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[by-mana]

Coming out today is my second submission for the MDZS Reverse Big Bang 2023. (I still need to post the first one here gdi, I forgot.) These are some relevant pics, including a plan of the location, the pic that inspired the artist and made this happen in the first place, Xiao Zhan's androgyny and a random Wang Zhuocheng, because why not?Look for it soon!

[by-mana]

Yaaay~ Very excited about my claims!

We are very excited to announce that matching is done early!!!

Check your emails for your match and let's get started!!

[by-mana]

[Fic] Picture Perfect - MDZS RBB ’22

Picture Perfect

Fandom: The Untamed | Mo Dao Zu Shi Pairing: Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian Rating: Mature Genre: Romance, Modern AU, Getting Together, Found Family, Single Parent WWX

Summary:

There was this little family. Weathered and broken down to its tiniest parts, but so warm and so good. Oh, so, good. After moving across the country for a fresh start, Lan Zhan meets the most wonderful man with a pre-started family in the form of a teenage son with a streak for naughtiness and penchant for caring. Lan Zhan is prepared to do anything to prove himself worthy of dating the boy's father... If he could only figure out what.

Written for the MDZS Reverse Big Bang 2022.

Beta by the lovely @apprenticedmagician and art by Domino

Drop a comment if you liked it!

If you want to support me, you can also Commission Me | Leave A Tip | Buy Me A Coffee 

[by-mana]

Epilogue The Flower

Resent & Blossom

Part 1 The Shadow | Part 2 The Cliff | Part 3 Unseen | Epilogue The Flower

Fandom: The Untamed | Mo Dao Zu Shi Pairing: Nie Mingjue/Wei Wuxian (main), Jiang Yanli/Jin Zixuan (only mentioned), Lan Wangji & Wei Wuxian (not endgame) Rating: Teen Genre: Romance, Arranged Marriage, Canon Divergence

Summary:

Cleansing as played by Jin Guangyao is not helping Nie Mingjue any. If anything, his condition is worse than before. However, Wei Wuxian will be thrice damned if he’ll let the man who saved his family die – even if their marriage was purely political in nature. If it means he has to learn to play the difficult score himself and enlist the help of the one he’s been secretly pining over all this time, then so be it. He’s really been through tougher shit and survived. For the most part.

Beta by the lovely @galysh and @apprenticedmagician 

This was originally a commission by @robininthelabyrinth, which as it turns out I failed since my head spun it into a direction that wasn’t something they enjoyed. Still, I hope people like it. It was originally posted on my main blog, but has since been moved here.

It was supposed to be much shorter, but it had so much potential that before I realized what I was doing it was another 10k monster, and then robin’s birthday came (this was before I knew I failed), so here we are.

The original request was: “if you feel like it, I’d be happy to see more WWX/NMJ (no sad endings or breaking the ship, adding other characters is OK) canonverse preferred.”

You can also Commission Me | Leave A Tip | Buy Me A Coffee 

[by-mana]

Traipse

Fandom: The Untamed | Mo Dao Zu Shi Pairing: Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian Rating: Teen Genre: Romance, Modern AU, Friends to Lovers, Reunion

Summary:

After their chance meeting on Chuxi, Lan Zhan can't get Wei Ying out of his head. Yearning for a place in his former best friend's / secret love's life he drops by for a surprise visit on the day of the lantern festival to seize his chance. Too bad he didn't plan ahead. Improvisation, as it turns out isn't Lan Zhan's strongest suite. Wei Ying, for once, is really not amused..

Beta by the lovely @apprenticedmagician

Sequel to Traverse, which was originally written for the WangXian Lunar New Year 21 exchange for @vedrividia, which was set on Chuxi. This takes places exactly two weeks later. Drop a comment if you liked it!

You can also Commission Me | Leave A Tip | Buy Me A Coffee 

[by-mana]

From Three Hundred Lives, Epilogue

This was the part where I actually wanted to post a video / amv made of all the audio files and clips that I posted before, along with the last written part, but I didn’t get done on time, because of course I didn’t. I still want to continue working on it and will post it later, as a sort of ‘afterparty’, if the mods @mdzs-language-fest​ are amenable. :) 

I also plan to have the drabbles beta read and post them on my AO3 as soon as I can (maybe have the vid done around the same time? with luck?) In the meantime, and to be able to argue that yes this very much counts as a post for the language fest (because I don’t have an actual stanza), I uploaded the full sized gifs to an image host, for everyone to enjoy. (Take that tumblr!) I also didn’t want to withold the conclusion of the “story” for that long, so here you go.

#1 #41 #99 #154 #229 #291

All the original posts can be found on @by-mana under the tag marina.

Thank you for hosting this event! It was a lot of fun!

#299. From Three Hundred Lives.

