#oops forgot yao is in here

[cryocannon]

[jin-zixun]

Please share your ideas 🙏🙏🙏 my posts are meant in the most disrespectful manner possible 💪 feel free to add onto them

In that case...

LXC who 'forgot to mention' that his precious uwu baby brother he's always singing the praises of is, well, Like That. ("Oh, by the way, my brother can be kind of intense!" JGY: "Intense?" LXC: "...I'm sure it'll be fine! He'll love you!")

LWJ who just heard "He helped me when I was on the run. He's trying to get acknowledged from his father JGS. I want to help him." And knows Oh Shit He's Serious about this guy (or else why would he tell him anything at all?) But also looking at the situation does not trust MY at all. Thinks MY definitely somehow manipulated his brother, maybe playing the long game, maybe just to get an in with the heir/leader of a powerful sect and oh look it's paid off hasn't it?

MY who is still young and not quite naive. Definitely not unwise to the ways of the world. But hopeful. Wants LXC's family to like him, accept him at least, for the baby's sake if not his own because oh boy! He knows what it's like to be the unwanted child of a Sect Leader! Of course LXC will treat their child well, but will the rest of his family? Will the rest of his sect?

...And Also LXC who knows nothing of what happened with LWJ after he got back to CR while LXC was on the run other than he's married to Su She now (didn't he like Wei Wuxian?) and somehow Su She has some influence now over LWJ and the Sect. LXC assumes LWJ married SMS in some desperate ploy to keep him from being thrown out of the Sect but doesn't know why LWJ cared so much to do that to himself. He's absolutely devastated by this. Probably talks shit about SMS to MY before they've met, like "Su She was just an outer disciple and he wasn't even that good and he must have manipulated my brother into marriage somehow or he would have never settled for him!" And MY has no idea what to do with this because, like, 100% that's how people are going to be thinking about him.

But also! Prior to actually meeting MY, SMS is right there with LWJ on the suspicion train, because like. He heard 'Jin' and went with a hard no on that one. ("A Jin? Like... Like Jin Zixun? No way. 0%. Lan Sect can't be run by a Jin.") This lasts like ten minutes tops once he meets Meng Yao because of course he is *instantly* charmed. SMS agrees to work on getting LWJ to approve because oops! He and Meng Yao are kind of in the same boat here in terms of being disapproved of, and also MY is small and cute and vulnerable and needs to be protected at all costs??? And he is literally pregnant with the Sect Leader's baby??? Come on Lan Zhan! This is your new brother in law and he might technically be a Jin but he doesn't really have a family and WE are his family now!

And LWJ who has spent months learning to listen to SMS takes a few days of giving MY a hard time before agreeing that yeah. fair. He's family. And he shows this in like the most understated way possible that has MY feeling an overwhelming sense of relief without really knowing why, because like. LWJ just nodded and said "Mn." Is that really so big? But then LXC is moved to tears by that because he thought it would take so much longer and like wait is SMS a good influence on Wangji? That doesn't seem right?

(LWJ and SMS decide they are going to plan the wedding for LXC and MY and that lasts like almost an entire day before A-Yao is just like. "Yeah... I'm going to do it myself I think. Thanks for trying it's the thought that counts etc etc." And they're like. "But you are pregnant?" And MY is just. "Yeah... Still gonna do it myself." And then it comes out that LWJ and SMS's wedding was like. The most haphazard thing. No setting a date. No planning. Just happened. LXC is... Well he kind of figured that's what happened.)

[violetjedisylveon]

Xuěhuā (monkie kid oc)

Everyone gets a kid in this AU! This is Ma's kid!

She found them in a dumpster Xuěhuā was abandoned at birth because of their albinism, they aren't from anywhere near Flower Fruit Mountain. Ma found them while she was doing something for the Monkey Kings and decided "mine now". So she came back with whatever she was sent to get + a baby!

The Flower Fruit Mountain monkeys and monkey yao/yāo/demons are a lot less hostile to conditions like albinism and poor sight, mostly because of Ma, who is also albino. So Flower Fruit Mountain is a perfect place for funky lil demon monkeys like Xuěhuā.

Xuěhuā has thicker fur than the FFM monkeys, but Chao-Xing has fluffier fur, I just hadn't decided to go all in on fluffy monkey all the times I've drawn her so far, that will change soon >:] fluffy monkeys are adorable.

Xuěhuā and Chao-Xing are best friends and get up to all sorts of generally harmless shenanigans together, the only one suffering are Wukong and Macaque cause most of the kids nonsense revolves around one of them not being able to die and what they can do with that, it causes them a lot of stress even if nothing can kill her.

Ma is very chill about everything because no child can ever be as bad as Wukong was, Ma's older than him here so I could give him a big sis to torment him.

Xuěhuā likes the cold, they've got thicker more insulated fur so it doesn't bother them as much and they like a little chill, but Chao-Xing hates it, being cold feels like dying. Xuěhuā doesn't mind the heat but definitely prefers the cold, they will absolutely cuddle if Chao-Xing gets too cold.

They are the cause of Ma's back pain cause they liked to sleep right on top of her when they were little

Xuěhuā has really bad eyesight, they usually wear contacts and they really hated wearing glasses for most of their childhood (cause I forgot about their glasses while drawing oops😬)

So that's Xuěhuā! And chapter 4 is out now!

Shadowpeach Family AU Masterpost

[ixiethepixiewrites]

Royally in Love

Rating: G (some minor swears)

Warnings: USUK, nothing much else except this is Omegaverse but it’s sfw

Summary: It is the Queen of Spade’s Birthday, and the King is eager to make it their best memory too.

A/N: Made for @aliciatheanimefreak ‘s birthday!!! HAPPY BIRTH EVEN THO I’M LATE HAHAHAA

The birthday of a royal was always a big deal, no matter which of the Six Kingdoms you lived in. Festivals were set up weeks in advance in every major city, and smaller faires were held in the more remote villages. The biggest of all the celebrations had to be, of course, the ball held within the palace. Nobility and Royalty from all over gathered within the walls of the palace, and out in the courtyard a feast was held for the common folk, so long as there was no ill weather. If the weather happened to be bleak, the feast was held within the palace’s many banquet halls, as the main ballroom would be occupied already.

Joyous citizens paraded around the streets, excited for the games and merriment, as well as being eager to relax for a day. The buzz of excitement was felt within the palace walls as well, all servants in a tizzy over the preparations, but also eager to partake of their own staff feast. No one felt the rush of excitement this day more than the King of Spades himself. His Queen had only recently been found, and this was to be their first birthday celebration together. Alfred kept bouncing on his heels, much to the ire of the tailor who was making last minute adjustments to the young monarchs coat.

“Your Majesty, please hold still!” The tailor chastised as a frustrated sigh escaped his lips.

Alfred's cheeks lit up with embarrassment. “Sorry, sorry, I just can't help it! I have a Queen now! A really beautiful Queen and he's smart and he dances way better than me and-"

As he rambled on, the tailor merely nodded, smiling once more. It had been a long time since the chosen royals had been so in love after first meeting. Most had to take many years to finally be comfortable as more than just King and consort. The change was a welcome one, and the entire Kingdom rejoiced in the hopes for a future of prosperity under their new rulers. The changing of the monarchs had always been a time of nervous anticipation as the crown was passed, either by a simple death of one or more of the previous monarchs or by magical forces choosing the most suited to rule.

Alfred had been chosen, as the previous royals had passed away from old age. His mark appeared almost immediately after the news hit that the King was dead, and a Jack was found soon after. The Queen remained elusive for an entire year, only coming forward after a forced search was enacted. As it had turned out, Arthur was adorably unaware of his mark, the swirling spade design resting on the back of his left shoulder. He had simply never noticed.

