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potionwine · 2 months ago

Note

Oooh, you’ve also seen Nirvana in Fire?!? That was SO good. And as inspiration for PF?? That, explains some things, dang! It works

My friend. My dear. My lovely Cimi—

WHAT in the world—

Have I seen the drama that bloody changed my life; my favourite comfort c-drama; the series that I rewatch yearly the way I rewatch lotr every Christmastime; that exquisite story with the most incredible breadth and variety of characters with impeccable character work and amazing themes and an ending that respects its viewers which however tragic is thoroughly earned and identity porn and politics and pride and grief, god, so much grief—and an Emperor who is shakespearean in his tragedy and—

Okay. Okay, no, you could not have known, tis a failure of my part if I have not spoken enough about it—I probably mostly reply to other people's posts as they liveblog their watching but. BUT. God when I saw your ask it felt like you came up to me to remark "hey wow so you also ship PF?" that's how gobsmacked I was lol!!!

I have dragged everyone in my life into watching this show! I have mutuals on here who can testify to my introducing them to it omg. I just checked and the earliest NIF post I reblogged was in 2016 so I have been watching it every year since 2016 hahaha!!! Although it's pretty complex chinese, and since so much of the show is made up of characters sitting around talking the intricate plot into existence, it's not really a beginner-friendly c-drama either!!!

NOW I DIDN'T KNOW YOU'VE WATCHED IT TOO???!!!

I. have. been. going. UTTERLY MENTAL. at the lack of anyone with whom I could talk about it? OR SO I THOUGHT. So many times I thought of going into our discord to be like "has anyone ever heard of NIF because hhhhhhh the phoenixflare resonance" or like "so is anyone into TGCF perhaps perchance mayhap???"——because heh. hehehehe. heheheh??? My fic is practically a NIF/TGCF mashup, it's a Lin Shu+Xie Lian!Joshua Rosfield & Jingyan+Hua Cheng!Dion Lesage——and I CANNOT TELL YOU HOW MANY TIMES I wanted to ask god please does anyone else see my vision please god does anyone?? but no one would even understand the references, and I couldn't even ask in areas (asian fandom) where there would be a higher chance of people knowing what crack I'm on because asian fandom is all about that...you know...that I loathe—and I have been in pain and I thought right well fine I'm writing the fic anyway it's fine if I have no one to scream about it with because I'm writing it and then I'll find fellow competence porn+politics enjoyers if they find my fic and—and.

God. What an earth-shattering message to receive in my askbox! You are some sort of miracle <3

Do you see it??? Do you see it? A boy who burned to death in an inferno as an innocent betrayed youth in a catastrophic event caused by his own family, his father slain, his entire clan (and all the troops under his banner) wiped out or scattered. A boy reborn after extensive and horrific injuries after an agonisingly long period of recovery: a ghost who crawled his way out of the gates of hell, the last of his broken once-noble house.

That boy's transformation into his new identity of Mei Changsu/Margrace. His off-screen discovery of the truth that led to Meiling/Phoenix Gate and his continued on-screen quest to learn more. His determination to hold the true culprits accountable at immense personal cost and suffering. His dogged persistence despite incredible odds and visibly failing health. Being surrounded by people who love him and want to protect him, and himself constantly undermining their efforts because his goals are more important than his health. (Because in truth he knows perfectly well that he won't survive, but he can make a difference while he is alive.)

Something that amuses me hugely is how Lin Shu and Joshua literally both come back as 宗主? I love it so much! They come back with the same title! Both of them come back as clan leaders of an organisation that obeys their every command! Margrace is the 不死鳥教団の宗主(=leader of the cult of the undying bird) and Mei Changsu is 江左盟的宗主(=leader of the Jiangzuo alliance).

AND. Hooooo yea this PF fic is just JingSu at this point because oh, a handsome, principled, prideful, and stubborn prince who is a decorated warrior famed for his numerous military accomplishments and the man who is essential to the success of Lin Shu's/Joshua's plans? The resurrected boy barging into his prince's life: no matter how insane it is to choose your side, still "I choose you, Your Highness Prince Jing"??? The fact that the undervalued prince has a history with our secretive ghost protagonist? And (arguably) frequently thought about and missed the bright boy he knew once upon a time in happier days—"I know you," says Dion Lesage without a shadow of a doubt, extremely normal of him to instantly recognise a dead boy he met 20 years ago?

Mutual admiration of each other's integrity and capabilities? Reciprocal faith and remembrance? The foundation of deep respect and enduring friendship, their shared goals and shared family??? I froth at the mouth. JingSu are cousins, PF are stepsiblings by their parents' marriage. Each pair is bound by destiny and by choice—other people have made choices that permanently entangled each pair's lives together forevermore (Joshua+Dion and Jingyan+Xiaoshu), and the choice they themselves personally made to choose each other—

DO YOU SEE THE VISION.

How difficult it is to pursue justice when everyone involved is family and how impossible it is for Lin Shu the nigh-extinguished Chiyan fire for Joshua, the guttering flame, to indict Jingyan's father the Emperor of Liang Dion's father the Emperor of Sanbreque of his crimes against Joshua's family without opening old wounds and hurting many loved ones in the process including Dion himself. The people directly responsible for the tragedies are related to the protagonists in one way or another! If Lin Shu Joshua ever wants resolution for his grief unending, he has to strike at his beloved's father, and plot meticulously to avoid all of the dangers of attacking such a powerful enemy.

(Of course, I acknowledge the critical difference in Jingyan's versus Dion's feelings about their respective fathers.)

Now if only Joshua had done the famous blizzard scene with Dion instead of letting him go off to carry out his ill-advised coup—"Xiao Jingyan! You stand where you are! If I don't stop you today, what are you going to do? What do you think you can possibly accomplish if you charge in to challenge imperial power like this? Do you think you can simply force the Emperor [to do what you want/change his mind about Anabella Wei Zheng]? You have honour and valour but why do you just not have brains! How many more people must be hurt, you tell me!"

Anyway Joshy doesn't have the insufferable smugness of Xiaoshu but he does absolutely have Xiaoshu's pride, the sort of pride that is not just personal pride but familial pride too (after all Joshua comes from extremely prestigious lineage)—just look at how he speaks to Ultima in every scene, his lordly manner. Joshua I think has more Consort Jing to him, and Consort Jing is only my favourite character in all of NIF, in a drama where I love every character to bits—steel in softness, ever gentle ever polite yet not to be bullied and not to be underestimated and also extremely perceptive and learned and patient. Extra sweet bonus that Consort Jing is also a healer. Elegant, restrained, and very repressed. Who knows the depths of Joshua's Consort Jing's grief and loss?

But you know, Jingyan, near the end he is completely in charge—the prince who was always a great and respected general on the battlefield is now more than that, he's directly taking responsibility for all of his people as their future ruler—that means thinking on multiple fronts and exerting control over all of the key governing officials, not merely his military officers. He's leading with confidence, and there's that little scene where he apologises to Xiaoshu for taking action on several plans without consulting him, and Xiaoshu says no, this is the way it should be, this is the correct state of affairs: you are the crown prince, and this is rightfully your arena. You lead, you decide, you command.

Jingyan now sees clearly, he's found out and accepted the truths of his father's role in the atrocity at Meiling and everything that happened back then. He rightly perceives the failings of his family and seeks to redress past wrongs and avoid repetition of past mistakes, he weeds his court of the corrupt and the cowardly, he's become the best possible version of himself: stronger than ever, not just a powerful wartime commander-in-chief but an inspiring leader in the imperial court, careful, thoughtful and politically up-to-speed, finally stable in his sense of self instead of being permanently stuck as that angry and lost and hurting child. He has renewed purpose, he possesses hope for the future, he is able to dedicate himself fully to what he truly believes to be right and act in furtherance of righteous causes—

Critically, this is the man he becomes only because Xiaoshu came back into his life to shake it up. Without Xiaoshu he wouldn't even have the opportunity or means or knowledge. The radiant and fiery boy who Jingyan missed all his life came back to save him. From the outsider prince without contacts or support within the imperial court->to the crown prince who has the court subdued within the palm of his hand. From his pitiful existence as a neglected, unfavoured prince, his lowkey constant simmering resentment, his half-dutiful half-forced obedience of paternal orders that chafe at his conscience->into the steadfast and self-assured prince who is capable of fighting for the betterment of his country and the rallying point for virtuous officials who share those aspirations. The drama shows the audience that Jingyan is unquestionably ready to assume rulership, and together with the person he loves most, they achieve their goals, they save each other and their country (by arresting its downward slide due to the rotten state of its governance).

It's just a strong headcanon of mine (albeit one that I can absolutely present extensive arguments for) but to me Joshua Rosfield is the one and only character able to perform that same abovementioned function for Dion Lesage. Catalyst, turning point, spark that ignites the fire—whatever you call it, this is salvation. It is beautifully poetic that both Lin Shu and Joshua are characterised by fire. They are the fires of change that burn away the old life: before their arrival, the two war princes exist in a state of wearying routine, long-suffering and almost hopeless. Both Jingyan and Dion are shackled by their stations and duties, both are unloved sons with virtually no chance of their circumstances improving without drastic action, and both are trapped in precarious situations where they are subject to the whims of their father (if their imperial fathers turn on them, it will result in irrevocable loss of their status).

