#yes in a way the “whatever ” is a reference to Suibian

[fanning-the-flames]

Moonshot: A Cheng'e Story

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Part 2 of 5

The man is a god in purple robes, and the hare, who goes by Lan Xichen, apparently also supernatural as it transforms into another tall man at his side. Wei Wuxian is shocked to find that Lan Xichen and Lan Wangji not only know each other, but are brothers. It seems that the god suspects they are plotting something.

With a wave of his hand, the god casts a spell that replaces the space suits with period clothing, to the amazement of Wei Wuxian. As Lan Xichen talks on and on, Wei Wuxian feels that there is something familiar about the god (surname Jiang)...in a sudden spark of recognition he calls him A-Cheng. The god is silent for an unnerving amount of time, and the Lan brothers look on in apprehension. Just as Wei Wuxian is about to backtrack, A-Cheng turns and says casually that Wei Wuxian can call him whatever.

Jiang Cheng takes Wei Wuxian on a tour of the moon palace. Wei Wuxian treats it like a date. They end up on the lake surrounded by glowing golden lotus flowers, a lotus in Jiang Cheng's hair picked by Wei Wuxian, drinking wine. Wei Wuxian is happy with how the date is progressing.

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2021 Cheng'e: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [x]

2022 Cheng’e: [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] [ 6 ]

Lan Xichen learning how to be a gentleman was not a smooth road. Here he is learning the first rule...

..wear pants.

And lastly....

I couldn't resist. I thought of this immediately after drawing the first page on this post and used drawing it as motivation to finish the main pages as soon as possible, possibly to the detriment of my sleep.

[resonancewitness]

Bringing them into the internal circle of important others

When we reconstruct a story, — an untold story, in this case, — we re-create its characters in our minds. No one else knows yi and zhan as each of them knows himself and as they know each other. But each of us turtles (and also the so/os, of course) has been reconstituting them somehow from what we have seen and heard, as characters in our own inner world, as important people who represent certain attitudes and values. We may openly dialogue with them in our minds, or play with them as we would play with fictional characters, or worship them, or whatever (…suibian :)); they can be some sort of reference points for us. 

I do say to my kids when they have to face difficult situations, including facing their fears and potential pain: “What would wyb do if he was in this situation, what do you think? What would he say if he was here to mentor you?” — and that makes a whole lot of difference. I do say to my kids: “Oh yes, music and art, this is a very good way to process your feelings, but do you know that xz also exercises every day, besides engaging in music and art? I bet this helps him a lot to maintain his sanity in the kind of life he leads”. And that makes a whole lot of difference, too. They are at the age when the example of celebrities sometimes carries more weight than the example of parents, so I am glad that I can now offer references that I am totally comfortable with. 

Every person carries with them a group of internalised others: these are images of people, living or dead, and creatures, and imaginary characters, and important objects and places that we imbue with personality. They are our reflecting surfaces: we know ourselves because they reflect us back to us, help us see ourselves through their eyes in a certain way. 

I can have a relationship with a misty autumn evening on a sidewalk near a house where I grew up in, red maple leaves stuck to wet asphalt, a place that I might never be able to return to. It reflects back to me a particular mood, a particular sense of concordance of inner and outer movement. A longing, a hiraeth. 

I can have a relationship with a delicate coffee cup that I bought on a whim when I was a college student during a very hard time in my life, having spent my lunch allowances for the whole week on it, when I was poor and felt trapped… and this coffee cup represented my right to want something that was outside of my “cage” and my hope to put this trapped feeling behind me, leave it in the past… some day. 

When a new internalised other enters the array of our important inner interlocutors, reference points or reflecting surfaces, the whole configuration of this array changes. I am deliberately using the word “array” here as in “magical array”, a configuration that summons and channels power. Drawing an array, we, whoever we are — cultivators of sorts, maybe, in our everyday lives? — become capable of doing something different(ly). We become capable of something new, we can do something that we couldn’t do before. 

I don’t have a definite answer even for myself, and I wouldn’t dare to assume the answers of/for others, but I love the questions: 

What am I becoming more capable of, when yizhan, separately and together, enter my internal array of important others, when they become people I cherish, care for, intentionally listen to, give my time and heart-attention to? 

How their presence allows me to summon and channel more power to do what I feel is important to do in my life, for my life, and for the lives of others? 

What do they reflect back to me about what is important to me in my life?

