how he felt undeserving of another chance with someone as kind as JC. he revealed how therapy helped him work on his tendency of manipulating others and that this was the only reason why he wanted to be honest with JC and tell him the truth. so that the younger man could make up his mind if Meng Yao could be granted a chance with him.

this heartfelt confession startled JC in the beginning, especially bc Meng Yao seemed adamant about not sleeping with him for the foreseeable future, unless they talked it out some more.

on JC’s thirty-fourth birthday, one year after meeting Meng Yao, JC asks him to marry him during a pleasant dinner the older man has planned for him.

to his horror and absolute joy, A-Yao accepts.

JC didn’t mind not having been intimate with him until then, nor he would have minded if A-Yao never happened to change his mind on the matter. JC felt safe with him, even when he saw him reminiscing the past with grief painting his features behind his fake smile. JC knew he could give him happiness and so he asked him to meet the Jiangs for the first time to announce the good news.

all but Wei Ying and his husband have arrived the even JC brought A-Yao home, their car stuck in traffic. they start eating without them, with the couple’s permission. YanLi and ZiXuan didn’t bring A-Ling this time around, not willing to leave too soon and waste a chance to really get to know the new member of their family. JC’s father seemed pleased to meet with A-Yao, exchanging pleasantries and conversing about common interests...but JC’s mother is weirdly cold and distant that night.

once dinner came to a end, finally Wei Ying arrived, apologizing profusely for making the lot of them eat without them. however, nor he or his husband could take their eyes off of A-Yao...and neither could JC’s fiancé.

“if you still have some dignity to spare, I suggest you leave this very moment,” said Lan Zhan, the most he has ever spoken in one breath in front of JC. to which, to JC’s astonishment, A-Yao answered by giving JC one last look and the saddest smile he had ever worn...before leaving the house and never look back.

.

confused, heartbroken, humiliated...JC didn’t know what to feel when Lan Zhan explained to the lot of them what Meng Yao had done to Lan Huan after eight years together. cheating on the kindest man alive with an old acquaintance of his that to that day remained unnamed bc Meng Yao refused to reveal their identity.

JC’s mother didn’t have to tell her son that she had known all along something was off about A-Yao: JC could feel it in the way she was looking at him, sitting next to him on the couch. she had a sixth sense for venomous people.

the following year, JC is pretty sure it passed in a blur. he remembers working less hard than what he was expected to do, been consequently and rightfully demoted in his company. others gossiped about him being so proud for nothing in the end, which aggravated his mood.

to his surprise, his mother was the one suggesting him to take a break somewhere nice. to clear his head for a month or two before deciding what to do with his life. Wei Ying booked him a trip to Taiwan the following day and in less than a week JC is on a plane to take a long vacation there.

.

one night, roughly a week after his arrival at the hotel, JC was staring blankly at the skyline in deep thought. he had done the tourist-y shit, eaten all the foods in the best restaurants, brought presents for his family. and now he was bored out of his mind. the same, old questions swirling in his mind: did A-Yao lie when he said he loved him? did he lie just so he could have a fresh start and forget about the past? did he leave bc he felt guilty for his past with Lan Huan? was he serious when he had accepted JC’s proposal?

that’s when Mo XuanYu came barging into his life like a hurricane.

the younger man, seven years his junior, spotted him from an adjacent balcony and proceeded to talk to him as if...trying to de-escalate a suicide attempt from his part.

“sir, please. I’m sure there’s more to life than this. I don’t know what happened to make you feel this way but...everything will be fine in the end. I promise you. I was there. It’s okay. please don’t jump over the balcony.”

JC had no intention of jumping, just to be clear, but something in his eyes must have caught the kid’s attention and...was that a steward uniform he was wearing? did he work for the hotel? JC was none the wiser but that was the first time someone had reassured him so wholeheartedly without even knowing him and it felt...weird.

he started tearing up and the younger man panicked, promising to keep him company all night if necessary, reaching out with a hand to touch JC and reassure him from the other side. JC grasped it gingerly in his own and let himself be coaxed back to the realm of the living by such gentle soul.

JC hated himself for sleeping with him not even a week after their encounter.

but it just felt so good to let himself be guided by hand to the most hidden and wonderful places. away from the tourist crowd, eating delicious food with someone smiling prettily at him. yet he hated himself more for thinking about someone else in bed with him, at least in the beginning.

Mo XuanYu seemed to know anyway, and even encouraged him to just do whatever he felt like with him. casual hookups didn’t have to be meaningful, the younger man had said, and it wasn’t even the first time someone used him as a rebound either. still, something ugly stirred in JC at that.

so he decided to stop thinking about himself for once and shoved every bad memory away. all to pour his affection into someone else and cater to his lover for the following month and a half. borrowed time of a stolen season, during which JC doted on the younger man and learned to listen.

some of the stories Mo XuanYu told him felt slightly familiar, almost as if they had a friend in common and didn’t know who it might have been. after his shift, the younger man would ask to eat with JC and share his frustrations, repaying him in kindness with sweet kisses and even sweeter smiles that felt a little bit too brittle in the morning, when he was bound to leave.

by the end of JC’s trip it was clear to him that he had grown fond of the other man, too much for his own good. but during a vacation, away from home, surrounded by new and exciting things...anyone would have worn a mask to forget their normal life, that reality they would have eventually been forced to come back to.

by the end of his vacation, JC had figured out who their common friend was and remembered how distant Nie HuaiSang had felt falling in love with Mo XuanYu. how sad the younger man’s emotional unavailability has made him feel.

and when they parted ways at the airport, JC kissed him goodbye and never saw him again. the memory of Mo XuanYu’s brittle smile engraved forever in the back of his mind.

.

back to work. back to his bad bitch persona. it felt good to focus on his job and nothing else for a year or two, keeping others at distance while bossing them from his office as he regained his boss’s trust. being promoted a second time gave him the confidence he needed to move on with his life and by his thirty-seventh birthday he could finally see a future for himself.

therapy was helping a great deal and even his siblings seemed to notice his progress, praising him for his willingness to seek help and his hard work.

A-Yuan and A-Ling included: the kids were growing up too fast, involving their uncle in their school projects and plans for mischief any chance they got to see him.

Lan Huan caught everyone by surprise one day in autumn by confirming YanLi and Wei Ying’s suspicions about his breakup with Nie MingJue, Nie HuaiSang’s older brother.

the older man didn’t tell them why he had stepped back from his engagement with the man, aside from saying that the both of them had found out something concerning about their past and common acquaintances. the discovery making them feel so disheartened to the point of braking their engagement of mutual accord.

JC felt bad for the man, knowing how much it hurt to lose someone so dear. not that they had had been able to discuss over the matter much, not even after A-Yao had left. it would have been awkward to talk about their common ex and his penchant for secrets and hurting other people’s feelings.

but they understood each other well enough and started talking more, out of their common interest in their nephews and their well-being.

.

five years later, JC was forty-two and content with his life. A-Ling was close to thirteen and A-Yuan quickly approaching fifteen. he could see them growing up and out of his reach, but their affection for him never wavered. until one day A-Yuan called him in the middle of the night, startling him awake.

apparently, his best friend JinGyi had called him for help after being beaten up by his foster mother and A-Yuan didn’t know what to do. calling his parents would have only alerted and worried Wei Ying and Lan Zhan, who were probably still asleep and hadn’t even noticed their son had sneaked out in the middle of the night.

panicked and worried, JC called Lan Huan instead and they left for the hospital. and something hurt at the sight of such a young boy lying still on a bed too big for him. something else clicked in JC’s brain at the sight but it would have taken him several months to realize what exactly.

furious and restless, Lan Huan spend months looking for the woman who had hurt the child, eventually destroying her in court until he pried a confession out of her. social services immediately alerted as JC inquired over the possibility of giving the child a permanent home himself.

not even a year later, JC was able to welcome the kid in their new house in the quietest part of town. it took a while for the boy to adjust, worrying over JC eventually changing his mind and letting him go. “who even adopts someone close to be of age?” JinGyi had asked, frustrated and certain JC would grow bored of him.

but JC was there to reassure him every step of the way, telling him family was forever and not something easily dismissible. he repeated it until the boy seemed satisfied and called him “dad” for the first time one inconspicuous evening at dinner. if JC cried on his pizza, well, nobody has to know.

.

Lan Huan was glad to listen to JC gushing over his son, more than supportive and borderline enthusiastic to listen to every little progress and new success.

JC knew this was enough, but he would lie saying he hadn’t felt loved by the other man. yet, he didn’t dare hope he could have another chance at happiness at almost fifty years old. Lan Huan himself close to fifty-five and well settled into his career as a lawyer...too much to consider a valuable partnership with someone like JC.

his therapist had bashed him for ages over such insecurity, but JC could only smile at him and shrug. many people didn’t find their happy ending and he still had JinGyi to look after. which seemed a good way to spend the rest of his life.

so it came as a surprise when, one evening, as JC overlooked at Lan Huan building a piece of furniture with JinGyi in their living room, he started crying with love and affection.

“why are you crying Jiang Cheng?”

“I’m happy.”

he really was.

he still is to this day.

*

[they don’t marry, but they do spend the rest of their life together anyway]

I need a break, this took days to make D:

#mdzs #jiang cheng #sangcheng #xicheng #chengyao #qingcheng #chengyu #yucheng #chaocheng #ningcheng #chengsu #jc is messy ok? #nielan #xiyao #mianqing #sangyu #wangxian #mdzs/au: modern #mdzs/au: messy jc #the forbidden crack! untamed prompts #the untamed #mo dao zu shi #cql #I AM TRASH I WILL SHIP JC WITH A ROCK FOR ALL I CARE

[a-very-fond-farewell]

The forbidden crack! Untamed prompts: 13/?

Drunken mistake AU (mingcheng edition): “Take that burn”

[everything is the same but nobody dies and NMJ accidentally slept with JC once]

[no they don’t want to talk about it]

[yes this is a crack ship. I don’t ship them. but if it’s your thing well, you’re welcome]

*

[basically, the beginning of the story is set somewhere around the banquet at Koi Tower when Nie MingJue spots Xue Yang as Jin GuangYao’s protégée and is ready to flip tables. Coincidentally, Jiang Cheng –although walking in the club like he has the biggest junk in the universe– is equally fed up with his brother’s antics and storms out with too many jars of alcohol in hand.]

[NMJ and JC get drunk together. The next morning they remember everything and are ashamed of it and swear not to talk about it ever again.]

[but this is actually coming in handy for the both of them, because this incident will start a chain of events that will prevent canon-shit to hit the fan and so nobody will die in the end.]

[Nie MingJue is actually a gentleman and worries over Clan Leader Jiang’s wellbeing and reputation. Like, he remembers the enthusiastic consent from the other’s part, but he also figured it must have been his first time (our boy NMJ is -for lack of a better word- sore) but he feels guilty for some reason and wants to make amends.]

[on the other hand, Jiang Cheng definitely remembers their second round and how much he didn’t want to deny Sect Leader Nie’s request to “see who got actual stamina and not just threats up their sleeve” (whatever the fuck that meant) and he gets red just thinking about it.]

[but wait, Nie MingJue comes up with a solution to not stress over it, which happens to be fretting the hell over what would be considered an appropriate “I will take full responsibility/please let me know if I offended you” gift.

(Consequently getting mad at his younger brother bc he made the mistake to -gods forbid- asks Nie HuaiSang what would be a suitable line of action for “accidentally dishonoring an...esteemed mal female cultivator’s respectability” and now his little brother can’t shut up about silks and fans and poetry AND NMJ CANNOT TELL HIM TO STOP WITH THE FRILLY STUFF unless he wants his brother to snoop and find out who’s THE MAN he banged on a roof at night.)

he eventually settles on a bejeweled dagger bc he’s classy.]