Dion's position is weak in the Oriflamme imperial court—pretty sure this point isn't up for debate, since no one ever speaks up in support of him despite the obvious injustice of his ill-treatment. His degree of influence in the court is much, much, so much less than any reasonable person might expect someone who is literally Bahamut and crown prince to have. The Council of Elders and other officials stand by haplessly while he is progressively stripped of power in favour of Olivier. Nobody defends him, nobody objects. (Or maybe some did, and were eliminated.) Even Dion himself submits to the abuse despite inherently superior abilities. Career politicians know which direction the winds blow—they don't defy their Empress, meaning they are either her cronies or too fearful of her to make themselves a target by any raising any opposition. Added to that is the implication that Dion was often away for long periods—and as Xiaoshu explicitly tells Jingyan in the drama, the crown prince cannot leave the imperial capital untended because that is the surest way to lose power. Dion may be Sanbreque's mightiest weapon and revered by the populace, but in practice his political sway is almost negligible. He is not able to leverage himself effectively.

Don't get me wrong, for these reasons I extra extra love the canon portrayal of J*** obeying Joshua against her wishes and T****** obeying Dion against his wishes—I absolutely think their obedience is, to them, the truest and highest and final demonstration of their love and understanding of their respective masters. And both Joshua and Dion expected no less from them. [I've not typed the names out just in case the search function ends up capturing the post and putting it in their tags, not because I hate those characters; I just don't want to be uncivil within fandom.]

But the very point here is that, you know, sometimes you aren't supposed to leave someone just because they say so. Sometimes it is the worst possible course of action to obey someone just because they command it. Sometimes it is undesirable at best and disastrous at worst to support someone's every decision out of unchanging (if uncharitable, one might even say unthinking) loyalty. That is a fundamentally unequal relationship, and while beautiful in its own way, is also uniquely doomed. The truth is, Joshua was always going to pull that trigger, and Dion was always going to pull that trigger: the master was always going to sever the relationship. Those pairs were doomed as soon as they began, because one party can only ever say yes, and yes means the end, you see? That is The End, that is the final break. By their very subordinate nature and by their established personalities within the game, "yes" is the one and only answer J*** and T****** can ever or will ever give. Their master will say, "Leave me", meaning it is over, and they will reply, "Yes, I obey". Because this is the only answer that proves their devotion, leaving them totally incapable of changing the script. Both J*** and T****** knew it and played their parts to perfection, and my heart hurts for them.

In NIF terms, I reckon J*** is Gong Yu, and T****** is Lie Zhanying. Zhanying will follow Jingyan to the end, whatever it may be—in fact in one episode he explicitly says so, and his loyalty is never in doubt. He will go to his death if Jingyan orders it. He will always support Jingyan's decisions. He and the rest of Jingyan's men have been following Jingyan even when the prince was out of favour and cold-shouldered and constantly dispatched to safeguard the country's frontiers—inconvenient places where comfort is low and the environment harsh. Jingyan's favoured brothers live in the lap of luxury within their palaces (like Olivier), while Jingyan himself (like Dion) has always been at war. And as with Zhanying, T****** will never be able to change this status quo on behalf of Jingyan (Dion). For all his boundless dedication to his lord, Zhanying will never be able to improve his prince's standing in the court, never be able to secure more political power for his prince (unless his prince decides to revolt/coup), never be able to make his prince's father love or prize his prince.

It is not a problem of character or willpower or desire. It is, simply put, a problem of power. It is a problem of class. The servant rises as their master rises, and falls as their master falls. In other words, the servant's status is determined by their master's status. Zhanying is Jingyan's deputy. When Jingyan's status was elevated, Zhanying naturally also assumed commandership over more troop divisions because those were allocated to the prince by the Liang Emperor. (There is no doubt in my mind that T******'s status as second-in-command is because of Prince Dion. He's too young to have earned that position by gradual promotion through meritorious accomplishment. Unless you're telling me that the knights dragoon don't have a single officer above age 30.) Zhanying is invaluable to Prince Jing in security, in warcraft, and in a variety of generic daily tasks. However, he is part of the rigid imperial system and lower in the hierarchy. He may persuade his lord, but he cannot order him. He may disagree, but he cannot defy. He may privately despise the Emperor/Empress, but he cannot show it and cannot act on it (literally treason). His role is to follow and obey. If he does not perform that role for whatever reason, he fundamentally negates his utility to his lord.

Ergo, endgame Jingyan is only possible because his true equal and soulmate, his real zhiji, came back to challenge the status quo. In fact, came back to challenge him. It is not merely the fact that this person understands him above all, it is also the fact that this person has the ability to act on that understanding. Jingyan is technically also Xiaoshu's prince, master, and eventual Emperor—so where is the difference?

The difference is, Lin Shu is comparable in nobility. Lin Shu is the cousin of princes and the incumbent Emperor's nephew, Lin Shu was raised amongst the imperial household, and played and studied and fought and hung out with them as peers of roughly equal rank. In this respect Joshua actually outstrips Lin Shu: Joshua is a prince by blood, and had Rosaria not fallen (especially if Sylvestre had not risen to the throne), would have been higher status than Dion. It's a massive pet peeve of mine that so many fans in XVI fandom don't seem to realise that Joshua was crown prince? Everybody knows Dion is crown prince, but do they realise Joshua is the original? In the English version prologue, the knights do call him "prince" and "your highness". The Rosarian throne is Joshua's by right of birth. At the time of their meeting as children, Joshua outranked Dion. They were equals as Dominants of their nation, but Dion back then was the child of a Cardinal and not the child of Sanbreque's ruler at that time; i.e. he was not a prince and not in line for the Sanbrequois throne.

The other wonderful similarity is Lin Shu's and Joshua's statuses as outsiders to the system when they reintroduce themselves to Jingyan/Dion. As Jingyan's strategist, Lin Shu has more leeway with regards to making his prince listen to him and take his advice. But importantly, he is now Mei Changsu, and that means he is able to play outside of the system. The imperial system effectively cast him out when it killed him. The strict codes of imperial conduct no longer chain him as they chain those confined within its structure. As a free agent unlike Zhanying, he has the right and privilege of choosing his own master. That includes the right to leave or to change his mind. And although the prince's strategist is supposed to be subordinate too, Xiaoshu would never truly be subordinate in the same fashion no matter how many times he bows his head, because at his core he is still high nobility and it still shines through despite everything. His manners are still perfect. He still navigates life with the easy expectation that people will serve him. He grabs the Duchess' hand and yells at Prince Jing and gloats at Marquis Ning. It's all the little ways that remind the audience, over and over, that this man was raised as a posh lordling. You can remove the boy from the upper class but you can't remove the upper class from the boy. It's the same with Joshua. His manners are still court-perfect. He still moves through life accepting that he will be served. He may bow his head to Dion and call him "your highness" but he also takes the liberty of throwing himself at Dion for a hug. Because to him, the prince is not some lofty and untouchable figure to be addressed with unfailing deference, he's just a friend.

(I know T****** is minor nobility, to be honest Zhanying definitely is too. The deputies of high level royals aren't going to be commoners. But I don't think I have to explain the gulf between ruling class/a close blood relative of the monarch versus lower nobility.)

Joshua too is an outsider that isn't beholden to Sanbreque's Emperor in the way that all of Dion and his knights owe their fealty. Again in this respect Joshua has it better than Xiaoshu—Joshua is his own sovereign master, and that should impact his perspective, his sense of self, and therefore his behaviour with others and how he navigates the world.

Gong Yu... I think anyone who's watched NIF will know exactly why I say that J***'s counterpart is Gong Yu lol. I think the s/h/u/a/t/e/s want her counterpart to be Princess (Duchess) Nihuang and they certainly produce fanwork in that vein, and I respect them for it because fans be doing what they love and hooray for that. But..... she's Gong Yu.

For all these reasons I am utterly obsessed with a Joshua that pushes back at Dion. The person able to challenge the status quo and challenge Dion. An equal who listens to Dion's absurd speech in the palace at Twinside and calls utter bullshit, who says, "A matter for the imperial family? are you joking? that's my mother, that's my younger brother. an imperial matter for you to resolve? say rather, our family, OUR problem to resolve. You don't get to go off half-cooked to arrest or kill my mother without actual political strategies, notwithstanding your military capability to launch a coup. And also, what about your dad? However much I love you, my darling Dion, we have to talk about the way that you insist on poor little meow meowing your awful father because my dear old mum didn't do Phoenix Gate alone and she for sure didn't immaculately conceive Olivier."

Endgame Dion isn't satisfactory in several glaring ways and it annoys me hugely that even unto the end he never grapples with and confronts the truth of his father instead of the idealised version that lives in his head. It's a little bizarre how Dion's arc is often praised by fans, since it feels very incomplete to me. Or, well, fine, perhaps just unsatisfying (since XVI simply isn't his story). His deep-seated need to be loved by his father prevents him from seeing anything clearly, which is so ironic for the only character to possess a third eye in canon? His honour and his might have been squandered in service to a selfish, uncaring, and objectively bad monarch, yet despite how earnestly Dion wants to be a good prince to his people he seems wholly incapable of recognising this fact? His mind repeatedly shies away from his father's shortcomings. In one scene he calls his father out for words befitting a tyrant, yet ultimately he persists in the belief that his father simply needs to be saved from Anabella's evil influence as if Sylvestre Lesage isn't a 50-year-old adult man who schemed his way to the throne and killed a woman's whole family and happily married that woman to beget legitimate offspring with her.

Soooo....... I've just spoiled the whole plot of my fic but it's really just NIF nonsense as usual and that is actually extremely predictable of me. But honestly the spoiling is not a big deal, because as with NIF, fundamentally my story is not meant to be plot-twisty and suspenseful—the real storytelling skill of the NIF drama is that the audience should be able to quickly grasp the overarching plot with no difficulty because the pleasure of this particular type of story is to watch the protagonist achieve their heart's desire, step by delicious step. The objective of this type of story is to properly pay off what it promises. NIF=the wronged protagonist seeks justice. We already know Lin Shu will obtain justice by the end of the tale, what we are here to enjoy is the journey! Same really for IEM I reckon; by the end of chapter 1 Joshua's goals should be really obvious, and since my little fic will have the happy ending tag because I only ever write happy endings, the audience basically knows he'll succeed—it's very much a journey not destination kind of story.