The next time they saw each other had been at the New Year's Eve concert thirteen years later.

Wei Ying remembered the day like it had been yesterday instead of three years ago. He remembered wearing a black suit, as was proper. He had to lead by example, or else he would never be able to reign his kids in. It had been a late afternoon recital for middle and high schools, although due to the season it had been already properly dark outside when they arrived, the atmosphere of a late evening. They had hired a bus, but Wei Ying came with his own car, volunteering to take the ones who didn't get a seat. He had taken his son, his son's best friend and two boys from his class with him. He remembered laughing.

He remembered all of this so clearly because he remembered Lan Zhan, red cheeked and slightly breathless from running, in frantic search of him when he hadn't found him where the buses were waiting.

He remembered seeing Lan Zhan for the first time in all those years, broad shouldered and filled out in all the right places, dashing in his black and white tux. He remembered his surprise, his stolen breath, how he had frozen at the sight of his once dearest friend, not having expected to see what had been a budding literature professor in the orchestra. He had stared until Lan Zhan noticed him staring, amber eyes wide with the same shock that Wei Ying felt. He sought him out during the intermission, catching him off guard as he chaperoned his son, their little clique and a few other students at the cafeteria. There hadn't been much time to catch up and between avoiding the crowd and making sure the kids didn't do anything that would result in a lifetime ban they lost each other out of sight.

When Lan Zhan found him later at the car park there hadn't been much time either, just enough for Wei Ying to tell Lan Zhan where and when he could find him.

He remembered being surprised when Lan Zhan did.

They exchanged numbers and met again. And again. And again.

He remembered his astonishment that those ancient feelings between them still burned hot and bright. Once upon a time he had wondered if there were any at all, but as they sat down in Lan Zhan's cozy practice room, or his own messy apartment, he wondered instead how he could have ever doubted.

It still took them three more years to figure their shit out.

There was too much history, too many strong feelings and so much that has happened in their years apart for them to jump in head first. Neither of them as they intended, both of them dragged on unexpected paths. He a teacher instead of an engineer, Lan Zhan a violist instead of a professor. Wei Ying had his son and his grief. Lan Zhan had a decade and half of heartbreak.

They still made it work.

Today they were finally reaping the fruits of their labor.

Today he was the one in the black tux, Lan Zhan next to him resplendent in white. Enclosed by the tight circle of their friends and family, all of them cheerful and laughing, they were the only ones clad in darkness and light. Two opposites, two sides of the same, one incomplete without the other. Waiting, just outside the civil registry office.

They have waited for a long time.

They would have a grander, traditional ceremony some day. For now this was enough, the recognition of their bond, their union in front of the whole world. They were sitting side by side, their hands clasped together as their lives were tied. It had been sixteen years, but it felt like eons, millennia between their souls, made from the photons of the same star. Who knew how many lifetimes they have had together, and how many more there were to come.

Wei Ying hoped at least a hundred.

"Wei Ying," Lan Zhan called his name like he had remembered something important. "I have something for you."

Wei Ying sat up straighter, surprised by that announcement.

"For me?" As far as he was aware it wasn't for the groom to be trading wedding gifts. Was it? He felt a swirl of panic in his chest. "I don't have anything for you…"

"No," Lan Zhan said, voice firm and soothing. "I wanted to give this to you for a long time."

He handed him a book with a title that read 'From Three Hundred Lives – The Longest Love Poems From Around The World, A Selection,' the author's name his own.

"Lan Zhan, what is this?" Wei Ying asked. He knew of course that Lan Zhan still dabbled into literature, translating in his own time, whatever struck his fancy, but this seemed too extensive.

"Once you searched for the longest love poem in the world and found out you couldn't read it," he explained, eyes sincere and voice soft. "It was a long term project of mine that I only finished recently. "

With words failing him and emotions swirling inside of him, Wei Ying opened it. There was a dedication on the first page.

'To Wei Ying,’ it read. 'My one true love. Eternally.'

Tears sprang to his eyes, heart overflowing with feelings he couldn't name.

"Lan Zhan!" He choked on his own words, unable to form them on his heavy tongue and curving lips. He laughed. He cried. He looked at the man responsible for his predicament, his friend, his lover, his soulmate – Lan Zhan.

Lan Zhan said nothing, tiniest smile gracing his features in the softest of expressions, reserved only for him and their son.

The office door opened.

"Lan, Wei?" The professional voice of the registry clerk asked and they stood up together, side by side, bodies and souls forever entwined.

[by-mana]

From Three Hundred Lives, part 6

For the @mdzs-language-fest

The longest love poem in the world is 291 stanzas (2900 lines) long. It is called Marína and was written in 1844 by Slovak author Andrej Sládkovič (sometimes also called Andrej Braxatoris). Official translations exist in German, Polish, Hungarian and French. There are scattered unofficial translations in English, mostly consisting of a number of blog posts, now joined by these few stanzas by Yours Truly.