[however, Onion Boy Jiang Cheng interprets the gift as a courting gift and his internalized homophobic ass goes “oh OH he thinks I’m the woman in this relationship, uh?! not in this lifetime bitch” and so he sends a gift as well to symbolically remind Sect Leader Nie “who asked to be railed not one but three times under the fucking moonlight” and calls it a day.

(But he does think it’s a very nice dagger and doesn’t want to disrespect another cultivator to the point of mailing a present back to the sender so... yeah.)

he sends NMJ the most expensive ointment for burn injuries in Yunmeng bc he’s a petty petty boy.]

[BUT!!! Nie MingJue has never received gifts like e v e r in his life and he’s...kind of touched? A bit? Bc it’s a very thoughtful gift? An expensive one too? And useful on top of that? Oh gods, Jiang Wanyin must have liked the dagger very much for being so generous and for actually thinking something a General like him would use on the battlefield and (...) maybe he should give something in return (...) what would be a good “thank you for your consideration” present (...) and so on.]

[They exchange gifts back an forth, NMJ slowly falling in love while JC begrudgingly fires back with presents aimed to offend and remind the other who’s in charge. This mutual exchange takes NMJ’s mind off of his anger issues and doesn’t need Jin GuangYao to play any evil music for him.]

[First time they meet in person JC is nervous af and he steels himself to exude nothing but power and control in front of the other Sect Leader... but the moment NMJ sees him JC is fucked. NMJ just stars glowing and dotes on him from day fucking one and JC is a weak weak man and the other is so tall so manly so gentle?? And it actually feels kind of nice to be paraded in front of others like a really nice horse or beloved wife and HOLY FUCKO now he understands why his sister loves her peacock so much.]

[moral of the story, they learn to de-stress together and nobody dies bc two angry boys banged once on a roof at night and everything is well and nice.]

*

[neat. now I ship it wtf]

#mingcheng #mdzs #the untamed #mo dao zu shi #cql #the forbidden crack! untamed prompts #mdzs/au: fluff #mdzs/au: canon gets MariKondo-ed up in here #nie mingjue #onion boy jiang cheng #tw internalized homophobia #game: find the marina diamandis reference

[a-very-fond-farewell]

The forbidden crack! Untamed prompts: 16/?

FMA AU meets “The Wind Rises” AU : “I still remember every day”

[crazy idea #1: if you are familiar with FMA: Brotherhood (superior in every way) you probably are too young or too smart to remember the original 2003 FMA clusterfuck series but i’m neither young nor smart so here is my take on one of my favorite animated movies of all times “The Conqueror of Shamballa” BUT the story doesn’t start in 1923 Germany but somewhere around 1923 Japan. If you are familiar with this movie and the 2003 series you will know Ed Elric has moved from London to Munich and started living there frequently interacting with a family of rocket scientists (sounds crazy if you are only knowledgeable with FMA: B, but… trust me). So i thought, “what if our protagonist (in this case WWX) travels from China to Japan to work on some airplanes instead?”]

[crazy idea #2: “The Wind Rises” from Ghibli is set in that historical period right? so what if we make transmigrated WWX work his engineering magic on some aircrafts before any conflict can actually take place? precisely between the end of the Taisho period (1912-1926) and the beginning of the Showa period (1926-1989), when the desire for innovation and the new technological advancements could be implemented while at peace.]

[obviously, this is just a prompt, and I don’t feel particularly comfortable with creating fantasy storylines so intertwined with actual historical events, especially if these events caused the suffering of many and belong to a culture that is not mine to describe with the potential risk of offending its values and legacy. also, fandom should be fun and if you love angst maybe this is not the prompt for you. on the other hand I thought of how much i love movies like “Porco Rosso”, set somewhat really fucking close to where I live while describing a fun and lighthearted narrative even if it’s dealing with historical and political events that are still fresh and painful in our collective memory nowadays. Maybe it is possible to write something easy and fun while, at the same time, setting it in a time of great difficulties without hurting anyone. Maybe I’m not the person for that (after all, this is just a prompt), but if you want to explore a similar plot you are encouraged to tag me bc I would really like to know your take on the matter. and if I happen to offend anyone I will properly apologize and take responsibility.]

[the title is from L’Arc-en-Ciel’s song “Lost Heaven”, which still makes me cry to this day]

*

When Wei WuXian wakes up after the core transplant surgery, the first thing he realizes is that he should be awake. Wen Qing insisted on the fact that he had to keep himself awake and conscious for the entirety of the procedure, otherwise he would have suffered from extreme backlash and so would have Jiang Cheng. But here he is, waking up from slumber after who know how many days. In front of a figure in white he doesn’t recognize. Everything is blurry in his periphery, as if he’s inhabiting two bodies at the same time. His every move heavy and his speech sluggish.

The person in white turns the moment Wei WuXian realizes he’s standing in the middle of nowhere, in the space between realities.

“Where am I?”, he asks, trying to make out the features of the person in front of him, their long white hair, the silver lining of their robes.

“You’re here to pay a price.”, the other answers, their voice a mere whisper. Barely louder than the crisp little noises the pins and jewelry adorning their hair and neck are making as the person approaches him slowly.

“A price for what?”

“Before losing consciousness, you wished for your brother to be saved no matter what.”

“Is… is Jiang Cheng safe?”

“He’s dying because you fell asleep.”, the other announces, sending shivers down Wei WuXian’s spine, dread sitting in the middle of his chest, “You cannot wake up, the damage is done. But if you enter this door you will be able to save him. Your body in this world will die, the core will not share two owners at once and your brother will be the only one able to use it from now on.”

Wei WuXian doesn’t have time to feel pain, determination painting him in vibrant colors in that white realm of silence and void. He turns as the person in white gestures him to do so and he finds a door so big it could rival with one of the gates of Koi Tower. Engraved on its surface are myriads of characters reminding him of something ancient and forbidden. Something so dark and dangerous not even cultivators as knowledgeable as Lan QiRen would be able to understand, let alone encourage learning about.

“What will i find on the other side?”, he wonders, watching as the gates slowly open in front of him, a warm wind spiraling upwards and messing his hair.

A kiss from the underworld.

Is this the day I die, he doesn’t ask.

“Another world.”, the woman in white and silver answers honestly.

Wei WuXian doesn’t have time to recognize her that he is dragged inside by a thousands of spirits with eyes for mouths and teeth for hands.

*

Mere months have passed since he woke up in a body similar to his original one, but completely different from his own at the same time. He’s still seventeen, but cannot rely on cultivation anymore. The brand scar he received in the cave of the Tortoise of Slaughter is nowhere to be seen. His mother and father welcomed him back in their arms, crying over his bedridden body thanking the heavens for saving their only son from typhoid fever. He knew deep down those were not his true parents, that Cange Sanren had a different name on top of that and that their actual son’s soul was probably the sacrificial lamb paid on the altar of Wei WuXian’s greed to save his only brother. He knew this since day one, yet he was too tired to say anything at the time. He woke up in a small village in the Hubei Province under the Republic of China, established twelve years prior. A reality almost identical to his own, but stripped of any power of the cultivation world.

However, now things have changed and his parents have died a second time, the fever and starvation taking them in their sleep one at a time. But not before his mother could send a desperate letter to an old acquaintance of hers asking them to take their son “Wei Ying” out of the country and save him from harm. After accepting her proposition, the Chinese diplomat Jiang Fenmiang has invited Wei Ying to live with him and their family in Tokyo, where he’s working in order to strengthen and acquiesce the relations between the two countries after a period of tension and grievances.

As he travels on what he understands to be called a “train”, Wei WuXian takes notes over the many technological advancements this new era has brought to humanity. Such as the ferry he has taken to travel overseas and now the locomotive taking him to Tokyo. The pain of losing his parents for the second time is still fresh, as is the memory of the past few months living alone on the streets chased by rabid dogs. His body is still weak after surviving the fever and his lungs and digestive system are forever compromised, but he wants to meet Jiang Chen and YanLi a second time in this new world. Feeling guilty for leaving them in a world ruled by the Qishan Wen clan, the only thing he can do is to atone in this new life and protect them in this reality. He takes a brief moment to himself as he looks up from his notes and sees a man approaching from the first class carriage of the train.

Initially Wei WuXian doesn’t regard the stranger with anything but a polite nod, some of his notes flying away from his journal as he adjusts himself on the platform at the end of his car. He sprints up to try to catch them... before the stranger could grab them for him and give them back.

It’s then that Wei WuXian recognizes the man, an older version of Lan Zhan from the one he remembers, dressed in modern clothing and shorter hair. He’s just another double, a copy of the original he used to know. Just like his mother and father, just like the Jiang family he’s going to meet soon. No recognition comes from the other-Lan Zhan, yet Wei WuXian lets himself stare for longer than necessary as he thanks the man.

A single tear rolls down his cheek as an earthquake shakes the train and destroys everything around them in that day of September 1923.

[details down below]

1923:

(WWX is 17)

the train stops and all the passengers survive, but they are scared and don’t know how to reach Tokyo safely by foot. Some officers guide them to the nearest road and help them walk for a while before they have to leave for the capital in an attempt to contain the flames of the many fires caused by the earthquake.

Lan Zhan’s double has the same name and features, but is now twenty-five and was supposed to arrive in Tokyo to meet with his brother, Lan Huan’s double. He’s a little more cheerful than what WWX remembers and he also decides to stick with the younger man all the way to Tokyo. After glancing at WWX’s notes earlier, in fact, double!LanZhan recognizes him as someone from his same country and reasons they should feel safer traveling together for a little while more.

given that trying to explain his situation to double!LanZhan would be useless, WWX simply agrees and shoves down any temptation to tell him all about Gusu and the cave and how much he wishes he could go back to his original world. They walk all the way to Tokyo talking quietly: they are surrounded by strangers, WWX doesn’t know much Japanese to begin with and he doesn’t want to be recognized as a foreigner.

uncle Jiang, along with some clothes to travel more comfortably, has sent him enough money to travel and direction to reach his home. The only thing WWX hopes is that nobody was injured in the earthquake and that no more waves can reach them before he can join them. What an unfortunate time to arrive. Aunt Yu would probably hate him in this reality too just because of that.

but as he trails behind double!LanZhan and enters Tokyo, WWX feels as if hell has found its way into the world, flames everywhere and nowhere to go. In the midst of chaos, however, double!LanZhan tries to keep him from fainting or shaking, talking about all the things he and his brother wish to work on as architects working for the government. Yet, WWX senses how worried he is for his twin brother and pities him as he tries to calm down, marveling at how much this version of Lan Zhan can talk. They walk towards the Jiang household as double!LanZhan chats about the university he’s supposed to work for the following month, wondering if it’s still intact after the catastrophe.

they reach the elegant house without any more troubles, relief spreading through their hearts as they notice it has endured little to no damage. Uncle Jiang scurries over them and immediately recognizes WWX bc of how much he resembles his mother and the man dotes on him from then on. He thanks double!LanZhan profusely, ignoring the resentful glances coming from his wife and the curious ones from his daughter. A kid roughly the same age as WWX approaches and takes the other’s only suitcase: a scowl on his face and hurry in his steps, telling WWX to keep up because “the world is crashing down if he hadn’t noticed”.

WWX doesn’t have time to properly thank double!LanZhan that he is urged inside by his new family.

1927:

(WWX is 21)

given the connections the Jiang family has in both countries, WWX and his step siblings are able to enjoy benefits others may only dream of, but the government is wary of foreigners and they need to act as good guests. This angers and stresses Jiang Cheng, his temper even worse than what WWX remembers, and he is even more rebellious than his new stepbrother. It’s WWX who needs to tone down the other’s snark at times, reminding him they cannot do as they please and that, even if others are jealous of their grades in university and overall position, they are still living in difficult times.