Ooof the post is crazy long and took me 3 nights to compose an answer and I haven't even managed to go into any TGCF elements but that work mainly contributes to characterisation instead of plot. One of the craziest XVI scenes was the Hideaway's sickbay after Twinside, the genuine regret Joshua expressed and how he blamed himself for not reaching out to Dion sooner; now the Empire and her prince lie in ruins etc. Surely he remembers this is the country that destroyed his own? Surely??? What kind of person, robbed of home and throne, can find it in himself to respond with so much empathy and kindness? Sanbreque has now experienced pretty much the same tragedy they inflicted on Rosaria two decades ago, and isn't that just the funniest parody of divine retribution? Instead of viewing this as Sanbreque's just deserts, Joshua Rosfield pities them and wishes he could have helped them avert this disaster.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wonderfully Xie Lian-coded. Something something someone who has been through the worst and nevertheless chooses goodness and kindness. Someone who intimately understands the ugliest and lowest depths that people sink to, yet refuse to lose themselves in that temptation even when vengeance would seem perfectly justified.

You've known for a long time now that I love a Joshua who is very similar to his mother. This is why lol. It's about that delicious, delicious contrasting foil. It is the difference between Jun Wu & Xie Lian, as it is the difference between Anabella & Joshua. That the indestructible integrity we see from Xie Lian or Joshua didn't come easy, they weren't born perfect, their ethics were tested and forged and earned through suffering the likes of which most people will never know. The person that they have each become is the sum of their choices actively made. In the canon of TGCF and XVI, both of these ex-crown-princes live on in disgrace, in circumstances best described as reduced and humiliating, their respective kingdoms fallen, their wealth and glory spent—but they are better and braver human beings than everyone around them, they are beautiful and noble souls, quiet and unacknowledged, and only Hua Cheng and Dion truly see and fully understand that (and therefore cannot help but love them utterly).

I've a few more thoughts regarding Joshua swirling around as captured in other Xie Lian posts: here, here, here, and here. Not sure if you know TGCF or are into it as well, but just leaving links to those posts here for my own benefit too. I've been gravitating towards phoenixflare comparisons in various hualian meta posts since early 2024 so clearly these concepts have been stewing in my head for some duration, but I haven't fully teased out what it is about these two ships that gives me that niggling sense of connecting similarities.

^ Whereas I clearly know exactly what it is about JingSu that makes me point and holler "THEM!"

#that was a whopper of an answer #THANK YOU KATIE for giving me the opportunity to gush about this <3 <3 <3 #i didn't even say everything i wanted to #brain is pretty cooked i can't wait to sleep in every day between christmas and new year #i hope my thoughts and concepts will actually come through in my fic but to be honest i am worried about the skill issue LOL #also nirvana in fire has a huge cast because political stories require a lot of moving parts and i'm worried about introducing too many ocs #literally the ocs are only there to support the plot they are extremely secondary to joshua and dion #but one simply needs more undying and more rosarians and more sanbrequois persons to work with for such a story you know?!?!?!#also this doesn't fit in the main post but the servant saying no to the master is possible and would herald a significant change #'no' is a shock to the system and sometimes that's exactly what is needed #saying yes to the status quo reaffirms it and solidifies any imbalance #it is precisely the narrative importance of elizabeth rejecting darcy's first proposal in p&p #acceptance from her would be tantamount to condoning his insult of her and her family #it'd have the effect of saying “i agree and/or i am prepared to overlook everything in submission to you”#and each time this occurs it reinforces the imbalance until it reaches a state of permanence #until it becomes the default that neither party can deviate from #no might be the very thing that prompts him to reconsider himself and his assumptions and reflect on his conduct and values #prompts him to consider exactly how he views [] and relearn how to appreciate [] in a new and different light #it's extra tricky when yes=love and devotion while no=shakes the boat and unpredictable and adds stress in already trying times #but!!! in an equal relationship partners must be able to impose on each other! rightfully take up time and space in another's life!#to never ever ever be an inconvenience is not healthy love it's servitude it's shrinking oneself it's being secondfiddle in one's own rship #look it's practically a whole chapter of my pf manifesto ahahahaha #it's not all social class there are other chapters like long slim legs are best slung over strong broad shoulders #and prince with obedience kink requires a partner in whose moral character he has absolute faith #iem #potion’s periodical

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eunoiareview · 3 years ago

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Immigration

The big surprise was nothing so unfamiliar. The years went by An inch of shadow stretches sideways like the angle of the setting sun. Dr. Meiling Cheng is Professor and Head of Critical Studies at the USC School of Dramatic Arts. Born and raised in Taipei, Taiwan, she came to the United States to study at the Yale School of Drama. The author of two scholarly books and a coedited critical…

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#Meiling Cheng

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fandomygoodness · 3 years ago

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The Masterlist

Hello everyone I hope this is finding you well! This masterlist will include what I do and don’t write and, of course, what I write for! The only thing I require from you is your asks and a general prompt or theme as I do not have a list of them

Do’s

Headcanons

SFW

One-Shots

F!Reader

GN!Reader

M!Reader

Fluff

Angst

Drama

AU’S

Some dark themes (I’ll clarify this w/ the asks if it comes up)

Ships (If it’s a pairing I’m not familiar with I will try my best!)

Crossovers

Don’ts

NSFW

Gore of any kind

Omegaverse

Heavy dark themes (S/H, S/A, Su!cide,) (implied is fine but I won't directly write it)

Fandoms/Characters (If there's a character you want that isn't listed you can still request them)

Bleach

Ichigo Kurosaki

Rukia Kuchiki

Orihime Inoue

Uryu Ishida

Byakuya Kuchiki

Renji Abarai

Toshiro Hitsugaya

Rangiku Matsumoto

Shinji Hirako

Hiyori Sarugaki

Momo Hinamori

Sosuke Aizen

Gin Ichimaru

Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez

Ulquiorra Cifer

Nelliel Tu (Adult form only!)

Naruto

Naruto Uzumaki

Sakura Haruno

Sasuke Uchiha

Hinata Hyuuga

Neji Hyuuga

Ino Yamanaka

Temari

Gaara

Shikamaru Nara

Rock Lee

Tenten

Sasori

Deidara

Sai

Itachi

MHA(Anime only)

Izuku Midoriya

Katsuki Bakugo

Shoto Todoroki

Ochako Uraraka

Tsuyu Asui

Tenya Iida

Keigo Takami

Dabi

Himiko Toga

Fumikage Tokoyami

Kyoka Jiro

Eijiro Kirishima

Denki Kaminari

Mina Ashido

Momo Yaoyorozu

Mei Hatsume

Hitoshi Shinsou

Mirio Togata

Nejire Hado

Tamaki Amajiki

Damian Wayne/Robin

Dick Grayson/Nightwing

Jason Todd/Red Hood

Tim Drake/Red Robin

Bruce Wayne/Batman

Koriand’r/Starfire

Rachel Roth/Raven

Garfield Logan/Beast Boy

Wally West/Kid Flash

Jaime/Blue Beetle

Sailor Moon

Usagi Tsukino/Sailor Moon

Rei Hino/Sailor Mars

Mina Aino/Sailor Venus

Makoto Kino/Sailor Jupiter

Ami Mizuno/Sailor Mercury

Mamoru Chiba/Tuxedo Mask

Haruka Tenoh/Sailor Uranus

Michiru Kaioh/Sailor Neptune

Allan/Ann (Doom Tree arc)

Seiya Kou/Sailor Star Fighter

Yaten Kou/Sailor Star Healer

Taiki Kou/Sailor Star Maker

Twisted Wonderland

Any of the main houses

Obey Me

Any of the brothers

Miraculous Ladybug

Marinette Dupain-Cheng/Ladybug

Adrien Agreste/Chat Noir

Felix Graham de Vanily/Culpa (Depends which version you want)

Luka Couffaine

ATLA

Zuko

Katara

Sokka

Suki

Mai

Azula

Ty Lee

KNY/Demon Slayer

Tanjiro Kamado

Inosuke Hashibira

Kanao

Shinobu Kocho

Nezuko Kamado

Mitsuri Kanroji

Rengoku Kyojuro

Iguro Obanai

Giyuu Tomioka

D.GrayMan

Allen Walker

Yuu Kanda

Lavi

Lenalee Lee

Tyki Mikk

Red Queen

Mare Barrow

Maven Calore

Tiberias (Cal) Calore

Diana Farley

Shade Barrow

Kilorn Warren

Evangeline Samos

Inuyasha

Kagome Higurashi

Miroku

Sango

Sesshomaru

Koga

Kamisama Kiss

Nanami

Tomoe

Mizuki

Kurama

Cardcaptor Sakura

Sakura Kinomoto

Li Syaoran

Meiling Li

Tomoyo Daidouji

Toya Kinomoto

Yukito

Yue

Eriol Hiiragizawa

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood

Edward Elric

Winry Rockbell

Alphonse Elric

Roy Mustang

Riza Hawkeye

Greed

Ling Yao

Envy

Soul Eater

Maka Albarn

Soul Evans

Death the Kid

Patty Thompson

Elizabeth Thompson

Black Star

Tsubaki Nakatsukasa

Crona

Vampire Knight

Zero Kiryu

Kaname Kuran

Yuki Cross

Ruka Souen

Takumi Ichijo

Senri Shiki

Rima Toya

Akatsuki Kain

Hanabusa Aido

OHSHC

Any of the hosts

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boxoftheskyking · 4 years ago

Text

Pick Up Every Piece, Part Two

how do you write Wei Ying? All talking. How do you write Lan Zhan? Run on sentences, of course.

have some exposition. everyone is a mess, wahoo.