Their first meeting was still fresh in his mind, those beautiful emerald eyes staring right at him from beneath the largest eyebrows he'd ever seen. Not that they looked bad, mind you, they suited him very well. His scent was subdued, but Alfred could catch hints of tea and flowering gardens. The look of annoyance was what had caught Alfred off guard. “This is to my King?” Arthur had asked the guards that escorted him. “This King is only a boy!”

Alfred tried not to take offense, reigning himself back to keep his own scent from souring. He got that often, his looks being much younger than he actually was. As delicately as he could, Alfred explained.  “Um, actually, my Queen, I'm in my 23rd Summer this year.”

A flush of embarrassment from being corrected spread over Arthur's face, the scent changing accordingly. It smelt like a rose in full bloom mixed with a sour lemon. Alluring but also making him wrinkle his nose at the same time. His Queen sure was a wonder. After an apology for his assumptions, Alfred took his Queen for a tour of their new home. Just like that, some sort of switch flipped in them both. They relaxed, getting to know each other for a few days as their paperwork built up on their desks. It wasn't until the Jack himself dragged them both back to work that they had time to think on their feelings.

It was almost something like love.

The memories made Alfred smile, so many good ones in such a short time. Their first kiss in the gardens at night, the Jack having to pry them apart one day when Arthur's heat had started out of the blue, and the moment they had confessed to each other just how much they were in love. None of it compared to what Alfred had been planning for weeks now.

The tailor finished making adjustments to Alfred's clothes, and if Al knew anything about fashion, he would have said he looked pretty damn good. There were more important things on his mind, however, as he rushed out of the room with a thank you to the hard-working man. Racing down the halls, Alfred eventually came up to a small tea room’s doors. This was it. Arthur always had his afternoon tea in this room at exactly 4:00 pm. Opening the doors, Alfred saw his Queen sitting with a book in one of the plush chairs, a tray of small cakes stacked high and steaming hot tea in front of him.

Taking notice of Alfred, their eyes met and a slight smile came across Arthur's lovely pink lips. Alfred wanted to kiss him so badly in that moment, but he was on a mission. He played it casual, returning the smile and quietly sitting next to his Queen, one arm around his shoulders. “What are you reading today, honey?”

“I told you already, don't use pet names on me.” Arthur scolded, but Al knew that he didn't mean it. “I'm reading a book of poetry from Clubs. It's actually quite nice, if a little depressing. Perhaps it's all the winter themes that give it a cold undertone...”

Alfred could listen to Arthur mutter about books all day. It was one of his many adorable quirks that the King had come to love. “I didn't even know they had poets up in Clubs.”

“Everyone has artists, love, even from Kingdoms you have a childish rivalry with.” The Queen teased him, smirk on his lips.

Cheeks puffing like a child, Alfred crossed his arms. “That has nothing to do with anything! Ah, I'm getting sidetracked again...”

After taking a deep breath, Alfred stood from his seat, taking Arthur's hand. “Artie... you know I love you, yeah? You know that I'll do anything for you?”

He could smell the confusion and suspicion in Arthur's scent, but the Queen merely gave a nod of affirmation. Alfred could feel his palms getting sweaty, the smell of nerves filling his own scent as he fumbled to grab something from his pocket and kneel at the same time. “T-They make this sound so easy in books...”

Once he had the box in his hand, he could see Arthur's face switch from confusion to shock. Alfred couldn't help but smile. “Arthur, My Queen, My Consort, My one and only...” He paused to let it sink in, “Will you marry me? On our terms? I know we were married at our coronation and we had to mate to consummate that but, w-will you marry me again? Just for us?”

Alfred nearly knocked the tray of cakes over when Arthur had jumped on him, just repeating the word ‘yes’ over and over again. The feelings of happiness inside them both were pouring out through both their eyes now, tears streaking their faces. Alfred kissed Arthur's tears away, pressing his lips to his Queen’s forehead, then his cheek, then finally their lips met each other and it was one of the best feelings Alfred had ever experienced. This was truly the memory to top them all.

When that sparkling ring set upon Arthur's finger, Alfred let out a cheer, causing the guards to rush in thinking there was an issue. However, they quickly went back out, letting their monarchs have some privacy in the little tea room. Two royals so in love was certainly an adjustment the Kingdom would have to make, but it was a happy one.

[poorlittleyaoyao]

CQL Rewatch Episode 4: recalled as shouting “THANK GOD, IT IS MY BOY”

-LAN PEDAGOGY IS SO BAD. Too many words! Too many directives phrased as what you shouldn’t do and not what you should do!

-There’s great meta about NHS and the bird, and the foreshadowing for what he pulls off later, but I want to know what his thought process was that morning. He does not normally have a bird with him. It was not an “oops, forgot I had the bird with me!” situation. The boy made the CONSCIOUS CHOICE to hide a bird in his robes during the welcome ceremony. What happens in your head, Huaisang?

-I LOVE MENG YAO’S REACTION TO THE BIRD SITUATION SO MUCH. It’s one of the few times we see him trying to suppress a genuine smile rather than plastering on a fake one! His quiet amusement, plus NHS hiding behind him (and MY stepping in front of him!) even though MY is unarmed when Wen Chao tries to start shit later both convey SO MUCH about their relationship at this point in the narrative. They care about each other! And it’s going to go to shit!

-When you think about it, the first person to stand up for MY isn’t LXC, but Lan Qiren, who tells those random exposition gossip dudes to shut up. Where is my fic where MY decides that LQR is his new and better dad?

-”Wow, Wei-gongzi! You dared to face Wen Chao and nobody else did!” exclaims NHS, right next to Jiang Cheng (who ALSO stood his ground against Wen Chao), and somehow forgetting LXC disarmed everyone by playing a little flute solo.

-GODDDDDD THE FUCKING FAREWELL SCENE. IT’S SUCH! A SETUP! FOR ALL THE WAYS THIS RELATIONSHIP IS GONNA HAVE PROBLEMS! Meng Yao’s ultra-deferential “Meng Yao is just a guest of the Nie, not a disciple” (and I REALLY wanna know what the word is that Netflix renders as “guest,” bc “guest” in English conveys a privileged status IMO; “servant” or “assistant” or even “vassal” seems like it’d be more apt) combined with the carefully blank expression spawned 12k words and counting of fic because ohhh mannn is there baggage there. And LXC’s “In that case, I can’t urge you to stay” makes perfect sense for him, because he’s like “ah! it would be awful to disregard his wishes! I will respect them!“

Except unfortunately! Based on MY’s face journey when he turns around, and his general pattern of behavior that we see later! MY would actually have liked it very much if LXC had been like “Are you sure? I can write to Chifeng-zun; I’m sure he wouldn’t mind someone keeping Huaisang on-task” or something like that to intervene on his behalf! But LXC doesn’t do that! Because he’s trying to be respectful! (Or, less charitably, it doesn’t even OCCUR to him that MY doesn’t have the agency that a member of the nobility would, because for all his good intentions, his own privilege blinds him. But his quick reassurance to MY that NMJ definitely trusts him and will respect/reward his merits suggests that LXC noticed something was up with MY’s response.

oh no I’m emotional doing this while drinking was a m i s t a k e

-”There are only mountains back home, no rivers!” Huaisang. Honey. Where do you think the rivers come from. NHS out here flunking geography class as well as cultivation class.

-additional Wen Qing time was THEE BEST change that this adaptation made

-The sibling soup supper makes me irrationally angry. GIVE!!! YOUR SISTER!!!! SOME FUCKING!!! FISH!!!!!!

-Lan Qiren I am BEGGING you to learn what UDL is. Please engage your kinesthetic and visual learners. Please give them a brain break every 45 minutes.

-concept: AU where everything is the same except Lan Qiren uses Class Dojo and awards points for good choices.

