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pengiesama · 6 years ago

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I Wanna Be Yours (Fic, TGCF, HC/XL, Modern AU)

Title: I Wanna Be Yours Series: Heavenly Official’s Blessing (Tian Guan Ci Fu) Pairing: Hua Cheng/Xie Lian

Summary:

Xie Lian wants to make Hua Cheng's birthday a special one. Luckily, this is achievable as a simple four-step plan:

Step the first: go to his place. Step the second: take off your clothes. Step the third: you're wearing lingerie under your clothes. Step the fourth: tell the birthday boy to unwrap his present.

Link: AO3

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What was he doing. What was he doing. Oh, this was so foolish. Oh, this was going so wrong already.

Xie Lian was currently undergoing a crisis in the bathroom of Hua Cheng’s apartment. He’d had crises in much worse settings, certainly – at least here there was a lovely view of the city skyline from the window, and a nice big bathtub to sit in and reflect on one’s actions. But the – setting of it all only reminded Xie Lian of why he was having this crisis.

Xie Lian again caught a glimpse of himself in the bathroom mirror, and let out a miserable groan. He retreated to the tub for some of that aforementioned reflection time.

It was Hua Cheng’s birthday, and Xie Lian had been at a loss. What do you get the man who has everything, especially when you’re a man who emphatically does not? He’d asked him, of course, what he wanted, and Hua Cheng had assured him that the pleasure of Xie Lian’s company would be a precious gift to last him through the year. And Xie Lian had flushed, and Hua Cheng had smiled, and kissed his knuckles, and – satisfied that he had properly flustered Xie Lian enough for the day – had walked Xie Lian back to his apartment. And.

And.

And that had been it.

Hua Cheng was charming. He was smooth, and suave, and a complete gentleman. This much had remained the same over the years. They’d had…well, there was something there between them, when they were attending university together. Something big and mysterious and so, so tempting and so, so scary – something they’d never had the nerve to act on, back then. They’d lost touch after Xie Lian dropped out, though not through any fault of Hua Cheng’s. Xie Lian had packed a bag and walked out of the dorms without so much as a goodbye to anyone – too ashamed of everything that had led to this to give even the slightest courtesy to the few people who still gave a shit about him. It wasn’t a proud time in his life. But years later, years later, he’d found himself staring at a familiar figure at his apartment doorstep, and welcoming him in for tea.

It was a second chance that Xie Lian didn’t think he deserved. But Hua Cheng still wanted to give it to him – still felt the same about him as he did when he was a silly, lovestruck kid barely out of his teens. And oh, Xie Lian could relate, could relate to the way his skin burned when Hua Cheng offered his hand to help him out of his seat, could relate to the way his heart felt as though it would burst from his chest when Hua Cheng kissed him goodnight at his apartment door. Could relate to the way his spirits soared whenever Hua Cheng caught a glimpse of him and smiled, smiled so warm and wide no matter what they were doing. Could relate to the frustration he surely felt when they were kissing on the couch and Xie Lian’s body froze up whenever hands began to wander too far.

He wanted to give Hua Cheng more than just – handholding and forehead kisses. He himself wanted more than that. But here was the thing: he was a thirty-year-old virgin with a whole lotta baggage to unpack about intimacy. What was a lovestruck idiot such as he to do?

His first mistake was seeking the advice of Shi Qing Xuan.

“You are in the presence of a gift-giving guru,” Shi Qing Xuan assured him. “Remember what I got Ming-Xiong at our joint party last year?”

“I do,” Xie Lian said politely, hoping that Shi Qing Xuan wouldn’t force him to re-live the memories of an evening that had traumatized everyone witnessing it.

A giant cake, being wheeled out of the kitchen. Ming Yi’s eyes going glassy and dark at the sight of it; the eyes of a shark, overcome by the smell of blood. Shi Qing Xuan, popping out of the cake in a sexy bunny-suit, only managing to sing a few notes of his birthday serenade before Ming Yi lunged in and—

And—

Overcome, overcome by the smell of blood and fondant, and the terrible sounds of screams—

Xie Lian shivered and tried to bring himself back to the present. He’d survived that night, as most other restaurant patrons had, and that was all that mattered in the end.

Shi Qing Xuan leaned in, giving Xie Lian a too-bright, too-manic smile. Xie Lian had half a mind to excuse himself and escape out the nearest window, but found his wrists seized before he could put that plan into action.

“We’re going lin-ger-ie shoppiiiing,” Shi Qing Xuan trilled in a sing-song voice.

And that was how Xie Lian wound up in the tub, dressed in something vaguely resembling underwear.

The plan, as Shi Qing Xuan had outlined it (on pink, perfumed stationery), had been so simple on paper.

Step one: go to your San Lang’s place.

Step two: excuse yourself to the bathroom!

Step three: take off your clothes!!

Step four: you’re secretly wearing your sexy new lingerie under your clothes!!!

Step five: strut your whole self out of that bathroom!!!! Pose also!!!!!

Step six: tell your birthday boy to unwrap his present!!!!!!

Step one had been simple. Hua Cheng had welcomed him warmly at the door; pressing a kiss to his forehead, the tip of his nose, and finishing with a sweet, chaste kiss to his mouth. At the sight of the love in his expression, at the curve of his lips as he pulled back and rested his forehead against Xie Lian’s…Xie Lian immediately initiated step two and ran off to the bathroom, locking himself in.

Hua Cheng had immediately called after him, concerned, and Xie Lian had begged his pardon, his patience – he’d just – he’d eaten some bad yogurt, that was all, and he needed a few minutes. He’d be out soon.

Step three (which was also step four, honestly; Shi Qing Xuan got a little too excited to pay attention to numbers when plotting was afoot) was simple enough. It was easy to hide the…birthday surprise…under the oversized sweaters and shapeless thrift-store jeans that made up the majority of his wardrobe. The lingerie was gauzy, lacey; gleaming pearl-white and nearly translucent against his skin, such a contrast with the ever-present black choker around his neck. He slid his jeans off easily, and tried to adjust his garter belt the way Shi Qing Xuan had shown him, without ripping his thigh-high stockings in the process. He gave up after a few attempts, snapping one of the straps against his thigh irritably.

This was the point where he had first glimpsed himself in the mirror, and noticed that his panties – the ones that Shi Qing Xuan had spotted in the store and instantly insisted he wear – had a heart-shaped cutout in the back, framed with a big silky bow, showcasing his butt for the world to see. The lace was so thin, the fabric so sheer, that touching him here would hardly be any different than touching bare skin. This began the crisis that drove Xie Lian into the bathtub, preventing all hope of going through with step five in the foreseeable future. He would remain in this tub, in what passed as underwear by some bizarre standard, and proceed to ruin Hua Cheng’s birthday; just as he always knew he would.

Xie Lian heard whimpering at the bathroom door, and the sounds of pawing. This proved to be catalyst enough to prod him out of the tub. He bustled over to the door and bent down, peering under the gap between the door and the floor. A single, blood-red eye stared intently back at him. There came more whimpering, and then a pink, slobbery tongue questing under the door to swipe Xie Lian’s face.

“It’s alright,” Xie Lian soothed. “Good boy, E-ming. I’m fine, I’ll be out to pet you soon.”