Part One

---

Lan Zhan’s iron is broken.

There’s no reason it should be—he keeps it clean and returns it to its original box after each use, and it’s barely three years old. But no matter what he does, it does not heat. He shouldn’t even need to iron his shirt in the morning, but deadline on deadline (and budget cuts on budget cuts) mean that he hasn’t had a decent night’s sleep in six days and hasn’t done laundry in a week. There are dishes piled up in the kitchen sink, so he’s started avoiding the kitchen entirely on his way to crash into bed so he doesn’t have to see it.

Things break, Lan Zhan accepts this. They wear out, come to accidents, disappoint you, die. But there’s no reason for this iron not to work. There have been no odd smells, the plug is fine—he’s tried three different outlets—and it’s barely three years old.

He stands in his closet in an undershirt and boxers, one hand pressed flat against the heating element, and allows himself a two minute breakdown.

There’s no reason for it. He’s done everything right, ticked every box. He started writing at age ten and hasn’t stopped since. He was top of his class at university, edited every school paper he had access to and founded two more, he got his masters. Even factoring in nepotism—which he doesn’t like to do, because it makes him feel like a cheat—he’s gone about as far as he can as a journalist. He’s won every major award, and with his uncle as managing editor he has more freedom than most in terms of how he writes and what he covers. He served the Republic, fought for two and half years and got a Sunshot medal for it. And yet, after ten years in his chosen field, everything is dying around him. No one pays for papers anymore, no one cares for the truth anymore. Political pundits on TV and radio have taken over the readership; citizens still traumatized by war just want someone to tell them what to think, tell them everything is fine now, tell them to ignore the injustices and messes and misfortunes that surround them. When he started at the Gusu Herald there were fifty people on staff—now they’re down to under twenty, including editors. All the small town papers in the area have closed, but there’s hardly the staff to even consider local stories these days. Lan Qiren tries to hold out as the last family-owned paper in the area, but corporations are circling. It’s like he spent his whole youth building a shining bridge across a canyon, only to find the other side barren and dead, miles of cold steel and no light on the horizon.

He turns the iron and presses it against his chest, imagines it suddenly turning on, the satisfaction of the burn.

Then he unplugs the iron, puts it back in its box, and pulls on the wrinkled shirt. He pulls up the blackout curtains to let a little of the thin 7am light into the bedroom. There’s no reason to still have blackout curtains in Gusu, but he got used to it years ago and once he gets used to things he tends not to change them without reason. But he’s got plants now, gifts from his brother, and he’s trying to keep them alive. It shouldn’t be that difficult to do, he is conscientious and meticulous, but then his iron shouldn’t be broken either.

No one comments on his wrinkled appearance when he gets to work, which irks him. There is the familiar sound of phones ringing, printers going, file cabinets slamming open and closed in every direction. It’s calming to him, but he can’t help but notice how much quieter it is now than when he started. Part of it is the new computers—when he started here they were still on electric typewriters which were deafening. But mostly it just feels . . . empty.

Not completely empty, not yet.

“Hey, hey Lan Zhan,” Lan Meiling waves him over to her desk, where a half dozen reporters are gathered around a computer printout. “Did you see this? Jin Zixun’s the new head of the Trade Commission. Just announced.”

Lan Zhan winces and looks over the report.

“But we’re not a monarchy, right guys?” Liu Dong snorts, shoving Meiling’s shoulder.

“It’s not a monarchy, it’s the other thing,” Wang Tengfei says, tapping his chin. “What’s the thing where it’s not passed down by birth, but you still appoint all your family members? That’s a thing isn’t it?”

“That’s just Jin Guangshan,” Liu Dong laughs. “But hush, hush, treason.”

“Come on, what’s the word for it?” Tengfei asks again.

Meiling takes the paper back from Lan Zhan. “Wasn’t he the one who paid for his grades in college? I get them confused.”

Lan Zhan nods. “That was Jin Zixun. Who’s got the story? There should be clippings. ‘92, I think, or ‘93.”

“Who covered that? Any of you?” Su She leans over the cubicle wall, knocking the photo of Meiling’s family onto her desk. There’s no reason for him to be here; he doesn’t cover politics. He’s had the local court beat for the past three years, and has spent those three years writing the exact same story five times a week with different names and charges plugged in. Lan Zhan is completely sure that he’d cover a person fined for unpaid parking tickets and a person arrested for smuggling baby unicorns with the exact same level of interest.

“Wei Ying wrote the story,” Lan Zhan says. The group falls silent, a troubled glance flying between all but him. “Before the merger, in the Gusu Times. Lan Shu can pull the clippings for you. It was a series, I believe.”

Lan Meiling coughs. “You can find a different reference, Liu Dong. Someone in Qinghe must have covered it.”

“It was a good series,” Lan Zhan says. He’s being needlessly stubborn, but that’s nothing new. “Wei Ying got the school registrar on the record.”

Liu Dong scratches the back of his shaved head. “Yeah, but. You know. I’ll call over to Qinghe.”

“It was a good series,” Lan Zhan says again. It’s awkward enough to break up the group, everyone shuffling back to their desks or the coffee maker. Lan Zhan has that uncomfortable feeling that he’s supposed to want to apologize for something. It’s a feeling he gets a lot, and he hates it. He doesn’t want to apologize—he has nothing to apologize for. Wei Ying was a good reporter; he wrote good stories. Everything that happened after that doesn’t change the fact that he was good at what he did.

Su She follows him over to his desk, so his day is about to keep getting worse. Lan Zhan prides himself on being rational, and he has many rational reasons for disliking Su She. He’s a half-assed writer, he wouldn’t know a decently placed comma if it was unveiled to him on a pedestal by the gods, he is a busybody and a gossip, and he lives to take credit for other people’s work. He’ll offer you the phone number of one of his “connections” and then whine about how he deserves a shared byline.

But on many levels beyond the rational, Lan Zhan hates the guy. He hates the way he pronounces words, his laugh, the smell of his lunch, even his handwriting. And he’s always there.

“You knew him, didn’t you, Lan Zhan?” Su She leans on his cubicle now, though there are no photographs to knock down.

Lan Zhan’s instinctual response is Don’t call me that, which is ridiculous because it’s his name. But he hates the way his name sounds in Su She’s mouth.

“What?”

“Wei Ying. You knew him before the scandal, didn’t you?”

Lan Zhan takes an even breath. “Yes.”

“Did you work with him?”

“He was at the Times, before the merger. He never worked at the Herald.”

“But you knew him in school, right?”

If Lan Zhan wanted to be fair (he doesn’t), there’s no way for Su She to know that this line of questioning is particularly painful. He distracts himself from the sting of it by considering all of the answers he won’t be giving.

Yes. He gave me half a handjob in 1989 and I’ve thought of it every day since.

Yes. He called me his soulmate one day in the library at Gusu University and I’ve thought of it every day since.

Yes, I read the story that ruined his life before it was published, because he came to my home and asked me to read it and he was so proud, skinny and manic and over-caffeinated and burning, burning, burning, and I looked at him and I recognized the same thing that burns in me, the thing that keeps me coming back to this sad beige office every day, that makes me want to fight the inevitable like swinging swords at the sea, and I didn’t tell him not to publish. I told him it was a good story. It would not have stopped him, me telling him not to do it. But I could have tried. And I’ve thought of that every day since.

He just nods, instead.

“Is he still alive, do you think?” Su She asks casually.

The question stops Lan Zhan. “What?”

“No one’s heard from him since the war, have they? Could have died somewhere. Plenty still missing. I heard he went West, maybe, and the fighting was—”

“He is not dead.” Lan Zhan doesn’t know this for sure. But he would know, surely. Wouldn’t he? The thought honestly has not occurred to him in all these years, that Wei Ying might have died.

“Are you in touch?” Su She has a habit of asking questions like this, flipping from casual conversation to an interrogation. It makes him a terrible reporter.

“I served with his brother. He has not mentioned that Wei Ying has died. I have work to do, Su She.”

It bothers him, even after Su She leaves. He hasn’t seen Jiang Cheng in a few years, and they do not write or call each other. Jin Zixuan writes to them all about once a year, and he visits when he’s in Gusu, but he has always been the more sentimental one of the three of them, the survivors. But he thinks that Jiang Cheng would tell him if Wei Ying had died.

Perhaps he wouldn’t. Jiang Cheng was not at school with them; he may not think of Lan Zhan as a person to notify in the event of his brother’s death. Would anyone think to let him know? It wouldn’t make the papers, probably, so how would he know? Wen Qing, perhaps. If she remembered. If she is also alive.

He feels it like an itch on his skin, something unsettled in his stomach, the idea that Wei Ying might not have survived. He would know, wouldn’t he? He’d feel it, the change in the fabric of the universe. Food would taste different, his voice would sound different. He’d feel it in the moments between sleeping and waking.

He makes a cup of tea and boots up his computer. They all have emails now, which is still a relatively new part of the morning ritual, but he doesn’t mind adding it as he checks his mail, his answering machine. He had a deadline yesterday and isn’t swamped this morning, so he takes down phone numbers and flips through his calendar on autopilot while he thinks about Wei Ying.

Wei Ying probably remembers him. He definitely remembers him, it would be ridiculous for him not to, but Lan Zhan doubts he remembers their college years the same way.