-”Imp” sure was a bold translation choice, Netflix.

-“Why not dig up a hundred people to suppress this one (1) dude?” BECAUSE THAT’S NOT PRACTICAL, WEI WUXIAN. THE GHOST IS GOING TO EAT EVERYONE BEFORE YOU’RE DONE DIGGING.

-hey Wen sibs your spy mission would be a lot more subtle if one of you actually WENT TO CLASS EVER :|

-the degree to which “Careless Whisper” is playing in Wen Ning’s head as WWX helps him with his archery stance is truly stupendous

-“Wen-guniang, why do I always see you in the back hill?” girl what were YOU doing in the back hill?

[i-like-plan-m]

About your LWJ can hear lies AU- I can’t help but wonder how he would react to Nie Huaisang and Jin Guangyao since they are both known for being expert manipulators, especially since it’s hinted at that Nie Huaisang had a lot to do with the WW and MX thing. So I wondered if Huaisang would find a way around LWJ’s lie detecting or if he even knows about it? Also, I can just imagine the PAIN LWJ would be in if he had to talk to Jin Guangyao

Oops, I forgot to link this on tumblr! My bad! This is chapter 3 of the lies au

The trip to Qinghe was familiar by now. 

Years of flight between the sects meant Lan Zhan could make the trip with his eyes closed. He kept them open, because the sight of the Qinghe mountain range always brought a sense of relief that was as sharp as the cold air.  

The sight at the gates was becoming a familiar one, too. Nie Huiyin waited for him with all the patience she was capable of, her constant restless energy directed into a small but impeccably crafted blade that she was sharpening like it had done something to offend her. 

It was just her way, Lan Zhan had learned. Nie Mingjue’s cousin was as brusque as he was, infinitely more cheerful and possibly the loudest person Lan Zhan had ever met in his life. She was also, however, the most refreshingly honest person in all five of the great sects, save for perhaps Nie Mingjue himself. 

“Ah!” She said brightly as he landed before her, stepping gracefully from his sword and sweeping it back into the sheath on his back. “It’s our little Lan Zhan, back again!” 

He refused to acknowledge the blush heating his ears and instead nodded in greeting. His composed response did not deter her from tossing a friendly arm around his shoulders and hauling him through the open gates, past the grinning guards and into the towering grasp of the Unclean Realm walls. 

“How have you been, shidi?” She asked. The Nie Sect, Lan Zhan had quickly discovered, lived up to their imposing reputation of strength and honor. They were also the friendliest people in the world, once they’d decided you were theirs. 

Once Lan Zhan's was unofficially acknowledged as a member of the sect leader’s family-- or at least someone held in high regard by Nie-zongzhu himself, the floodgates had opened. He couldn’t decide whether their open affection was embarrassing or not, but it did fill him with a warmth he was unfamiliar with, one that felt like unconditional acceptance. As though they wanted him here. As though they liked him.

He had never had friends before. 

Well. He wasn’t entirely positive that he had any now. But regardless, the Nie Sect disciples treated him with regard. They smiled when they saw him. They welcomed him in their training exercise despite the differences in their sects’ fighting styles. 

Some, like Nie Huiyin, treated him as though he was a part of their sect. Another of Nie Mingjue’s little brothers to look out for, to keep tabs on like he was incapable of taking care of himself. 

It would be insulting if it hadn’t felt so much like acceptance. 

“I have been progressing,” Lan Zhan reported dutifully. “My control has improved further since my last visit.” He didn’t react to lies like someone had stabbed him in the ear the way he once had. With age came control, and a higher pain tolerance, apparently. 

Nie Huiyin made a sound of exasperation. “You Lans, I swear. I meant how have you been? Done anything fun lately?” She jostled him to punctuate her questions. He was slightly cheered by the fact that she had to reach higher than usual to rest an arm over his shoulders; he’d finally hit his growth spurt this summer and was nearing his brother’s height. 

“I mastered Inquiry,” he offered. 

She squinted at him suspiciously. “Is that what you do for fun?” 

“I enjoy it, yes.” 

“Hm. Acceptable. Though my rock climbing offer still stands if you want real fun. There’s nothing more exhilarating than free-falling from a thousand feet, shidi!” Lan Zhan gave a doubtful noise in response that made her laugh. “We catch ourselves before the bottom and take the rest of the fall on our sabers. And then!”

And then they raced through the most dangerous mountain pass in Qinghe on their sabers, chasing adrenaline with as many death-defying stunts they could manage until the pass ended in a dead-drop of a hundred feet. Most of them followed the waterfall straight into the large lake at the bottom. Most of the Nie disciples were reckless enough to try it at least once.

“Scorpion Alley,” he said, familiar with the sect’s unofficial rite of passage. 

“You got it,” she agreed cheerfully. “We still haven’t gotten you out there, have we?” 

“You will not,” he assured her, and bit back a smile when her laugh echoed across the training grounds. It was so different here than in his sect. There was little composure in Qinghe, no reason to stifle laughter or keep words hushed. 

Composure, he’d learned, was another word for concealment. Disguising one’s truthful feelings to reflect serenity instead. A mask that hid the turmoil beneath for the sake of propriety.

It was a lie all the same. 

“I hear your sect is hosting guest disciples next year,” Nie Huiyin said, steering him towards the main hall. 

“Yes.” He made a halfhearted attempt to sound neutral. He must have failed, because she snorted a laugh as she shoved open the doors of the main hall where Nie Mingjue sat, sorting through a stack of reports with a cranky expression. A slender, unfamiliar man with a dimpled smile stood beside the desk, holding a massive accounting book and waiting patiently for Nie Mingjue to stop muttering under his breath. 

Nie Mingjue looked up as the doors swung open. He brightened almost immediately, standing to welcome Lan Zhan with such genuine delight that Lan Zhan ducked his head, pleased. 

“Welcome back,” he said, clapping a hand on his shoulder and leading him to one of the nearby tables, gesturing for a servant to bring tea. He sat across from Lan Zhan while Nie Huiyin leaned against a column behind him. “How was the trip?”

“Fine,” Lan Zhan said, and tried not to sound petulant. He was almost sixteen, perfectly capable of making the trip from Gusu to Qinghe without trouble. 

“It’s the da-ge instinct, little Lan,” Nie Huiyin said with a laugh, nudging Nie Mingjue with her knee when he scowled up at her. “He can’t help himself.” 

The unfamiliar man hovered in the background as though unsure what to do without Nie MIngjue’s attention. Lan Zhan blinked at him, still unclear on who this newcomer was or how he’d climbed to Nie Mingjue’s side so quickly. Lan Zhan visited often enough that he would have noticed a new person in Nie Mingjue’s inner circle before today, surely. 

Nie Mingjue noticed his distraction and turned to wave the man over. “Ah. Apologies, you two have not met.” The stranger obediently crossed the room and bowed low to Lan Zhan. “This is Lan Wangji, the Second Jade of Lan. And this is Meng Yao, my new deputy.” 

“It is an honor to finally meet you, Lan-er-gongzi.” 

Lan Zhan nodded politely in response and wondered at the faint whisper of a slipped note that accompanied his words. Not quite a lie, but there was something underlying that sounded… off. 

“Da-ge,” Nie Huisang complained, sweeping into the room with a sulking expression. “I already did my saber training today as promised, and Nie Zonghui is trying to make me do more. This is cruel and unjust and-- oh, hi Lan Wangji.” 

“Nie Huaisang,” Lan Zhan murmured. 

“Lan Wangji,” Nie Huiasang said brightly, throwing himself down beside them. “Tell me, doesn’t your clan have a rule or twelve about keeping promises?” 

“A-Sang,” Nie Mingjue said tiredly, pinching the bridge of his nose. Behind him, Meng Yao hid a smile like he’d witnessed many similar discussions like this one. 