The thought of having to wait a moment longer for Xie Lian to pet him seemed to only upset E-ming more, and the whimpering and crying redoubled in force and volume. Xie Lian moved away before that tongue got him again, and took a deep breath. He really had to come out, now – E-ming was the size of a direwolf and had the emotional neediness of a toddler, and Xie Lian doubted Hua Cheng’s bathroom door would be able to withstand much more pawing.

Xie Lian spotted a red silk robe hanging on a hook and took it down to shrug it on over his not-really-clothes. Hua Cheng probably wore this when he was fresh out of the shower. He was probably usually naked under it, considering the shower thing. Wet and naked. Xie Lian needed to stop thinking about this.

The moment he opened the door, E-ming’s long black snout poked through the crack, and he was able to project the sounds of his crying directly into Xie Lian’s face. Quite literally, considering he was a very big and tall boy. Xie Lian made comforting noises, and scooped him up, cradling his massive body in his arms as if he was a wee puppy.

“I kinda wanted to get you some like, lacy opera gloves to wear,” Shi Qing Xuan had said, squeezing Xie Lian’s bicep. “But I don’t think anything’s gonna fit over this gun show you’ve got going on.”

Xie Lian would pass on the opera gloves and keep his muscles, thank you very much. They were hard-won, and far more useful than some flimsy decorative gloves – for example, he would not be able to carry around three hundred pounds of crying dog otherwise.

“Gege? Are you alright?”

He heard Hua Cheng shifting around in the living room, and swallowed hard.

“I’m—I’m fine! Don’t come in here, just…go sit on the couch and close your eyes. Don’t peek.”

There was a pause as Hua Cheng processed the request, but he made no protest.

“Of course.”

Shy and awkward and completely unappealing as he felt, Xie Lian still didn’t want to spoil the surprise. And if Hua Cheng saw him wearing his silk robes, carrying his giant half-wolf-half-bear-half-horse-half-shadowbeast-probably-a-dog around like a baby, well…well, that would probably spoil the surprise? Maybe.

Xie Lian settled E-ming onto his dog bed, and stroked his head a few times before bidding him to stay put for a while. Exhausted from his emotions, E-ming sighed and settled his enormous head onto his front paws, and was asleep in seconds. Xie Lian patted him once more, smiling. Such a good, sweet boy. He couldn’t understand why more people didn’t see past his exterior – his exterior being an enormous black dog with blood-red eyes and a booming bark that could shatter glass, but still.

With E-ming tended to, there was to be no more dawdling. Xie Lian clutched at the breast of his borrowed robes and breathed deeply. Even if – even if Hua Cheng didn’t like this “present”, maybe they could at least have a good laugh about it, and Hua Cheng could tell him what he really wanted. Xie Lian could try to bake him a cake, maybe.

Hua Cheng’s penthouse apartment was large, but comparatively little of it was lived in. Hua Cheng scoffed at the idea of entertaining any guests other than Xie Lian (and occasionally Shi Qing Xuan and Ming Yi, when the former insisted on dropping in and the latter was bodily dragged along), and any guest receiving rooms seemed to be decorated with this disdain in mind: stylishly decorated with the most obnoxiously expensive and outrageously uncomfortable furniture, with unnerving and aggressively surreal artwork lining the walls. It seemed to serve less as a home, and more as a symbol of Hua Cheng’s self-made business empire.

When he and Xie Lian had first reconnected, the only room in the house that had any signs of life was his own bedroom – as if he’d never really felt the need to grow out of the art-student-in-a-rundown-studio-apartment mindset. It evoked a sort of warm nostalgia in Xie Lian, but still – he did feel the urge to suggest some…expansion. Hua Cheng’s art supplies and the fumes that accompanied them were moved to a proper studio room, his gaming equipment was hooked up in the living room, facing the couch, so Xie Lian could sit next to him and watch in polite confusion while he talked to Ming Yi over his headset and engaged in relentless trolling campaigns against foulmouthed players who had the same lack of maturity and emotional control that Xie Lian associated with his cousin. It already felt like a more comfortable place to live – and Hua Cheng deserved a comfortable, welcoming home.

Shyly, Xie Lian peeked into the living room. True to his promise about waiting patiently, Hua Cheng was seated on the couch, hands folded politely in his lap. True to his promise about not peeking, he had swapped his eyepatch over to the other eye. Xie Lian felt a laugh bubble up from his chest, relieving some of his tension.

“San Lang.”

Hua Cheng tilted his head and twiddled his thumbs. “Hmm? I hear a lovely voice calling for me.”

Xie Lian stepped into the room properly.

“You—you can look now.”

Hua Cheng moved his eyepatch back over, opening his good eye just in time to see Xie Lian slide the robe off his shoulders; letting it pool on the ground around his feet.

“H-happy birthday.”

He’d never really noticed how chilly Hua Cheng kept his apartment. He supposed it was usually because he was dressed in more layers than…this. He shivered, and wrapped one arm around himself. Hua Cheng wasn’t saying anything, and Xie Lian couldn’t bear to look at him. He really should’ve just tried making a cake.

“It’s…it’s okay if you don’t like it, or if you don’t want to—”

“No! No, I…gege. This is…”

Xie Lian nearly jumped out of his skin at Hua Cheng’s exclamation, and finally looked over at him. His face was so, so red. He was staring at Xie Lian, jaw tense and lips just slightly parted. He looked – embarrassed, and eager. And like he was only seconds away from swooping in and pinning Xie Lian to the nearest wall.

It was encouragement enough to walk forward, and sit next to him on the couch. Hua Cheng’s molten gaze didn’t leave him for a moment. Xie Lian might be a thirty-year-old virgin, but he knew Hua Cheng, and he wasn’t stupid.

“…Shi Qing Xuan helped me pick it out,” Xie Lian quietly said, breaking the silence. He continued, trying to figure out a topic of conversation – what did you even talk about when you were about to…do this kind of thing? “And helped me figure out how to put it on. The stockings kept rolling down my legs, so we had to buy the rest of the…architecture…to keep them up. These garter things are a pain, so fiddly to get hooked up…”

Xie Lian snapped one of the garter straps against his thigh again to demonstrate, making an audible noise as the strap connected with his skin – pa! Hua Cheng swayed, glassy-eyed, and briefly looked like he was going to pass out on the spot. Xie Lian grabbed onto his shoulder to steady him, and they locked gazes for a long moment.

That was all it took. They both started laughing, helplessly, melting into each other’s arms for support, for warmth, for no reason at all other than that the other person was there to be held.

“So gege has been plotting with others!” Hua Cheng swooned dramatically backwards, sprawling on the couch with the back of his hand pressed to his forehead. “A plot most devious!”

“Sorry, sorry,” Xie Lian said. He’d allowed himself to be pulled along with Hua Cheng as he toppled himself over, and was laying across his chest. He wasn’t in any mood to move – this was a wonderful way to warm up from the chilly apartment. “There was no way I would’ve been able to figure this out on my own. Shi Qing Xuan buckled me in before I came over, and…”

Hua Cheng peeked his eye open. “…you came wearing that underneath your clothes?” he managed, after a moment or two. “You took the bus like that?”

“Well, yeah. It wasn’t very comfortable, but it wasn’t such a big deal. I might just go without underwear on the way home.”

Hua Cheng’s expression was unreadable. “…tomorrow morning, I’ll call a cab to get you home instead.”