WWX knows this Jiang Cheng is a double ant that everything feels like a dream and nothing matters anymore, but if he pretends hard energy maybe he can stop feeling guilty for leaving his dear ones behind. But acknowledging this Jiang Cheng as the real one feels wrong and sometimes WWX distances himself from him, keeping his secrets for himself.

however, double!JiangCheng has seen his brother scream in his dreams, even waking him up in the middle of the night just to shake him from his horrible nightmares. Sometimes Wei Ying watches him in his sleep, when he hasn’t yet realized double!JiangCheng is awake, as checks for his breath. Other times he pressed a hand to his abdomen, as if checking for scars or injuries. He doesn’t know what it means, but he is willing to wait for the other to come around and they’ll him himself.

their sister YanLi has figured a way to be useful in a country wary of foreigners by studying to become a doctor and save lives. Their father is currently struggling at work because of the increasing tensions between the two countries and their mother keeps to herself in spite of everything.

WWX’s health deteriorates after he starts working, their supervisor suggesting him and his brother to keep a low profile just not to attract any unwanted attention on their family. Their work as engineers can convince the higher-ups to keep them close in case war were to strike again. But Jiang Cheng feels bad for working for a country constantly threatening his parent’s home country over mining rights and land ownership. He may love working on new aircrafts and test his limits, but he’s against using his energy and drive for appease someone else’s greed.

WWX, for the first time in his life, feels second to his brother, admiring his ability to distinguish from right and wrong while he himself cannot even tell dreams and reality apart. With a weakened body and a mind filled with memories of a world that doesn’t even exists, WWX convinces himself he’s in hell and this life is the punishment for being too greedy himself.

1929:

(WWX is 23, double!LWJ is 30)

tension is too strong for them to live in Tokyo, with Uncle Jiang forced to work for the government and scramble for solutions in order to keep his family safe in a secluded location in the mountains, in a hotel in the middle of nowhere. There, the elites enjoys the last days of peaceful times they will not see again for years to come.

WWX feels drained, dreaming of people he will either never see again or see every single day in the faces of strangers. Jiang Cheng convinces him to talk, even if only to ease his pain, but WWX cannot bring himself to reveal the whole truth. The only thing he feels like to share is that he has visions of another world and that maybe reincarnation is not as far fetched as it seems.

Jiang Cheng doesn’t really believe him, but he supports him and together with YanLi they try to make Wei Ying relax during their vacation on the mountains.

there, out of nowhere, WWX meets double!LanZhan and his brother: they meet on top of a hill as the wind rises and some of the two brothers’ musical scores fly away. WWX and his stepbrother catch them and bring them back as YanLi approaches the two musicians.

this time, WWX notice immediately something is wrong. Double!LanZhan is far less cheerful than what he remembers from their first encounter, while his brother seems to have lost his vision, music being his only comfort. The group exchanges pleasantries with the twins on top of the hill, until rain forces them all to seek refuge under some trees. WWX watches double!LanZhan closely and realizes these years apart must have been tough on him. He asks if double!LanHuan has lost his sight after the earthquake and the only thing double!LanZhan is able to do is nod, his eyes filled with tears.

Would it be so bad to befriend this other-LanZhan? Is it right for WWX to start a new life in hell with someone so compassionate and kind? Maybe that would be okay in the end, maybe they can be good friends and survive this world that is wary of them simply because of the greed of human kind. Then why does it feel wrong to let himself be loved by these people? Why does it feel like he’s betraying the ones he has left behind?

during their vacation, the two families get closer and they enjoy each other’s company. They talk in Japanese to not be stared by the other patrons and WWX wonders what happened in his world. If the Wens have crumbled down. If their name is synonymous with hatred and greed. If this is how any refugee would feel, isolated from the rest of the country while desperately trying to hold onto any familiar face and memory at hand.

Jiang Cheng doesn’t like to talk in another language and fear others might look down on him and seldom attracts attention by causing mayhem. But YanLi and even double!LanHuan help him come down from his stubborn antics and take him to long walks to calm down. This way, WWX and double!LanZhan are frequently left alone, because Wei Ying cannot walk for too long without feeling exhausted and so the other keeps him company.

since double!LanZhan is so under the weather and quiet, WWX takes it upon himself to entertain him and he spends their days chatting about the things he misses from home, what he would like to do if he were to live somewhere else, they airplanes he would like to make. He doesn’t talk about how much me misses flying on a sword, or how the wind fills under his clothes up in the air, or how much he would have loved to hold onto Lan Zhan among the stars at night.

WWX cries in front of double!LanZhan without noticing one day, missing the days at the Cloud Recesses when they were classmates and he used to pester the other boy. And only now, only now he understands what it was, what he wanted to convey with his antics. How much he wanted the other to notice him and pay attention to him. But the one rubbing a comforting hand up and down his spine now is not his Lan Zhan. Even if he’s just as kind and compassionate, just as quiet and brilliant, just as hurt and lonely.

they share a kiss under the trees of a meadow one afternoon and WWX feels like he’s either betraying the real Lan Zhan or this gentle young man who’s never done anything bad in his entire life. And he doesn’t know why double!LanZhan is crying as well as they kiss, but he’s too afraid to ask.

the following day Uncle Jiang calls the rest of his family back home and the Jiang siblings say their goodbyes to the twins hiding alone with their uncle on the mountain. Promising to meet each other again soon, even if WWX knows that’s most likely nothing but a well intentioned lie given the hardships they’re bound to face.

1930:

Lan Zhan:

(WWX is 24, double!LWJ is 31)

after meeting with the Jiang family, the twins try to retrieve their life as usual the moment they return in Tokyo for the winter. Their uncle notices double!LanZhan’s distress over departing from the young men he had met there, but his inquiry is fruitless since his nephew refuses to speak. The old man has noticed some changes in the younger twin over the course of a couple of years or so: his frequent migraines and tiredness, his laborious efforts to speak as if feverish and confused, his nights interrupted by nightmares more often than not.

even his brother has noticed the difference despite losing his vision in the fire at the imperial university seven years prior. His cheerful spirit is gone, his steps alternate different rhythms at times, and even his accent often doesn’t sound familiar to him. In his younger brother’s words “it’s almost as if two of me are residing in a single body”. But Lan Huan doesn’t know what to make of it, wishing he could look his brother in the eyes and see the truth for himself.

double!LanZhan, on the other hand, feels split in half ever since he has kissed Wei Ying. He remembers that day because his body has moved on its own, half of his mind lost in Wei Ying’s grey eyes while the other half (his own half) was trying to understand why the sudden urge to hold the boy tighter in his arms. He felt like someone had possessed him for those brief, stolen moments in time before leaving his body altogether the second Wei Ying has run away from him in the meadow.

unable to find an answer, feverish and tired with a migraine splitting his brain in half, double!LanZhan wanders around Tokyo trying to remember where the Jiang residence was. His feet walking him towards Wei Ying and Jiang Cheng’s room in the evening one day. Wei Ying is alone, sitting down by a table covered in drawings. Mesmerized, double!LanZhan watches from the window as Wei Ying traces the lines of faces and places, over an over again, as if he doesn’t want to forget what his imagination has shown him that night.

seeing what is depicted on the table, double!LanZhan’s migraine worsens and he collapses in the back garden, snow piling up on him. Wei Ying immediately notices and brings him inside, covering him in quilts to keep him warm. But Wei Ying is the warmest of all, his embrace like a balsam over double!LanZhan’s pulsing head as the younger tries to keep him warm by rubbing his arms over and over.

suddenly his head doesn’t hurt anymore and he can finally, finally let go. Let the other half take his place for now, just for a little while, as he takes a small nap in Wei Ying’s arms.

when he wakes up, Lan Zhan cries all of his tears.

he was finally able to reach Wei Ying, his Wei Ying, who was trapped in another world. The one Lan Zhan has been looking for ever since the end of the Sunshot Campaign, ever since Jiang Cheng himself told him of his demise. The one Lan Zhan was able to reach only after sacrificing his golden core to the immortal turned goddes BaoShan Sanren in front of a gate born from the efforts of some past demonic cultivator.

for two years he had tried to make his way through the veil between realities, his consciousness exhausted as if he had been swimming for far too long. The other-him, the man who shared his name and face, hosting his soul at the expenses of his own body for over two years. All because of Lan Zhan’s grief and greed, all because a goddess had promised him he could be reunited with the love of his life. But at what cost... at what cost indeed.

since two souls cannot reside in a single body, one of them had to die in order for Lan Zhan to meet his Wei Ying again. The moment WWX sees the other cry, he immediately recognizes him and tries to console him for the loss of his “other”. But LWJ cannot seem to feel any relief as he falls asleep once more in his arms.

Jiang Cheng:

Jiang Cheng enters the room and is baffled to find one of the twins in there, but seeing his brother crying over the man he decides to help them instead of calling the servants. Things are turning ugly in town for people like them and he doesn’t trust anyone anymore since YanLi got married and started working for the hospital, leaving the brothers alone.

in tears, Wei Ying tells him everything: of his dreams of another world, of the one he was destined to meet, of Lan Zhan finally remembering who he really was. He’s still fixated on this “past life” thing, uh? Jiang Cheng doesn’t really understand, but he knows the two man has grown fond of each other the previous summer and doesn’t really envy their fate.

he watches over them as they fall asleep in each other’s arms, having promised them to keep the servants from knowing about Lan Zhan’s presence in their house. That’s when he comes up with a plan and calls Lan Huan on the phone, briefly telling him that “his brother Lan Zhan has made a choice and that he cannot stay in Tokyo anymore”.

Lan Huan asks Jiang Cheng if his brother is there, to which the other only says “yes”. Is he with Wei Ying? Yes. Are they in love? Yes. Do they need to hide? “I can manage that for them.”

They meet the following morning at dawn, outside of Lan XiChen’s house to not attract the attention of the Jiang servants. Jiang Cheng will escort the two lovebirds to a cottage somewhere in the countryside, far away from society. When Lan Huan will succeed in convincing Lan QiRen to follow him there, they will receive them and arrange something.

Jiang Cheng May not believe his brother, but he knows things are getting dangerous in the country, especially for foreigners like them. Let alone someone like Wei Ying and his lover.

Wei WuXian:

While Lan Zhan is still feverish, Jiang Cheng and WWX take the train with the older man to the countryside. WWX feels bad for leaving, but Lan Zhan needs to rest away from the modern world for a while and he himself doesn’t feel well at all. Not with his lungs giving up on him any time he has to stiffen a cough and swallow his own blood with every breath. His weakened body may have caught something in the last few months, but he will not give up on Lan Zhan now.

They reach the cottage and Jiang Cheng immediately sends a letter to his sister, apologizing for what he’s about to do. They only have to wait a week for Lan Huan and Lan QiRen to arrive, but in the meantime Lan Zhan has regained enough energy to eat and stand up on his own. WWX asks him what is going on, and LWJ tells him that he’s currently trying to hold onto this body while simultaneously ruling over his original body in Gusu. He doesn’t want to fade away, but he fears slipping out of reach and leave WWX behind a second time.

when Lan QiRen sees them, he cannot deny what is in front of him: someone who is merely pretending to be his nephew greets him with a stoic face as he announces his intention to marry a man. Despite the initial shock, when Lan Huan has asked him to take him in the middle of nowhere in the countryside in winter, Lan QiRen has accepted to indulge him knowing Lan Zhan must have had something to do with it. But this in front of him is definitely not his nephew and this realization hurts more then knowing he is in love with a man.

Lan Huan, on the other hand, knows from his voice this is not his brother but cannot explain why. He’s filled with grief at the thought and not even his uncle can comfort him, the older man himself in pain for a loss he cannot comprehend.