Then again, so had Lan Zhan. The Nie’s bickering was as constant as stars in the sky. It had taken some getting used to, but now Lan Zhan let it pass over him as background noise. It was all born from a place of love, and even the small lies (like Nie Huaisang’s mistruth about the duration of his promised saber practice) were easily ignored. 

Meng Yao, though. He was odd. 

Lan Zhan kept his face carefully neutral whenever Meng Yao’s smiles rang false, which was… often. He smiled like he knew it was expected of him, not because he wanted to. Like he was playing a role, either for the sect leader’s benefit or his own. 

It had been a few years since his lessons with Lan Xichen on the reasons why people lie, but most of it was… still hard to understand. So when Meng Yao responded to direction throughout the rest of Lan Zhan’s visit with a demure, “I would be honored, Sect Leader” and it rang discordant every time, Lan Zhan thought it was perhaps time to ask for help. 

Only a few years ago, Lan Zhan had accidentally exposed an advisor in Qinghe who had been bought off by merchants in the city. Every bit of his advice and own influence had been manipulated to support the merchants. 

Of course, when Lan Zhan was in the room and realized the advisor’s input sounded like a drunkard playing a dizi, he’d signaled to Nie Mingjue, who then rooted out the reason for his lies. Lan Zhan was not capable of doing so himself-- he only knew when people lied, never their reason for it. 

Shortly after Nie Mingjue had personally tossed the advisor out of the Unclean Realm’s gates, Lan Zhan had discovered a shadow wandering around on his heels. 

“How’d you know he was lying?” Nie Huaisang asked curiously. He continued when Lan Zhan stood frozen in place, unsure how to respond. “I saw your cue to da-ge. The hand signal?”

“I…” He had no idea what to do. Brush him off? Explain his mother’s gift? Deny it entirely? 

No. That was dishonest. 

He swallowed hard and admitted, “I can hear lies.” 

“Really?” Nie Huaisang’s eyes brightened. “So you knew the advisor was corrupt?” 

“No. Just that he lied.” 

“Hm. Interesting. So just the lie, not the intention?” The ever-present fan fluttered as Nie Huaisang stared thoughtfully at him. He nodded once in agreement. “You hear it?”

Lan Zhan realized he’d been absently following Nie Huaisang’s meandering pace along one of the walls. They were alone, so he reluctantly shared, “It was a gift from my mother, before she died. I hear conversations like music, and lies are…”

“Horrible, mangled sounds?” Nie Huaisang asked dryly. “My music tutors tell me that’s what I sound like when I play, anyway.” 

His face did not show the flicker of humor he felt. “Yes.”

“Is there anything other than the curse that tells you when they lie? Like, if their voice sounds nervous or their breathing is too fast?” 

Lan Zhan paused. He’d never thought of that, of looking past the sound of the curse to identify the physiological aspects of the liars. Why would he? There was irrefutable proof from the curse. 

But not looking further felt… lazy. Like willful ignorance. That he could not abide. 

“I will observe from now on,” he decided. 

“Me too!” Nie Huaisang caught his skeptical side-eye, because he sighed like he alone bore the weight of the universe and said, “I’m just saying, it seems like a useful skill. That advisor got past me, too, you know, and I spend a lot of time listening to their incredibly boring conversations.” 

“Boring conversations about running the sect.” If the disapproval wasn’t clear on his face, it was evident in his tone. 

“Exactly,” Nie Huaisang agreed. “But I learned my lesson, Lan-er-gongzi, all thanks to you! We should practice together, don’t you think? How about just before lunch every day?” 

“That is the time of your saber training,” Lan Zhan, who was not an idiot, said. 

“Is it?” Nie Huaisang asked, blinking innocently at him. “Ah, well, da-ge can’t complain if I’m busy making our favorite guest feel welcome!” 

“We will spar together before lunch,” Lan Zhan decided, ignoring Nie Huaisang’s horrified expression. “And then study during lunch.” 

“No,” Nie Huaisang wailed. “How can I learn to read people if I’ve been pummeled into the dirt by the Second Jade of Lan?”

“I would not,” Lan Zhan said, offended. “You are not capable of a legitimate spar--” 

“No shit!” 

“--so instead I will help with your training.” 

“Somehow this turned out very badly for me,” Nie Huaisang muttered, but he was at the training grounds mostly on time later that day all the same. 

That was two years ago. 

After two years of shared study, they had something that was not quite a friendship. Lan Zhan had never lost the sense of awkwardness around Nie Huaisang-- he was never quite sure how to interact, wasn’t sure what his role was in this relationship. 

Nie Huaisang mostly just complained to him about everything under the sun. But every time Lan Zhan visited, he showed up to the training grounds with an expression of utmost suffering. He only remembered his saber half the time, and he tripped over his own feet often enough Lan Zhan feared for his life, but he showed up. 

So Lan Zhan knew his concerns would be heard if he took them to Nie Huaisang. Maybe he would have more insight into Meng Yao’s oddities-- Nie Huaisang understood people the way Lan Zhan didn’t. He couldn’t hear lies, but he could see them. 

Most of the time, anyway. He’d learned to read faces where Lan Zhan heard the mistruths. It was a training method with guaranteed reliability, and Nie Huaisang’s success had surprised him. Apparently he was highly capable when he actually applied himself. Too bad he didn’t want to. 

Still. He would listen to Lan Zhan, and he would help. That much was certain.

[ibijau]

Hi. Hope you are doing well. Mpreg anon again. You said you might take a prompt? Prompt: A month after Guanyin Temple, NHS visits LXC in seclusion and vents. They have a argument and LXC ends up fainting from stress. On examination, it's found out that LXC is pregnant with JGY's child, conceived on the same day he was kidnapped. Whether you want to make that con, dub con or non con is up to you. Even though the wounds are fresh, the two try to start over and fall in love.

well. I guess this will give you ONE of the things you asked for. But, like, I deviated a lot, oops?

warning for mentions of rape, and for a/b/o

“It's the easiest trick of all, isn't it?” Lan Xichen bitterly remarked. “Anyone knows how to make an unbound omega behave.”

Nie Huaisang could only stare at the other man's neck in horror.

He had wondered, more than once, how Jin Guangyao had managed to get such docility out of Lan Xichen that night, why their Er-ge had been so willing to listen to every excuse, every lie.

It was to ask about this that Nie Huaisang had come to the Cloud Recesses, entering in secret. His jade token still worked, granting him free access to the entire place. It had been easy to avoid what few disciples patrolled around (the Lans were all too trusting) and make his way to the Hanshi. Nie Huaisang hadn't knocked, knowing already that his presence was undesirable. He'd gone inside directly and found Lan Xichen getting ready for bed, wearing only loose underclothes that revealed what his usually tight and high riding collars otherwise hid.

A bite mark on the side of his neck.

“How long ago?” Nie Huaisang hissed, feeling betrayed all over again.

If Lan Xichen had been Jin Guangyao's lover all along, perhaps even before Nie Mingjue's death, then Nie Huaisang should have planned for both of them to die.

Lan Xichen glared at him.

“Is that what you think of me?”

“Er-ge can't blame me for being curious.”

Glaring harder, Lan Xichen tried to wrap the collar of his shirt closer against in skin, vainly trying to hide the mark on his skin.

“You've never told me what you were going through,” he accused. “Why should I owe you the truth when you never thought I deserved it?”

“I'm not the one who mated with a murderer, Xichen,” Nie Huaisang retorted. “I hope you understand how different our situations are.”

“Are they really?” Lan Xichen snapped, taking a step forward.

Nie Huaisang took a step back without thinking, fear spiking in his guts, then returned to his position, pretending he'd never moved.

“I did not choose this,” Lan Xichen hissed, towering over Nie Huaisang. “And it would not have happened if you'd told me what he did to Da-ge as soon as you discovered it.”