Xie Lian instantly started to protest this generosity. “San Lang, there’s no need, I have a bus pass, I can just…”

The rest of the sentence died in his throat. Tomorrow morning, Hua Cheng had said. Xie Lian supposed that meant he’d just been invited to stay the night. Xie Lian supposed he knew what Hua Cheng wanted to do, tonight. Xie Lian certainly knew what he wanted to do. He squirmed, and buried his reddening face into Hua Cheng’s broad shoulder.

“Gege.”

He felt Hua Cheng’s hand on his back, felt that hand and its long elegant fingers trace down, down his spine. Xie Lian’s face only burned hotter when Hua Cheng’s fingers reached the hem of his panties, and that big ridiculous silk ribbon atop his rear end.

“There’s a bow,” Hua Cheng said aloud, high-pitched and almost hysterical. “Gege, at this rate I won’t make it until my next birthday.”

Xie Lian squirmed and reached back to grab Hua Cheng’s wrist, guiding it even lower until his fingers could brush the outline of that silly heart-shaped cutout, until the palm of his hand was properly settled on the curve of his backside. He could keenly feel the heat of his touch through the gauzy material.

“…look at me.”

Face tucked into the join of his neck and shoulder, Xie Lian felt the rumble of Hua Cheng’s request more than he heard it. Slowly, he picked himself up, and managed to look Hua Cheng in the eye. It…wasn’t as difficult as he thought. Xie Lian was nervous, of course, and unsure, and shy, and completely out of his element. But he was with Hua Cheng, and there was nothing but love and adoration and care in his expression.

Hua Cheng cupped Xie Lian’s face in his hand, and Xie Lian nuzzled into his palm without even so much as a second thought.

“You don’t have to do this if you’re not comfortable.” Hua Cheng’s hand slid back into his hair, and tilted his head down just so, enough for Hua Cheng to press another kiss to his forehead, his brow, his cheek. “Do you want this?”

He wanted. He wanted, and Hua Cheng made him feel like he deserved to have it and so much more. He made him feel like he was something precious, something worth treating gently, something that belonged here, in Hua Cheng’s arms. It was a difficult sentiment to put into words.

(Though, honestly, he thought he’d made himself clear when he marched out of the bathroom in lingerie and put Hua Cheng’s hand on his butt. Maybe he wasn’t being the shy one here.)

“I do,” Xie Lian breathed, turning his face so those roaming lips properly met his own. “San Lang…San Lang!”

The squeak of Hua Cheng’s name that came out of Xie Lian’s mouth sounded almost affronted. Hua Cheng had scooped him up and clambered to his feet with him in tow without so much as a warning – they were having a Moment and they were kissing and now they were not. Xie Lian pouted at Hua Cheng, expecting an explanation for this. As always, Hua Cheng thought his pouty face was just the funniest thing, and he leaned in to press a loud, wet, smacking kiss to his cheek.

“My prince. This San Lang begs your forgiveness for his presumption. Being as I am a hopeless and completely irredeemable romantic, I wish to unwrap my present in the privacy of our bedroom.”

Xie Lian eyes went wide, and his cheeks beet red. He tucked his face against Hua Cheng’s shoulder. Hua Cheng made a low noise that reverberated and shivered its way into Xie Lian’s bones.

“Does my prince accept such a proposal? May I carry you off? Throw you onto my sheets? Put my hands and mouth all over you?”

“San Lang,” Xie Lian whined desperately. The apartment definitely wasn’t chilly anymore. His whole body felt like it was prickling to life with a thousand tiny embers. “Please. Please.”

Hua Cheng was a man who kept his promises.

Alas, a bit too well.

“San—ah!” Xie Lian gasped and clutched at Hua Cheng’s thick, silky hair. This did nothing but encourage him to keep mouthing Xie Lian’s erection through the lace of his panties. The thin fabric was damp from his tongue, and clung to Xie Lian’s skin uncomfortably. “I…oh, please…please, i-it’s your birthday, I should be…I should be…”

Hua Cheng made a savoring noise, and pressed his face more insistently into Xie Lian’s crotch. He breathed in deeply, then cracked open one eye to stare at Xie Lian; his gaze wild and blazing under the mussed fall of his bangs. It made Xie Lian want to cover his face, want to hide in the red silk sheets, want to melt away into Hua Cheng’s mouth. But it was so rude of him! So rude! It was Hua Cheng’s birthday, and he was the one – p-providing service, taking care of Xie Lian. Xie Lian should be the one with his mouth on Hua Cheng; should be the one touching him and making him feel good.

Hua Cheng’s grip was relentless on his thighs; his fingers tangled under the garter straps and under the flimsy stocking fabric. His mouth climbed higher until his lips were pressed to the line of Xie Lian’s hipbone. And oh, those were his teeth –

“Gege. So beautiful, gege. I’m—” Hua Cheng shuddered into silence, and his hips jerked against the mattress. His hands twisted in the straps and lace covering Xie Lian’s body, clutching hard enough to bruise. Xie Lian’s mind raced at the thought. “—I’m sorry. I’m sorry, you deserve more, I wanted…I wanted to—”

“San Lang.” Xie Lian stroked that lovely head of his, and waited until he looked up at him again. “Lay on your back? Against the pillows.”

Stiffly, as if he could hardly control his limbs, Hua Cheng clambered into position as requested. Xie Lian crawled to him, slowly, taking in the sight before him. Pale skin, midnight-black hair, muscles shifting under Xie Lian’s touches. He was just so lovely, his San Lang. Xie Lian reached out to trace up his long legs, bidding him to bring his knees up and apart. He’d managed to get Hua Cheng’s shirt up and off his head before Hua Cheng had dove in between his legs, but hadn’t gotten the chance to free him from his trousers quite yet. Xie Lian eyed the – rather large tent in the fabric. He thought of Hua Cheng flipping him on his stomach, yanking his panties to the side, and sliding that big thing into him. His thighs shifted against each other, seeking friction to relieve the rush of want.

Hua Cheng made a small, desperate noise when Xie Lian went for his belt and zipper, carefully and gently tugging the fabric down until he could get a good hold on his erection. It was…well, it was intimidating, sure, but it was also just so cute. Xie Lian brushed his fingers against the tip, experimentally, and Hua Cheng gasped aloud and scrabbled for purchase on the sheets. Cool on the outside, but just as cute as can be on the inside. Just like all of Hua Cheng.

Xie Lian didn’t really know exactly what to do next, but, well, he was creative, and he thought it would be rather nice to have a taste of Hua Cheng. He smiled up at Hua Cheng, stuck out his tongue at him, and before Hua Cheng could try to be a gentleman and tell him he didn’t have to, he dove in and swiped his tongue across the tip of his cock.

“Gege!”

That didn’t sound like a shout of pain, so Xie Lian figured he wasn’t doing too badly so far. He looked up at Hua Cheng, trying to carefully judge his reactions as he put his mouth more properly on his cock. Hua Cheng looked like he was – about to ascend to the heavens, about to die. About to cry, even. Xie Lian made a concerned noise, and stroked his free hand against the back of Hua Cheng’s own, where it fisted white-knuckled into the sheets. It was nice to know that he wasn’t the only one nervous, here. Xie Lian smiled up at him, lips curling around the tip of Hua Cheng’s cock—

Hua Cheng gasped, and one hand flew up to grab at Xie Lian’s hair and yank him back. Something hot and salty flooded his mouth and spilled over his lips as Hua Cheng’s cock slipped out, dribbling down his chin and onto the red sheets. Xie Lian lifted a hand to catch any further mess, only belatedly realizing that he could probably swallow instead of drooling all over himself. He gulped down the remainder of the stuff, feeling it slide thickly down his throat and into his belly. Not bad. He knew his palette was…questionable, but he didn’t hate the taste of it, not at all.