The poem speaks about the author's deep, but unfulfilled love for the titular Marína, who he learned was to marry someone else. It is a love most tragic, yet sweet and gentle, like the caress of the breeze against the grass of the pastures.

#291 Marína moja! teda tak sme my ako tie božie plamene, ako tie kvety na chladnej zemi, ako tie drahé kamene; padajú hviezdy, aj my padneme, vädnú tie kvety, aj my zvädneme, a klenoty hruda kryje: Ale tie hviezdy predsi svietili, a pekný život tie kvety žili, a diamant v hrude nezhnije!

Marína #291.mp3 Note: I can't believe I'm done... Well, not DONE done, there's one more post coming, butno more gifsets. Hah, famous last words. xD Thank you for sticking with me to the end. I'm not much of a gifer, compared to the other much more talented creators there are, but despite everything I had fun with this small passion project of mine. So long~

#291. A Diamond In The Rough Does Not Rot!

They faced each other at the top of the hill.

Lan Zhan knew that although in a little while he would descend it, his heart would remain in this place forever.

"I will go that way." He motioned with his sword, already knowing what the reply would be.

"And I will go that way," sure enough Wei Ying said, gesturing with his flute into the exact opposite direction. East and West. Day and night. Light and shadow.

Perhaps it had been foolish of Lan Zhan to hope that they could be together after all that had happened. In spite of everything. He would, however, never regret taking the chance.

He nodded at Wei Ying and his love gave him a watery smile.

They both took a step forward, passing each other. Another step, now they were back to back. From that moment on, each and every step brought them further apart. With every step a piece of Lan Zhan's heart stayed behind.

"Lan Zhan!"

He turned.

"We will meet again!" Wei Ying waved at him. "As long as the world keeps turning, we will meet again!"

The truth.

A truth as powerful as the forces that held the world together, an endless flow of qi. A drop into the river, a river into the ocean, an ocean in a drop.

Lan Zhan smiled and turned his back on his heart one final time.

It was an end of them, but that was alright. For each end there was a beginning.

Love was not a thing that perished. It was neither a flower most beautiful in its bloom, nor a fruit prone to rot. It was not a shooting star, quick to burn out and distant to reach. It was more like a jewel, hidden in the earth, waiting to be found, polished and held. Rare and precious and forever. It did not matter how long it took.

Years. Centuries. Lifetimes.

There would come a life they would end together.

He could wait a little longer.

[by-mana]

From Three Hundred Lives, part 5

For the @mdzs-language-fest

The longest love poem in the world is 291 stanzas (2900 lines) long. It is called Marína and was written in 1844 by Slovak author Andrej Sládkovič (sometimes also called Andrej Braxatoris). Official translations exist in German, Polish, Hungarian and French. There are scattered unofficial translations in English, mostly consisting of a number of blog posts, now joined by these few stanzas by Yours Truly.

The poem speaks about the author's deep, but unfulfilled love for the titular Marína, who he learned was to marry someone else. It is a love most tragic, yet sweet and gentle, like the caress of the breeze against the grass of the pastures.

#229 A vlasy ich sú letiace vlákna, vlákna zlaté na slobode, a ich odevy z tenkého plátna, bieleného v hronskom brode; z očí im strieľa duša ohnivá a každým hnutím búrlivo kývav rozdrážená, zúfalá slasť: Či blaženosť to, či muky pekla? Aká tie duše vášeň rozvliekla? Čo je lós ich, kde je ich vlasť?

Marína #229.mp3 Note: I both wrote and made the gifset the same day as posting because I'm a failure of a human being. Then tumblr didn't like even the smaller size of one gif so I had to make it even smaller. I'm about to burst into tears.

#229. Where Lies Their Cradle?

Escape had been in many ways their only option.

Or perhaps 'escape' wasn't the word for it. 'Elopement' would be far more accurate. Although Wei Wuxian still had trouble believing his luck. There had been a time in his life he would have laughed in the face of anyone who might have as much as suggested his feelings being reciprocated.

Attempting the impossible was how he had been raised, but that didn't mean everything would become possible with simply a little effort. It rarely worked like that. And yet, here they were, side by side on an empty road heading nowhere. No clear purpose, no goal in sight, just the two of them together.

Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji.

Lan Zhan and Wei Ying.

Three bows and the world behind them.

It had taken a decade and a half filled with war, resentment, death, revenge and regret for them to finally reach for what was the truly important, for the only thing that mattered in life –

Love.

"Ask again," Lan Zhan had said to him, golden eyes aflame. "See if I refuse you."

