joss-666

[shipsinks]

"How much can you change and get away with it, before you turn into someone else, before it’s some kind of murder?" oof hadestown au,

          ❛  WHEN SOMEONE TAKES everything from you ...  ❜    each word slow and clear, voice cold.  gold eyes freeze over, the indifference reflected back a far cry from what had once been warm and familiar.     ❛  when every part of your life is stripped away until you’re left without even scraps to rebuild on —— is that not some kind of murder?  ❜

*  richard siken sentence starters.     @oflegendaries !

[avntures]

' how dreary. are you sure you don't want to go for a walk? no one'll know you were gone! ' sqx @ yeva bc she deserves the love

          ❛  IF ONLY IT WERE SO EASY to avoid notice once i’m out.  ❜    she tries for a smile, but it’s hard to talk flippantly when she so desperately wants to say yes.  it’s been months since she left the ducal palace, but even if she were able to sneak out undetected, yeva knows better than to hope she could walk the streets in peace.    ❛  i’m afraid if cutting my hair short and painting my face with ashes didn’t work to disguise me, nothing will.  ❜

*  @oflegendaries

[ghaisgeach]

[ @oflegendaries liked for a starter for Shi Qingxuan]

Alanna stopped cleaning her sword though she kept her head bent. Something felt off. Her nose began to itch which she had learned to not ignore. It meant that magic was in the air. Thank the Goddess that Coram was off hunting. He disliked it to the point that he would refuse her using her Gift on him when he got hurt. Until she called him a sissy that was. Someone is coming Faithful said to her as he climbed onto her left shoulder. She simply nodded at her black cat. 

Upon hearing footsteps, she looked up and smiled at the person. “Good day,” she greeted with a smile. Her nose itched a little more and it took all of her willpower not to rub it. “Are you traveling by yourself?”

[feietouhuo]

『 continued from @oflegendaries‘s ask 』

❝ i’m not doubting you, ❞ mu qing says before the last word of wind master’s faded. he put a hand up to shield his face from shi qingxuan when a smile forced its way through at the joke. swimmingly, huh? his chuckle came out as a cough. before long, he eased back into his usual demeanor. 

letting lady wind master take the lead, he rolled his eyes at the grin. though they both held similar standing among the heavenly officials, or else it’d be strange for them to ask him for help, he didn’t have many great opinions about them. throwing around merits & acting all decorous ... it was sycophancy. the usual gaudiness.

still, he continued, ❝ i don’t think i have to remind you about your fight with general nan yang in banyue. from what i saw, you’ll be the reason the earth will crack open. ❞ they exchanged some hits & he got a sense of their spiritual power then. ‘worried’ wasn’t a word mu qing would use here.

❝ interesting stories follow you. that’s all. i’m more concerned with why you asked me here & what will happen. ❞ 

[unlucke-blog]

*     SHI  QINGXUAN   /   @oflegendaries    /   sc.

HE  WANTS  TO  SAY  SOMETHING   /   but  what  can  he  say  ?  i’m  sorry  hardly  seems  to  fill  the  void,  his  words  would  not,  could  not  undo  centuries  brimming  full  of  lies.  he’d  fooled  us  all,  as  if  any  of  the  heaven’s  officials  actually  felt  it  the  same  way  the  wind  master  would.  someone  he’d  unknowingly  snatched  the  fate  of,  wearing  the  face  of  the  dead  for  how  long  ?  xie  lian  remembers  the  parts  he  was  there  for  all  too  clearly,  the  overwhelming  anger,  the  betrayal,  the  anguish.  watching  it  through  shi  qingxuan’s  eyes,  xie  lian  had  felt  helpless,  he  can’t  imagine  how  it  would’ve  been  for  the  other.

he  settles  on  the  fact  that  there’s  little  he  can  say,  little  he  can  do  except  stand  by  their  side  like  they  had  for  him  so  many  times  before.  arms  wrap  around  them,  ragged  robes  like  a�� blanket  round  their  shoulders,  as  if  xie  lian  could  shield  them  for  at  least  a  few  short  moments.

“    i’m  glad  you’re  here.   “   in  one  piece,  words  left  unsaid  as  he  pulls  back  from  the  hug  slightly  to  look  at  his  friend.