(His fingers in Wei Ying’s hair, shoved against the wall in someone else’s dark bedroom, cheering and laughter from the drinking game just downstairs, cheap beer on his breath, everything spinning, spinning, his first time being drunk, his brain singing out kiss him, kiss him again, more, more, more, this is your chance, Wei Ying’s left hand on him, awkward and surprisingly tender, Wei Ying’s voice slurring in his ear “Lan Zhan I’m so glad you’re here, I’m so glad, I’m so glad I found you, Lan Zhan,” before the door bursts open and they spring apart, before Wei Ying ruffles his hair and says, “You probably won’t remember this, huh?” before they leave the party separately, before weeks of silence because what do you say to all of that, before Wei Ying and Wen Qing get together and Lan Zhan says, “I’m happy for you,” which is a lie, a lie, a lie, before Wei Ying and Wen Qing split up and Lan Zhan says, “I’m sorry to hear that,” which is a lie, a lie, a lie . . .)

He could do some digging. It probably wouldn’t be too difficult to find him, and it’s not like Lan Zhan lacks resources. But every time the thought crosses his mind it feels like too much, too violating. If Wei Ying wanted to be found, he would not have disappeared. And if Wei Ying wanted Lan Zhan in his life, he knows where to find him. Lan Zhan is not the one who left.

That’s a bitter thought, and unfair.

The story of Wei Ying is not complicated, and it’s not secret, but it’s never told right.

They’d met in college, when Wei Ying transferred to Gusu in junior year, in a psych class of all places. Lan Zhan had a double major, because psychology and journalism was a logical pairing, and Wei Ying was meant to take a broadcast concentration but had broken his wrist falling off a roof and couldn’t work any of the equipment.

Lan Zhan hadn’t known what to do with him at first. Wei Ying had grabbed him for the first group project a week into the semester, declaring, “We’re kindred spirits, you know,” before writing his phone number left-handed on Lan Zhan’s arm. Lan Zhan did not know. They had barely spoken before this, but for the rest of the semester Wei Ying sat by him and they studied together and Lan Zhan pulled strings to get him onto the university paper. And Wei Ying had grinned at him one day in the library, sleep-deprived and rumpled, when Lan Zhan had finished his trailed-off sentence, and said “Ah, my soulmate.”

They were kindred spirits, Lan Zhan believed. Lan Zhan decided he wanted to be a reporter when he was ten and learned the truth about his parents. After an entire childhood of being lied to, he decided his calling in life would be to tell the truth, no matter what. It made him odd and prickly, and usually lonely, but gave him a reputation of fearlessness and ferocity that he would never regret.

Wei Ying was different. He wasn’t so invested in the truth from a moral or political perspective—he was cheerfully amoral back then, in a teenage kind of way—but he loved information and he loved being right. Puzzles and secrets attracted him, and Lan Zhan watched them open up for him like lotus flowers at every turn.

Lan Zhan settled into their friendship in a way that was unexpected, he began to rely on Wei Ying’s opinion, began to think of things from his perspective when he found himself stuck. And then he’d gotten drunk at a midwinter party and kissed Wei Ying and ruined all of it. It wasn’t Wei Ying’s fault. Lan Zhan had panicked and run and then left for break and never given Wei Ying his home number, and then when he returned Wei Ying wasn’t single anymore. He’d gone to Yiling with Wen Qing and her brother and come back someone’s boyfriend. (Wen Qing! Older, beautiful, stern and razor-sharp, who Lan Zhan had hero-worshipped, the part-time advisor to the school paper who turned down more offers than either of them would see in their lifetimes. That Wen Qing!) And Lan Zhan didn’t know how to handle it so he just . . . let it go. They stayed in touch while Wei Ying moved back to Yunmeng for a while, then got a job at the Times after the war started, and Lan Zhan joined the Herald and went to grad school, always Wei Ying reaching out first. But even after they were both single again and living in the same city, they just stayed apart.

It would be easy—completely unfair, but easy—to blame Wen Qing for all of it. But all she’d done was the same thing Lan Zhan had. Loved Wei Ying, and failed to stop him. If anything, Wen Qing is better than he is—when Wei Ying fell, at least she fell with him.

The downfall was not complicated, and he should have seen it coming. When Wei Ying showed up at his door in the middle of the night with a crumpled print out of his story, Lan Zhan should have seen where it would lead.

It was 1994, three years into the war, and Lan Zhan was in training with the cultivator corps in Lanling. In retrospect, that’s likely how Wei Ying found him—Jiang Cheng was in his unit and must have given the address. Perhaps that was one of the reasons he didn’t stop Wei Ying. Everything was so unreal, the war, the devastation, the training, cultivation itself. Everything he’d known about life, the country, physics, what is possible and what is just a legend, all of it was thrown out into a whirling storm of adapt, adapt, adapt. It was chaos, and Lan Zhan became very good at chaos.

The story would have been a bombshell in any year—over a dozen former assistants, interns, and even one sitting representative accusing the Acting President of the Republic of misconduct and abuse. Rumors about Jin Guangshan were older than his political career, and illegitimate children were hardly rare in government, but Wei Ying had been the first to get multiple accusers on the record along with recordings and photos. Wen Qing, the youngest managing editor in the country and one of only two women, had agreed to run the story.

It was a good story. A really, really good story.

But there was a war on, and Acting President Jin was the only protection the country had against the usurper Wen Ruohan and his army of traitors. Not that Jin Guangshan ever left Carp Tower himself—that’s what the oldest son was for.

The blowback was immediate—Wei Ying was forced to retract the entire story and resign, Wen Qing was fired and the Gusu Times lost every advertiser and investor on the books. It was only natural for Lan Qiren to buy it up for pocket change, the merger he’d been looking at for years. All of the women named in the story issued statements accusing Wei Ying of lying, of doctoring evidence, of hiring actors that looked like them to fill his false story with fake photos. All statements made after visits from high ranking military officers, of course. He’d heard rumors that Wen Qing’s brother had enlisted and they used him for leverage, which wouldn’t be surprising. He hadn’t expected Wen Qing to give up without a fight.

Wei Ying had written to him once, just after he disappeared, with no return address.

It’s my fault, it said. Lan Zhan, it was all true, the story was true, but I’m still a liar. I told them I could protect them all, if they went on the record. I promised. I promised Wen Qing. And I couldn’t. I’m sorry, Lan Zhan, I never wanted to be a liar.

And in the end, it meant nothing. Few enough people were getting daily papers, much less actually reading them, and with the immediate retraction, reams and reams being taken off newsstands by military police, it was barely a drop in the storm that was raging. Outside of the newsrooms themselves, at least, where Wei Ying and Wen Qing were nailed up on the wall as a cautionary tale. Free press, up to a point. Sometimes Lan Zhan thinks about what would happen if the story broke today, the impact it could have. But after the retraction, you can’t go back. He can’t think about it too long or the rage overtakes him. Rage for Wei Ying, for Wen Qing, for every person in the article who was smothered and tossed out with nothing. The kind of rage that doesn’t fade, can’t be extinguished.

Lan Zhan shakes himself. Wei Ying is alive. Wen Qing is also alive, most likely. Su She is an idiot.

He only has one message on his answering machine.

“Hey, Lan Zhan, it’s your cousin Lan Liang. Listen, I’ve got something I want to talk to you about. I don’t know if it’s your thing, or if you choose what you cover or whatever, but there’s a kid gone missing here in Moling and some very weird stuff going on at the building sites. I don’t have all the details, but it’s my uncle’s daughter-in-law’s foster kid. Cops aren’t giving them much, so I said I’d call you. I don’t know if the kid went wandering and got hurt or got lost or what, but maybe someone from the Herald can cover it, get the public interest up. Maybe someone knows something. I don’t know. Probably a long shot, but I said I’d call, so there you go. You can reach me at—”

Lan Zhan takes down the number neatly in his calendar. He can call after the 10am meeting, maybe drive out to Moling in the afternoon. The rage is still there, banked and contained and ready to be useful.

Part Three

#assorted writings #the untamed #mo dao zu shi #cql #pick up every piece #Just getting! shit! written! who! cares! if! its! good!

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psqqa · 4 years ago

Text

Nirvana in Fire Character Reference Sheet Roughly in the Order Those Characters Are Introduced

For @howdydowdy, as promised, and for anyone else who, like me, is terrible at names and needs some kind of “Who?? Ohhh right. That guy.” reminder.

Basically, my Nirvana in Fire Journey started with me watching half the first episode, being wildly confused, realizing I was in over my head re: names and thus deciding to go back to the beginning and watch it again But Taking Notes This Time. I watched the whole show with a notebook and pen at my side. I figured I may as well spare you all the labour by typing it up.

As more information was revealed, I often added it to a character’s initial note, but by and large I’m leaving those extra notes out so you can experience the joy and confusion and anguish of New Information yourself. The exception to this is generally a person’s name, title, and position. E.g. Duke Qing’s name, Bai Ye, isn’t mentioned until a number of episodes after he’s first mentioned, if I recall correctly, but knowing that the person named “Bai Ye” is the same person called “Duke Qing” is exactly why I took these notes for myself in the first place.

Basically this isn’t intended to be a character guide that lays out exactly who a person is, their relationships to the other characters, and their place in the story, but rather something you can look at whenever someone mentions a name that jogs your memory just enough for you to be able to place to person. Which is why the notes tend to be either the context in which the person was introduced or the relationship through which they’re introduced.

Some names and notes are inherently spoilers, but hopefully by virtue of the fact that this is broadly in the order a character is first mentioned/introduced, you can avoid spoilers simply by not scrolling down too far. For those persons where their name or an alter ego comes in significantly after their initial introduction and is a spoiler, they are listed a second time starting with the “new information” and with the note in italics indicating their original entry (there aren’t a lot of these, don’t worry).