Xie Lian swiped his thumb across his chin and lower lip to try and clean himself, and was turning over the idea of licking his fingers clean before Hua Cheng lurched forward and collided into him, knocking him onto his back on the bed.

“You are going to kill me,” Hua Cheng croaked out, sounding half-dead already.

“Hmm?” Xie Lian tilted his head to the side. “Did I not manage? Should I try again?”

“Oh, please, let’s,” Hua Cheng purred in his ear. “Though I think I’d like to return the favor.”

Xie Lian had always thought his San Lang had lovely hands. Long and elegant fingers, a strong and warm grip to hold Xie Lian’s hand in turn. Those long pretty fingers proved to be talented and gentle and relentless, sliding into Xie Lian and working him open until he was ready for him, so ready, so ready, please, San Lang, put it in me, I need you.

Once he was fully seated inside him, Hua Cheng heaved a sigh that was at least partially a sob and rested his forehead against Xie Lian’s. He was such a gentleman, so kind to Xie Lian, so kind and patient, waiting until Xie Lian adjusted to that thick, hard cock of his instead of just grabbing onto his hips and fucking him inside-out.

“San Lang,” Xie Lian breathed into his ear. He squeezed down on him, and tilted his hips up, insistent. “San Lang.”

Such a gentleman, such a gentleman. He tried so hard, his sweet San Lang, to go slow, afraid of hurting him. Xie Lian kept squeezing on him, kept tugging his hair, kept crying out his praises until Hua Cheng’s patience and remaining composure finally broke. He was such a gentleman, until he wasn’t. Xie Lian found himself being nearly bent in two; his legs over Hua Cheng’s shoulders, in the perfect position for Hua Cheng to fuck him deep and hard and desperate.

His San Lang was so pretty. Xie Lian couldn’t imagine a lovelier sight than this: Hua Cheng’s furrowed brow, his eyes wild and intense and fixated directly on Xie Lian, his mouth open and wet and panting out praises, exhalations, panting Xie Lian’s name. It didn’t take long for Xie Lian to reach his own release, with the feeling of Hua Cheng’s body on his, in him. Distantly, as he was riding on the last waves of it, he felt Hua Cheng’s warmth spread inside of him, filling him up. Ah. No matter what hole he took his San Lang into, the results were so wonderfully sweet. He could get used to this.

Xie Lian cradled Hua Cheng’s head against his chest, stroking his hair and allowing him to gather his senses. After a moment or two to catch his own breath, Xie Lian turned his head to the side, frowning at the nagging sense that someone was watching.

E-ming stood at the side of the bed, waiting patiently, holding his favorite butterfly toy in his massive jaws. His tail began to wag once Xie Lian’s attention was on him, stirring up a small tornado in the room. He delicately put a paw on the bed, indicating his intent.

“E-ming,” Xie Lian said firmly. “Wait.”

E-ming began to shake and whimper, putting more weight onto his paw, pushing the issue.

“Not right now. No cuddle time. No bedtime yet.”

Hua Cheng grumbled and tried to get up. “I’ll take care of him, gege. It’s my cuddle time.”

Xie Lian cunningly distracted him with a kiss, and slipped out from under him and off the bed to escort E-ming out of the room and back to his dog bed. He heard the shower start up on the way back, and was intercepted and stripped of the lingerie that had survived the bedroom before being bustled into the shower alongside Hua Cheng to clean up.

“Was this…was this enough?”

Hua Cheng hummed happily. “The loveliest and most precious gift I have ever received. The heavens themselves could not bless me more.”

Xie Lian’s cheeks reddened, even after everything. Honestly, he’d hoped he was going to be less easy to fluster after this.

“I thought—I thought I could bake you a cake, maybe? A birthday cake.”

“That sounds delicious, gege. Did you have a recipe in mind?”

Xie Lian squirmed off the couch, straightening out the oversized shirt he was wearing that he’d borrowed from Hua Cheng to keep himself decent. “I did! You can just – you can stay in here so it’s a surprise?”

Hua Cheng smiled sweetly at him, and folded his hands on his lap like a patient schoolboy. “Of course. I can’t wait to see what gege bakes for me.”

And he had a broom closet full of fire extinguishers, just in case.

#天官赐福 #tgcf #heavenly official's blessing #tian guan ci fu #hualian #a tenderly crafted fanfiction

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allasters-purgatory · 6 years ago

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Session 2 Summary

The Primarchs of Chrysalis – “The Crystal Prophet”

Session #2: The Prophet of Seviglia

After working a few days in the city of Arthuria, helping with the reconstructions the players receive a sealed message, the wax bears no sigil. The message is from a “Lazaro” requesting the player’s presence with an “issue”.

Going to the carriage terminal and renting a carriage for a modest price, they arrive a week later to the city of Seviglia. There they see the town is a buzz with people, festivities and many sellers. The players ask if there is a festival, to which a townsperson answers that there is always a reason to celebrate in Seviglia thanks to the presence of the great Lazaro.

The players are pointed to a great marble statue in the center of the town, made to resemble Lazaro, they are also pointed to Lazaro’s estate. The players decide to head to Lazaro’s estate, there they see multitudes of people surrounding the house, cheering for Lazaro. The players cross the gate to the house, to the elation of the public, as the public believes the players are there to ask Lazaro for a favor.

Once inside the house the players see a great hall, with a table in the middle. On the table a piece of parchment, a quill, and a box. The players ask if Lazaro is there, then a handsome man, wearing slick black hair, a thick black beard, and a white ruffled shirt walks out from behind some curtains. He presents himself as Lazaro, the Prophet of Seviglia, tells the players to write what they need on a piece of paper, and place the paper inside the box, he will then deal with it promptly. Lazaro then leaves the room.

The players confused and suspecting something strange is afoot they ask to see Lazaro again. Lazaro comes out and says the exact same thing, and leaves once more. Renthaj notices that Lazaro is not human, Palak however notices that not only is Lazaro not human, but in fact a Magistone powered automaton. The players then search behind every curtain in the room.

Behind the first curtain they see stairs leading to the second floor, there they see many empty rooms, all full of dust, with the windows boarded up. Behind the second curtain they see a big kitchen, that seems it has not been used in a long time as well, the larder completely empty. Behind the last curtain they see a brick wall. Palak after observing the brick wall closely, notices its actually an illusion.

Past the brick wall the players find stairs leading towards a basement. Once inside the basement, the players once again ask for Lazaro. Out behind a door a man resembling what the Magistone automaton looked like, albeit a lot more tired, comes forth and presents himself as Lazaro.

The players inquire why so many tricks. To which Lazaro explains that he’s been the Prophet of Seviglia for over 50 years now, that people have grown too reliant on him, that he is tired of doing everything for the townsfolk. That he wants the players to take the load off of him for a bit, and perhaps deal with a small issue he has.

Lazaro, in desperation used the Outer Strain to turn his pet rabbit into a monster. In the hopes that the monster wouldn’t be too vicious and the townspeople could deal with it by themselves. Feeling remorseful however, Lazaro hid the creature in some mines that are located under his house.

Agreeing to deal with the creature, the players go to the mines, just to find a hole leading to some farms in the surface. The players make their way up the hole the players arrive to a grisly scene of a monstrous 20 foot tall rabbit, covered in puss filled pustules, with bug antennae for ears, devouring people.