[shipsinks]

'I tell you these things because I love you.' soft beefleaf,

          THAT’S THE THING  :  they do  ,  don’t they?    but not enough.    not enough to choose him when it mattered most  ,  and now they come speaking of love  ,  as if that’s held any weight between them for centuries.    as if they have a right.    they chose this  ,  after all  ,  to bear the weight of shi wudu’s actions and spare the brother who tore apart everything he xuan held dear.    not everything  ;  not the last thing.    what difference does that make now?    he thinks  ,  fleeting and bitter.    ❛  and what right have you to speak to me of that?  ❜    is what he says  ,  already turning away before he can see the words hit home.

*    richard siken sentence starters.     @oflegendaries

[shipsinks]

‘ you call that a hug? ’ from baby i'm really sorry lmao

          A FAMILIAR SIGHT ON THE QUIET STRETCH OF BEACH  ,  two dark smudges against the white of the sand.    the wind blows in over the sea  ,  icy and unforgiving  ,  but neither of them feel the chill.    as usual  ,  the bag slung over he xuan’s shoulder is full of assorted material  —  driftwood and broken shells  ,  mostly handed to him by minghua  ,  ready to be melded and reshaped by sildroher song into things they can use.    (  read as  :  things minghua can play with.    there’s nothing in the house that needs fixing and more than enough silk to trade the next time shi qingxuan hauls their wares to söndermane’s market.  )    

          on days like this  ,  it’s easier than ever to spot her sildroher heritage.    he’s seen her jump into the sea without a care on colder days than this  ,  and when she’s all but submerged with only dark hair and golden eyes visible in the grey water  ,  he xuan could almost believe she didn’t look human at all.    other times  ,  though  ,  she’s shi qingxuan through and through.    like the way she’s looking at him right now  :  even without the physical resemblance  ,  it would be more than obvious who minghua was raised by for most of her life.    

          and  ,  as with shi qingxuan  ,  he xuan’s track record of denying her anything is all but non-existent.    it’s no effort at all to lift the girl up  ,  settling her securely against him as her arms automatically wrap around his neck.    she’s so light  ,  though growing almost faster than he can believe.  he huffs  ,  the thinnest pretence of playful annoyance  ,  and feels her dark hair tickle his cheek.      ❛  happy now ?  ❜

*    SOFT FAMILY THINGS.     @oflegendaries​  !     accepting  !  

[shipsinks]

gri.shaverse / sildroher au verse notes because i’m incapable of not doing that and we all know it.    also taking some light inspiration from chinese jiaoren mythos  ,  information taken primarily from sou shen ji ( kindle translation ) and from here.    as usual, this comes from discussions with @oflegendaries and any mentions of sqx refers to her portrayal.

NB : sildroher = the gri.shaverse merfolk  ,  whose magic is manifested through song.  they can take on human forms through the use of a specially-made sykurn knife  ,  but if it touches anything of the mortal world its powers will be rendered null and they won’t be able to transform back—as such  ,  the blades are closely-guarded when sildroher visit land.  

though born to a poor family  ,  he xuan showed powerful magic from a young age.    he was clever  ,  hardworking  ,  and learned quickly  ,  hoping one day to be appointed to work at one of the noble or royal households in order to provide for his elderly parents and younger sister.

the same day he was turned down from a position at a lesser royal household  ,  he xuan caught the eye of one of the younger sildroher princes.    it didn’t take long to see that he xuan was talented and bright  ,  and the prince extended an invitation for him to spend the summer on shore at the royal residence of söndermane.

the palace at söndermane was where a human king and queen hosted guests every summer.    an eclectic mix of royalty, nobility, musicians, scholars, and so on, there was always a delegation of sildroher royalty  ,  accompanied by the most favoured noble children.    using sykurn blades crafted with sildroher magic to give themselves legs  ,  for three months they would pose as human royalty and sample the pleasures of the land.

of course, he xuan wasn’t being brought along out of sheer kindness  ,  something he was aware of when he accepted the invitation.    the prince had been quick in his judgement—too powerful and too clever to be ignored—and decided he xuan could be useful.    it wouldn’t hurt to have he xuan think well of them  ,  or better still, feel a sense of obligation  ,  should he be asked, in the future, to give a favour in return.