They had lost each other once and there was nothing that Lan Zhan regretted more, he had confessed. They had both thought their duties to be absolute, justice and their legacy to be the only goal worth fighting for. Compromising any of that had been out of question.

That had been their end.

Throwing it all away their beginning.

"Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan, where are we going to sleep?" He called after his lover in the dusk of one evening. "We're still at least two hours from the next town."

"Mn," came the answer. "We will set up camp between those trees."

"Aiya, Lan Zhan." He pouted at his husband. "The nights are chilly and I'm not that resilient anymore. Have you no consideration for this poor, fragile body?"

"Do not worry," Lan Zhan said, the heat of his look making Wei Ying blush. "I will keep you warm."

Neither of their past selves would have believed how easy it was in the end, leaving everything behind. They themselves couldn't believe how happy and right it made them both feel.

They had nothing but each other.

They needed nothing else.

[by-mana]

From Three Hundred Lives, part 4

For the @mdzs-language-fest

The longest love poem in the world is 291 stanzas (2900 lines) long. It is called Marína and was written in 1844 by Slovak author Andrej Sládkovič (sometimes also called Andrej Braxatoris). Official translations exist in German, Polish, Hungarian and French. There are scattered unofficial translations in English, mostly consisting of a number of blog posts, now joined by these few stanzas by Yours Truly.

The poem speaks about the author’s deep, but unfulfilled love for the titular Marína, who he learned was to marry someone else. It is a love most tragic, yet sweet and gentle, like the caress of the breeze against the grass of the pastures.

#154 Jedným sa ľúbosť v holúbkov páre lebo v hrdličkách zjavila; druhým sa v plamennom citov požiare od srdca k ústam pálila; tým striel podobu na seba vzala, týmto sa putom zlatým zazdala, inším sa v kvietky ukrýva: A mne sa ľúbosť v strašných úkazoch, v hromo-bleskových veľkých obrazoch úžasno-slávne ozýva! —

Marína #154.mp3 Note: I had to upload them all in small size, becuase tumblr. I might just post external links to the full sized gifs after the event. v_v Thank you, tumblr.

#99. With Marvel And Glory It Rings!

They have met in battle.

They had come across each other before that, but they have truly met only once they crossed blades, cool iron ringing against cool iron. They fought on opposing sides, stood for different ideals, not unlike darkness and light. They defeated each other maybe a thousand times, or maybe not once, caught in a perpetual stalemate.

Wei Wuxian knew that one was fated to kill the other, but he had yet to determine who would draw which lot.

Part of him wanted it to be over. Part of him never wanted it to end.

For every corpse he dug out to use for his wicked tricks there was a memory of Hanguang-jun appearing in his line of sight, a beacon of white glowing light. Once upon a time they could have been friends, had war not thrown them on the opposing sides of the battlefield. Now all he could do was marvel at the perfection that was Hanguang-jun, the one of ethereal beauty, the paragon of righteousness.

If his heart leaped every time they met, if it were his full lips he imagined every lonely night, if each unearthed corpse brought hope of seeing him, that was no one's business but Wei Wuxian's.

It wasn't like there was any hope.

Even if one day this wretched war was over, even in the off chance that Wei Wuxian wouldn't have to stand trial for his crimes, their differences were still impossible to reconcile. The two of them were made in ways that never going to mix.

All he had were dreams.

"Laozu." Wei Wuxian looked up to the ghostly complexion of his best friend's little brother, the one who was like his own.

Ghost General, they called him nowadays. Undead, unnatural, wrong, all of their names reeking with fear and envy of the only successful resurrection in known history. Death itself bowed to the Yiling Laozu, they said. In their own little den of the damned he was simply known as Wen Ning, timid and sweet. Death had found him because they had been too late. It took Wei Wuxian months to make right.

Hanguang-jun had been there to bear witness to the miracle.

Wei Ying would never forget his expression.

The disbelief, horror and disgust on that pretty face had twisted and coiled in Wei Wuxian's gut until they shaped into a nagging knot, gnawing at his insides. He would never cease to be amazed about the fact that they escaped unscathed, Hanguang-jun too frozen in his repugnance to stand in their way.

"Laozu," his little brother called him again, chasing the memories away. "They've arrived."

A pause. "They outnumber us, one to ten."

The lot was drawn.

[by-mana]

From Three Hundred Lives, part 3

For the MDZS 2021 Language Event

@mdzs-language-fest

The longest love poem in the world is 291 stanzas (2900 lines) long. It is called Marína and was written in 1844 by Slovak author Andrej Sládkovič (sometimes also called Andrej Braxatoris). Official translations exist in German, Polish, Hungarian and French. There are scattered unofficial translations in English, mostly consisting of a number of blog posts, now joined by these few stanzas by Yours Truly.