Renthaj throws a stone at the creature calling its attention, and the beast charges at the players. During the fight they find that the only way to harm the creature is attacking its puss filled pustules, which they quickly discover they are extremely acidic. As they harm the creature, they are harming themselves with its acid. The creature near its death falls on top of Renthaj, leaving her unconscious. Soon after thankfully, Palak deals the killing blow, chopping the creature’s head off.

The creature now dead, and Renthaj coming to, Palak notices a nametag on her kopesh, “Figaro” it reads. People of the town traveled to the farmlands with many carriages to celebrate the new heroes. The players basking in their victory, quickly noticed that the townspeople were beginning to ask them unreasonable requests, like teaching a child to do math, to teach someone to use leeches, and even to help someone fix their marriages.

Between Renthaj and Palak they begin to convince the townspeople that they need to learn to do their tasks by themselves and not rely on Prophets for everything they need.

At this moment Palak’s player uses her Plot Point to force Lazaro to face the townspeople. Lazaro comes out of the hole created by his bunny, takes Figaro’s name tag and explains everything that happened to the townspeople, who agree to be less dependent on Lazaro.

Later that evening the players are invited to spend the night at Lazaro’s estate, who tasked his Magistone Automatons to fix and decorate the second floor for them. The players ask Lazaro if he knows anything about a Prophet called Minerva Halos. To which he responded that he does not, but they can go talk to Ramuh, the Patriach of Knowledge. Lazaro explains how to get to the city where Ramuh resides.

Noticing it would take them well over a month by carriage and one boat ride to get there, the players decide to offer their services as bodyguards to any carriage heading south. A young nobleman accepts their offer, and together with a small group of people, they make it to the town of Geralt 3 weeks later.

There the players decide to stay the night and take one last carriage during the morning. In a newly opened common house the players eat and share stories with other travelers. Suddenly the room falls quiet as the patron of the common house walks in, they are wearing a lavishly looking full plate armor, adorned with a cape that seems to always be flowing. This figure removes its helmet to reveal itself to be Minerva Halos.

Minerva speaks to the people of the common house, expressing her gratitude to see them all there, and that hopefully more common houses like that one will be opened across Chrysalis, to help all those in need. Minerva also mentions that while she can’t reveal any specifics, she is researching for ways to create more Prophets, as more Prophets would mean more people defending the helpless and more people immune to the Outer Strain. She speaks also, of finding a way to use the Outer Strain itself to fight Outer Strain infections.

Having heard this, the players decide that perhaps they should not spend the night in the common house, because it seems Minerva is planning something not quite right. As they have seen what the Outer Strain could do to a simple bunny rabbit.

The players decide to head by foot to a town a week away, they began their march in the cover of night, thankfully they all possess nightvision.

Thus ending the session.

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theworldsbetweenthepages · 6 years ago

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Book Review

The Lost Plot by Genevieve Cogman

Genre: Fantasy

A covert mission

A royal demand

And a race against time

The fourth title in Genevieve Cogman's witty and wonderful The Invisible Library series, The Lost Plot is an action-packed literary adventure.

In a 1930s-esque New York, Prohibition is in force, fedoras, flapper dresses and tommy guns are in fashion, and intrigue is afoot. Intrepid Librarians Irene and Kai find themselves caught in the middle of a dragon vs dragon contest. It seems a young librarian has become tangled in this conflict, and if they can't extricate him there could be serious political repercussions for the mysterious Library. And, as the balance of power across mighty factions hangs in the balance, this could even trigger war.

Irene and Kai find themselves trapped in a race against time (and dragons) to procure a rare book. They'll face gangsters, blackmail and fiendish security systems. And if this doesn't end well, it could have dire consequences for Irene's job. And, incidentally, for her life . . .

Part 4 of the Invisible Library series

Book 1 - The Invisible Library

Book 2 - The Masked City

Book 3 - The Burning Page

Review

I can’t find words for the feeling of utter contentedness whenever I finished yet another book of the Invisible Library series, and it just keeps getting better.

In the fourth book of this series, Irene has to investigate in an urgent matter that could possibly endanger the Library itself and all its Librarians - a Librarian is suspected to be working for a high-ranking dragon, which could compromise the Library’s neutrality in a universe where Fae and Dragons constantly struggle for the upper hand.

Sadly, this task means that we won’t get any good Vale stuff, apart from a short appearance in the very last chapter, and I actually missed him quite a lot. But there’s always hope for more stories where he’s involved more intensely :)

Of course Kai was once again out to get Irene to be his bed bunny, the thing that has annoyed me in the past books and yey, it’s still going on, but from where the book ended, I guess I’ll have to endure his entitled possessiveness of her in the upcoming fifth book. too. But at least it never takes overhand and I can still enjoy the book and just ignore that bit. I’m sorry, I just don’t think they fit together.

Once again, the book was filled with dry humour and dialogues that filled me with glee. The pace was very good, just the right bit of fast matching the plot, which was filled with twists and turns. Irene is stumbling from one complicated situation into the next, mostly single-handedly dealing with mobster, the police and plotting dragons like the badass she is.

I bet she’d prefer to have a quiet time for once.

The book was holding the tension until the very end, where all connections were revealed, and the twist was one I didn’t see coming right away.

Overall, I once again enjoyed myself greatly while reading this book, and I can only once again recommend this series to everyone who loves fantasy, books… just read The Invisible Library. I hope you’ll love the series as much as I do!

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teagrl · 7 years ago

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Dept of JAT plot bunnies

@klcthebookworm called my attention to something that should have seemed obvious to me. You could totally spin the JAT as a murder mystery AU!

You’d have to change things around and inject more doubt/distance between Luke and the apprentices, but it’d be interesting if post Gantoris’ death he didn’t read it as specifically Gantoris got nabbed by the dark side, but took it as someone is doing dark side stuff, and turned to Mara to enlist her help in getting to the bottom of it. Mara while not persuaded to train for its own sake in that timeline, could definitely be motivated to go to Yavin as a favor to Luke, especially if the safety of people in the academy is at stake, and it’s the sort of situation that has to remain hush-hush. The discovery that there’s dark side shenanigans afoot would be the icing on the cake.

I confess that I love (LOVE) undercover plots, so Mara faking it that she’s there to train while covertly getting the temperature of the apprentices is kinda My Jam(tm). It’d be novel to see her try to fit in since in canon I usually see her as the Daria of the academy.

It would also be interesting to see Luke see her “work” like that considering he hasn’t at this point in the timeline. JAT would be set post-TTT, we can ignore Byss. Or not.

Haha, and Luke obviously sighing over knowing that her “apprentice Mara” persona is just that. It hits the “fake relationship” trope, lol, but in a very specific way.

I just love the characterization dynamic this puts forward where Mara skulks for Luke (Mara as shadowy minion is A++++). This comes somewhat close to the dynamic in Velvet, except in Velvet, Mara is actually pretty self motivated and the faker is actually Luke who gets the spotlight on him through all the stupid courting crap (note in that one, Luke is better at acting than any of my other fics, lol Hapes).

Some more interesting questions:

How would “playing the apprentice” feel to Mara?

How does her relationship to the other apprentices change?

How does her relationship to the academy itself change, is there a difference between her view of the academy and the apprentices?

How would her view of Luke change throughout the story? What provides the impetus for that change?