he xuan knew this.    but those going to shore were future kings and queens  ,  future heads of the old noble families  ,  who would one day choose their own households.    their healers and court singers  ,  their royal tutors and scholars  ,  their advisers.    if one of them should remember beautiful  ,  wickedly clever he xuan when that time came  ,  one summer was a more than worthwhile trade.

and so he xuan went to shore with the rest of them  ,  leaving his parents and sister behind.

soon after arriving  ,  he met shi qingxuan  ,  a gr.isha squaller visiting with their brother, a tidemaker.     ( he xuan didn’t find out until years later about the curse placed on qingxuan as a child  ,  one that required an object infused with sildroher magic to break  ,  nor did he suspect their older brother would be so adept at spotting sildroher disguised on land. )

sildroher tended to take lovers while on land  ,  sampling as much as they could of the humans themselves as well as their culture.    for he xuan, there was only shi qingxuan.    although they spent almost every day of the summer together  ,  he never told them the truth of being sildroher instead of human—qingxuan would find out nine months after leaving söndermane  ,  giving birth to a child with decidedly non-human features.

the shi siblings’ departure was sudden  ,  although with the sildroher delegation set to leave a few days after  ,  he didn’t think as much of it as he later realised he should have done.  

it was only on their last day in söndermane  ,  when he xuan was preparing to leave, that he realised his sykurn blade was missing.    without it  ,  he wouldn’t be able to transform back and return with the others  ;  even if it was found  ,  having come into contact with the human world would make it useless.  

although some of the other sildroher expressed sympathy  ,  in the end they left  ,  with he xuan unable to follow.  until meeting sqx again years later  ,  he was never able to confirm who had taken the knife.    he did correctly suspect one of the shi siblings was behind it  ,  however  ;  outside of the other sildroher  ,  they were the only ones he’d been remotely close to during the summer.

( back home, his family was told that he had died.    it was considered kinder than giving them false hope he might come back—they hadn’t the money to pay for a new sykurn blade to be taken to him on shore��and it was generally believed among the sildroher who came back from söndermane that he wouldn’t last long on land anyway. )

meanwhile  ,  he xuan moved into söndermane city and set up a small business as a merchant  ,  weaving and selling high-quality cloth infused with silroher magic.  

as in canon  ,  he did very well for himself until jealous rivals ganged up on him  ,  leaving him struggling and in debt.    he was still just able to make ends meet  ,  however  ,  until one of his rivals accused him of sleeping with his wife.  

with he xuan’s word against that of an esteemed local ( and that slightly ethereal grace and beauty so natural to sildroher in their human forms had never been a bad thing before ) he was arrested and thrown in jail without much question.

on his release  ,  he attempted to revive his business  ,  but few people were willing to buy from him.    his rival merchants weren’t shy about rubbing it in his face either  ,  and there were some who liked to provoke trouble for their own amusement.

one night, several of them came by his shop—arrogant, a little drunk, looking to amuse themselves and confident in the fact that he couldn’t afford to fight back against them and make more trouble for himself.    until one of them got right up in his face  ,  and he xuan snapped  ,  shoving them away.    that was all it took for a fight to break out  ,  with neither side holding back.

the fight ended with one dead  ,  and the rest ( including he xuan ) badly hurt.    rather than staying to be arrested a second time  ,  he xuan left the same night  ,  taking up residence in a shack at the edge of the beach several miles away from söndermane city.  

he still has people come to buy from him  ,  sometimes.    always in secret  ,  often at night  ,  mostly following word of mouth.    though mainly dealing in the high-quality cloth he weaves by day  ,  he also puts sildroher magic to good use crafting a variety of objects from materials washed up on the beach.  

second nb : i couldn’t work it in here but i also Love the idea in jiaoren mythology of tears turning to pearls  ,  so that’s 100% something i’m applying here

[shipsinks]

gonna put this in my rules  ,  but i am ship exclusive w kim @oflegendaries portrayal of shi qingxuan !!    i will still happily write and ship platonically w other sqx rpers  ,  but kim’s is the only version i’ll be shipping romantically with.