The poem speaks about the author's deep, but unfulfilled love for the titular Marína, who he learned was to marry someone else. It is a love most tragic, yet sweet and gentle, like the caress of the breeze against the grass of the pastures.

#99 Svety závistné medzi nás stali, roztrhli blahé objemy: Čože mohutné časy získali, rozlúčiac nebo od zemi? Láska na zemi nebo stvorila a nás naveky zväzkom spojila, ktorý sa nedá rozlúčiť: Vytrhnúť srdce môž’ osud divý, blesk očí zhasí hrob závistlivý: ľúbosť nemožno umučiť!

Marína #99.mp3 Note: This is my favorite stanza :).

#99. Love Cannot Be Smothered!

These were right – laws, rules, precepts.

It was always better to have them than not, thus the idea of them was just. They came from the fundamental need to prevent selfish, mindless anarchy, the rule of cruel, merciless power. They were often designed to protect those who needed it the most, alas it was right that they existed.

Right, as Lan Wangji has recently learned, did not always mean good.

In turn, wrong didn't always mean evil.

It was a lesson not learned from any book of rules, code or creed.

It was a lesson the world did not want you to learn.

For Lan Wangji that knowledge had come too late. He had learned it in the most painful, brutal way and yet it still had been all for naught in the end. Still the one who was good and kind,  the one who helped, the one he loved, that person still…

Names they had called him.

Trampled and spat on him. Beat him and bore down on him until there was nothing left but bones and ash.

Because he had not been right.

Lan Wangji had always striven to be both, right and good, worked hard to always uphold every rule etched into the walls surrounding his life. His many accolades were testimony of his success, his name synonymous with kindness far and wide. He had never known that there were times that some rules were in conflict with others until he was forced to choose.

And when he had made his choice none of his accolades and achievements suddenly mattered.

He was wrong, they said. He had strayed from the path. He had to bear the punishment.

Thus he knelt on the cold and hard ground until his knees gave in, took the harsh beating without a single sound. He only asked one question.

What is wrong and what is right?

Who got to decide that, who was to judge?

They told him the creed and gave him the code and locked him away to consider his actions.

So Lan Wangji did.

He knelt, the copy of the sacred rules that lined his entire life in front of him, in sure, bold yet playful strokes, written like all answers were clear. It was the hand of the one one he loved telling him what he needed to hear when his voice could no longer. They had silenced him forever.

Instead, Lan Wagji's heart was screaming.

They thought it would quiet, that it would forget.

They were wrong.

[by-mana]

From Three Hundred Lives, part 2

For the MDZS 2021 Language Event

@mdzs-language-fest

The longest love poem in the world is 291 stanzas (2900 lines) long. It is called Marína and was written in 1844 by Slovak author Andrej Sládkovič (sometimes also called Andrej Braxatoris). Official translations exist in German, Polish, Hungarian and French. There are a scattered unofficial translations in English, mostly consisting of a number of blog posts, now joined by these few stanzas by Yours Truly.

The poem speaks about the author's deep, but unfulfilled love for the titular Marína, who he learned was to marry someone else. It is a love most tragic, yet sweet and gentle, like the caress of the breeze against the grass of the pastures.

#41 Možno mi tvojich úst sa odrieknuť, možno mi ruky nedostať, možno mi v diaľky žiaľne utieknuť, možno mi nemilým ostať, možno mi ústam smädom umierať, možno mi žialiť v samote, možno mi život v púšťach zavierať, možno mi nežiť v živote, možno mi seba samého zhubiť! - nemožno mi ťa neľúbiť! -

Marína #41.mp3 Note: Tthere was supposed to be an audio embeded in the post, but I couldn't get it to work, so this link will have to suffice. Please don't steal! (Yes it's me, with my own voice, reading it.) There will be one gifset and a drabble posted every day. For some of the gifs I had to use the smaller ones because tumblr, apparently. Let me know if you want the full sized ones in a separate post after the event.

#41. To Unlove You Able I Am Not!

The burial mounds were quiet as they walked.

The burial mounds were always quiet, like only a place so sodden with death could be. The silent, voiceless whispers of lost souls were the only not-noise surrounding them. Wei Wuxian would likely never cease to be amazed that such a place could still harbor life. Or maybe that was exactly why. Life could after all only exist alongside death. Without it there was no rebirth, no beginning was without an end. Perhaps it was this simple, terrifying fact that made so many chase after the dream of immortality.

Maybe it was this morbid, yet inherent fascination with decay innate to every person born from a womb why Lan Zhan still came.

The two weeping willows at the border of this barren place twisted and twined around each other like the grotesque semblance of a gate. He stopped. Lan Zhan did too.  He would go on in a few moments, like he always did. He could have went on now too without ever halting, but Wei Wuxian knew he wouldn't. They always did this game, this dance, this exchange of give and take, where Wei Wuxian was the one who took and Lan Zhan the one who gave.