I will readily admit that some of my handwritten notes are just a name and then a blank space because apparently I just never actually added a note for them. I haven’t bothered adding those people here. Yes it’s because I’ve forgotten entirely who they are, but I’m pretty sure that means you’ll be okay if you immediately forget who they are too. (That being said, I get the sense there are actually relevant people missing from this list. As the show carried on and introductions became less frequent, remembering them became less difficult.)

The List

Lin Xie –> Commander of the Chiyan Army

Lin Shu –> “Xiao-Shu” –> Lin Xie’s son –> Mei Changsu --> Chief of the Jiangzuo Alliance --> Su Zhe

Lin Chen –> Young Master of Langya Hall –> NOTE: The “Lin” of Lin Chen and the “Lin” of Lin Xie & Lin Shu are both written and pronounced differently. These people are not related.

Northern Yan’s 6th Prince –> Now Northern Yan’s Crown Prince

Minister Xu –> Da Liang’s envoy to Northern Yan

Prince Yu –> Xiao Jinghuan –> 5th Prince of Da Liang

Xiao Xuan –> Emperor of Da Liang

Empress Yan --> Prince Yu’s adoptive mother

Consort Yue --> Crown Prince’s mother

Grand Empress (Dowager) --> Emperor’s grandmother

Xiao Jingxuan --> Crown Prince of Da Liang --> metonym is “Eastern Palace”

Zhuo Dingfeng --> Master of Tianquan Manor

Zhuo Qingyao --> Eldest son of Zhuo Dingfeng --> guy on the horse and later the guy helping the old couple on the boat and later also the guy who calls Xie Yu “father-in-law” (I am telling you this specifically because I am not bad at faces but this guy added so much confusion to my life that was cleared up the moment I realized these people were the same person. And also because my mother is terrible at faces and for like 15 episodes every time he showed up in another random place I would say “that’s horse and boat guy” and she would say “wait what? really???” So I’m assuming at least one other person will share in this struggle)

Xie Yu --> Marquis of Ning

Qin Banruo --> Prince Yu’s strategist

Duke Qing --> Prime Minister --> Bai Ye

Ji Ying --> member of Double Sword Sect

Li Gang --> member of Jiangzuo Alliance

Fei Liu --> Mei Changsu’s bodyguard

Yan Yujin --> Son of Empress Yan’s brother

Xiao Jingrui --> Eldest son of Xie Yu

Mu Nihuang --> Commander of the army in Yunnan --> Princess of Yunnan’s House of Mu

Xie Bi --> Second son of Xie Yu & Xiao Jingrui’s younger brother

Mu Qing --> Mu Nihuang’s younger brother

Xia Dong --> An officer of the Xuanjing Bureau

Nie Feng --> Xia Dong’s late husband --> Vanguard General of the Chiyan Army under Lin Xie

Meng Zhi --> Commander of the Imperial Guards

Xuan Bu --> From Da Yu --> stronger than Meng Zhi

Gao Zhan --> Emperor’s chief eunuch

Fei Changshi --> Prince Yu’s guy out looking for Mei Changsu

Prince Jing --> Xiao Jingyan --> 7th Prince of Da Liang

Concubine Jing --> Mother of Prince Jing

“Xiao-Xin” --> Attendant to Concubine Jing

Grand Princess Liyang --> Xie Yu’s wife & Emperor’s sister

Eunuch Zheng --> Eunuch who is mean to Tingsheng

Prince Qi --> late Crown Prince of Da Liang --> Xiao Jingyu

Tingsheng --> servant boy caught reading

“Lao-Wei” --> Mu Qing’s subordinate of some kind

Wei Zheng --> member of Chiyan Army at Battle of Meiling (and survived)

Sima Lei --> member of Royal Guard --> Consort Yue’s preferred suitor for Mu Nihuang

Liao Tingjie --> Son of the Marquis of Zhongsu --> Empress Yan’s preferred suitor Mu Nihuang

Baili Qi --> Mu Nihuang suitor from Northern Yan --> A favourite of the 4th Prince of Northern Yan

Lady/Madam Zhuo --> Zhuo Dingfeng’s wife

Xie Qi --> Zhuo Qingyao’s wife & Xie Yu’s daughter & Jingrui’s sister

Consort Hui --> bullied by the Empress

Young Lady Zhen (I think is what my handwriting says) --> servant being sneaky at late dowager empress’s palace

“Wu-momo” --> older servant with the Bad Wine

Consort Chen --> now dead --> son was a rebel

3rd Prince of Da Liang --> Xiao Jingting --> Prince Ning --> disabled

6th Prince of Da Liang --> no ambition

9th Prince of Da Liang --> too young to fight for throne

Former Crown Princess --> late Prince Qi’s late wife

“Qi-momo” --> Grand Princess Liyang’s senior attendant

Gong Yu --> window lady who works with Mr. Shisan --> a musician

Mr. Shisan --> member of Jiangzuo Alliance --> connection to Lin family

Minister Lou --> Lou Zhijing --> Minister of Trade/Finance/Revenue/other words that mean “money” --> Knows about the corpse well --> Crown Prince’s faction

Zhang Jing --> Owner of corpse well house (Lan Mansion) at the time the corpses ended up in the well

Shi Jun --> Servant at corpse well house at relevant time --> has record book

Magistrate Gao --> Gao Sheng --> The Capital Magistrate

Princess Xuanji --> ruler of a previous dynasty --> founded the “Hong Court”

Minister Qi --> Qi Min--> Minister of Justice --> Prince Yu’s faction

Minister He --> He Jingzhong --> Minister of Personnel --> Prince Yu’s faction

Minister of Public Works --> Prince Yu’s faction

Minister Chen --> Chen Yuanzhi --> Minister of Rites --> Crown Prince’s faction

Minister of Defence --> Li Lin --> Crown Prince’s faction

Bai Xun --> Duke Qing’s brother

Lie Zhanying --> Staff Officer under Prince Jing

Qi Meng --> One of Prince Jing’s men --> fights Fei Liu and commits Great Offence

“General Bian” --> One of Prince Jing’s men

Shen Zhui --> Acting Minister of Finance

Princess Qing He --> Shen Zhui’s mother

Cai Quan --> Works at Ministry of Justice --> Did well-received report on the Bing case

Han Zhiyi --> Works at Ministry of Justice --> worked on Bing case

Zhang Jianzhen --> Works at Ministry of Justice --> worked on Bing case

Wei Yuan --> Works at Ministry of Justice --> worked on Bing case

Yuan Shiying --> Works at Ministry of Justice --> worked on Bing case

Qin Yue --> Works at Ministry of Justice --> worked on Bing case

Tong Lu --> Vegetable cart guy --> brother of one of the corpse well girls

Qiu Zhe --> Son of Count (Duke?) Wen Yuan

He Wenxin --> Son of Minister He --> dislikes Qiu Zhe

Grand Prince Ji --> Emperor’s youngest brother --> Owns hot springs

Yang Liuxin --> A dancer

Hong Xinzhao --> Has “understanding girls”

Xinliu & Xinyang --> Brothel sisters --> their younger brother was murdered by Qiu Zhe

Princess Consort --> Lanjin --> Prince Yu’s wife

Zhou Xuanqing --> renowned scholar

Li Chong --> former Imperial Tutor --> former teacher to Lin Shu

“Brother Zhao” --> Canal transport guy --> Jiangzuo Alliance

Lin Xiangru --> famous literary envoy

Marquis Yan --> Yan Que --> Yan Yujin’s father & Empress Yan’s brother

Lin Yueyao --> Prince Qi’s mother --> Consort Chen

Zhen Ping --> Jiangzuo Alliance --> sword challenger

Xia Qiu --> An officer of the Xuanjing Bureau

Xia Chun --> The most senior of the officers of the Xuanjing Bureau

Prince Jingli --> Consort Hui’s son

Yuwen Xuan --> Prince Ling --> A prince of Southern Chu

Yuwen Nian --> “Niannian” --> A princess of Southern Chu --> student of Yue Xiuze

Yuwen Lin --> King of Southern Chu --> Yuwen Nian’s father

Ouyang Chi - Head of CApital Patrols

Xia Jiang --> Head of the Xuanjing Bureau

Li Chongxin --> Schoolteacher assassinated by Zhuo Dingfeng

Jun Niang --> former member of “Hong Court” under Princess Xuanji

“Miss Liu” --> Granddaughter of former Chief Secretariat Liu Cheng

Wei Qi --> The general at Jiaxing Pass --> was Xie Yu’s lieutenant for years

Su Tianshu --> Chief of Yaowang Valley --> 7th on the Langya Rich List

Su Xuan --> Su Tianshu’s adopted son --> Wei Zheng

Yun Piaomiao --> Su Xuan’s wife

Concubine Xiang --> Prince Yu’s birth mother

Zhu Yue --> Head of the Review Court --> Prince Yu’s brother-in-law

Cheng Zhiji --> Elder Master of Feng Hall --> 75 years old

Princess Linglong --> A princess of the Hua Kingdom --> Princess Xuanji’s sister --> Concubine Xiang

Grand Princess Jinyang --> Lin Shu’s mother & Lin Xie’s wife --> Emperor’s sister

Yao Zhu --> Official Fan’s servant who knows The Secret

Official Fan --> Harbouring Xia Jiang

#nirvana in fire #it's an imperfect tool basically #but hopefully it's useful anyway #if there are any spelling errors #blame it on my handwriting #you don't want to know how much time i spent looking at these notes asking myself if something was a 'u' or an 'n'

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nuc7ear · 4 years ago

Video

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MV | 田馥甄一一 - Hebe Tien One,after Another from Grass Jelly on Vimeo.