WWX asks them to indulge them just this time, feeling like his life is getting closer and closer to its end, not knowing what else to do. Jiang Cheng comforts the two men as he tries to explain his reasons, that nobody will let them have even an ounce of joy in the world they’re forced to live in and that, if things will end up getting worse in the end, at least they’ll have this memory to look back to. He feels like a war is approaching, and no one can know what kind of world will greet them at the end of it.

Lan Zhan:

the day of his wedding he’s very nervous, having asked their hosts to simplify the traditional ceremony given the fact that Wei Ying and he are both men and there are no actual guest attending. They bow to the heavens and the earth, to their families, and then to each other. Their clothes are far less expensive or appropriate from the nuptial red they would have worn under different circumstances, yet Lan Zhan has never felt more adorned and rich, basking in Wei Ying’s love.

they spend their first night together whispering sweet nothings in each other’s ears, tired and happy as they have never been before.

Wei WuXian:

they stay at the cottage for months, receiving news from the outside world every now and then from Jiang Cheng and Lan Huan. He suspects his brother is keeping something to himself, ignoring his questions over the political situation altogether, but he doesn’t insist.

LWJ tells him stories of the Sunshot Campaign, of how he tried to save the weak, the women, the children and the innocent of the Wen Clan against the rest of the cultivation world. Of how he found a way to summon BaoShan Sanren through some scrolls he had found in Burial Mounds, where he thought WWX’s soul might have disappeared to. Of how he hadn’t even been able to say goodbye to his brother and the people he had saved in Yiling before signing a contract with the immortal.

WWX’s lungs are giving up on him but he tries to keep LWJ from noticing. YanLi comes to meet them one day and makes sure to cry for her brother only when they are finally alone, sensing his intention to keep his husband from knowing the truth. He knows LWJ cannot possibly keep holding onto two bodies at the same time: waking up in Yiling the moment he falls asleep in the cottage; then waking up with Wei Ying every morning the moment he falls asleep in Burial Mounds where he has decided to hide. Without a golden core, for as strong as someone like LWJ can be, he would die if he keeps crossing the veil, the gate between the two worlds.

the day after YanLi has left them alone, WWX spends his last day with his husband, making sure everything is perfect. he also sends letters to his family and thanks them for loving him. he extends his best wishes to the people who worked alongside him, helping him bring to fruition his dream to fly in the sky once more... even if he has never flown in this lifetime.

he’s very happy with his husband and wants to commit every second they spend together to heart. They make love for the last time before they both fall asleep together and dream of home.

he whispers “I wish you good luck” before falling asleep.

Lan Zhan:

he wakes up the next day and Wei Ying is gone. His body cold in his arms.

mad with grief, unable to believe a life without WWX can or should exist, he cries over his husband’s body and wishes he could die.

Lan Huan and Lan QiRen happen to visit that day and find him crestfallen and asking to be left alone to die. But they help him bury the body instead and take care of him. Lan QiRen suddenly feels terrible at the thought of leaving this boy all alone, whether he’s actually his nephew or not. Lan Huan convinces his brother to eat and rest, holding him for as long as it takes for him to calm down.

the following day, as the younger twin wakes up, he asks Lan Huan why they’re in a cottage in the countryside and what happened while he was asleep.

the actual LWJ, by falling asleep, not willing to wake up in a world where WWX doesn’t exists anymore, has allowed double!LanZhan to regain complete control over the body in the cottage. The twin wasn’t dead, just dormant, waiting for LWJ to let go of his body on his own.

waking up in the Burial Mounds, however, with no golden core and no Wei Ying is worse than anything LWJ has ever experienced. Having to survive WWX’s death not one, but two times is too much to handle... but a small kid has found his place in his arms while LWJ was sleeping. His beloved A-Yuan, one of the few Wen children he was able to save from the Lanling Jin’s clutches after the Sunshot Campaign.

as he takes in the sight of the child he considers his own, peacefully sleeping in his bed, LWJ finds the strength to say “just another day”. And then another and another and another again.

13 years later:

Mo XuanYu sacrifices his body for WWX and the first thing Wei Ying does in his new body is to ask the Lan juniors to bring him to Hanguan Jun.

but Lan Zhan is already there, following the juniors around after managing to reforming a golden core in just a little over ten years all on his own. The first thing he says to Wei Ying is “I still remember every day.”

and they begin to travel together for the rest of their life.

*

Now I need a fucking tissue.

[as you can see very little “conquering another world” type of quest because I didn’t like to think too hard. This is more like “what if before transmigrating WWX and LWJ lived somewhere else and got married?” But then I had to make it sad, uh? Fuck.]

[also, demonic-cultivator!LWJ anyone?]

#mdzs #cql #the untamed #wangxian #mo dao zu shi #the forbidden crack! untamed prompts #mdzs/au: manga/anime inspired #mdzs/au: fma #mdzs/au: ghibli #mdzs/au: modern

[a-very-fond-farewell]

The forbidden crack! Untamed prompts: 4/?

Uncle & nephew bonding time AU: “I’m your biggest fan”

Everything is the same as the book, but Jiang Cheng embroiders silk fans to ease the stress and when Jin Ling discovers him, instead of feeling embarrassed, he yells at his nephew to sit down beside him and learn something useful for once.

Also I find scary the fact that he cares so much but has no way to express it. That’s why I think he would be good at crafting to fuel his frustration and anger.

So he makes a silk fan every year for his sister and puts it in the ancestral hall, because maybe he cannot always go all the way to Koi Tower to mourn in front of her name and ashes. But many silk fans are displayed in his home in her memory all the same.

When Jin Ling is finally able to finish his first silk fan he’s eager to show it to his Uncle, but feels like it’s not good enough and hides it for a while. He hides it in his pouch and forgets about it, until one day he’s night hunting with the Lan kids and something slashes the pouch open and he takes a powerful hit instead of dodging it... all in order to save the fan.

Later that day, once everything is fine and Jin Ling is healed, Lan SiZhui worries about him because the fan got damaged (something small, inconsequential, really) and his friend his trying hard not to cry. Lan JinGyi wants to make fun of him and praise his craftsmanship as the Young Mistress that he is... but can’t. Even Fairy is trying to comfort him at this point.

But then Best Uncle Jiang Cheng comes to the rescue and takes his huge baby home and frames Jin Ling’s fan and puts it in the center of a huge display and brags about it with every guest for the rest of eternity.

#mo dao zu shi #mdzs #the untamed #jiang cheng #jin ling #onion boy jiang cheng #the forbidden crack! untamed prompts #mdzs/au: fluff #mdzs/au: canon gets MariKondo-ed up in here

[a-very-fond-farewell]

The forbidden crack! Untamed prompts: 10/?

Single Dad AU (not the one you expect): “Water my Bones”

[Pushing Daisies meets florist!au]

*

First it was the beekeeper suit. Then the astronaut one. THEN the Darth Vader costume. Every time a different attire. Lan Zhan is starting to think he better be changing grocery shop soon if he wants to fill his cart in peace without stumbling upon that weirdo during his weekly visit at the store.

Things he knows about said man: 1) he is competitive af, 2) he seems around his age, thirty five at most, 3) he has a flower shop in town, 4) he has a son.

The last thing, he knows because the child is always perched on the man’s cart when they shop. The third thing, he knows because his brother Lan Huan is the owner of the building where said man works. The second, he noticed once in passing, as they both waited in line to pay at the express line. And the first, he got to realize since day fucking one, when they entered the shop together and noticed they were following a similar path and unconsciously started rushing their way through their respective lists as fast as possible to win over the other.

It’s been four weeks already and Lan Zhan regrets moving to that part of town big time. The day he discovers something new, however, is when the florist decides to wear a simple black mask over the lower half of his face instead a full on costume. So even the usual lady clients cannot flirt with him asking if it’s yet another laundry day. The lot of them surprised to see him dressed normally for once. If wearing a black mask, black latex gloves and a black turtleneck in August can even be considered normal to begin with. The fact that he also looks unbelievably hot dressed in such a manner goes without saying. Not that Lan Zhan’s looking, of course.

Yet, it’s one thing to dress to impress and another to be affectionate towards your own child without taking your mask and gloves off not even to kiss him on the cheek or to check if one of his baby teeth is really falling off or not. So, when one of the ladies jokes about it, nobody expects the child to plainly say what Lan Zhan ends up hearing that day.

“If Dad touches my skin I’m going to die.”

The fact that said dad also conveniently runs away and forgets to take most of their bagged groceries with him right afterwards is also telling. But for the life of his Lan Zhan doesn’t know what such a dramatic exit can possibly mean.

[under the cut for details]

initially I thought to let Mo XuanYu be the baby, but then I kept A-Yuan/SiZhui. Also he is not Wei Ying’s actual son, but more on that later. ALSO he’s a savage child with snark for ages and channels every ounce of his adoptive father’s mischievous spirit.

Just like in “Pushing Daisies”, Wei Ying can revive the dead for a minute or two just by touching them [from Wikipedia: “If something is revived for more than one minute, a similar "life value" in the vicinity drops dead as a form of balance. If he touches the revived person or thing a second time, they die permanently.”]

But in this AU, ever since he was young, Wei Ying has revived a bunch of people, in the beginning without worrying too much of the consequences, not knowing someone of the same value (someone close to the revived dead person) must die if not given back to the realm of death after those two minutes.

His family used to take care of the needs of mourning families by running a funeral home. As a child he would simply touch the dead and go his merry way, happy to make others happy. But the dead would always run away, fearing their families would never take them back or not believe them to have been actually revived. Unaware of this, with bodies disappearing left and right, Wei Ying’s parents are accused of smuggling organs and corpses and are taken to prison before being put in house arrest for the rest of their sentence.

(In the meantime Wei Ying has been looked after by a new family, but after coming of age he decided to wait until the end of his parents’ sentence and buy them a house where they could live together again. In fact, he lives with them and his son) -> a perfectly rational choice bc I wanted to give them a chance to look after each other, okay? Also because a family trying to keep a common secret is fun and fresh and the exact opposite of the movie “Keeping Mum”, which is highly recommend btw.

He never experimented with the double-touch until (at fifteen) accidentally reviving a corpse of a dog, getting scared of it, and consequently smacking its tail in a (hilarious) fit of frustration bc “oh damn it... not again/go back to sleep I cannot deal with you/dogs are scary” and so on. The poor guy plopped down as if nothing had happened afterwards.

After that he learned his lesson and knew he could never touch a revived person again. Also dogs, especially dogs. They bite >:(

The first time Wei Ying actually understood something was wrong was when he was 21 and revived his stepsister YanLi, but her mother died as a consequence. He has brought his stepbrother Jiang Cheng back to life, but his own father was taken in his place. Before that time he had never considered the damage he had caused, because the consequences never involved his close ones but mere strangers up until then. So he vowed to never use his powers again afterwards.

The only exception being A-Yuan/SiZhui: the child was found in a dumpster, abandoned at three months old. Wei Ying revived him and didn’t want to wonder who might have died in the baby’s place... nor did he care. So he asked his parents to help. They’ve been raising the child together for five years, but Wei Ying has never directly touched him, always wearing gloves and masks around him.

He has also never hugged his step-siblings either since reviving them from their car accident from fourteen years back, but neither YanLi or Jiang Cheng knows the reason why. The only thing they know is that at the time, right after seeing them waking up from their “coma” and attending their parents’ funeral, Wei Ying has distanced himself from them, never to return.

(Insert shenanigans with Wei Ying trying his best not to run into his siblings, before they actually discover the truth along the way and bundle him up in quilts and coats just to be able to hug the hell out of him)

Lan Zhan is a detective and thanks to Wei Ying’s powers they solve crimes together. THEY REVIVE THE DEAD FOR TWO MINUTES and ask them what they remember before dying (which is basically the whole point of “Inquiry”, right?) and then Wei Ying touches them back and they drop dead for good.