"Wei Ying," he said and it sounded like "Please" and it sounded like "Sorry".

He didn't ask him to go to Gusu anymore. Wei Wuxian pretended it didn't hurt.

Not that he could go.

If not before, certainly not now, or likely ever again.

Not in this life.

Not after everything.

Not the way they were.

Wei Ying met his eyes. Those sad, longing eyes, a mirror of his own.

"You shouldn't come here anymore, Lan Zhan," he said, because it was the truth.

"I don't mind," he quickly added when those beautiful eyes turned even sadder. "I'm always happy to see you. You're the only light in this darkness. But this is no way for Hanguang-jun to be."

It was one thing that disgraced and dishonored Wei Wuxian with nothing to lose let himself fall in one moment of desperate weakness. Lan Wangji, the second young master of Gusu Lan, the one who brought light to so many and deserved the world for it should not lower himself to a mere affair.

"What about you?" Yet his wonderful Lan Zhan still asked, as if Wei Wuxian mattered at all.

"Me?" Wei Ying laughed, tinny, without humor. "I have nothing left to give, Lan Zhan. Everything is gone."

Honorless in the eyes of the world, impure and immoral, tainted by evil. Even the last remnants of his innocence were gone now, his own defiled self judging him. At least he got to chose whom to lose it to.

"I'm glad it was you," he confessed. He had wanted it to be Lan Zhan, selfishly, even if it would inevitably stain that glowing white of Lan Zhan's virtue.

He had never dared to ask for it, yet it still happened. The both of them wanted to fall. The difference was Lan Zhan would have to get up, rise from the cold ground where Wei Wuxian would remain.

He turned to Lan Zhan for one last time and caught his lover regarding him with one of those devastated, longing gazes.

He swallowed. "You could…"

Wei Wuxian didn't let him finish.

"Lan Zhan!" The pretty lips shut close, pressed into a tight line. "How could I go? How could I leave them?!"

Lan Zhan didn't respond, eyes closed in despondence. Wei Wuxian ignored the stab in his chest and let his heart bleed, like it had been bleeding for months without end.

"Tell me a way to save them and I'll do it," he said in a calmer voice, yet still firm. "The seal, the wicked path, my life, I'll surrender it all to you. All you have to do is tell me how."

Lan Zhan didn't speak.

For a while there was nothing but silence.

"You should go," Wei Ying finally said, eyes trained on the dead ground. "They'll start missing you soon."

For a heartbeat he thought Lan Zhan would refuse.

"Mn." He nodded in the end and went on at last.

All Wei Wuxian could do was watch him go, as he stayed.

[by-mana]

From Three Hundred Lives

For the MDZS 2021 Language Event

@mdzs-language-fest

The longest love poem in the world is 291 stanzas (2900 lines) long. It is called Marína and was written in 1844 by Slovak author Andrej Sládkovič (sometimes also called Andrej Braxatoris). Official translations exist in German, Polish, Hungarian and French. There are a few unofficial translations in English, mostly consisting of a few blog posts, now joined by these few stanzas by yours truly.

The poem speaks about the author's deep, but unfulfilled love for the titular Marína, who he learned was to marry someone else. It is a love most tragic, yet sweet and gentle, like the caress of the breeze against the grass of the pastures.

#1 Ja sladké túžby, túžby po kráse spievam peknotou nadšený, a v tomto duše mojej ohlase svet môj je celý zavrený; z výsosti Tatier ona mi svieti, ona mi z ohňov nebeských letí, ona mi svety pohýna; ona mi kýva zo sto životov: No centrom, živlom, nebom, jednotou krás mojich moja Marína!

Marína #1.mp3 Note: I apologize, there was supposed to be an audio embeded in the post, but I couldn't get it to work, so this like will have to suffice. Please don't steal! (Yes it's me, with my own voice, reading it.)

#1. Unity Of All The Beauty

The auditorium was abuzz with the same energy that overtook the space before every practice, turning the orchestra into one giant, humming organism. Each and every time, at the nucleus of that organism, usually surrounded by a vibrating membrane of a crowd of people, the bright spark of life – his Wei Ying. Always lovely, always smiling, his lips calling Lan Zhan before they even curled around the syllables of his name. Always… Except for the last few times.

Lan Zhan was supposed to be tuning his viola, but all his attention was fixated on the small door at the far back of the room. He knew that Wei Ying liked cutting it close, but he always made it with at least a few minutes to spare, just enough time to greet his friends and get the latest section gossip, which he'd then enthusiastically relay to Lan Zhan. Always… till now.