Published by：Pourquoi Pas Music Limited 何樂音樂有限公司 Executive Producer：Benoit Chen 陳信榮 CEO：Ching Wu 吳怡青 Music Director：George Chen 陳建騏 Marketing Director：Tim Lin 林建良 Marcom Specialist：Wewe Liu 劉子瑋 Press Promotion：Harry Yang 楊宗翰 Marketing Executive：Tin Ting 丁佩舟 / Ning Chiu 邱羿寧 Internet & Activity Promotion Executive：Boa Hu 胡寶彩 Video Photographer：Ning Chiu 邱羿寧 Still Photographer：Ray Chang 張芮

Management Company：A TUNE MUSIC CO., LTD 樂來樂好有限公司 General Manager：Hui-Cheng Liao 廖彗呈 Planning Manager：Elaine Wu 吳玫瑱 Project Manager：Shang-Chih Huang 黃尚智 Project Executive：Tori Yen 顏思瑜

Stylist：Chi-Lun Fang 方綺倫 Stylist Assistant：Mengchu Yang 楊孟築 Couture Making：Yu-Hao Chang 張祐豪 Hair Stylist：Johnny Ho @ Hair Culture Makeup：Queena Tseng 曾宥寧 Choreography Consultant：Chou Shu-Yi 周書毅

Lyricist：Radio Mars 火星電台 Composer：Radio Mars 火星電台 Producer：Radio Mars 火星電台 Arrangement：Radio Mars 火星電台 Acoustic Guitar：Yu Zeng 曾宇 Bass：Yang Han 韓陽 Drum：Yongheng Wu 貝貝 (武勇恆) Trumpet：Xiaochuan Li 李曉川 Backing Vocals Arrangement：Hebe Tien 田馥甄 / Shaofeng Huang 黃少峰 Backing Vocal：Hebe Tien 田馥甄 Recording Engineers：Adam Huang 黄欽勝 / Alex 阿烈 Recording Studios：Mega Force Studio 強力錄音室 / MDD Studio 北京 / Soundhub Studios 上海升赫錄音棚 Mixing Engineer：Adam Huang 黄欽勝 Mixing Studio：Mega Force Studio 強力錄音室 Mastering Studio：FLAIR MASTERING WORKS Mastering Engineer：UCHIDA TAKAHIRO 內田孝弘 OP：北京飛行者音樂科技有限公司 SP：北京飛行者音樂科技有限公司 Sound Effect：FORGOOD SOUND 好多聲音

Production DEPT.： Production House：Grass Jelly Studio 仙草影像 Director：Muh Chen 陳奕仁 Assistant Director：Xiao Chi Lin 林曉娸 Director’s Assistant：Vege Tsai 蔡馨慧

Producer：Hanson Wang 王漢聲 @ Wang’s Studio 聲意旺影音工作室 Line Producer： Hsi Hao Wang 王璽皓 / Karen Liang 梁紋綾 / Yi Cen Lin 林宜岑

D.P.：Dantol Peng 彭文星 1st Asst. Camera：Yu Hao Liu 劉于豪 Camera Assistant：Shang Ju Yang 楊尚儒 / Che Ming Chang 張哲銘 Equipment (BOLT)： Ting Kuan Chung 丁冠中 / Ting Kuan Chieh 丁冠傑 / Chien Hsu Tu 凃健旭 / Chao Hsiang Wang 王朝祥

Gaffer：Pony Ma 馬銘財 Best Boy Electrician：Yu Sheng Gao 高煜盛 / Jun Rong Tian 田峻榮 Electrician： Keng Hua Kuo 郭耿華 / Guo Min Lin 林國民 / Chen Wei Lin 林辰緯

Art Director：Mingko Wang 王閔可 Set Decorator：Bobby Wang 王敬捷 Art Assistant：Pei Chi Huang 黃霈琪 / Yi Suan Chen 陳宜瑄 Best Boy Grip： Jyun Ying Siao 蕭郡英 / You Cheng Huang 黃宥誠 / Chen Wei Huang 黃辰煒 / Guo Min Lin 林國民 / Ming Lung Wu 吳明龍 / Tzu Chi Fan 范子薺 / Chia Chieh Li 李加杰

Scenic：阿榮道具制作室 Chien Min Chien 簡建民 / Chien Sung Chien 簡建松

Stylist：Yu Ping 郁萍 / Barbie Chen 陳八比 @ Mii2styling 米兔皇造型工作室 Makeup & Hairstyle： Ching Yi Chen 陳靜怡 / Liang Yu Huang 黃亮瑜 / Zhen Hao Chiu 邱楨皓 / Hsin Wei Wang 王伈葦 / Chiao Wei Chang 張巧薇

Casting：Gime 蘇錦銘 Talent List：Tai Chong Chen 陳泰中 / Okashi Lu 呂美潔 / Ryan Hsieh 謝東豪 / Ching Chiang Wang 王靖江 / Hsi Hao Wang 王璽皓 / Ya Huang Lee 李雅煌 / Kevin Yang 楊宗昇 / Li Tai Cheng 鄭禮岱 / Daniel Chen 陳少卉

Camera Rental：Leader Asia Pacific Creativity Center 利達數位影音科技股份有限公司 Studio & Lighting Rental： Hong Chen Film Studio 鴻臣實業有限公司 Equipment：LEE RONG FILM & TV EQUIPMENT CO. 力榮影業有限公司

Virtual Camera for Previsualization： MoonShine Virtual Studio ��想動畫虛擬攝影棚

Post-Production House：Grass Jelly Studio 仙草影像 Executive Producer：Eliza Lee 李依蒨 / Okashi Lu 呂美潔 Project Manager： Roddy Hung 洪凡柔 / Ekijo Lai 賴奕如 Financial Manager：Lulu Chen 陳奕如

CG & Compositing Lead： Greg Miao 苗天雨

Story： Muh Chen 陳奕仁 / Castor Ou 歐聰瑩 / Yu Shuo Leung 梁育碩 / Both Li 李季軒 / Xiao Chi Lin 林曉娸 / QB Lian 連又潔 / Meiling Chen 陳美齡 / Yutzu Liu 劉又慈

Storyboard： Yu Shuo Leung 梁育碩

Concept Designer： Yu Shuo Leung 梁育碩 / Castor Ou 歐聰瑩 / Both Li 李季軒 / QB Lian 連又潔 / Meiling Chen 陳美齡 / Yutzu Liu 劉又慈

3D Animator： Skip Chen 陳慈仁 / Janet Wang 王玨凝 / Youzi Su 蘇袖惠 / Nigel Huang 黃勗 / Eason Chen 陳家和 / Yu Hsuan Huang 黃于瑄 / Yuki Chou 周祐諆

3D Animator Assistant： Jia Yu Chen 陳家榆 / Ting Yi Lu 呂庭儀

VFX Artist： Skip Chen 陳慈仁 / Jerry Liu 劉至弘 / Yu Hsuan Huang 黃于瑄

Roto Artist： Bio Luo 駱信宏 / Ruth Yu 余如晨 / Bono Chang 張暐明 / Sharon Lee 李淑娟 / Sean Tsai 蔡尚甫 / Szu Tzu Huang 黃思慈 / Meng Cheng Hsieh 謝孟成 / Sean Lin 林昱燊 / Laba Lee 李建緯

Compositing： Wen Ting Li 李文婷 / Nigel Huang 黃勗 / Eason Chen 陳家和 / Ching Chi 冀擎

Compositor’s Assistant： Yuki Chou 周祐諆 / Yu Hsuan Huang 黃于瑄 / Jerry Liu 劉至弘 / Jia Yu Chen 陳家榆 Grading：Pixelfly Digital 傳翼數位影像 / Moya Chou 周佳聖

指導單位：文化部主辦單位：文化內容策進院特別感謝：IP內容實驗室製作協力　　　　　財團法人工業技術研究院　　　　　 2020.06

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oculablog · 8 years ago

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CHENG RAN - Secret Notes to Nan Goldin, 2013, Single channel HD video, color/ sound, 16:9 14'13'', Edition of 6 + 1 AP, Image courtesy of the artist and Galerie Urs Meile, Beijing-Lucerne

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adalastudio · 4 years ago

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金伯利鑽石-彭于晏篇 from ADALA STUDIO on Vimeo.