“And risk exposing myself to his accomplice?” Nie Huaisang mocked. “I think not. How long ago, Er-ge? Just give me that much, at least. Or should I guess?” he suggested, sneering at the other man. “Ah... perhaps it was when you first met him? Another stupid omega falling for the wrong alpha and opening his legs right away, I've seen it happen again and again. But no, you wouldn't have let him go that easily, would you? And you wouldn't have sent him to Nightless City. Later then... When you swore brotherhood with him and Da-ge? A rather strong way to celebrate that new link between you.”

Nie Huaisang took out his fan and nervously played with it, pretending the look of sheer pure hatred in Lan Xichen's eyes did not terrify him.

That it did not hurt him, for things to have gotten this bad between them.

“No, A-Yao wouldn't have needed to marry Qin Su if you'd let him mount you then,” Nie Huaisang decided, opening his fan, only to close it again right away. “Later still. Maybe when...”

“He did this to me when I went to confront him about killing Da-ge,” Lan Xichen shouted, baring his neck. “He blocked my spiritual energy, fed me a potion, and sent me into a forced heat so he could do this to me!”

Nie Huaisang stumbled backward, nearly dropping his fan in shock.

He'd known that Jin Guangyao was desperate toward the end. Nie Huaisang had planned for him to get desperate, so he would make mistakes and reveal himself. Many others had suffered, certainly, but none of that had matter, not compared to the satisfaction of driving Jin Guangyao to absolute terror, to making him lose everything he'd worked so hard for.

It didn't matter if others were hurt as well.

It didn't matter, until Lan Xichen was hurt.

“I'd never have imagined he'd go that far!” Nie Huaisang exclaimed. “I swear I didn't think...”

“Neither did I,” Lan Xichen dryly cut him. “After so many years, I almost forgot sometimes that he was an alpha. I'll never forget again.”

Nie Huaisang nodded. It had never fully registered before that Jin Guangyao was, in spite of his size and mild manners, an alpha. He looked and acted more like he was a beta, like Nie Huaisang himself, or even sometimes an omega.

But he had been an alpha after all, in all the worst ways, and Nie Huaisang suddenly half wished he could bring Jin Guangyao back to life, just for the pleasure of seeing him die again. It was something to discuss with Wei Wuxian perhaps.

“Did it take?” Nie Huaisang asked. “You said he forced you to have a heat, did it take?”

Lan Xichen grimaced, and covered his mark again.

“I think that hardly concerns you. I've already told you more than I wished to say, just to make sure I'm not the next person you decide to be rid of.”

“Er-ge, I swear...”

“You swear? And what value does your word hold now?” Lan Xichen asked. “You swore also that you weren't sure whether Jin Guangyao moved or not. But this,” he gestured at his neck, “goes both way. He would have found it as hard to hurt me as it would have been for me to stand against him. So swear all you want, Nie zongzhu. I'm done trusting people who have shown themselves unworthy of it.”

“Er-ge, I really didn't mean to...”

“You really didn't mean to hurt me, perhaps?”

Nie Huaisang flinched at the unspoken comparison to Jin Guangyao who had professed the same thing. He'd known for a long while that they were too similar. The only way to destroy a man like Jin Guangyao was to use the same weapons as him, to become nearly indistinguishable from the evil one sought to eliminate.

Nie Huaisang had succeeded in one aspect, and in doing so had failed in all others.

“I understand, Er-ge,” he whispered with a bow. “I will leave now. Do you... should I return the jade token to you?”

“You'll need it to leave the Cloud Recesses,” Lan Xichen replied. “Keep it if you like. I'll have it be deactivated tomorrow. Unless you have sect business to deal with, I don't think you should return here, Nie zongzhu.”

“Of course. Then... farewell, Er-ge.”

“Lan zongzhu, if you don't mind.”

Nie Huaisang flinched again, but nodded.

“As you wish. Farewell, Lan zongzhu. I hope... I hope things will be better, from now on.”

Lan Xichen sneered, an unsettling expression to see on him, but did not reply. Nie Huaisang knew better than to insist, and promptly exited the Hanshi, knowing he was unlikely to ever enter it again.

[sunshine304]

That flashback to Li Zheng was kinda cool and I still think that man is really hot. XD But it also showed that 9th Madame Duan seems to be... kinda obsessed with him? Like, “I’m in love with you, you’re hot, I want to be with you forever and ever and your objections aren’t meant sincerely anyway!” Woman, please chill.

And then she goes and transfers her powers to Zhou Fei without her consent and is like, “Ah well yeah, your own powers were so weak, truly pathetic, my powers are awesome and without peer, so just accept them. If you don’t you’ll likely die, oops my bad, we’ll see how that turns out! Toodeloo.” WTF?! She seems friendly enough and then does truly weird shit. I’ll just accept this for now.

Uhm I kinda forgot about Li Sheng and the others. XD  But OMG Li Sheng! That trap was so fucking obvious! And how did Madame Wang even lose you?! I’m really thinking that keeping children on that mountain and never letting them interact with other people except the nice and just people from the 48 Strongholds is a really bad idea! They’re all so fucking naive OMG! And surprise surprise that of course gets a lot of people killed. :( But uhm, why did Shen Tianshu need to kill them? They didn’t actually know why he was there and didn’t want anything from him? Just a general “No witnnesses!” because they were in the area?

I’ve forgotten how that old man was called but nice deus ex machina there. And then Li Sheng again falls for an obvious ploy to get him to tag along. Seriously kid! But at least it seems that was not to actually hurt him but... to give him the seal? Perhaps? At least it seemed to be the old man’s goal there at the end.

Hm there’s really very little blood in this show so far except for them spitting blood, as you do in Wuxia. XD

Awww A-Fei dreams of Xie Yun. ♥

Oookay soooo... were the leader of Huo Family Fort (Huo... Changfeng) and Mu Xiaoqiao an item? Did they fuck? I mean how was I supposed to interpret that super long happy stare if not like that? In CQL they would’ve played Wuji.mp3. And I still don’t really get MXQ. He seems very queercoded to me, but perhaps it’s just again a cultural thing that I don’t get and I don’t want to be insensitive here. I mean it’s obvious that in cdramas there’s sometimes this subtext because people found out it sells (and of course actual cdramas based on BL). But he might also just be very... performative? The extreme artsy type? Please if someone knows more tell me.

Anyway he is fun and always so extra. XD That scene in ep 10 also gave me weird Nie Mingjue/Meng Yao vibes, soooo...

Because I of course couldn’t find a MXQ gif have at least one from the moment those two meet him for the first time. Also please notice A-Fei’s lovely vest that I still want.

So, there are... 3 McGuffins Seals so far? That one from 48 Strongholds, that one from Huo Family Fort that Huo Liantao now has, and the one Wu ChuChu wears. Will there be more? And what do these things do?

I liked Xie Yun’s plan. And finally finally they’ll be reunited. :)

[oh-no-toshinori]

#3 Pride Month Story

Hey all! Sorry for not posting one in a week or something like that. I wanted to post one every day, but apparently graduating and working is a lot more work than it should be. This story is based on polyamory. I'm not saying that this story is how poly-amorous relationships go, neither is it how they don't work out for those who are poly. This is merely what I've experienced from the peers around me. I'm not poly, so I won't be able to make this one too personal like I was able to accomplish with the Bisexual Story.

I struggled a lot to figure out which anime I wanted to showcase for this one. In the end, it came down to My Hero Academia. These stories are merely fan-based and none of them are accurate to the shows correlated with the story. I know that the sexualities in MHA are pretty clearly stated, so please do not take offense to any ships I have going for this one.

I will not be using an OC (original character) for this one. I will be using the characters that are within the anime. This will be written in the POV of Jirou Kyoka.