What would Mara’s reaction to the discovery of dark side stuff?

Why would Luke not know?

When would she tell him?

And of course, does she decide to train after all in the end? (you can go so many ways about this depending on how you spin the final end of this)

I feel like to make this super gripping (to me), there should be a turn where they’re at odds with each other and have to figure out how to work out their differences. I always prefer internal plots where the situation outside then starts shaking the situation inside (what happens changes how characters relate to each other, even if implicitly). The emphasis on their teamwork in canon oftentimes forgets that when people are not shooting at them (and sometimes when they are, ha), they have different problem solving techniques that should take some effort to reconcile.

#luke x mara #JAT #plot bunny

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kitkatt0430 · 3 years ago

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Six Sentence Sunday be upon us. :D

Having been seized by the plot bunny for my Harrison/Tina/Jerry S2 Flash AU, I didn't really accomplish too much else this week. Also the fault of Atelier Ryza and Voltron.

That said, I've got some snippets to share anyway. First up is from a post game 1 Ryza story where Agatha is acting as the annoying older sister Ryza never asked for and Ryza is having a slow realization that the reason her feelings for Klaudia are different from everyone else is because she's got a crush. It's a sort of slow paced fic so I'm not really sure how long it'll be.

Agatha gave her a scrutinizing look that felt rather unfair. Usually she only looked at Ryza like that when there was trouble afoot. Trouble that was, typically, Ryza's fault. But, for a change, Ryza had no plans to get in to trouble. "Come find me after lunch instead, then. I've got a few ideas for you." Agatha reached out and ruffled Ryza's hair. "Hey!" Ryza exclaimed, shuffling away and straightening her hair out. An actual giggle left Agatha's mouth. If it weren't at Ryza's expense, she might've been pleased to hear it.

Agatha is an interesting character whom I suspect won't be much in the second game - if at all - but I really enjoyed her dynamic with Ryza. And I was pleased to see in the end game scenes that Ryza was clearly spending more time with her after her friends left during what was clearly a time skip.

Meanwhile I'm starting to finally gain some momentum with my Yu-Gi-Oh story. Joey's finally met Tea and I'm about to introduce Pegasus for some villain PoV. I think once I move past the introductory scenes I'll get some better movement for this one.

The young woman whirled around and… oh. She was about Joey and Tristan’s age. And pretty wasn’t a strong enough word for a girl with a face like that. Even if she was scowling at Joey for the moment. “Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you. Tristan and I come here sometimes, to get away from the noise of the rest of the city. I’m Joey.” He offered her what he hoped was a reassuring smile. “Tea,” she finally replied. “My name is Tea.”

Since Joey isn't rescuing Tea the way Aladdin did with Jasmine, Tea's a bit slower to trust this weird guy with a pet monkey. But they'll get there. While I intend to follow the basic plot from Aladdin - Joey meets and falls for the princess, gets recruited to retrieve a magic lamp, winds up the 'owner' of the lamp, wishes to become a prince so he can meet princess Tea again, winds up in the middle of an unexpected power grab from the royal vizhir, helps save the day, frees the genie, and is rewarded for his good deeds - I'm playing with a lot of the plot points. And, of course, being Yu-Gi-Oh the power of friendship is going to be important between both Joey and his friends as well as Tea and her friends.

And I really want to finish up Silence in the Night before I go on vacation so... wish me luck on that one. And, as always, I've got several competing Flash fanfic plot bunnies. Beware those bunnies, they're vicious.

(I'm not ready to post a snippet yet, but maybe next Sunday I'll include a little taste of the Star Wars fic I'm writing.)

#six sentence sunday #yu-gi-oh #atelier ryza #fanfiction

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darthstitch · 2 months ago

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I've always wondered how the story would work out if a young Christine Daae meets Erik as the Opera Ghost, NOT as the Angel of Music.

This is a kid who's grown up on fairy tales. She should know that the first rule is always to be kind. Kindness and courtesy and respect can be a surprisingly effective defense against the scariest creatures. Christine is all of these things by nature, except when curiousity gets the better of her.

But that's for a different story and in a different universe. Over here, Christine gets to meet the infamous Phantom of the Opera as a young girl, just beginning to leave her childhood behind, just still enough of a child to believe.

So maybe when she accidentally runs into a tall, dark, forbidding figure with his elegant gentleman's clothes and opera cloak and white mask, she doesn't scream or run or faint.

Maybe she drops him a cute little curtsy, wobbling a little because unlike her best friend Meg, she's not a born ballerina. Maybe she warbles a little greeting, "Good day to you, Monsieur Opera Ghost."

And maybe that's how it starts.

Erik makes friends with this adorable little girl who doesn't scream at the sight of him. He's utterly charmed by her and she's the first person, in a good long while, who gets to learrn that the Opera Ghost isn't really a ghost.

He gives her his name.

(Ironically, Le Fantôme forgets what the old tales speak of when it comes to the giving of names.)

Maybe the two of them end up making mischief together, the Phantom and his petite fantôme, pulling off ingenious pranks and silly, harmless tricks. Maybe Christine starts adding to the ever growing store of Opera Ghost tales, with all these gloriously lurid details that she manages to relay with an absolutely straight face.

Erik, in his usual hiding places in the Opera House, is hard set not to give the game away by helplessly chortling at his petite fantôme's imagination. At one point, one storytelling session is broken up by the little ballet and chorus girls screaming in delighted terror because Erik couldn't stop himself from laughing.

(He had to throw his voice for that, so he wouldn't give away where he was hiding.)

Christine grows up, of course, and Erik doesn't develop the weird crazed obssessiveness that grew out of a desperate love - this is not that universe. For him, she's his dear petite fantôme - a friend, who, against all odds, isn't going to be ripped away from him through some tragic twist of fate.

(He has so very few of them, you see. Sometimes, he's not even sure if THEY think of him as a friend. Opera ghosts can't be choosers, though.)

Things start changing, maybe, when Christine is nineteen and she's starting to dream about being more than just singing in the chorus. Erik is only too delighted to have nurtured the development of her original sweet childish treble to the glorious instrument that it was now. They've often sung together, the two of them - her high sweet ethereal voice chasing after his own resonant tones, blending in harmony.

(One of their favorite pranks was to sing haunting melodies in a near-empty theater, simultaneously scaring the life out of the skeleton crew working at night.)

Some things are meant to happen, no matter what the universe, and Christine Daae steps in as an unlikely substitute for the temperamental La Carlotta. She brings Paris to its feet with her rendition of Elissa in Hannibal.

Christine gets asked, of course, how on earth did she suddenly bring out That Voice,

She only smiles. "I was taught, of course, by my Angel of Music. Who else?" Mischief and mystery are dancing in those blue eyes.

There's a funny little lurch in Erik's heart at the way she says "my Angel of Music."

He hasn't a clue why.

#the phantom of the opera #erik/christine #i crack what i want #plot bunny #plot bunnies afoot #christine and her melodramatic sewer goblin #with an emphasis on him being HERS #ngl nadir saw this coming a mile away and laughed himself sick #erik will need to be hit by a massive clue by four #no creepy squicky shit in my blanket fort #the erik in this story is a mix of leroux and kay and pls blame ramin too omg

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lhs3020b · 4 years ago

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The Fugitive Worlds, by Bob Shaw

The Fugitive Worlds is the last novel in the Land/Overland trilogy. Since I’ve commented on the other two, here are my thoughts. And beware! here there (may) be Ropes! possbly even intersecting ones!

