svetlacreates

[svetlacreates]

The Disappearance of Xiao Xingchen

Fandom: The Untamed Pairing: Song Lan/Xiao Xingchen/Xue Yang Rating: Explicit Words: In progress!

Xiao Xingchen has been a hostage to the Jin Empire for as long as he can remember. When a dark matter cultivator forces the surrender of Baixue Station, he is chosen as the imperial representative to tie them to the empire in marriage. He is prepared to be a friend to his new husband; but Song Zichen, furious and grieving the massacre that led to his people’s conquest, wants nothing at all to do with him. Alone in his new home, shut out of the governing council and estranged from his husband, Xingchen befriends Xue Yang, a Jin agent who has been assigned to Baixue Station. Their relationship fast grows dangerously close; and meanwhile the political situation on Baixue is getting worse. Resistance groups are fighting Jin control, Xue Yang and Zichen are both keeping secrets, and not all is as it seems. It will take everything Xingchen has to save his home, hold his relationships together—and uncover the secret, concealed where he least expects it, that might just break an empire.

Read it here.

Welcome to my first chaptered WIP since I was a teenager! This story has been in the works, somewhere in the background, since 2020, and I am so excited to finally be bringing it into the world. Some of you have been waiting for this one for a very long time. I hope it's everything you could have dreamed.

This is my entry for the @mdzsbigbang 2024. The gorgeous cover art was drawn by @svetlacreates, and the fic was betaed by yellingloud_zu (on twitter).

•••

“Pardon me, Lianfang-zun,” Xiao Xingchen says politely, “but I’m afraid I don’t understand.”

Jin Guangyao gives him a look that is just as polite but nonetheless conveys a businesslike impatience in the arch of his perfectly manicured eyebrows. “Surely the esteemed Xiao Xingchen-daozhang knows the meaning of the word ‘marriage,’” he says.

They are in Jin Guangyao’s private office, at the heart of Jinlintai’s Imperial Administration Pavilion. Jin Guangyao is seated very properly on an artificial silk cushion, behind a beautifully carved desk of imitation elm. A tidy stack of flimsy has been set at his right elbow, a brush and inkstone arranged just so beside it. On his opposite side, a delicate ceramic vase holds a single blooming orchid, its pale greenish petals veined with brilliant purple; a sleek tablet rests in front of it, its screen pulsing with the subtle golden glow of sleep mode. The broad window behind him opens onto a manicured view of one of Jinlintai’s innumerable peony courtyards; on the wall to his left—tastefully displayed for the benefit of both occupant and visitors—is a set of four elegant scrolls depicting the change of the seasons.

Those, Xingchen is fairly sure, are on real paper, painted in traditional inks that have never so much as gestured at a synthetic manufacturing process. A priceless treasure. He is very out of his depth.

He takes a slow breath. “I do, of course,” he says. “But I hardly understand why Jin-zongzhu would consider me a suitable marriage candidate in this case.”

“You may be confident that he does,” Jin Guangyao reassures him, though Xingchen does not feel especially reassured. “You have been an honoured member of the Jin imperial household for some time now.”

“For as long as I can remember,” Xingchen agrees. His voice is very neutral.

“When your virtuous teacher Baoshan Sanren sent you to us as part of our peace agreement, it was with the understanding that you would become a full member of the imperial court,” Jin Guangyao says. “Jinlintai would house you, feed you, and train you in the cultivation arts as a guest disciple. In exchange we would be assured of her willing cooperation with imperial rule.” He pauses there, evidently expecting some response, and after a beat of confused stillness Xingchen gives him a nod of acknowledgement. “In your time here you have been loyal, gracious, courteous, and obliging. You were the first among our selection when considering an alliance marriage.”

But it doesn’t make sense, Xingchen thinks. “Would it not be more appropriate to marry the representative from Baixue Station to a member of the imperial family?” he says. His voice feels very far away. “Surely that would be more effective in binding them to the empire.”

“There is no one in the family who is considered suitable at this time,” Jin Guangyao says. “All members of the royal household who are of marriageable age are thought to be too high in rank for this particular alliance, or else needed in another position. In their stead, you are an entirely acceptable alternative.”

His smile is as poised as ever, but there is something almost bitter now in the lines around his mouth. Xingchen considers him in silence for a moment. He himself has never paid any mind to the whispers about Jin Guangyao’s parentage, but he is also one of few in Jinlintai who has no interest in rumour. Though Jin Guangyao is second only to Jin Zixuan in the line of imperial succession, Xingchen is sure the Jin cannot have dismissed his suitability on the grounds of high rank.

“Very well,” he says eventually. It still hardly feels real, but somehow he finds himself opening his mouth to say, “When shall I expect the ceremony to take place?”

“In political matters such as this, much of the more traditional ritual must unfortunately be foregone,” Jin Guangyao says. His voice is brisk again, as it always is in discussion of logistics. “There is also the issue of standardizing your bazi across the different planets and systems of your births, not to mention the travel time between Baixue Station and Lanling. We have chosen the soonest realistic date after your betrothed’s projected arrival at Jinlintai.” He picks up his tablet, waking it from sleep and turning it to show Xingchen its display: a calendar, with a single date highlighted in matrimonial red. “The ceremony will take place in approximately three weeks. Your schedule has already been cleared.”

The air feels abruptly too tight in Xingchen’s lungs. “So soon?” he says. His voice is thin. “Forgive me, Lianfang-zun, but the surrender of Baixue Station was quite recent, wasn’t it? Are you certain it’s proper?”

“Entirely,” Jin Guangyao says. His expression hasn’t changed, but Xingchen has the sense that he is starting to lose his patience. “There are other matters to consider as well. The ceremony must of course take place at the palace, as this is an imperial treaty marriage, and the Jin delegation that will be taking over administration of Baixue Station should depart as swiftly as possible. Even three weeks is longer than we would prefer to wait.”