The conductor entered the room and set down the score, getting settled as the noise gradually died down. In the midst of that hurried chaos, finally there was the snap of the door opening wide. Hurried footsteps that didn't quite disappear into the ambiance. The subsequent release of a breath which did, but Lan Zhan heard it still. Because Lan Zhan listened. Because Lan Zhan always heard Wei Ying.

He turned around.

The image that met him stole the breath out of his lungs, as it did every time. The high cheekbones flushed from the hurry and the ever increasing cold of early winter. The moisture around his eyes and under his nose, colored by the brisk air. The shortness of his breath, the goosebumps of his skin. His plush lips tinted blue. The darkness around his eyes, as his exhaustion and worry became more evident by the week. It sat on his slumped shoulders and in the deep ridges between his eyebrows that have not been there before.

"Wei Ying." The moment Lan Zhan called his name Wei Ying's face brightened, he sat up straighter and a smile appeared on his face in an instant.

"Lan Zhan!" He exclaimed, and before Lan Zhan could ask what was wrong he chattered on, leaving no space for inquiries. "I'm so sorry I'm late, I was doing some research on the internet and completely forgot the time…"

The conductor coughed to clear his throat and the buzz died.

Lan Zhan didn't get to ask him until much later when they were walking home in the dark, the days properly short now and the practice hours stretched longer as the New Year's concert approached. Sometime during that practice snow has started to fall, light and gentle specks of white against the dark, like stardust from the sky.

"What were you researching?" That wasn't the question that was burning on his tongue, only the one he was permitted to ask. Not for any rules of conduct set by Wei Ying, but for his own cowardice alone, his own fear of becoming someone with the right to ask… 'Are you alright?'

"Was it for class?" The midterm exams weren't as close as Wei Ying would deem it to be time to study.

True enough, he smiled and shook his head, flute case carelessly slung over his shoulder, held by bare fingers, tinted red by the cold.

"No," he answered, turning his gaze skyward. "I was googling love poems."

The blood froze in Lan Zhan's veins, his heart beating an empty, vicious rhythm.

"I thought your degree was engineering," he said because he didn't know what else to say. Yet it drew a genuine, amused laugh out of Wei Ying. It came out in tiny puffs.

"It is!" Wei Ying exclaimed cheerfully, but then his features turned softer, voice dropping to a husk. "I wanted to know what the longest love poem in the world was. Do you know it, Lan Zhan?"

Lan Zhan, embarrassingly, although he majored in literature, did not.

"It's called Marina!" Wei Ying told him, when he shook his head. "It's in a language I didn't even know existed. Apparently no one bothered to translate it into Chinese, or even English. Such a waste…"

He sighed. Lan Zhan agreed. He wondered why there was no translation. He wondered why Wei Ying googled the longest love poem in the world.

"It's almost three hundred stanzas long," Wei Ying informed him and Lan Zhan's heart clenched at the immeasurable devotion the author must have felt. "Imagine that, Lan Zhan! Imagine being so very much in love."

Lan Zhan didn't have to imagine.

"I'm sure there are some amateur translations online," he said for lack of any other words.

"I bet there are," Wei Ying said into the vermilion scarf around his shoulders, vibrant against the black of his parka, against the darkness surrounding them. "But it's just not the same, Lan Zhan! How could I trust anyone I never heard about to know the nuances of love?"

A valid concern. Again, Lan Zhan didn't know what to say, so he said nothing.

They reached the bus stop, halting their steps. Lan Zhan noticed Wei Ying shift from one foot to another and realized he was still wearing his sneakers. He knew Wei Ying had finally tossed out his old boots at the end of spring, when the sole started to come off. He had intended to buy new ones at the end of autumn.

"Wei Ying…" Lan Zhan started. Slate gray eyes, doe dark and sad met his. Lan Zhan gathered all his resolve. A heartbeat passed.

The bus came around the corner.

He had ran out of time.

Lan Zhan released the breath he'd been holding. "I will see you next week."

Wei Ying smiled, small and dull. "Yeah, for sure. See you, Lan Zhan."

Lan Zhan watched him board and take a seat. He watched him as the bus slowly started again, watched his smile fall and form crumple as Wei Ying folded on himself. Lan Zhan watched him hold his hands against his face and his thin shoulders shake. Lan Zhan watched his own heartbreak and he watched Wei Ying until he disappeared out of sight.

When he got home the first thing he did was to google 'longest love poem in the world'.

A week later he heard the rumors.

A month later, at the New Year's Eve concert, he saw Wei Ying for the last time.