Wei Ying knows his limits now and doesn’t play with empathy (got it? got it??)

Jin Ling has BOTH of his parents (can you imagine??) and he’s best friend with Lan Zhan and Lan Huan’s younge cousin, JingYi. And they SNOOP like nobody’s business bc they know there’s something fishy about “Uncle Wei”. But also they love to play with the other baby even if they pretend to be tough. They’re also friends with Wen Ning, who will teache them archery for their after-school activities as soon as they start elementary school and they are thrilled.

Wen Ning was actually one of the few corpses Wei Ying has revived in childhood that made it back home and was believed by others. (Wen Ning was still a child himself when he died, so he went straight back home and nobody questioned it, too happy to care......... which is basically canon)

His sister Wen Qing is the only friend Wei Ying has that knows about his secret and she’s the one suggesting Lan Zhan to..........wait a minute or two before leaving the morgue where she works at.

“You might never know what the dead could be able to say after you switch off the lights. You get me?”

He doesn’t get it. Not at first.

But! He grows interested in Wei Ying and the fact that he cannot touch his own child. Is it an allergy? Is it an illness? Lan Zhan has questions and he needs to find out the truth by himself.

Wei Ying’s child needs to be properly held by a parent at least once in his life tho... and Lan Zhan is made by very fine, very expensive husband material.

(I wanted him to meet Wei Ying’s parents. Sue me.)

Also I thought Wei Ying would like to make things grow (hence the florist!au you never asked for) bc he might feel guilty about the things he has done + his trust issues about getting attached to someone and then seeing them die AND THEN HAVING TO ACTUALLY LET THEM GO FOR REAL.

I’m sad now.

#mdzs #mo dao zu shi #cql #wangxian #the untamed #the forbidden crack! untamed prompts #mdzs/au: single dad #mdzs/au: florist #mdzs/au: pushing daisies

[a-very-fond-farewell]

The forbidden crack! Untamed prompts: 20/?

CLAMP AU [Wei WuXian & Mo XuanYu are twin brothers edition]: “Yiling BABYLON”

[the reverse!TokyoBabylon au nobody asked for]

[ok. hear me out. I know it sounds weird but. hear me out. this is my second prompt based on a CLAMP work and it will sound far fetched but...trust me. the original manga is named “Tokyo Babylon” and it involves twins of a renowned family of magicians/exorcists working to solve mysteries in their town + a forbidden love between one of said twins and a man belonging to a rival family.]

[reasons why I thought of this prompt based on such source:

1). I know. I am aware. It would have made much more sense to have the Twin Jades of Lan be the exorcists of the situation. but Mo XuanYu deserves to go on adventures as well and, also, the twins in CLAMP’s manga are much more easygoing than the Two Jades so. artistic license. sue me.

2). I wanted Lan WangJi to be ruthless and cold blooded against his will.

3). in this prompt of mine I had to twist a couple of things but.............spare me.

4). the aesthetic bro. the drip.

(which is to say I wanted WWX and MXY to wear the fanciest/most atrocious 80’s/90’s style shit possible. it would have made much more sense for WWX to be the one designing the clothes bc he totally would, but I let poor MXY have his fun with this. also they are both adults in the story)

5). yep. that’s basically it.

anyway, enjoy!]

[under the cut babyyy]

*

Fast paced is the existence of what hides festering the darkness and gray areas of the world, especially in a city like Yiling, where spirits of every kind haunts the realm of the living looking for retribution and vengeance. Neon lights flickering aimlessly in the night as mysterious happenings attract the attention of many. Be it a vending machine suddenly dripping blood from every crevice and nook, or a hanged body making its appearance in a public toilet downtown.

Night after night new ghosts slither through the cracks of reality and slip into this world. Like oil stains spreading out in the endless ocean, rotting away in the corners of Yiling, forgotten and free to gather as much resentful energy from every living source as possible day after day. Making it impossible for the residents to sleep peacefully ever again.

Among such chaos a family was allowed to prosper and shine: the Sanren Clan, household of indisputable fame in their approach to grant peace to the dead. Powerful exorcists as they are, they developed a new kind of purification ritual over centuries of serving the emperor, to the point nobody can rival them in the matters of the underworld. Head of the clan is Wei WuXian, twenty-five-year-old grandmaster of demonism with an eye for the occult and a genius mind to aid him in his endeavors. His twin brother XuanYu, although lacking the spiritual energy required to perform full exorcisms alone, was gifted with a talent for memorization and array design that is unrivaled in the entire nation. Despite being born from a lesser known branch of the Sanren Clan, their incommensurable assets were deemed worthy of attention by the elders and they were allowed to participate in night expeditions since they were children.

But the life of a master of the dead is rarely prone to peace and Wei WuXian fears the day his spiritual energy will give up on him and let him be devoured by the souls under his care. Techniques like “Empathy”, for instance, require him to be briefly possessed by ghosts in order to understand how to help them cross the bridge between the two realms; while demonic possession drains his body as well as his memories in exchange to grant a spirit an outburst through his very body. His twin brother worries for him and tries his best to allow them to live normal lives, insisting they live separately from the rest of the Clan to enjoy their youth.

After all, the Wen Family protects them from harm and Wen Qing herself has suggested for other members of the Clan to take over Wei WuXian’s workload whenever possible, so not to overwork him to death. Hence, ever since Elder BaoShan granted XuanYu’s request, the twins, along with their bodyguard Wen Ning and personal physician Wen Qing, have tried to live relatively normal lives as any other young adult their age. Spending their days playing board games and going shopping, visiting new art galleries and practicing sports.

The bond between Wei WuXian and his brother is so deep the eldest knows he is transparent to XuanYu and that no lie will be strong enough to convince him that everything is fine. So he lets his younger brother do as he pleases, helping him around the small clothing design studio where XuanYu works at even if they are rich and technically don’t lack money at all. He also accepts to live in a minuscule apartment with him and their two friends just to indulge his “need to live like normal college students for once”, even if none of them are enrolled in university. Wei WuXian enjoys the little things his brother is determined to give him and tries to relax by day... knowing too well he has to work by night and channel resentful energy for corpses and spirits to peacefully pass the threshold of the otherworld.

The fact that they also made a new friend in the last year is also one of the reasons XuanYu seems so keen on letting his older brother live outside of the Sanren estate. A quiet man in his thirties named Lan WangJi who works as a veterinarian nearby their apartment. XuanYu has noticed for a while how kindly the man treats Wei WuXian, how fondly he answers to the other’s teasing and jokes, how invested he looks in the younger man’s wellbeing. It would be cruel to separate them.

Certainly, the fact that the Lan Clan is known for harvesting assassins since the beginning of time would be a hindrance to their friendship, and the elders would definitely order the twins to go back home. But, since Lan WangJi doesn’t seem interested in following such bloodied path, XuanYu indulges his brother and plays along with every joke and trick, insisting how little the veterinarian fits in the Lan Clan at every opportunity.

Lan WangJi and Wei WuXian already met in the past, during a mission at night when the latter was barely eighteen and a spirit had just ceased possessing his body, leading him to the culprit of their murder. Lan WangJi had just returned from yet another purge, his fingers still holding the guqin string he had used to cut the throats of his Clan’s enemies. Tired and bored of that life, Lan WangJi found Wei WuXian’s presence refreshing for the small time they spent together on Yiling Bridge that particular night. Even if the boy looks out of it after being possessed, carefree and kind, gentle. Impressed with the younger’s ability to empathize with evil creatures, Lan WangJi made a bet with the boy: that they would meet again in the future and that if, after spending one year together, he were to fall for Wei WuXian, he would stop being a killer and leave the Lan Clan for good.

The only thing Wei WuXian remembers of that night was that he revealed his real name to a stranger on a bridge at night, and that now someone in that town lives knowing him as Wei Ying, not Wei WuXian grandmaster of demonism. So he’s always looking for that person, hoping to meet them again, unaware of the truth, believing to have developed feelings for someone whose existence resembles more a dream than anything else.

Now, one year has passed since the day Lan WangJi has entered the twins’ lives and things have changed. Demons and spirits have become more aggressive over the last few months, whispering to Wei WuXian to get them the revenge they deserve, corrupting his mind with persuasive words and violent acts, making his blood boil and his memories fade night after night. After one particularly long mission XuanYu takes his older brother to Lan WangJi in a fit of panic, asking him to help. Blood is gushing out of Wei WuXian’s eyes, ears, mouth and nostrils; the situation escalated almost to the point of no return, now that even Wen Qing is unconscious and has been taken to safety at the Sanren estate by Wen Ning himself. The demon asked for a price too high, shaking Wei WuXian from the inside out to the point he inadvertently pushed Wen Qing out the way and made her hit her head.

But the sight of human blood awakens something in Lan WangJi, something he had tried to forget about and suppress for months the moment he had met Wei WuXian for the second time in his life, one year ago. Something falls in place and as he watches Wei WuXian regain consciousness he breaks one of his arms and tries to kill him.

XuanYu defends his brother with all his might, throwing talismans to the older man’s face until one of them catches him off guard and blinds him in his right eye.

Lan WangJi is forced to escape, but not before XuanYu is able to cast a spell on him. For as long as he will live, XuanYu will always know where Lan WangJi hides and no amount of spiritual energy will erase the trace.

Dragging his sobbing brother back to the estate, XuanYu reveals what happened to Elder BaoShan, feeling guilty for having trusted a Lan despite the warnings. Elder BaoShan tries to heal Wei WuXian’s injuries and make the early signs of qi deviation regress at the best of her abilities, but in doing so she sacrifices her spiritual energy to the point of losing her sight. Wei WuXian, traumatized by Lan WangJi’s betrayal, has a flashback of that mission from seven years ago and realizes the person he was looking for is the man who introduced himself as Lan Zhan.

Heartbroken, Wei WuXian falls in a coma and XuanYu lets the resentful energy overtake him to the point he decides to go look for Lan WangJi and seek revenge himself. He dies in the attempt and the bond with his twin brother breaks, the backlash so strong Wei Ying wakes up and immediately knows his baby brother is no more.

Assuming the worst, he takes his time healing before deciding to look for Lan Zhan himself and kill him for erasing XuanYu’s existence from the face of the earth.

*

[spoiler, MXY was killed by the Lan Elders to keep their location a secret and they used LWJ’s unconscious body as bait to lure him out while he was consumed with resentful energy. in this case LWJ is innocent.]

#wangxian #mdzs #cql #the untamed #mdzs/au: clamp #mdzs/au: manga/anime inspired #mdzs/au:: modern #mdzs/au: tkbabylon #clamp #the forbidden crack! untamed prompts #mdzs/au: role-reversed

[a-very-fond-farewell]

The forbidden crack! Untamed prompts: 18/?

University AU: “Negative Space”

[ok so, self projection is a bitch, but I am petty to myself on a regular basis so it’s ok]

[title is from the Japanese concept “ma”, which Wikipedia describes as:

“a Japanese word which can be roughly translated as ‘gap’, ‘space’, ‘pause’ or ‘the space between two structural parts.’ In traditional Japanese arts and culture, ma is more carefully defined as the suggestion of an interval. It is best described as a consciousness of a sense of place, with the ‘intervals’ suggested often being more than simple gaps, instead focusing on the intention of a negative space in an art piece.

Ma is not necessarily an art concept created by compositional elements, such as the literal existence of a negative space. Instead, the intention is often to create the perception of an interval in the viewer experiencing the elements forming an art piece, making maless reliant on the existence of a gap, and more closely related to the perceived experience of a gap.

Ma has also been described as ‘an emptiness full of possibilities, like a promise yet to be fulfilled’, and as ‘the silence between the notes which make the music’.”

Fun fact: “ma” also means “but” in Italian, which is what usually follows whatever intrusive thought may plague my mind. Eg: “I may be useless now, BUT just you wait until I get some dopamine to get me through this shitty times.”]