- - -

My name's Jirou Kyoka. It's no secret that I like males and females, but what people don't really know about me is that I'm polyamorous. I've kept it a secret from my current U.A classmates for about a year now, but it's not exactly working out for me anymore. I'm dating one of my classmates, Kaminari Denki. If you're wondering, I didn't tell him that I'm interested in open relationships. It's a huge oops on my end, but I'm almost 100% certain that Denki is no stranger to polyamory. I know I have to tell him soon about myself. Things just might get out of hand if I don't tell him because. . .

I think I'm in love with Yao-Momo. It's a huge struggle to stop myself because I know there are people out there that aren't like me. Heck, Yao-Momo might even shut me down because of my sexualities for all I know, not just Kaminari.

Shit man, this is kind of terrifying. Then again, Yao-Momo hasn't pushed me away ever since I came out as bisexual, so who knows? Maybe she won't shut me out if I tell her another part of me?

But then again, how will Kaminari feel? Will he push me away? I know I still want to be with him, but I also want to be with Yao-Momo. If they don't want to be together, they don't have to be. This kind of relationship doesn't always have to be a throuple. Why is this confusing?

I take a deep breath in and look ahead of me. Walking to lunch with the swirling thoughts of concern and confusion has made me lose my appetite, but the show must go on. Can't work in Aizawa Sensei's class on an empty stomach.

I reach the cafeteria and gather my meal. I go to sit with Ashido, Kirishima, Bakugou, Sero, and my boyfriend Kaminari. I must've been visibly distraught because as soon as I made my appearance at the table, the entire crew forced their gazes onto me. I set my plate down next to Kaminari's before wiping the sticky cold sweat from my forehead. Well, that's disgusting.

"Jirou, you look like you've seen a ghost. Are you okay?" Ashido speaks up against the silence. Her face grew into a look of concern.

"Yeah, I'm just nervous today is all. I think I forgot my Anti-Depressants or something." Well, that's at least half of the story. I don't need them to know more. Wait, did I really forget mt Anti-Depressants? What the fuck I'm so fucked. Calm Down, Kyoka. It's just one day. ONE DAY! Why am I scared again? Oh, right. I have to confess something to my boyfriend as well as Yao-Momo. Cool.

"Girl, you look like you're buggin' over there."

"Kyoka, what's wrong?" Kaminari asks me as he gently presses his hand upon the middle of my back.

I've gotta admit. This is eating me ALIIIVE I tell you. "Hey, um, Denki, Do you think you could get Yao-Momo and meet me out in the hallway? I need to talk to the both of you." THAT MAKES IT SOUND LIKE HE'S CHEATING OH GOD.

"Uhm, okay?" He takes his confused self over to Yao-Momo's table to take her out into the hallway. While he's grabbing her, I tell the gang that everything is okay; Kaminari did nothing bad and I just needed to have a small talk with them about class half of that explanation being a lie to save my own ass.

Sero, Kiri and Ashido look at me in question, but shrug it off while Bakugou doesn't pay an ounce of attention to the conversation. . . which I'm thankful for. He would have told me to get the fuck out if I wanted to be a pussy, and that's the last thing I need right now.

I meet Denki and Yao-Momo in the hallway I've told them to meet me. I take in a deep breath, shake my hands, and wiggle my feet.

"What's going on here, Jirou?" Yao-Momo asks me, her motherly concern expressing itself like a warm summer day.

I take in a huge gulp of air and. . . .

"I'mpolyamorousandI'minlovewiththebothofyouandIcan'thelpitandIwasn'tgoingtosayanythingbecauseIfeellikeIwillbejudgedandlosemyrelationshipsthatIhavewiththebothofyou."

Denki's face goes completely blank while Momo's reaction is one of shock.

"Wait a minute, are you asking for a relationship between the three of us?" Momo asks. How the hell did she manage to understand me?!

"I- I don't really know what I'm asking! I love tthe both of you and I want to be with the both of you, but you two don't need to date if you don't want to!" The cold sweats come back harder this time. I wipe my face all over, as well as my neck, with the handkerchief from my breast pocket.

"Jirou, I'm glad you're coming clean to us, but-"

"A relationship with the both of you?! Maaaaan that sounds like a dream." Interrupts Denki as he goes off daydreaming about scenarios.

"I'm not on the same page as Kaminari." Announces the obsidian-eyed female. "For one; I don't want to be in an awkward situation in such a relationship, two; it's not for me, and three; I'm with Shoto now."

I look at her dead in the eye. I really panicked over nothing. How could I not know that she was dating Shoto? She's been oddly close to him for six months, there was no way for me to miss that. Yet. . . somehow I missed it.

"Jirou, I don't like girls either. So in any situation I wouldn't have told you yes. I'm as straight as they come. I don't agree with your lifestyle or your sexualities, but just know that I still like you as a person aside from that. I will be on my way to eating now. Thank you and goodbye." Momo storms back into the lunchroom she had just left.

That hurt like a bitch. Wow.

Denki walks up to me and hugs me tight for a long few moments. As he pulls away from me, he wipes my tears away. "Kyoka, I need you to know that I support you. If you want an open relationship, I'm on board, okay?"

I nod slowly before bursting into tears. Tell me why this hurt? I knew she wasn't going to go for it. . . then again I still fantasized about something that could have been. Maybe that's why this hurt.

Thank god for Kaminari Denki. If he weren't by my side, I don't know what I would have done.

"Thank you for being supportive." I sniffle. I take his hand into mine before we both walk into the cafeteria. My eyes were bloodshot and tear-stained while Denki had a solemn smile on his face. It was almost as if he was hurt by Momo as well.

I just hope this kind of pain doesn't happen too often because this actually kind of hurt, not gonna lie. . .

I'm not sure if i would ever trade Denki for the world. For him to be supportive and loving still means so much to me, and it only makes me love him all the more so.

[ask-omegaverse-rochu]

Yao closes the door behind him and stores his shoes in the cupboard. He had a long shift, and it’s dark already. He flicks on the light in the empty living room. “Ivan?”

No response. And yet, his coat and shoes are still there. 

Yao goes to the kitchen for a snack and finds one of the drawers open. One of the sharp knives is missing. How odd. He grabs a carrot and some soy sauce and sits at the dinner table, munching on his snack. Ivan will appear soon. The pregnancy is affecting him too, making him nervous whenever Yao isn’t around and basically waiting at the door like a puppy. Maybe he’s fallen asleep. Or showering.

Yao tidies up the plate with soy sauce and—

There’s a thump upstairs. 

“Ivan?”

Silence.

Yao climbs up the dark stairs. He notices a faint light coming from the hallway to his left. It’s not bright, but a pale green lining the very bottom of the walls. Yao follows it to the door of the nursery, which also has this strange light on it. He pushes the door open.

The light in the nursery is turned on, but there is no one there. A chill breeze comes in through the open window. Yao hesitates for a moment. A burglar...? But those wouldn’t turn on the light, would they? He steps into the room and freezes when he catches sight of a box, with next to it distinctive red stains. He looks closer. Yes, it really is blood...

Yao tries to take deep breaths to calm himself. Next to the box is the knife, the blood on it still fresh. Yao picks it up with shaking hands.

There’s a scream from another room. Ivan’s scream. Yao shoots up, breathing heavily, not sure what to do. He peeks into the hall. The scream came from the direction of their bedroom... Yao approaches it silently, listening for any sounds aside from his pounding heartbeat. He listens at their bedroom door. Nothing. He takes a deep breath and opens it. The light is turned on here as well, and there is blood on the light switch. 

Yao wants to call out but decides against it. He keeps looking around him, and over his shoulder, sweat drops forming on his face. 

There’s another scream, coming from the adjoined bathroom. Yao doesn’t waste a second and charges in, pulling the door open, knife held high.