OVERVIEW

It's two generations or so after the Migration from Land. If you squint, society on Overland may have improved - apparently it has got a bit more meritocratic, there certainly has been some progress on gender issues, and this time the novel doesn't open with a random peasant being dragged off to be executed on some noble's arbitrary whim. Technology and infrastructure are changing - Cassyll Maraquine's industrial empire seems to be overseeing a pivot toward a metal-and-steam based economy, and in fact they seem to be in the early stages of an industrial revolution. On the plus side, this presumably means Overland isn't faced with another ptertha crisis in the near future, though a cynic may wonder if they've just swapped one environmental crisis for another one in a few centuries' time, when the seas start rising and the deserts begin to expand. But not to fear - there's every chance that the whole of society will be swept away by cataclysm long before that ominous possibility can occur!

You see, change is afoot in Overland's domain. Because, to the consternation of everyone except the government (who remain supremely complacent), a fourth planet has suddenly appeared in their star system. Attempts are made to bring this to the attention of the queen; unfortunately she's utterly fixated on a demented scheme to extend her reign back to Land itself.

At the opening of the novel, Toller Maraquine II, grandson of the star of the first two books, is discontent. As Cassyll's son, he could have had a life of wealth, privilege and social influence. Instead he spends his time mooning after his supposedly-heroic grandfather - yes, the same one who managed to simply forget that his first wife existed! Toller II, unfortunately, has inherited his grandfather's impetuousness and basic lack of any common sense. He's certainly not a monster, but he is an idiot. This is shown in the book's opening scenes, where he falls blindly in love with the Countess Vantara, despite the fact that she's an obvious schemer and bully.

Seeking to impress Vantara, Toller involves himself with the planned re-expansion onto Land. This swiftly gets disrupted, though, by the appearance of an expanding crystalline disk, growing across the zero-g datum plane that exists between the two twinned planets. The disk's rapid expansion cuts off travel between Land and Overland - it expands beyond the region of breathable air where the two planets' atmospheres meet - and to make matters worse, the Countess vanishes while trying to traverse said region! Oh no! Toller, of course, immediately resolves that he must go and rescue her. (She has treated him with nothing except derision and contempt by this point, and he of course fails to read the very obvious message in there.)

The predictable result of this is that Toller gets himself and his crew abducted by aliens, because of course the people of Land and Overland are actually currently bystanders in someone else's plans. Fortunately for Toller, the Dussarrans show no interest in probing him. Unfortunately for him, the expanding crystalline disk is actually a complex machine intended to relocate Dussarra itself away from the galaxy they all currently live in.

You see, the aliens believe that they are imminently threatened - their researchers have found evidence pointing to a collision between so-called "Ropes" somewhere astronomically nearby. (Ropes appear to be similar to the class of hypothetical topological defects that we call "cosmic strings" - fortunately for us, there's no evidence that cosmic strings actually exist in our universe.) This collision, they believe, will have produced an explosion somewhere between a gamma ray burst and a cosmological phase change. They fear that a wave of destruction is currently zooming toward them, at or close to the speed of light. If they are right, there is certainly no chance of Dussarra surviving it, hence their decision to begin relocating their planet.

Unfortunately there's a smaller problem. The Xa, the relocation engine they're constructing across the datum plane? When activated, it will destroy Land and Overland. The Dussarrans may be about to finish what the ptertha started around fifty years previously - the complete destruction of all civilisation on either Land or Overland!

A LEVER TO MOVE THE WORLD

Before we go any further, I'll give the Dussarrans credit for one thing: whatever their other faults, at least they're willing to think big. They are, after all, trying to address the Rope problem at source. If it were us in their situation ... well, half the newspapers would insist that Ropes don't exist, another third would claim they're leftist conspiracies to steal our precious body fluids, the remaining handful would write something mealy-mouthed about how Ropes might exist but maybe we shouldn't "overreact" for fear of a "pro-Rope" backlash. Centrists would call for a grand bargain with the Ropes - they can toast only HALF the planet in return for a top-up pupil premium on private school fees! Youtube user MagaCrypto2024 will tell you to invest your life savings in their newly-minted RopeCoin ("if it's golden enough for the quantum vacuum, it's gold enough for YOU!") and then a Tory would take 52% of the vote on a platform about how Ropes are great beacuse they'll eradicate the benefits claimants. 10 seconds after that, the shockwave demolishes the entire planet, and of course no-one ever admits that perhaps, just perhaps, they may have got it a bit wrong.

I'll say it again, whatever their other faults, at least Dussarra has managed to react to the crisis, and their behaviour isn't completely-insane.

That said, the Dussarrans' solution does suck.

Apparently the Xa requires weightlessness and a large supply of free oxygen to grow. It's not really clear why the Dussarrans couldn't have simply built a large bubble, say at one of their Lagrange points, pumped that full of air, and grew their Xa in there. There is a suggestion that the planetary alignment between Land and Overland is important too, the book does flip-flop this a bit too. Anyway we're left with the impression that the Dussarrans didn't have a lot of choice in where they built the Xa and they do genuinely believe that they are fleeing a cosmologically-apocalyptic event. Also, it's a plot point that Dussarra isn't an ideologically-coherent monolith; in fact the plan faces substantial internal dissent, and this actually boils over into something as close as the Dussarrans can have to a civil war. This is doubly-significant as the Dussarrans' telepathy also stops them from fighting each other in the usual manner - bluntly, when someone dies nearby, the telepathic backlash is utterly-paralysing to any exposed Dussarran. Killing someone yourself would thus be near-impossible for a Dussarran, though as is common in Shaw novels, the Dussarran elite has found a way to do an end-run around this problem. (Non-lethal weapons don't have the same paralysing impact!)

On a slight tangent, one interesting twist in "The Fugitive Worlds" is that Toller and co are basically NPCs in the Dussarrans' story, and they don't realise it.

The place, I think, where the Dussarrans' scheme becomes morally-unacceptable is their failure to evacuate Land and Overland. The population of Dussarra is at least thirty million - that's their capital city alone! - and in fact is implied to be in the billions. They're a modern industrial society with modern technology, after all. By contrast, even if the Landers have been breeding like bunnies for the last two generations, the population of Overland still can't be more than a few hundred thousand at absolute most. My guess is that a more plausible number would be more like 50-75,000. Perhaps 250,000 if you stretch it (a low death rate and every family putting out 4, 5 or 6+ kids could just about get you there in this timescale).

The Dussarrans have remote teleportation tech, and the denouement shows that said tech can reach anywhere on Overland, even at a distance of millions of miles. In principle, they could remove everyone from Overland, and given the vast difference in population, they could certainly accomodate a few thousand more people on Dussarra. The point I'm making here is that an evacuation was possible; there was no technological, infrastructural or economic barrier that would have precluded it. Granted the Overlanders probably would have reacted badly to being hoovered off their homeworld - who wouldn't? - but, they're not 100% immune to reason either. As Divvidiv's interations with Toller show, Overlanders are capable of understanding the Rope problem, especially when telepathy is used to help said understanding along.

(Also, for that matter, there was nothing to stop the Dussarran government from trying to open diplomatic relations with Queen Dasseene's regime, and maybe saying "Uh, guys, sorry to be a nuisance but we've got some news you might want to hear about...")