*

Wei Ying never asked for much in his life. He’s content with cleaning classrooms and toilets and nobody can beat him at wiping the marble floors if he works hard enough. Granny Wen, his supervisor, is slightly impressed with his ability to make the wood shine for ages to come. His nephew Jin Ling sometimes comes to check on him when he’s done with senior classes or cram school in the evening, and together they sit down and listen to whatever his older friends in music production came up with during the day. Jiang Cheng occasionally would ask him to keep him company while he grades papers and they bitch about ZiXuan and his inability to dote on their sister. The cafeteria ladies are always nice to him and they give him extra congee because they worry for his questionable consumption of spice products.

He’s fine, really.

So why can’t he stop wandering over to the science building these days? Looking for a clean board to use, for an equation to finally solve? Even if in the end he just takes the chalk in hand and simply stares down at the inky surface in front of him, unable to write. His mind working on a software too advanced for the hardware that constitutes his brain.

Thirteen years. It has been already thirteen years and yet it feels like yesterday, or like it never happened at all. Like it has yet to be. Time blindness is a bitch to deal with, yet dyscalculia and ADHD makes a joke out of you when you love math on a visceral level... but you burned too bright too fast and now you function on no data and with an even shittier signal. Having a burnout at 23 should have taught him humility instead of pride, but Wei Ying has always worked out of spite and certain habits are difficult to forget.

Couldn’t put the number in the right order, switching digits left and right since he was young? Fine. Numbers were concepts anyway, entire civilizations working their magic without even knowing what “zero” stood for. A brain steaming with a million ideas per second? Good. New connections brimming with ideas he could use to better the world.

It worked fine until he let himself down. Until he became a useless empty lighter, a wet match tossed out, carbon monoxide in the air.

Dropped out before finishing his very ambitious, highly dangerous for his psyche, thesis project. Aunt Yu never forgave him for that, not after paying for his advanced classes, not after trusting Uncle Jiang and supporting him despite his many flaws. What good is being first of your class every year, poster child of a teaching system done right, graduating bachelor at 21, if you can’t finish your master at 23 and get your PhD at 25 and start teaching by 27 and drive yourself insane in the process?

Wei Ying dropped out and didn’t finish his master, didn’t enroll in the teaching program, and let everyone down. His Uncle and Aunt looking down on him, whether out of pity or shame. Jiang Cheng may have been the one leaving him behind, but he used to be the one saying “you should have tried harder”. YanLi worrying over him when she should have focused on her career first. Jin Ling growing up with stories of his uncle “not being worth the money put into his education”, taught to not disappoint and make his family proud. The Jin side, that is.

And now the kid comes crawling in defeat to him instead of Jiang Cheng after bombing a test in high school. And they chat of what he would like to do and how much he likes sports and how much he despises the idea of getting a scholarship for that and being called stupid or something by his classmates. And he cries when he thinks Wei Ying cannot see him as he leaves the campus late at night.

Wei Ying didn’t even want to solve that impossible theorem he fixated on in his early twenties. His thesis project was inconsequential in the great scheme of things and his professor only wanted him to be his one trick pony in the end. No. Wei Ying wanted to teach math in elementary school, hell... even in kindergarten. He wanted to change the approach to the subject. Because numbers cannot be taught like language is and there are many ways to teach how to sum up digits and divide quantities and there are no rules on how to make sense of space either.

But how can he teach when even time eludes his senses?

Something that nobody can define, but certainly most perceive as linear... but not him. Not since his brain fried up in his attempt to function like a normal human being.

After thirteen years nothing has changed.

Until one day he hears something else aside from his usual intrusive thoughts and burdensome memories. A melody so quiet he almost mistakes it for the wind, coming from the music building.

He walks slowly, night surrounding him like the embrace of a friend as he makes his way to the traditional musical instruments room. The one where Jin Ling’s friends meet sometimes as they wait for the younger boy to join them. Wei Ying holds his breath as he spies through the gap of the door left ajar, neon light slicing his face like moonbeams as he peeks in and recognizes Jin Ling’s friends and another figure sitting on the ground, guqin on their knees.

But before he can lean in and breathe in the vibrant sounds all around, the door opens and music theory Professor Lan finds Wei Ying clutching his mop for dear life.

They said the man could see colors within the notes, that he despises language outside of his class or office and that only his brother, the history of art TA, could convince him to talk every now and then.

If numbers were created to measure space, Wei Ying firmly believed music had been invented to make sense of time and count its seconds in rhythm and notes, pauses and beats. Yet, time seems to stretch to a stop as the janitor focuses all of his attention on professor Lan’s stern face and his heart quickens its pace.

Wei Ying takes a rushed breath and dives right in with a weird sense of hope pumping in his veins. A small, timid voice whispering that life is not made to be atoned, but to move on and grow.

One step at a time.

“I’m Wei Ying, Professor Lan. May I listen while you play?”

Yes, maybe it will be enough just to let time flow at its pace.

Whatever rhythm that may be.

*

[some hcs down below]

WWX does not magically solve the math theorem. he may or may not help kids figure out how to use numbers on the long run tho. no, he will still work as a janitor and there’s nothing wrong with that.

yes, LWJ is autistic and stimms and finds WWX’s honesty soothing. yes, you can add your hcs on the matter. he has synesthesia, but more on the grapheme-color side of the deal than anything else and he sees certain letters/numbers/notes in different colors. people think he can see colors in music, but they misunderstood and thought he could recognize different hues while listening to music instead of reading it.

JC has grown since his uni years and doesn’t resent WWX anymore. he teaches astrophysics as a TA and doesn’t pressure his brother to pick his studies up anymore. WWX has mixed feelings about this: he feels he’s a lost cause, to the point not even his brother spurs him to best himself anymore, but he is grateful for the patience anyway.

LXC is the official LWJ translator of the campus along with their cousins SiZhui and JinGyi. he bonds with WWX and JC over how tired they are, seldom staring at flies roaming above them in the cafeteria bc none of them can even move. he lives on caffeine and regrets, but he’s getting better as he develops a love for his plant babies and tries to not let them die on a daily basis.

Wen Ning and Wen Qing are little overachievers and adrenaline junkies, hence their competitive streak on their way to their third master degree just for funsies. they scare people with how driven they are, but the juniors love them.

NMJ is the one to go to if you need to get away with murder, but JGY will actually be the one helping you dispose of the body. the fact that they both work in criminal law is somewhat both reassuring and disquieting. they hate each other and yet cannot stop hang out, they are close to 40 and need the rivalry to keep going anyway. nothing beats a good nemesis. not even sex. maybe.

NHS has failed his entrance exam to become a nurse too many times to count, but he is determined to see the end of it. even if he could potentially work in the family business, but he doesn’t know anything about managing an empire of bricks and he doesn’t care. if NMJ could run away, well, so can he.

MianMian is Wei Ying’s bestie and has the biggest crush on JGY’s sister A-Su the kindergarten teacher, but since they are childhood besties she doesn’t know how to approach her. she is Jin Ling’s idol and a certified boxer and refers to herself as a useless bisexual. Wei Ying boxes with her sometimes, she always win.

YanLi is an equestrian mum, but in the best way possible: she coaches children for shows and teaches them horses should be loved and feared equally and that if you want to shoot arrows from a running horse you should always, ALWAYS let go of the stirrups the moment the beast gets too unhinged to ride. JC fears her, WWX is only glad she didn’t train police dogs for a living.

ZiXuan actually loves his wife, but WWX and JC question his career choices and the fact that he’s a retired lawyer spending his family fortune while he’s a stay-at-home dad and does all the housework. WWX and JC believe he should give their sister a better life and work his ass off to deserve her, but he does make amazing rice cakes and keeps up with Jin Ling’s studies and is very supportive of his dreams.

A-Qing and Song Lan are siblings and sometimes bring JC food from the campus cafeteria where they both work at, while Xiao XingChen and his carer Xue Yang work with LXC for a project on accessibility for visually impaired visitors of the local museum. JC and LXC work to make Song Lan and Xiao XingChen fall for each other, but the youngsters are too protective to let them play matchmaker so easily.

[this is all for now. please, if you want, add your own headcanons!]

#mdzs #cql #the untamed #mo dao zu shi #mdzs/au: modern #mdzs/au: uni #the forbidden crack! untamed prompts #nieyao #xicheng #wangxian

[a-very-fond-farewell]

The forbidden crack! Untamed prompts: 2/?

[tw hospitalization] but also healing

Private Clinic AU: “Heart String”

The day Lan Huan awakes in a hospital ward after the coma he hears some of the nurses whisper in a pitiful tone. They say people could die of heartbreak, the tendons and muscles enveloping the human core snapping in places that should not exist. So it wasn’t his imagination when he felt something being cut inside of him when he heard the news. That Guang Yao, his Guang Yao, had killed someone out of some petty revenge.

Lan Huan couldn’t reconcile with the truth and suffered the aftermath of a mental breakdown, along with –apparently– the consequences of a stroke at thirty eight years old. Stressful working hours at the firm, neglecting his health, not finding time for his family just not to feel useless, working tirelessly to make amends, to give his younger brother and their cousins a chance at happiness after losing everything in the fire of five years ago... he had not seen it coming.

Turns out, the stronger one has always been Lan Zhan between them, who has endured the pain of being left alone with grace and dignity. Wei Ying’s disappearance into thin air three years ago, no messages no mails, hasn’t left Lan Zhan quite as broken as how Lan Huan now feels. But as his older brother he knows he’s still waiting for a sign, for a message, for a call that’ll never arrive.

But for as useless and pathetic as he believes to be, nothing could compare with how guilty he feels when he meets the local unofficial cryptid of the ward. A man five years younger than him with angry eyes, a restless sprint, a penchant for sneaking around in his pajama followed and reprimanded by nurses, and the only reason the kids in the ward don’t feel so alone at night.

Nobody knows for how long Jiang Cheng has been a patient, but the heart transplant has only been the last of many surgeries he has undergone and this makes Lan Huan think. That maybe he shouldn’t be there, close to forty, being treated for a delicate heart when someone like Jiang Cheng has fought their entire life for a chance at living a normal existence.

So when he tries to avoid the man’s angry stares and unpleasant attitude, the last thing Lan Huan expects is to be thrown into that puppy pile that is the group of many kids in recovery as they ask him to join “The Heist” every week. A game Jiang Cheng himself has come up with years ago to keep them entertained, wheeling himself and sometimes even them around the clinic to find the most impossible things out of dare. “Get us the secret stash of cookies director Song Lan hides in his office” this, “Snap an embarrassing picture of nurse Wen Ning covered in jello” that.

Plans that should not involve running around after receiving a brand new heart actually bring Jiang Cheng closer and closer to Lan Han in the following months, with all his anger issues and exhaustion, with all his secret perfect tenderness and grumpy antics. But The Heist make the children happy and they missed Jiang Cheng for the three months he couldn’t move after the surgery and Lan Huan shouldn’t be able to fall in love anymore. Not so soon, not only six months after the terrible things his A-Yao has done. And yet...yet.

Until one day one of the older kids, Xue Yang, who has never asked for Jiang Cheng to fulfill any wish of his during The Heist, ask him to find the records of the organ donors one day out of the blue in front of the other kids. Willing to not lose face in front of them, spurred by the fear of disappoint the high expectations that a bunch of children has for him –their hero saving their days from pain and boredom–, Jiang Cheng accepts the unusual and heavy challenge against Lan Han’s warnings.

What they’ll discover and the truth behind it will leave them with a choice nobody would be able to face.