Ivan lets out an almost girly scream and falls into the bathtub. Yao looks around for the intruder... but there is none. “Who attacked you?!”

“Attacked me?!”

“I heard you screaming!”

Ivan’s quiet for a few moments, puzzling it together. “There’s no burglar...”

“There’s blood everywhere!”

“...Oops.”

“...‘Oops’?” He lowers the knife. “Ivan Braginsky, you explain yourself right now!”

Ivan holds up his hand, blood dripping from the palm.

“What did you do?!”

“I couldn’t get the box open... So I thought I’d use a knife...”

“Oh, you silly... Sit down.”

Ivan climbs out of the tub and sits back on the edge. “I’ve already disinfected it. That’s... the screaming you heard...”

Yao grabs a bandage. “What have you been doing in that nursery?”

“I’ve experimented with glow-in-the-dark painting. I thought it would be safe to put on the bottom of the walls, so no one trips when walking to and from the nursery at night. If you don’t like it, I can paint over it.”

“No, it’s... It’s a pretty smart idea.” He briefly kisses Ivan’s cheek before he starts wrapping up his hand in the bandage. “What was in the box?”

“The new curtain rail. I thought I could get it up before you came home so we could start shopping for curtains.”

“Silly bear. You gave me the worst fright in years.”

“I’m sorry.” He pulls Yao in for a kiss. “But when an actual burglar appears... Please call the emergency number.”

“Aiyaa, I completely forgot about that!”

Ivan smiles and kisses him again.

“Did you hurt yourself when you fell just now?”

“That depends, will I get kisses?”

Yao rolls his eyes and tugs at Ivan’s arms. “Come on, we’ve had enough excitement for today.”

Ivan gets up and they both walk into the bedroom, where Yao turns around and pulls Ivan into a hug. He’s still shaking a bit.

“Panda?”

“I thought you were hurt...”

“I’m not.” He rubs Yao’s back. “We’re all safe.”

“I’m so happy to find you in one piece... What if—”

“Don’t think about it. Let’s put on a movie and raid the ice cream stock.” 

Yao nods. What an excellent idea.

((Fun fact: Where mun lives, Halloween isn’t actually a thing. Guess who completely forgot about it, had to do a quick Google search on when Halloween actually is, and then had to come up with a quick something, hoping it’s how you do the Halloween thing™... Apologies to anyone who was hoping for an event of some sort!))

[kinganddemon]

((oops, I think I forgot to hit the anonymous button on that last one... I guess I had to come out eventually)) um, Yao, what do Ivan's guards think about you? I can only imagine you teasing and playing tricks on them.

((Lol you are still appreciated either way!! 😎)) ___________________“Oh they don’t like me at all! They think I’m a ‘security’ risk and that I might have ‘ulterior motives’. It’s hilarious really, of course they wouldn’t understand that as Ivan’s demon I am loyal to only him. But nothing compares to the hatred this one guard has for me, from what I understand he used to be the late Kings personal guard until he was assigned to take care of Ivan when he was still a prince. Now that I am here Ivan no longer needs him. I’m not sure if he hates me because I’m a demon or because I took his job. It’s probably both now that I think about it…

And of course I tease them! I have to entertain myself somehow! Most of the time all it takes is just talking to them, they look so visibly uncomfortable. If only they had the nerve to tell me to leave them alone. I used to pop up randomly next to them, but due to an incident in which one of the guards was so startled he slashed me across the chest with his sword. I’ve had to discontinue that particular trick. Very very messy ordeal, you would have thought that man had never seen blood by the way he fainted.

Though I am planning on doing something different to them. It does involve a cat and crow, preferably both black. A map of all the secret hallways and exits. And also free time, I’m going to need a lot of that. If it works out, they’ll be running around the whole castle with a big wreath made out of winterberry branches around their necks!”

[wandering-bitch]

Annotations on Falling in Love with Love (Again)

FiLwL(A) is my 3zun cinderella which is actually just about the importance of qin su and also reuniting with your exes. Here’s my behind the scenes/notes/lore for chapters 9-11. 

ch 9: nie mingjue being hot

i wrote this before i’d even written the Murder in ch 6;;;;; i just love nie mingjue

i so deeply believe in nie mingjue being smart and able to see through meng yao because he’s straightforward and strategic. 

“hmm” i said to myself. “how do i write the bois getting together??” after much thought i decided on “by stabbing one of them a bunch”

bits of this are still funny to me. rip meng yao sometimes you gotta be up close and personal with a hot dude’s bare sweaty chest 

also my version of “romantic and sensual” is just “doing math and deciding yeah, against your better judgement, you’re gonna smooch” because i love an overthinking murder twink

“on the bright side, the late-night guest was not jin guangshan’s type. unfortunately he was exactly meng yao’s type: nie mingjue” i can’t believe i let myself write this, bc it feels way too modern, but also the tone of this fic is just sarcastic enough that modern grouchy shit works 

ever since i discovered that camel was a delicacy in tang china i became OBSESSED with it. i nearly included it in ‘i have always loved the door’ and it makes an appearance in ‘blood in the cut’

the guan reappears!! or at least is mentioned.in case u forgot it from chapter 1 it is Definitely Not A Glass Slipper Or Anything

“i love ruining a twink’s life” i said in the author’s notes. i was not lying. my hobbies are making nie mingjue look cool and making jin guangyao suffer.

“xichen was disappointed when he didn’t see you there” “and you of course, weren’t” “on the contrary i was happy to see you” is one of the exchanges that was like. core to this fic. similar to “i met someone” “i don’t know what you want me to say to that” “neither do i”

when outlining fics i tend to include some key dialogue/exchanges that strike me as the Mood TM and half the time these exchanges go through incredible rewrites or just get deleted, but it’s always nice to see them survive

the xiangqi was so much fun to write, not bc i have played the game a bunch (i haven’t) but bc it gave me a fun way to talk about the conversation without talking about the conversation.

“a controlled leak qould have been very useful” makes me so happy it’s such a MOOD and nie mingjue immediately going heart-eyes over it is complete wish fulfillment. when will a hot sword lesbian be enamored over my ruthless scheming???? im taking sword lesbian gf applications over in my ask box

“But it hadn’t been easy” this paragraph originally included “Nie Mingjue had broadened his moral compass, and Meng Yao had learned to trust” or something but i couldn’t  really figure out how meng yao would describe his own personal growth since he left qinghe. like he DID grow he DID learn that he can trust the people he loves to trust him and that it’s worth bringing people in on your schemes and plans.... but he’s too dumb to describe this. 

the xiyao troll’s comment on this was “LMFAO that oocness from both meng yao and nmj where nmj is suddenly JGY levels of cunning and JGY is dumb enough to make mistakes XD”

this has stuck with me so hard

how do you read Falling in Love with Love and only discover after 16k words that i think meng yao makes mistakes?????

how do u consume any adaptation of mdzs and think that nmj isn’t smart enough to go “huh that cunning twink who is absolutely mooning over me and xichen and also plays weiqi like my old buddy seems REAL FUCKING FAMILIAR” nmj canonically sees thru jgy machinations all the time

anyway i love nmj and the xiyao troll

did you know there’s an exchange to celebrate the troll’s works??? i discovered it after signups closed but im going to enjoy reading all of them

ch 10: and with very little trouble

this took me like a month to write oops but that’s just because a lot has to happen

the opening where meng yao is being mean to qin su was so hard to write. meng yao getting overworked?? fine. meng yao getting abused??? cool. meng yao being slightly short with his sister, who is in no way hurt by this bc she can tell it’s not about her??? HORRIBLE!!!

the detective scene happened. there’s not a lot to say about it, i don’t think, except to note that han meilin did try to stand up for qin su

ch 11: impossible things are happening every day

cinderella time mother fuckers!!! this is another one that took time!!

ch 10 took time bc i wasn’t 100% sure how it would play out

this took time bc even though i knew exactly what would happen and how, it has to be Real Good, y’know? it’s tying up the entire fic. if these 2k words don’t work, then the rest of the fic will feel less good and ppl won’t come back to it

(please everyone come back to this over and over if only to laugh at my obvious qin su agenda)

qin su and meng yao fighting over who gets to take the fall for their joint murder. i love them.

i wasn’t planning for this fic to start the sunshot campaign but here we are. in the war. 