[wangxiangiftexchange]

Winter Solstice Gift for sweetlittlevampire

Happy exchange to @sweetlittlevampire! You have no idea how much pressure I felt when I realized I was tasked with putting together your gift - your art is always so beautiful and detailed! I hope this checks the boxes for you: I aimed at driving home 'non-sexual intimacy' and 'found family', with lots of heavy fluff tones. Enjoy!

A quick note: because I have next to no familiarity with Chinese culture, either modern or ancient, I have set this story in modern North America. This means the wedding planning and cultural references adhere to North American styles.

Read on AO3

*****

The Award for Best Man

It’s an unusual time of day to be this exhausted, even by Lan Wangji’s supposedly early sleep schedule. The sun hasn’t finished climbing the sky yet and Lan Wangji can’t think of a single thing he’d rather be doing with a rare day off than this:

He and Wei Ying are together, lumped in the vertex of their L-shaped couch which sits directly in the morning sun. They have the apartment to themselves today, until this evening, when A-Yuan and Wen-popo will return their rabbits from babysitting. Wei Ying was still convinced that Bichen and Suibian would have been absolutely fine with them gone all yesterday to tour wedding venues; Lan Wangji had insisted they not be lonely.

Now he wonders if he subconsciously had the foresight to rid himself of anything that could have distracted him from an exhausted Wei Ying. He becomes so sweet and pliable when he’s tired, needy only for Lan Wangji’s affection and attention. It’s one of the only times Wei Ying lies still.

Usually.

Out of nowhere, Wei Ying springs out of his lap to sit upright on the couch. He must not be as tired as Lan Wangji thought.

“I just realized –” he says, turning back to Lan Wangji with a striking look of alarm on his face. “I can’t ask you to be my best man. Lan Zhan! You’ve ruined my wedding plans!”

Lan Wangji blinks, a little surprised. ‘Ruined’ seems a touch dramatic – if anything, he thinks recasting his role as ‘bridegroom’ is an upgrade over ‘best man’.

But because he’s tired too, his only response is: “Me?”

“Yes, you! Silly. What did you think I was gonna do? Get married at an altar where you weren’t there beside me and, wow, oh my god, that seems too revealing now that I say it out loud.”

Lan Wangji’s heart glows and he tucks a loose hair from Wei Ying’s face. The gesture makes them both smile. “I pictured you, too.”

“Aawww!! You did??” Wei Ying’s cheeks are flushing and his eyes are tearing up, but Lan Wangji is 85% sure it’s for dramatic effect. “Wait, like, always or...?”

Lan Wangji boops his nose, a private joke between them for every time he deems Wei Ying to be ‘nosy’. He knows it used to be a gesture exclusive to Jiang Yanli, his future sister, and every time Wei Ying lets him get away with it, bubbles simmer in his chest.

“Since Gusu,” he admits.

“Gusu Elementary?! Lan Zhan, you flirt! We were twelve! I waited until at least Qishan High to fall madly in love with you.” Assured, as he always is after successfully fishing for flattery, Wei Ying starts settling back into his sprawl inside Lan Wangji’s arms. “Ugh, remember Wen Chao, the principal’s kid? He’s a dad now. Facebook told me earlier.”

He isn’t pleased to have the memory of such a vile personality sour their cuddle time. He shifts, gathers Wei Ying closer, and switches the topic. “What about Jiang Wanyin?”

Wei Ying startles up again, though not all the way out of his arms, eyes wide with anxiety. “What about Jiang Cheng. Lan Zhan. Do you know something I don’t? When did Jiang Cheng get a kid – where did Jiang Cheng get a kid?! I KNOW Wen Qing has an IUD!”

Ah. He sees the problem now. “For your best man,” he explains, coaxing his fiancé back down. It marvels him how much one can struggle to relax.

“Oh, thank god,” Wei Ying says, slumping back into the pillow that is his betrothed before smacking a sweatered pec. “You worried me! We’ve both seen how A-Cheng is with Jin Ling, I shudder to think how he’ll be with his own.” He really does shudder, from his head down the base of his spine. Then he fidgets, rolling up his hands in the folds of Lan Wangji’s minty blue sweater. “But yeah, I suppose he’ll do for a best man. I’ll never hear the end of it if I ask Wen Ning over him.”

He sends a grin up at Lan Wangji, happily sharing the mental image of Jiang Cheng blowing a fuse. It’s a thought that never fails to tickle him.

“What about you?” Wei Ying asks. “I assume you’ll ask your brother but isn’t he still in the arctic?”