“Why wait at all?” Xingchen says. His head is spinning. “Would it not be more efficient for them to depart immediately? They could be in place on Baixue only a short time after the marriage is solemnized.”

It takes a long moment before Xingchen recognizes the look on Jin Guangyao’s face. There is exasperation, he realizes, in the twitch of his eyebrow, and a touch of condescension in how he wields his smile like he’s drawing a sword. “Because, Xiao Xingchen,” he says, “yourself and your new husband will also be part of that delegation.”

Read the rest on AO3!

[svetlacreates]

A cover image I created for "The Disappearance of Xiao Xingchen", a SongXueXiao fanfiction by the incredible @iodhadh for this year's @mdzsbigbang.

The fic will be up today and I (who got to see the chapters early and read through all the detailed planning) am so excited to share!

[svetlacreates]

And Costis heard, as clearly as he'd heard the king speaking, another voice. It said, "Go to bed." Eugenides the man and Eugenides the God, an illustration of one of my favourite scenes from The King of Attolia! This was my gift for @etoilegarden for the @hamiathesgiftexchange!

[svetlacreates]

So I've been watching Clone Wars for the first time and noticed that the likelihood of Dooku showing up when he threatens to...is very low. Benefits of a hybrid work environment I guess!

[svetlacreates]

My tablet broke a bit over a month ago, and I finally bought a new one. It's coming tomorrow!!

[svetlacreates]

An icon of my gothic romance mains, Lord Alexander Blythe and Miss Temperance Malenova.

Pose referenced from the film "When a Man Loves" (a snippet of which I couldn't stop watching).

[svetlacreates]

curious about Jarnu and the house 👀

"Jarnu and the house" (working title: Holmwood: A Study of Scarlett) is one of the stories my partner and I are working on together, set in our fantasy world of Ashvatyr. It's a bit of a story within a story. While reading Sherlock Holmes, Francis and I decided the characters in our universe needed their own detective stories to be fans of. Jarnu is a fantasy version of John Watson, and the snippet below shows him unsuccessfully looking for lodgings.

There were twenty-two houses on Cherryhill Lane, twenty-one of which satisfied nearly all of Jarnu's lodging requests.

Numbers 1 through 21 were well-situated and spacious, with square gardens and brightly painted doors. Number 4 was smaller than the rest of course, the paint on 12 was cracked, and 15 sported violet glowing hedges from an overuse of pruning spells. Even so, he could have accepted their deficiencies. 

Jarnu looked down at the paper in his hand, a red circle carefully drawn around "Number Twenty-Two" in the advertisement section. He tapped his walking stick on the ground and trained his eyes on the building in question. A tight budget meant tight compromises when picking a rental but he felt, as any gentleman would agree, there were certain things which could not be borne. 

Number 22 Cherryhill was as well situated as the others he supposed, and spacious. More spacious in fact, as it stretched above the roofs of the other houses, above even the old oak tree by Number 20, and disappeared somewhere in the clouds. It could have been an illusion. Jarnu shielded his eyes from the sun, unable to make out a roof. If so, he personally would've added some illusory flowers to the cracked grey stone, and kept off the red painted  "BEWARE".

[svetlacreates]

I was tagged by @gloriousmonsters (who is amazing).

Rules: Post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! Then tag as many people as you have WIPs.

Temperance

Feb 2023 Igneous Heart

Vampire Drabbles 2

Jarnu and the house

Birch short stories

All of these are original projects, and most are in their early stages of writing (with a couple of them only having some exploratory snippets + planning documents). Some of them have related art WIPs so I'll post those too if anyone picks a project with a corresponding drawing!

Tagging @nakimochiku and anyone else who would want to do this. It's been ages since I've done one of these games. I'd love to do more of them, so if you would like to be tagged in future please let me know!

[svetlacreates]

Happy birthday to my sister, Gravity Falls style! Love you lots.

[svetlacreates]

Glam rock Lestat (for that 80s aesthetic). Always pictured him with big curly hair when reading about his rockstar era.

[svetlacreates]

80s glam rock Lestat anyone? Had a lot of fun drawing his rockstar big hair.

[svetlacreates]

"There's a ghost at Edevane, one only Temperance can see."

This Valentine's Day, I figured I'd post the first drawing I made of the main characters from "Temperance", my WIP gothic romance novel.

Oh the left, Miss Temperance Malenova, the titular protagonist. With the strange glowing pistol to the right, Lord Alexander Blythe.

I'm working on a proper summary and some more art to share as I continue working on their story.

[svetlacreates]

Happy New Year! Here’s a drawing I made of my family for Christmas, in A Song of Ice and Fire inspired clothing.

[svetlacreates]

I may or may not have bought myself a set of custom fangs, so I made a few changes to an old Halloween icon I drew of myself as vampire

[svetlacreates]

I drew my friend @pomplanaki's main characters from her upcoming YA novel, "Journey to the Winterlands"! (Which FYI features adventure, friendship, and DINOSAURS, so you should definitely read it when it's out!) Top to bottom, left to right: Entilu, Aaro, Cori, and Saka.

[svetlacreates]

Group shot of our Lancer RPG MSMC crew. From left to right: Watcher, Shrike, Gemini, and Archmage. (Click to open full size) We named ourselves "The Angel Killers" at the end of our last (for now?) session. This crew has lived rent-free in my mind since we started playing.

[svetlacreates]

Last members of our MSMC group - my partner's Lancer RPG pilot Gemini! Gemini is made up of Esrin the human and Shadow the NHP. As of more recent game plays, Esrin has moved Shadow's casket into his brain. They are both very happy with this development.