[heartbroken!XiChen + cardiac-patient!JiangCheng = The Heist has no rules]

#the untamed #mdzs #lan xichen #jiang cheng #xichen #hospitalization #tw hospitalization #the forbidden crack! untamed prompts #this stars angsty then turns soft THEN GOES BERSERK ANGST then ends well #i swear theres no main character death in this #theres an identity tefth somewhere if you read between the lines #this is too angsty for my own good #now im sad #mdzs/au: hospital

[a-very-fond-farewell]

The forbidden crack! Untamed prompts: 17/?

[tw mentions of bullying]

ACplayer AU: “Pay me in Bells first”

[or, alternatively, the modern!au where Jin Ling overcomes depression in quarantine by playing Animal Crossing New Horizons in an attempt to make friends]

(quick note: I don’t know much about the game, so I urge you to add your own headcanons if you reblog since this prompt is so short!)

*

YanLi insisted, so Jiang Cheng complied. He looked up many websites to search for answers, checking in with their family therapist even, just to make sure his plan would turn out fine. That was, to get his nephew out of whatever slump he had found himself in after moving yet to another school. Thankfully they moved him out early enough this time around, barely a semester in since the beginning of his first year in high school, but it was still worrying how little Jin Ling could be willing to talk about the issue.

The bullying never stopped since elementary school, stretching well into the kid’s teenage years. All because of his father’s career as an actor and their family’s fortune. Jiang Cheng has seen him attempting to make friends over and over again to no avail: the sweetest child turning sour and brash, clinging to his relatives for dear life no matter how reluctant he looked doing so. It had taken longer this time to figure out new rascals had targeted him in his old school, all because Jin Ling refused to ask for help... or maybe couldn’t bring himself to.

Then quarantine started and none of them knew how to help him. No one would FaceTime or Skype with him aside from his cousin ShiZui and his parents. No phone calls nor emails, no messages, nothing. Wei Ying had suggested him to play some games online, going on quests and such, but Jin Ling had become increasingly more paranoid during these past few years after his attempts to familiarize online with his classmates just to be mocked for his poor shooting or casting or whatever the next day at school.

But YanLi insisted, so Jiang Cheng had to find a solution. That’s why he had dragged ZiXuan in front of a computer to chose a game for Jin Ling and that’s when they came across the adorable and stickingly sweet characters of this silly Japanese game advertising good feelings and even better playing experiences. ZiXuan pointed at the ad and Jiang Cheng could do nothing but shrug and hope for the best.

They left the game on his bed the following week, anxiously waiting for a reaction. YanLi making too much tea for their own good as they counted the minutes before the great reveal. Jin Ling did, at some point, stumble in the living room asking for an explanation, which his father simply provided by saying someone gifted him a Switch in the mail for an advertising gig. Jin Ling quietly thanked him, but didn’t smile... he didn’t even put up a fight, or sputtered some nonsense, or lied about not liking frilly things. Which said a lot to begin with.

Jiang Cheng remembered the days when FB was starting to take over and he hadn’t been able to open an account because none of his peers would have befriended him in real life, let alone online. YanLi still believed that had been a blessing in disguise, given that FB was hell incarnated for snooping around and being messed with and all that, but it had been pretty isolating at the time either way. So Jiang Cheng wasn’t too hopeful when he saw Jin Ling connecting the device to their tv after his homework for the first time.

YanLi would read or cross-stitch next to him on the sofa as he figured out how to make an island or how to decorate his tent, while ZiXuan would observe him trying to catch a tarantula or a fish late in the evening and even cheer for him when he succeeded. Jiang Cheng wasn’t home enough to help him since he worked at the hospital well into the night, but he knew the kid was doing better. Wei Ying and ShiZui would visit Jin Ling’s island from time to time, praising his player lotus_carp for the many improvements to his space and such... but still it wasn’t enough.

Then, one day, when Jiang Cheng came back home at 3am after saying goodbye to the rest of the nurses, he heard something. A laugh. Loud and clear, coming from Jin Ling’s room. Then, the following night, another one. And so on for a week.

After some talking with YanLi, Jiang Cheng figured out his nephew must have made a new friend. Someone visiting his island during the night, a sixteen year old kid named JinGy who lived with a strict grandpa who disapproved his interest in games. A grandpa who didn’t have to know his nephew owned a Switch and could play for hours under the safety of a pillow fort ‘till 5am.

One day, by chance, Jiang Cheng was sitting on the sofa right next to Jin Ling when a player called cloud<3menace came by. He waved enthusiastically at them from the screen and then wrote something on the board.

Let’s hang out when quarantine is over!

To which Jin Ling scoffed and quickly dialed a number on his phone.

“Stop writing that every day. We’ll never leave the house anyway”, he said, hiding a laugh behind his nonplussed expression, before giving up and throwing his head back in front of his uncle after meeting his gaze.

“Jiujiu probably thinks you’re trying to catfish me at this point. He’s looking at me as if I grew another head.”

Hi uncle Jiang! I’m not a bad person please don’t kill me!

“Stop writing nonsense on the board, you idiot!”

You can come too uncle Jiang and see for yourself I’m a good catch for JL.

“What the fuck. Stop! I can’t feel my ribs from laughing. Stop!”

MATCH. MATCH. I MEANT MATCH!!

“That’s not better at all you dingus!”

If Jiang Cheng blinked a little too much to cover the mist in his eyes, well. Nobody needed to know that.

#mdzs #the untamed #cql #ac #mo dao zu shi #jiang cheng #jin ling #the forbidden crack! untamed prompts #mdzs/au: modern #mdzs/au: bonding #onion boy jiang cheng #crybaby jin ling #nurse!jc #actor!zx

[a-very-fond-farewell]

The forbidden crack! Untamed prompts: 9/?

Maleficent/Sleeping Beauty AU: “Better Start Running”

[loosely based on both the movie and the animated one, nothing much in regards of the original plot bc...reasons. The title is from a quote I read somewhere on the hellsite: what doesn’t kill me... better start running”. Enjoy]

Clearly none of his siblings would have ever forgotten to send him an invitation for his nephew’s one month celebration, Wei WuXian was well aware of this. But he would have never expected to be met with swords and fire at his arrival.

Bringing the silver bells of the Yunmeng Jiang Clan as a gift, the powerful rogue fae wanted to celebrate his stepsister’s firstborn with fortune and luck. Little Jin Ling squirming and starting to wake in her mother’s arms as soon as Wei WuXian arrived and the guards had blocked the entrance of the temple to stop  him from getting through. Jin ZiXuan’s frown set on him from afar, silently asking him how dare... how dare he stepped anywhere near his family. As if Jiang Cheng and YanLi weren’t part of Wei WuXian’s own to begin with.

Sure, making a deal with a fae to protect his family from harm after the eradication of their Clan had attracted nothing but misfortune and hatred his way at merely nineteen. But surely... surely he could still be allowed to participate in such events. So why did Jiang Cheng and their sister look so afraid of him as he made his way towards his nephew? Was it the magical field surrounding him to protect him from the weapons of the Lanling Jin men? Was it because of the horns growing on top of his head? The stench of blood following him around, sticking to his clothes all the way from Burial Mounds?

Surely he didn’t look less human just because of such insignificant changes, right?

But when he outstretched his hands to have a better look at the baby... his sister took a step back. Sorrow in her eyes and fear in her actions as Jiang Cheng backed her up and kindly asked Wei WuXian to leave. Leave before he angered their new family. Before he could show how hurtful those words had been to receive as a greeting, ZiXuan glared him down with disgust and threatened to kill him on the spot.

Apparently, giving up his humanity for a greater cause had earned him only fear and disrespect. Something his increasingly volatile temper could not tolerate, especially after having become a spirit of the forest himself.

Yet, as swords tried to no avail to breach the magical barrier around him, Wei WuXian took Jin Ling in his arms before his sister could stop him. He smiled at the baby and played with his chubby hands, watching as his eyes opened and fixated on his horns, his red eyes, his sharp teeth. The baby smiled at him, in awe.

“Before his sixteenth year of life, when he’ll become of age, the sharpness of his first sword will pierce him so that he’ll fall in a slumber so deep only true love will be able to make him return.”, he curses him, kissing his red mark on his forehead.

If not even his own family had been able to love him after changing into a different form, Wei WuXian thought, no amount of love existed to save even an innocent child from the dangers of the world.

[what happens then? (under the cut. but it’s long. so long. sorry)]

Jin Ling will be sent away, living in the countryside as far as possible from wars, weapons and sharp objects. The Wen siblings and Granny Wen will take care of him and teach him how to be a good person, how to take care of others and such. His temper makes them worry and Wen Ning is simultaneously the best caretaker and clumsiest guardian in the world, so he can balance Jin Ling’s attitude alright. Wen Qing insists on making sure the boy doesn’t run around too much and tells him all sorts of terrifying stories about slaughters and battles to prevent him from venturing outside of their land. Granny Wen teaches him how to make things grow and enjoy the simple pleasures of life, hoping to save him from the curse before he can reach his sixteenth birthday.

However, Jin Ling is curious about the world and as soon as he turns fourteen he sneaks out at night to take long walks in the forest, in hopes to map it down and be able to leave someday. One day he meets a couple of boys just a bit older than him dressed in white, two hunters looking for a deer to bring back home. But Jin Ling doesn’t want them to hurt anyone in the forest and so he quarrels with them until they desist. As they take a step back from him, Jin Ling realizes he had never met someone his age... nor anyone aside from the Wen’s. He decides to secretly befriend them and so they meet every night for two years.

Until one day, just a week or so before his sixteenth birthday, SiZhui and JinGyi don’t show up in the forest as usual and Jin Ling goes out of his way to look for them. The Wen’s woke up the following day and find the boy missing, alerting the Lanling Jin Sect immediately afterward.

Wei WuXian has lived these past sixteen years looking after his nephew, protecting him from harm without him noticing, missing the feeling of holding something so alive and bright in his arms. With his powers growing, his soul festering hatred left and right, he hasn’t dared touch another human being for fear of harming them. So protecting Jin Ling from afar had to be enough. Even so, he doesn’t want to interfere directly in the boy’s life, so he follows him out of the Burial Mounds forest and into the Realm of GusuLan without stopping him.

Jin Ling Does know about the curse or about his real family, but he’s scared of many things all the same and so he avoids dangers if they come his way. But his best friends are in peril and he must... he must save them. His wit and sharp mind will help him along the way, even more so because he has never been unaware of the gentle spirit following him around everywhere. He’s too proud to admit it (and he’s certainly too scared of him to face him first), but Jin Ling knows the fae will never hurt him and so he braves on.

While Jiang Cheng defends the Lanling palace with all he has, missing his nephew anytime he hears the cry of a child in the distance, his sister is mourning her husband after his tragic demise during a night hunt. There weren’t enough men to corner the deer and it flung itself at the king, killing him instantly. The siblings from the Yunmeng Jiang Clan then discover Jin Ling is missing, but they cannot leave for fear of being attacked now that the throne is vulnerable. So they ask the GusuLan Realm to help them looking for a boy in the woods, knowing they can trust them with the delicate task.

The powerful magic surrounding Gusu prevents Wei WuXian to use his abilities if he doesn’t want to be found and hunted down, but his horns sure would attract enough attention to make his efforts to conceal his nature completely useless. So he hides and helps Jin Ling when he can, until he senses something... no, someone of immense magical power approaching them. Silent as snow falling to the ground, but fast as a stream running down to the sea. Fearing they may have come to hurt Jin Ling, Wei WuXian reveals himself only to snatch the kid from there and run away from danger.

In a cave they find SiZhui and JinGyi, one of them injured after trying to follow the deer that had killed the Lanling king, taking shelter from the upcoming storm. After using his powers to heal the boy’s leg, Wei WuXian decides to protect them until the invisible force has left for good and tells them his story. Of how his family had lost everything in a fire, how he had taken revenge after trusting a fae, how much he regretted his choice now and decided to not use his powers for evil anymore. The kids start to trust him more as a result and Jin Ling finally can get to know his guardian better after so many years of silence and loneliness.