He was. Three weeks ago, a Waterborne Abyss had somehow broken loose from the ocean floor and wound up on the surface of the Pacific Ocean. When Xichen had first gone to cleanse it, it escaped the pre-set array and fled. Xichen had been tasked to pursue and had chased the demon around the north pole for nearly eight days now with scarcely a word of update.  

Lan Wangji doesn’t like worrying about his brother. Luckily, it’s an even rarer occurrence than a truly exhausted Wei Ying.

Still...

“Mm...”

Wei Ying cuddles closer. “Ahhh, don’t worry too much, Lan Zhan, he’ll be back before you know it. He certainly won’t let some puny abyssal keep him from his didi’s wedding! I can’t wait to see him cry actual tears, I’m going to bribe Mianmian to take so many pictures.”

Lan Wangji flushes a little. He loves his brother and he knows Xichen loves him, but they never make a show of it in public. He suspects Wei Ying is correct in thinking their wedding will be an exception. Xichen has requested time to make a toast, after all.

“Hey, not to jinx it or anything, but who would you have as a best man if Lan Xichen couldn’t be? Not for a sad reason! Like, uhhh, say his wedding was on the same day, at the same time as ours. Yeah, that works.”

Lan Wangji raises an eyebrow. “Who is he marrying?”

Wei Ying’s smile goes crooked to match his brow, bemused as he is every time Lan Wangji indulges in these kinds of playful hypotheticals. “Does it matter?”

“Indubitably.”

Wei Ying laughs so hard he snorts. He is so exquisitely beautiful. “Well, if my future husband insists, I’ll paint you the whole picture. Um. Let’s say he marries... Jin Guangyao.”

Lan Wangji hums, a little put-off by the idea. It’s nothing against Jin Guangyao as a person, but he’s always been singularly difficult for Lan Wangji to read. All his favourite people – Xichen, Mingjue, Jiang Yanli, and of course Wei Ying – don’t make their thoughts or feelings hidden the way Jin Guangyao does. It leaves Lan Wangji with a very unstable opinion of the man – more than once he has badly misread a situation and felt insecure about the cues he must have missed.

Not to mention the history the man has with Wei Ying. They never talk about it, and Lan Wangji has never pried, but he knows the two were close friends as children before something fell apart between them. Wei Ying still sends a birthday wish to Jin Guangyao every year, in part because he always receives a card on his own. The card always includes a sheet of red stickers – anything red: anatomic hearts, parrots, chilli peppers, firetrucks, Santa hats, and ladybugs. Lan Wangji has never asked why he sends them or what Wei Ying does with them. It’s enough of an intrusion to watch that wistful smile play out.

“Mingjue,” he answers, refocusing on their game. “To spare the heartache.”

Wei Ying nods appreciatively at his wisdom. “Yes, yes, I agree. He’d cry, get sappy drunk, and trash the cake just to be a torturous mess at a Xiyao wedding, wouldn’t he? Best have him at ours, where he’ll cry, get sappy drunk, and sing all the worst love songs at karaoke with Nie Huaisang.”

“‘Come What May’,” Lan Wangji suggests, to Wei Ying’s delight.

“Justin Bieber’s ‘Baby’!”

“‘Your Song’.”

Wei Ying’s smile turns sweet. He nuzzles into Lan Wangji’s chest and mutters quietly, “I already have one of those.”

They fall into peaceful near-quiet for a minute, Wei Ying softly humming out the score Lan Wangji composed for him years ago when it was the only way he knew to publicly dedicate his heart. During the last measure, Wei Ying’s stomach growls and he loses himself giggling. Lan Wangji smiles, rubs his stomach for him and lightly shushes it, which makes Wei Ying laugh harder.

“Alright, alright,” he says, whipping out his phone from between the seat cushions. “Time for lunch! Sushi okay with you?”

Lan Wangji nods, sneaks in a quick peck to his forehead, and says, “Whatever you want.”

“Sweet-talker,” he chides, but a flash of teeth betrays his happiness. “What rolls do you want?”

He can’t help himself. “Volcano roll, seared salmon roll, and spicy tuna bowl, extra wasabi and spicy mayo.”

Wei Ying gives him the sweetest side-eye and Lan Wangji swears the next words past his lips will be ‘I love you’: “Then I’m ordering yam rolls, cucumber rolls, low sodium miso soup, and tamago nigiri with no wasabi whatsoever.”

He knew it.