Under normal circumstances, of course, abducting everyone off of their own homeworld would be bad. It's still not great, even in context. But, the Dussarrans do have genuine reason to believe that The End Of All Things is barrelling toward them at nearly speed of light. When the Rope-intersection event lights up Land/Overland's skies, we can reasonably assume that it will destroy both of those planets too. In fact, Divvidiv confirms this possibility in as many words. Relocating everyone to Dussarra, then using the Xa and the Land/Overland binary to relocate the planet somewhere safe would, in context, strike me as a morally-defensible solution to the crisis. While it would be sad to lose Land and Overland, it would at least allow both societies to survive.

(The question of Farland is never addressed in this. As far as we can tell, the Farlanders are on their own during this particular cosmological emergency.)

Perhaps unfortunately for everyone, Dussarra's leadership have apparently decided to pull a Thanos instead. Why they skipped over the obvious non-genocidal solution is never directly addressed, though there are hints. The Dussarran leadership patronisingly describes Overlanders as "Primitives" - it's implied that their racism is a factor in their failure to do anything for their new neighbours. Also, thinking about it, the callousness is thematically-consistent with the rest of the series. Throughout this trilogy we see leaders making decisions that are at-best based on expediency alone - witness how quick King Prad was to abandon Ro-Atabri in the first book - or sometimes, decisions are based actively on malice and spite (see the Sgt Gnapperl subplot from the second book). From that point of view, the behaviour of Director Zunnunun and the Dussarran authorities is not particularly-unusual.

The scheme also ends up entirely-backfiring. You see, the wrong planet gets displaced. Ooops.

We never learn the fate of Land or Dussarra for an absolute fact; Toller's post-event speculations are bleak, but the narrative may imply that Dussarra at least could have survived. (The Dussarran rebels return there after the confrontation on Overland - I don't think they would have done that if they thought that their Xa-disrupting box was going to destroy their homeworld in the process!) I'm less optimistic for Land - the planet is probably toast - but that said, there is no "on-screen" death and what happened during the Xa's activation was definitely 100% Off The Rails, so who knows? I suppose it's at least possible that Land could have survived the Xa's activation.

One does wonder how it would cope with the abrupt removal of Overland's tides, though.

That said, Overland seems to experience weirdly few direct consequences for its displacement. The main effect is an abrupt change in the sky, followed later by the confusing discovery that Pi no longer exactly equals 3, but instead is somehow closer to 3.14. There are no storms or earthquakes - it's not clear how the tidal relaxation of Overland's crust had no geological consequences at all. The only thing I can think of is that perhaps the new solar tides are exactly equal to the ones Overland previously experienced?

Oh yes, I mentioned "solar" tides, didn't I? This is because the last few pages of "The Fugitive Worlds" are even more head-bending then they sound. While the galaxies and daylight stars and comets and meteors all vanish, and the number of stars in the sky decline sharply, the Overlanders are surprised to discover that they have a lot more planetary neighbours that they did even hours ago. In the course of one night of observations, Cassyll and Bartan find five distinct planets, and quickly postulate that more could exist. The cream coloured gas giant with the big ring catches their attention, and they're confused about how to count the binary between the blue planet and it's one-quarter-sized greyish companion? moon? neighbour?

Yes, a cream-coloured gas giant with a prominent ring system, Pi quite possibly equal to 3.141592654..., a blue planet with a greyish moon that's about one quarter its diameter ... hmmm, I wonder where Overland could have gone? Such a mystery, no possible clues, amirite? Oh yes, the blue one is described as being quite bright, so apparently Overland's new orbit is fairly near to it. Given how relatively-empty Overland is, you do does find yourself wondering just how long before their heavily-populated new neighbour decides that they're next on the menu for Manifest Destiny...

(Just in case anyone's confused about what the ending implies, the descriptions suggest that Overland has been displaced not only out of its own universe, but into our solar system. The cream-coloured ringed planet is clearly Saturn, and the blue/grey binary is the Earth-Moon system. The five planets Cassyll and Bartan find are presumably most of the ones from classical antiquity - Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, the Earth-Moon system. Presumably they missed out Mercury, but in fairness its closeness to the Sun makes it the hardest of the classical planets to observe, so this is reasonable. But needless to say, this ending does come firmly out of the left field.)

BUT WHAT OF THE PEOPLE?

In terms of characterisation this novel continues the threads of the previous two. Shaw does do a good job of painting believable people - their flaws, errors and misjudgements are all very human. No-one does anything that real people wouldn't, or haven't. Toller's hero-worshipping his wife-amnesiac grandfather (have I mentioned the airbrushing that Fera Rivoo got halfway through the first book?) is believable. People do behave like this, idolising idiots and putting others on pedestals. His infatuation with Vantara is depressingly-believable too. People fall for people they shouldn't all the time. This sort of meltdown is arguably one side of the romantic coin, after all.

Vantara - well, there are plenty of status-obsessed bullies out there who are also secretly cowards. She's the monarchical version of every bad middle manager you've ever met. One of the book's subplots is how she gradually falls from Toller's esteem, though it takes until the denouement before he finally sees her for what she is. Also, interestingly, the romance plot gets subverted at this point. Toller manages to find someone else, someone who is both a better person and who will hopefully balance his more self-destructive tendencies with basic common sense.

Also, Vantara's entire career basically hangs off of the fact that a close relative is also the Queen. With Queen Dasseene's health in sharp decline and a clear suggestion that her reign will soon end, one suspects that Vantara's star will go down with her. Also this won't be helped by the fact that Vantara was physically there, on the field with the Dussarran rebels' Xa-disrupting box and she did - not a lot? It was almost the end of Overland, and heroic deeds were notable largely by their absence on her part.

The Dussarrans feel less real. That said, Divvidiv's combination of complacency, careerism and partly-sublimated guilt at the necks he knows he's stepping on in his job - yes, it does feel consistent with your average out-of-their-depth middle manager. We see less of Director Zunnunun and we know of the Palace of Numbers only indirectly, but their general superiosity and smugness are consistent with what I know of senior-management-as-a-group. However, Dussarra does remain slightly out-of-focus even in the second half of the book, when Toller and co are literally stood on it.

Cassyll and Bartan pop up every now and then in the narrative, but they're not so directly-involved. They're mainly there to try to explain events to the Queen, who is clearly severely ill and also severely in denial about being ill.

Another niggle aboout this book is that it carries on dropping plot threads, much like the other two. What happened to the people the Queen sent to Land? Did Dussarra survive? What happened to the rebels? Was the Rope-intersection really real? We never get clear answers or, in some cases, any answers at all. It almost feels like this novel was intended as a sequel-hook for a fourth book, or perhaps some new trilogy, but said trilogy never arrived. Honestly, that might be for the best. (Do we really want to read a novel about Overland being plowed up for luxury executive mansions while the surviving population are herded off to reservations, or all die from the flu or other imported terrestrial diseases? Given the Kolcorronian monarchy's behaviour in the first book, being on the wrong end of a colonial expansion would have a certain bleak irony, but it wouldn't be fun to read.)

So again, like the previous two, this one is a page-turner. It's hard to put down. But like the previous two, it suffers from dropped plot-threads and perhaps also a few too many out-of-the-left-field WTF? moments. That said, I did enjoy re-reading it, and I can see why it made such an impression on younger!me all the way back in the 1990s, when I first read this trilogy.

#LHS reads #books 2021 #Bob Shaw #The Fugitive Worlds

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