How did this version of the sunshot campaign go? Well. not good. because someone has no reason to invent necromancy. But not as poorly as you’d think. Jiang Sect isn’t destroyed, and the Cloud Recesses are functional (although not at full capacity), so they have more strength on hand. Plus, Meng Yao encouraged Koi Tower to funnel money and resources into the Qin Sect, specifically so if the war started before he expected it to (whoops!!! it did!!!!), those resources would be somewhere he could encourage to fight. 

on the one hand, the sunshot campaign’s territory is divided in half by the wens. on the other hand, that means the wens are fighting on both the northern and southern border (since, again, jiang sect is still alive)

anyway i’d say it’s a more steady war, as opposed to my recollection of canon where like. everyone’s fucking miserable until our sexy goth boi comes out with his corpses and wrecks shop. 

then han meilin and qin su look at their families and say “if you do not let us marry right now in a way that combines our sects equally...... we will just do it anyway.” 

(meng yao in the background, holding a thin knife: fucking try me. try me. i want you to be mean to my sister just so i can stab you with my knives.)

anyway it’s time for the epilogue where meng yao is vice general and there is no more wen sect

(have i thought about the dafan wens in this ‘verse? no. i probably should not, either, as wwx would be less ride-or-die for them and that means maybe wen qing and wen ning would die in a war camp)

never mind!!! happy thoughts only!!!! like how qin su and meng yao are getting ready to kill again bc they are the bi crime sibling club!!!! 

jin zixuan is invited to family brunch but he’s never invited to bi crime sibling club because qin su and meng yao refuse to let him lose his innocence. 

“ge, jie, i’m married with children, i don’t have any innocence to lose--” “oh didi, precious baby, our infant brother, shining beacon of our heart...”

mo xuanyu is also forbidden from joining bi crime club. he’s too baby. 

they do discover other jin bastards and invite them to lunch and sure, there might eventually be another bi criminal.

3zun visits each other in 2 month chunks, with one to two month breaks as needed. so the epilogue is the beginning of 2 months hanging out in meng yao’s house, and then later in the year they’ll hang out in the cloud recesses or whatever

qin su and meng yao both have secret lists of places to acquire babies for each other. han meilin knows about both of these lists and laughs every time she sees the same orphanages on both lists.

the final comment from the xiyao troll on this was: “Interesting choice to write a bland ooc AU, but I guess this is all you can manage with your writing skill. ;) This way you don't have to worry about JGY lying to Xichen for years, murdering NMJ, attempting to murder Xichen's family in the second siege, stealing secrets from the Lan sect, corrupting a healing song Xichen trusted him with, and fully betraying LXC's and NMJ's trust.”

like. yeah. of course i sidestepped the bad things. that’s what a fix-it au is for. it’s where i say “here’s an alternate universe, where certain bad things do not happen.” it’s where i say “if meng yao had always had qin su around to counteract the messaging his mother gave him, he might not have gone so far in his quest for power”. duh. 

also like kiddo, troll, friend. the pitch for this fic is “cinderella except with murder and qin su rights”. i’ve been clear from the top that this is an Indulgent Fic with No Pretenses of Quality. im proud of some sentences and passages, but this ain’t Blood In The Cut where im tryna Say something or either of my jiang cheng-centric fics where im focusing on good characterization. 

it’s a cozy murder where qin su gets to live and have a cool wife

[crosscompute]

Workshop 20171207 Recap: How to Prototype and Deploy Computational Scripts in Python using CrossCompute

On Thursday, December 7th, 2017 from 6:00pm to 7:30pm, we hosted a workshop on How to Prototype and Deploy Computational Scripts in Python using CrossCompute at the Tech Incubator of CUNY Queens College. We brought three facilitators and counted ten participants.

Here was the event format as it happened:

Motivating Narrative (1 minute, Salah): Mention that a tool he created was retweeted by an NPR journalist.

Technical Presentation (9 minutes, Salah): Describe the technical steps required to turn a Jupyter Notebook into a CrossCompute Tool.

Structured Walkthrough (25 minutes, Salah): Walk participants through creating a web scraping tool using the requests and beautifulsoup Python packages.

Show and Tell + Teach Your Neighbor (40 minutes, 3 iterations)

Show and Tell (2 minutes, Roy): Introduce the motivation for a tool, show that it works and explain how it works on the CrossCompute platform. Let selected participants present a tool that they have made.

Teach Your Neighbor (5-10 minutes, Roy): Have participants teach their neighbor something they do not know about Python.

Rotate Partners (1 minute, Roy): Have the participant on the left to move to the right. Have facilitators rotate with the participants in order to select a presenter for the next Show and Tell.

Free Time (10 minutes): Let participants talk with whomever they want.

Announcements and Acknowledgments (5 minutes, Roy)

Introduce Bella Rubin as the organizer of the Let's Talk Python club and let Bella make announcements.

Mention PyCon and the mission of the Python Software Foundation.

Thank Dr. Ying Zhou for hosting us and for bringing participants to the event.

Here is what we would like to do differently next time:

Spend more time on narratives getting participants motivated to make tools.

Spend less time presenting technical details.

Increase the amount of time allocated to letting participants work on exercises with each other if we do another hands-on workshop. Use this time to walk around and help participants.

Start with a code of conduct.

Let selected participants present their tool on the screen.

Continue rotating partners.

Ask participants to submit tools in advance for Show and Tell.

Ask participants to fill a feedback form.

Take photos.

Here is the event format as we would like to do it next time:

Acknowledgments and Announcements (10 minutes)

Acknowledgments of Host and Sponsors

Announcements by Let's Talk Python

Announcements by CrossCompute

Code of Conduct: Harassment of any form will not be tolerated.

Participant Highlights: Let participants tell stories about cool stuff that happened because of tools that they made.

Game Rules: Participants should come prepared to teach their neighbor about tools or projects they have made.

Show and Tell + Teach Your Neighbor (75 minutes, 5 iterations)

Show and Tell: Introduce the motivation for a tool, show that it works and explain how it works on the CrossCompute platform. Let selected neighbors present a tool that their neighbor has made.

Teach Your Neighbor: Have participants practice teaching their neighbor about a cool tool or project they made using Python.

Rotate Neighbors: Have the participant on the right to move to the right. Have facilitators rotate with participants in order to select a presenter for the next Show and Tell.

Group Photo and Feedback (5 minutes)

Event Date: 20171207 Event Time: Evening Event Venue: Tech Incubator at CUNY Queens College Facilitators: Salah (Software Engineer), Roy (Computational Engineer), Yao (User Experience Designer) Participants (10 Seen, 9 Recorded): Ying, Kashfi, Bella, Jose, Kang, Muhammad, Thomas, Ming, Yasin Photos: Oops, we forgot to take any!

Thank you to Salah Ahmed for preparing and presenting the technical introduction to CrossCompute and hands-on workshop on Python. Thank you for taking the time to pick up David Lucero after the event and drive all of us through traffic back to Manhattan.

Thank you to Yao Kou for coming to our workshop and for passing around a registration sheet for participants.

Thank you to Dr. Ying Zhou at the Tech Incubator of Queens College for hosting us and for putting the time into bringing participants to the event.