He pulls his fiancé up into a kiss, chasing down that ‘I love you’ with his tongue, certain it must taste as good as it had sounded, maybe even better than it feels, right now, against his lips and zinging down his body like welding sparks.

Wei Ying looks absolutely dazed when he releases him. “Happy with that?” Wei Ying asks, referring to the rolls.

“Besotted,” Lan Wangji confesses, absolutely lost in this man.

“Damn right,” Wei Ying whispers, voice breathy with reciprocation. It’s another fifteen minutes of playing kiss tag before their stomachs overrule them and get their lunch order placed.

With nothing to do but wait the thirty-five minutes it will take for their delivery to be made, Wei Ying brings them back to their earlier game, before the kissing.

“So what if Lan Xichen was marrying Nie Mingjue? Who would be your best man, then?”

It’s a slightly harder question than the last. Since he can remember, Nie Mingjue has been a brother by proxy, which means Lan Wangji must consider best men that aren’t brothers. Surprisingly, a person comes to mind rather quickly.

“Jin Zixuan.”

Wei Ying may have fallen to the floor if Lan Wangji’s arms weren’t such a secure tether to the couch. “WHAT?! WHY? Don’t tell me you’ve become friends with that Peacock behind my back! Lan Zhan! Lan Zhan, how could you betray me like this!?”

Lan Wangji frowns. “We were already friends.”

Wei Ying scoffs, “You were not.”

“We had coffee last week.”

“YOU HAD COFFEE?!” Distressed, Wei Ying drops his head into Lan Wangji’s sweater, whining about the slew of injustice. “Unacceptable... already friends... didn’t even rub off on the peacock at all, stupid... without telling me , Lan Zhan... such betrayal, much scandal, wow...”

Despite the energetic upset, Lan Wangji feels a yawn against his chest. Wei Ying’s exhaustion is finally catching up to him. “There, there,” he comforts, patting his head.

“Mmmm...” mutters the mess of hair. “Feels good, keep doing that. It eases my betrayed and deceived heart.”

Wei Ying’s requests are never difficult to fulfill – this one, especially so. Lan Wangji lets his posture relax further, content to sit in the sleepy energy of Sunday. Wei Ying keeps purring against him, breaths slowing and lengthening. They’ll both sleep through the food delivery at this rate.

Lan Wangji adds a light scratch to his pets and says, “Take a nap, Wei Ying. I’ll wait for lunch.”

Wei Ying hums in disagreement. “You’ll get bored, Lan Zhan. Here...” He rouses himself enough to stretch for the coffee table and grabs Lan Wangji’s reading glasses and latest novel. “Read. I can prop it up for you, like an actual supportive fiancé.”

Lan Wangji chuckles under his breath as he unfolds his glasses. “You are undoubtedly the best fiancé.”

Wei Ying bats blindly at the hand that pets him. “Shush, you! I’m sleeping now.”

Later, when their stomachs are stuffed full of too much rice, Lan Wangji thinks he’ll request they return to the couch. This is a day full of rarities and he’s determined to savour every minute of this sleeply, perfect man that it will gift him.

[fanyiyimdzs]

I think I'm going to go back and standardize how I translate certain terms, because a few of them I've been a bit inconsistent on. I'm also going to revisit some decisions I made at the spur of the moment (because that's how I started this in the first place 😅). So things might get revised a little--bear with me through the early installment weirdness. (You'll notice that I revise stuff after it gets posted sometimes anyway, usually for typos, but yesterday I revised like the first third of chapter 2 because I decided I hated a lot of the prose.) This is actually my first time doing a fan translation, so it's been a bit of a learning process.

I'm going to think out loud for a moment (also so I have a record to look back on for standardization purposes, and because this is actually my least favorite part of translation, and, imo--despite the amount of attention these particular types of translation issues get in fandom--the least important, but I have to fix it up sooner or later). Some of these aren't changes, I'm just going to list them to have them all in one place.

If you don't want to read all this but are interested in voicing your opinion, you can skip to the end for the list of things I particularly want to hear feedback on.

Clan related

氏 -> clan - I know a lot of people are used to “sect” but many many rounds of character flashcards have drilled it into me that this means “clan” or “family” 😅

家族 -> house, eg. House Lan - I had been translating this as “family” but now that I think about it carefully, “house” sounds better and avoids confusion with the ordinary word “family.” Plus the fewer syllables set translations have, the better, in my opinion. Makes it easier to write prettier sentences. One is not more or less accurate than the other (and in fact, House probably has connotations closer to 家族). Thoughts?