But they don’t have time to rejoice that the cave grows cold and suddenly everything turns quiet, even the storm outside. The mysterious hunter has arrived and found them at last, a magician named Lan WangJi looking for three boys lost in the woods. Wei WuXian doesn’t trust him and engages in battle with him, their powers combined strong enough to destroy everything around them. The two boys from the GusuLan Realm try to speak, one of them shouting that Lan WangJi is not a foe while the others insists Master Wei is not a dangerous fae. But the two adults are so lost in their powers that they tune the kids out, the daze too strong for their pleas to pierce through.

Afraid something bad could happen to his guardian, Jin Ling wields one of the boy’s sword to defend him... but accidentally cuts himself and falls asleep with no prospect of ever waking up. Wei WuXian abandons the battle in order to take the boy in his arms, crying his eyes out, filled with regret... but, before he can touch him, Lan WangJi takes him down and ties him up.

Lan WangJi orders his kids to get back to Gusu while he’ll take young master Jin back to his home, even if asleep. He then blocks the entry of the cave with talismans and incantations to seal Wei WuXian inside and take his leave with the boy in his arms.

Stubbornly following Lan WangJi from a safe distance, worried sick for their friend, SiZhui and JinGyi promise Master Wei to come back as soon as they’ll sneak Jin Ling out of Koi Tower, a place renown for its cruelty ever since Jiang Cheng started ruling over the army sixteen years back.

But Wei WuXian is too hurt, too angry to care and after struggling against the boundary for too long he finally frees himself and rushes over to Koi Tower in a cloud of thick black smoke. A storm himself.

Lan WangJi arrives at the palace and makes sure Jin Ling is looked after, but wants to be the one to deliver the news of what happened in the forest to the queen and her brother, to not scare them. But the news of Jin Ling’s eternal slumber travels faster than him and Jiang Cheng’s sister faints on the spot upon hearing it.

Enraged, Jiang Cheng asks Lan WangJi to surveil Koi Tower while he rides back inside the Burial Mounds forest to hunt the monster down. There, he fights against Wei WuXian (who’s too far gone in his rage to recognize his stepbrother) but his power is too strong and Jiang Cheng can hold him back only for so long before the other escapes.

At the palace, Lan WangJi waits, watching as the forest gets infested by evil spirits of all kinds, responding to the malevolent energy Wei Ying is manifesting in his wake. Having alerted his Clan he knows the warriors from Gusu are on their way, but when Wei Ying arrives he doesn’t have time to worry. He has waited for this moment for more than sixteen years and he’s not going to let Wei Ying go this time around.

Wei WuXian rages through, summoning every spirit and ghost he can from Burial Mounds forest as he lashes at the magician dressed in white. They fight with everything they have, drawing blood and screams one from the other relentlessly... until Lan WangJi is close enough to make himself heard.

“Wei Ying! A-Ying it’s me! Can’t you remember who I am?” (A name Wei WuXian hadn’t heard in so... so long)

In the meantime, the Lan kids have sneaked inside the palace and went looking for Jin Ling, finding him laying on a bed covered in dust. The boy was probably put there at the last minute, the rest of the staff too preoccupied with the battle outside to properly care about the young man. Believing he has died, Lan SiZhui and JinGyi cry over their friend’s body, their wailing so loud it awakens the queen, who cries even harden upon seeing her only son for the firs time in sixteen years. Dead.

Wei WuXian does remember now, what he did to obtain such power. What he sacrificed in order to be able to rule over Burial Mounds. What he gave the fae as a price for helping him seek his revenge against those who burned Lotus Pier down to ashes. He had sacrificed the memory of the most precious person in his life, of his Lan Zhan. Who has never stopped looking for him and wait for his return in more than sixteen years.

Lan WangJi, finally able to reach the heart of his beloved, takes him in his arms as Wei Ying deflates on the ground. The spirits gone. With his memories back his powers are gone as well, but not the permanent changes his body has been through. Not the horns, not the red eyes, nor the sharp teeth. But in Lan WangJi’s eyes he’s never been more beautiful, alive and well.

They find the queen crying over her son’s death bed afterwards. Lan ShiZui and JinGyi huddled with her as they mourn. Jiang Cheng has made his return, hunting down Wei WuXian even now, in the depths of Koi Tower... but the moment he enters the dusty room and sees his nephew unmoving, he falls down and crawls to the bed. Inconsolable.

Wei Ying wishes he died in Jin Ling’s place. The boy didn’t deserve any of this and he regrets cursing him so long ago. But WangJi guides him to the bed and puts Jin Ling’s hand in his. The shared love for the sleeping boy tying all the presents together, making his lungs inflate and blood pump in his veins once again.

Jin Ling opens his eyes and smiles at them in awe.

[there you go, now I’m sad bye]

#mo dao zu shi #mdzs #the untamed #wangxian #jin ling #the forbidden crack! untamed prompts #long post #wei wuxian #mdzs/au: fairytale #mdzs/au: maleficent

[a-very-fond-farewell]

The forbidden crack! Untamed prompts: 8/?

Fake marriage modern!AU (but not the one you expect): “Catch me if you can”

[this implies the crack!ship Wei Ying/Wen Qing BUT this is still wangxian]

After ten whole years working for the government secret services, after taking a stand against the corruption festering in the capitol and consequently getting suspended from his position as a detective, Lan Zhan suspected his failure would have brought him nothing but slander and humiliation. He expected it alright. But it has been already five years and he’s still working for the immigration department with no prospect of going back to the field anytime soon.

The fact the he needs to give daily reports on the private life of inconspicuous citizens in order to check if they married to obtain a green card is also one of the reasons why he hates his job. But after rescuing A-Yuan from the clutches of the government five years ago he cannot bring himself to care. Since his supervisors let him keep the boy safe from harm then he has to keep his eyes down and suffer through it.

A-Yuan is the son of immigrants himself, his Granny entrusting him to Lan Zhan in the last attempt to offer him a better life: Lan Zhan will do anything to protect his child, anything.

Even questioning whether his new neighbors have married for love or not.

Which crosses at least half dozen conflict of interests clauses, but leave it to station management to sort that out by themselves. As if.

On paper, the Wei’s lead the perfect newlyweds life: Wei Ying working as a legal consultant in his stepbrother’s shipping company, while Wen Qing is rumored to become the youngest neurosurgeon in town if the local hospital were to officially take her under its wing... after a background check, that it. Because in order to be entrusted with such a generous offer, her request for citizenship must be verified. Hence management’s orders for Lan Zhan to follow the case.

To be fair, the couple living just above his apartment does quarrel as if they’ve been married for at least ten years, but Lan Zhan still has to see Wei Ying kissing his wife on the cheek in public without having the both of them visibly cringing right afterwards. He also has the underlying suspicion they know someone in their apartment complex is spying on them, but for some reason they seem pretty convinced this person has to be Song Lan (aka, the softest person on earth) just because he works in the DA’s office... even if he’s just a translator. The fact that Wen Qing is also clearly a lesbian and flushes angrily every time she stumbles into A-Yuan’s babysitter MianMian is also telling, but not enough to constitute evidence of any crime.

Last but not least, in case the Wei’s were actually in love and their chaotic (alleged) bisexuality had only recently reached new levels of disastrous energy... the fact that Wei Ying’s insistent flirting is kind of working on him may actually be a problem. Because if there is something Lan Zhan would never do, that is to destroy a marriage.

No matter how hot the aforementioned husband may happen to be.

[at some point I would envision Wen Qing being all badass and shit by smuggling innocent immigrants from her country: safely flown out thanks to Jiang Cheng’s shipping company directly inside the emergency department (where nobody checks for visas) they would just like... walk out from the front door after being visited by Wen Qing and Wen Ning]

[Wei Ying is up to speed with everything, covering things up through loopholes and shit, but he’s also glad to basically enjoy the perks of living with a rich wife despite his flamboyant preference for the D... dishes Lan Zhan provides him with (to snoop on them) as a thank you for looking after A-Yuan every now and then]

[Song Lan is oblivious to all of this, bc he just got married and can only think of his husband thank you very much]

[im sad bc I have no energy to write this but god I wish]

#wangxian #the untamed #mdzs #mo dao zu shi #wen qing #lan wangji #wei wuxian #the forbidden crack! untamed prompts #mdzs/au: fake marriage trope #mdzs/au: fake marriage crack

[a-very-fond-farewell]

The forbidden crack! Untamed prompts: 12/?

Inverted Hades & Persephone AU: “Gold in the Sunlight”

[the nielan meet cute turned ugly you didn’t know you needed. a modern!au where love should win but somehow doesn’t. let me cry in peace. there’s also some Goblin (the Korean drama) in there, as a treat.]

[title is from Florence + the Machine “Rabbit Heart”]

People cannot die anymore and the world is in shambles. Nobody knows why this came to be, but nobody should be stabbed to death and survive the blow either. So when doctors tell Lan XiChen he should have definitely died during the fight he tried to win against the burglar barging in his flat at night... he believes them.

Yet, he hasn’t kicked the bucket yet and he doesn’t know why.

It’s been months now and other people are similarly worried about such a thing. His brother’s boyfriend definitely split his head open after falling off that cliff during a climbing. Wen Ning chocked on a shrimp that night at his sister’s birthday party, but now is going to work like nothing happened. Even Meng Yao shouldn’t be standing, not with a bullet buried in his forehead after his father shot him down in a fit of rage.

People are either very lucky or extremely blind, because while it’s all nice and dandy that nobody has to die anymore... a question needs to be brought to the table. Will immortality be a permanent instance or a temporary issue? And with kids still coming to life, will they face somewhat of a crowding problem anytime soon?

XiChen is none the wiser, until one day he senses someone following him from afar and his traumatic response is unfortunately set on “fight” that particular night. His senses alight with adrenaline, survival mode turned all the way on even though he cannot die. But when he allows the other to come closer just so XiChen can hit him close range, as he lunges forward and tries to shove the man away his wrist is caught in scorching cold blue flames.

A man with black veins covering half of his face, long hair dripping from the rain, stares him down and throws him a longing gaze.

“I finally found you.”, the man says, “Please don’t let them find me.”, he pleads then.

[or the AU where Nie MingJue is the king of the underworld and doesn’t want to do his job anymore and closed the doors of his realms (or dried up the yellow river, depending on what mythology we take into consideration/whatever you fancy).]

[Nie MingJue has always known Lan XiChen was destined to him, but when the time to welcome him in the underworld came (aka: the burglar killing him) the king didn’t want to see his beloved part ways with his dear ones just yet. So he quit his job instead and now is followed by hell hounds or something to drag him back home.]

[Lan XiChen eventually hides him, but they are on the run (gimme an adventure on the road please!) and try their best not to be found. Which is tough considering Nie MingJue’s looks and powers that he cannot seem to be able to conceal.]

[In all this, NMJ never forces LXC to do anything. He doesn’t even want to touch him directly because he fears his cold flaming touch might scorch the other’s tissues and actually kill him slowly and effectively.]

[And let me tell you, at some point our boy LXC will take his chances for a handful of some scorching thing alright (wink wink). But that’s beside the point. Or is it? o.o]

[In the end NMJ needs to get back to work and LXC can live six months with the living (and still work as a waiter in spring and summer while leading a normal life) and the other six with his husband. Also, the should-have-died-then people will eventually die but nobody knows when (at least they don’t have to leave the minute NMJ gets back in charge. That would be too cruel from my part)]

[bye]

#nielan #the untamed #mdzs #mo dao zu shi #cql #the forbidden crack! untamed prompts #mdzs/au: myth inspired #this is similar to the pushing daisies au i came up with some time ago.......or is it? #no. probs no #MIDAS IS KING