[by-mana]

Nursery Rhymes

Fandom: Untamed Chapters: 13 WC: 97k Relationship: Wei Wuxian/Lan Wangji (main), Lan Xichen/Nie Mingjue (minor), Jiang Yanli/Jin Zixuan (mentioned) Characters: Wei Wuxian, Lan Wangji, Lan Xichen, Jiang Yanli, Jiang Cheng, Wen Qing, Wen Ning, Wen Yuan, Luo "MianMian" Qingyang and many more (litterally, almost everyone makes an appearance) Genre: M/M, F/M, gen, Angst, Family, Romance, Medical Setting, Pediatric Care, nurse!WWX, teacher!LWJ Warnings: Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Foster Care, Character With A Heatz Condition (major), Character With A Neurological Condition (minor), Underage Character With Leukemia (minor), Childhood Trauma, Past Injury, Medical Inaccuracies, Unreliable Narrator (a bunch of them)

Summary:

Lan Xichen is a pediatrician who often treats child abuse cases for various foster homes, orphanages and social workers for free. He's currently looking for a second nurse because Luo Qingyang is freshly back from maternal leave and can't be expected to work full time with a baby on hand and none of her substitutes were up to the task. Enter Wei Ying with a semester worth of med school, stellar recommendations, a huge gap in his CV and a laugh bright and warm as the sun. Skeptical at first, Xichen decides to give the man a chance. He gets more than he bargained for with exactly zero regrets.. Written for the MDZS Big Bang 2021.

Betaed by the amazing @apprenticedmagician, who is a life savior. Laura, I love you. Thank you so much, honestly.

You can also Commission Me | Leave A Tip | Buy Me A Coffee 

[by-mana]

A plea

Hello beautiful people!

I turn to you with a massive appeal. Once again, I'm on a very low end financially and I need all your help. I talked about how I lost my job due to corona and am living off my Saturday work and government support, but that's nowere near enough. This has become true once again this month.

My rent is due in a week and there's 38 € at my disposal. My rent alone is 520 €. Saturdays pay me 250€ plus provision which amounts to around 400 €. Support gives me 450€ but that won't arrive until after the first week of May. I also need to pay for the energies. Bottom line is I'm about 100-150 € short this month.

And I hate doing this? I hate begging for money. I constantly feel like I'm one step away from a street corner but right now I really need all your help. To put it into perspective, if I got 50 cents for every kudos left just on Resent & Blossom I wouldn't have to do this.

So if you enjoy what I do, then please consider supporting me. It would mean the world to me, especially this month.

You can Leave a Tip, Buy Me a Coffee, you can also commission me over here for photography, or buy from my kofi-shop as soon as I set that up, hopefully this week.

Thank you.

[by-mana]

Chapter 3

beta by @galysh and by @apprenticedmagician

Resent & Blossom

Part 1 The Shadow | Part 2 The Cliff | Part 3 Unseen | Epilogue The Flower

Fandom: The Untamed | Mo Dao Zu Shi Pairing: Nie Mingjue/Wei Wuxian (main), Jiang Yanli/Jin Zixuan (only mentioned), Lan Wanji & Wei Wuxian (not endgame) Rating: Teen Genre: Romance, Arranged Marriage, Canon Divergence

Summary:

Cleansing as played by Jin Guangyao is not helping Nie Mingjue any. If anything, his condition is worse than before. However, Wei Wuxian will be thrice damned if he’ll let the man who saved his family die – even if their marriage was purely political in nature. If it means he has to learn to play the difficult score himself and enlist the help of the one he’s been secretly pining over all this time, then so be it. He’s really been through tougher shit and survived. For the most part.

Beta by the lovely @galysh.

This was a commission by @robininthelabyrinth, which as it turns out I failed. I hope people like it. It was originally posted on my main blog, but has since been moved here.

The original request was: “if you feel like it, I’d be happy to see more WWX/NMJ (no sad endings or breaking the ship, adding other characters is OK) canonverse preferred.”

It was supposed to be much shorter, but it had so much potential that before I realized what I was doing it was another 10k monster, and then rob’s birthday came (this was before I knew I failed), so here we are.

You can also Commission Me | Leave A Tip | Buy Me A Coffe 

[by-mana]

Teaser #1

"I told you I'm no flower." He swallowed, voice a mere whisper. He wanted it to sound harsh, but it came out soft, almost husky.

"Might as well be one," Nie Mingjue all but countered, if a counter was a caress gentle as a loving smile or a wicked quirk of lips. Wei Wuxian sputtered, heat taking his face once more at the implication, mind reeling for a witty remark coming short.

[by-mana]

One thing about me is, when I really want something, I find a way to get it.

Last week it was FaceApp's turn. (In case you're wondering, I found an emulator that allowes android apps on your computer.) I was desperate for it solely for the purpose of running my entire Xiao Zhan gallery through it (I am pretty sure this is something requiring therapy by now, but do I care? Nope. Nope, I don't. But hey, you get enjoy the results of my obsession, so that's a positive!)

Here, the top 10 of one crazy afternoon of messing around with people's faces. Well, one persons's face. ... It's a very pretty face? Enjoy!