宗主 -> Clan Master - I had been using “Lord” because of its simplicity, but I'm not in love with it and it does sound too European. I like the symmetry with “young master” and it sounds nicer to me than “Clan Leader.” Don't like the number of syllables, but I guess you win some, you lose some. Thoughts on this too?

公子/前辈/子弟+后辈 -> young master/senior/junior - these are good translations, will stay. Although I'll probably change 前辈 when used as a title. It would sound strange for Lan Sizhui to refer to WWX as Senior Wei all the time (it'll probably be “Master Wei” instead).

师姐/师弟/etc. (shijie, shidi, etc.) - honestly, not sure about this one. When used as an address, I'll probably change it with the person's name unless the dialogue is specifically stressing the family-like relationship. When used as a regular word in a sentence I'll probably go with sister/brother unless the fact that they're not blood relatives is relevant, in which case I'll add “clan” in front. This seems like it'll work better as context dependent than a set translation.

老祖 -> grandmaster - tempted to go with “Old Master” instead kind of on analogy with the painters and because 老 literally means “old,” but it would probably sound strange to have WWX constantly referred to as “old” lol. 夷陵老祖 will be either the Grandmaster of Yiling or Yiling Grandmaster depending on which better fits the tone/rhythm of the sentence.

Magicky supernatural stuff

阴虎符 -> Yin Tiger Talisman - I thought about a billion different translations for 阴, but honestly, none of them work. English speakers are familiar with the word 阴 through “yin-yang” anyway (it's the dark component). So 阴 is Yin. I also hate “Stygian” with a passion lol -- how many people even know what that means, like 0.1% of the population? Might as well just keep it Yin if no one is going to understand anyway. (For a similar reason, stop translating 风水 as “geomancy,” Netflix--way more people have heard of fengshui than geomancy!)

To be honest, I'm not thrilled with the “tiger” part, and am tempted to keep it untranslated. Yinhu Talisman or Yin Hu Talisman sounds better to me. What do you guys think? Is “tiger” important?

I picked “talisman” because I thought it ultimately was the most accurate and clearest translation. It is a talisman. Not thrilled about the number of syllables, but I'll go with accuracy this time.

符篆 -> seal or paper seal (if it's a paper seal) - don't have much to say about this one

祟 -> spirit - can someone confirm or deny for me whether 邪祟 is a generic term for all types of spookies in MDZS? It's a bit unclear for me from the text

妖/魔/鬼/怪 -> fae/demon/ghost/monster - guess I'll just stick with the usual translations. Tweaking fairy to fae to make it less benign-sounding. also I need to go back and change a few occurrences of “demon” to “ghost” 😅

妖魔鬼怪 -> evil spirits? - struggling with the single phrase generic term. Anyone who is a super expert on the minute details, does 妖魔鬼怪 = 邪祟?

厉鬼 -> vicious ghost

走尸 -> walking corpse

凶尸 -> fierce corpse

刀 -> sabre

Sword names will probably stay untranslated, although I'm tempted to render Suibian as “Whatever” or “Anything” to make the joke work.

Miscellaneous

断袖 -> gay or other appropriate synonym that will be understood without explanation - I love the story of Emperor Ai too, but I want this translation to be idiomatic and not require explanations to understand beyond what is absolutely necessary.

乱葬岗 -> Burial Mounds - I like this translation a lot

I probably missed some stuff, and sorry for the rambliness but anyway this is your chance to register an opinion before I go back and edit these changes in. Answer any or all:

1. 家族 - House or family? Or do people really love 氏 = sect and 家族 = clan that much?

2. 宗主 - Clan Master, yes or no? Or other suggestions?

3. Ideas for 师姐 (“shijie”), etc.? Otherwise, I think I'll keep this one on a case-by-case basis

4. 老祖 - anyone have any better ideas than “grandmaster”? Otherwise I think that's what I'll stick with.

5. Yin Tiger Talisman, Yinhu Talisman, or Yin Hu Talisman? From an aesthetic standpoint, the middle one is my favorite, but the others are slightly more transparent as far as meaning.

6. Does 邪祟 = 妖魔鬼怪? Someone link me to a detailed taxonomy of the undead please

7. Does Suibian stay Suibian, or get turned into something that will make the joke about its name work in English? If the latter, should the other sword names be translated too so Suibian isn't literally the only with an English name?