Client：Kimberlite Diamond 上海金伯利鑽石集團有限公司

Agency：Shanghai Pioneer Cultural Communications Company 上海先馳文化傳播有限公司 Art director：Alex Producer：Eason

Production DEPT.： Production House：Grass Jelly Studio 仙草影像 Executive Producer：Eliza Lee 李依蒨 Director：Muh Chen 陳奕仁 Assistant Director：Xiao Chi Lin 林曉娸 Director’s Assistant：Vege Tsai 蔡馨慧

Producer：Hanson Wang 王漢聲 Line Producer：Karen Liang 梁紋綾 / Yi Cen Lin 林宜岑 / Hsi Hao Wang 王璽皓

D.P.：Hsin Chin 金鑫 1st Assistant Camera：Yu Hao Liu 劉于豪 Camera Assistant：Shou Po Wen 溫授博 / Chi Wei Chen 陳紀唯 / You Chen Lin 林佑澄

Gaffer：Ming Che Sung 宋明哲 Best Boy Electrician：J.C. 紀朝元 Electrician：Jian Jhih Lin 林建志 / Eddie Wang 王雋元 / Chin Hsien Chao 趙軍賢

Production Designer：Chih Da Kuo 郭志達 Production Executive：Chanel W. 王鈺婷 Set Designer：Chris Cheng 鄭以琦 Art Assistant：Amanda Yeh 葉綺 / Yun Ting Wong 翁韻婷 / Chih Hsiang Hsu 許智翔 Best Boy Grip：Weisheng Studio 緯盛工作室

Stylist：Yiko Lee 李懿格 Makeup & Hairstyle：Nikki Tsao 曹崇英

Talent：Erika Body Double：Hsi Hao Wang 王璽皓

Camera Rental：Leader Asia Pacific Creativity Center 利達數位影音科技股份有限公司 Camera Support Equipment：LEE RONG FILM & TV EQUIPMENT CO. 力榮影業有限公司 Studio & Lighting Rental：Arrow Cinematic Group 阿榮影業股份有限公司

音響器材協力：Bruechon 洪銘舜 / Alex 陳維鈞 / West 呂文元(西楓) 車輛協力：Chen Siang Jyun 陳翔竣 / Chen Siang Fu 陳翔富

Post-Production House: Grass Jelly Studio 仙草影像 Director：Muh Chen 陳奕仁 Executive Producer：Eliza Lee 李依蒨 Producer/ Project Manager：Stacy Chou 周雅涵 Producer Assistant：YC Sung 宋佳禧 Financial Manager：Lulu Chen 陳奕如

CG & Compositing Lead：Greg Miao 苗天雨

Story：Xiao Chi Lin 林曉娸 / Vege Tsai 蔡馨慧 / Yu Shuo Leung 梁育碩 / QB Lian 連又潔 / Meiling Chen 陳美齡 Storyboard：Yu Shuo Leung 梁育碩 / QB Lian 連又潔 / Meiling Chen 陳美齡 Editor：Vege Tsai 蔡馨慧 Designer：Yu Shuo Leung 梁育碩 / QB Lian 連又潔

3D Animator：Janet Wang 王玨凝 / Youzi Su 蘇袖惠

Compositing：Greg Miao 苗天雨 / Wen Ting Li 李文婷 / Yun Peng Hsieh 謝筠芃 / Jian Yu Cheng 程建宇 Compositor’s Assistant：Ching Chi 冀擎 / Jia Yu Chen 陳家榆 / Yu Hsuan Huang 黃于瑄

Grading：Greg Miao 苗天雨

Sound Editor：Kiwi Audio & Visual Production Inc. 奇奕果有限公司 / Chen Tao Chiang 蔣震道

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tommounapress · 4 years ago

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goodjiujiu · 4 years ago

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Post 2

“Where did you see him last? How long have you been going downstream?”

“I don’t know.. one hour? More? We were a bit east of that fishing village with the good eel noodles,” says Jin Ling.

Wei Wuxian is about to shake him, demanding ‘What does that mean, brat?,’ when Lan Zhan says, “Meiling village?”

“Yes, that one. We started east of there - maybe five, six kilometers - but after we saw the Three-headed willow-snake, I don't know how far we went.”

“And the boat?” asks Wei Wuxian stiffly.

“I don’t know, it was just there... Jiujiu threw me in, can we go now? I’ll show you where he is!”

Jin Ling is right, there’s no time, but he’s wrong if he thinks he’s coming with them. He nudges Zidian lightly with his qi.

"What are you doing! WEI WUXIAN, RELEASE ME!” Jin Ling screams, but Zidian has him wrapped tightly again. Wei Wuxian drops three flares onto the boat, beside him.

“When you get closer to Caiyi, Zidian will let you go. Use the flares to get the Lan clan’s attention, and send them after us.”

“Don’t do this!”

“We’ll find Jiang Cheng and keep him safe, but three-four people can’t stop a three-headed willow-snake; you must get us reinforcements. Lan Zhan?”

Without a word, Lan Zhan helps him onto Bichen, and they rise, Jin Ling crying and pleading, trussed up on their boat.

“We’ll find him, Wei Ying,” says Lan Wangji. Wei Wuxian can only nod.

He can’t believe that Jiang Cheng would pull Madam Yu’s move, like this. His shidi better live so that Wei Wuxian can wring his neck.

They can’t find him, is the thing. They start looking about six kilometers east of the village, but there are few signs that any monster had been there.

“The goat, that blasted goat,” says Wei Wuxian. Jin Ling had not accounted for the distance they traveled looking for it, so Wei Wuxian had assumed it hadn’t been far, but now there’s nothing. “Towards higher ground?” he asks, and Lan Wangji adjusts course wordlessly.

Ten minutes later they do see signs of a fight, a fresh one, and Lan Wangji pushes his sword lower but faster. Wei Wuxian can’t stop squeezing his hand where it wraps around his waist. They end up crossing the ridge, and finding a second stream, the path of the fighting curves north, and they follow it, everything looking fresher, until Wei Wuxian can’t breathe with the terror of it.

Where is he? Why is it so quiet?

“There!” he cries, and Lan Wangji swoops down towards the monster, green scales shining easily through the foliage, the body nearly as wide across as Wei Wuxian is tall.

It’s dead, and Wei Wuxian dismisses it easily, jumps to the ground even before Lan Wangji is quite within ten feet, and nearly doesn’t stick the landing.

Because there’s a trail, bloody, and not quite straight, leading to that leaning boulder, and he can sense someone there and he sprints. The world lights up momentarily, in the light of Lan Zhan’s flare, calling for help.

“Jiang Cheng!” Wei Wuxian cries, hitting the ground beside him. His shidi looks up at him, confused.

“...found Jin Ling? Already?”

“It was a coincidence, we found him floating down stream and had to come see what you were doing,” says Wei Wuxian, and he can tell that his voice is too sharp, he doesn’t sound right, but that’s because his hands are shaking as he undoes Jiang Cheng’s belt, loosening his robes, and trying to breathe because he looks stabbed, only snakes don't have swords they have fangs.

“Safe?” asks Jiang Cheng.

“We let him drift, but he shouldn’t be in danger,” says Wei Wuxian. Still clipped, because this venom was nearly always fatal. “It has to be a dry bite, Jiang Cheng, you have shitty luck so just once,” says Wei Wuxian, baring the wound and ugh, that looks awful. Lan Wangji, kneeling down on Jiang Cheng’s other side, has already removed first aid items from his qiankun pouch, handing it over silently before his hands go to the meridians at Jiang Cheng’s neck, and shoulder.

“Don't bother,” says Jiang Cheng, when Wei Wuxian unsteadily cleans the wound. He can’t press it closed, that would trap the venom inside, so until they get him the antivenom... but he keeps bleeding.

He shouldn’t keep bleeding! Jiang Cheng has been stabbed before, has even had his powers sealed away while stabbed, and still recovered. “Don’t be silly, Jiang Cheng, this isn’t a bother. Can you... shit can you breathe?”

Jiang Cheng doesn’t answer, but does manage a ragged inhale. “Watch Jin Ling. Take care. You as well.”

“Jiang Cheng, don’t - Lan Zhan. Lan Zhan, do something. We have to do something,” but they can’t. Jiang Cheng takes his hand, their hands wet with blood, and squeezes. “I’m here,” Wei Wuxian says softly. “I’m here Jiang Cheng, but please, hold on.”

He doesn’t last much longer. Blinks up at Wei Wuxian a few more times, chest heaving but unable to breathe. He’s drowning in his own blood, and Wei Wuxian can only. Hold his hand until. He stops.

And no, Wei Wuxian doesn’t want this this isn’t fair, he wants Jiang Cheng back, this isn’t fair. Lan Zhan tries to pull him away but Wei Wuxian is clutching Jiang Cheng’s body close, he’ll wake up, he has to wake up.

Wei Wuxian had taken his own core out to fit inside Jiang Cheng in another life. He can’t do that now, but he can... he can... He raises Chenqing to his lips, he’s sure he can get Jiang Cheng’s spirit back inside, where could he have gone, really?

But Chenqing is yanked from his grasp, hurled away, and Wei Wuxian looks up, betrayed, at Lan Zhan. “You don’t get it, I can fix this, he doesn’t have to die.”

“Wei Ying.” Strong arms wrap around him, tugging him back from running for his fallen flute.

“Let me go! Lan Zhan, trust me, I can save him, Jiang Cheng’s not dead, and even if he is, I can stop it.”

“No.”

Wei Wuxian stills for just one moment, one moment of complete and utter betrayal before he screams, wordless rage, before twisting in Lan Zhan’s hold, going straight for the points to break his hold, "Let me go, let me go, let me go.”

Perhaps with a different body, a different core, Wei Wuxian could have fought him and won. Right now, even rage isn’t enough to break Lan Zhan’s hold, though he tries, he tries, twisting and kicking and even bites, but Lan Zhan doesn’t even use the Lan silencing spell on him to make him stop, just takes it, and still doesn’t let go.

“Please,” says Wei Wuxian, slumping against him. “Please, please, please, please, please, I’ll do anything, I’ll give you anything, please just let me try, Lan Zhan you have to let me try.”

“Wei Ying,” says Lan Zhan, and he sounds sorry, sounds broken, but he still means no.

Wei Wuxian breaks in his arms.

Wei Wuxian doesn’t know how long it takes before reinforcements arrive.

Barely remembers being helped onto Bichen, while the cultivators lift Jiang Cheng’s body on a litter to get back to Lotus Pier.

They’ll tell him later that he’d given instructions for the funeral, but he has no memory of it.

What is clear in his mind, is Jin Ling.

“Why are you preparing for a funeral? Wei Wuxian, bring him back!” he yells even as he runs up to him. Jin Ling is taller now, just an inch shy of Mo Xuanyu, but he looks like a child, “Why haven’t you brought him back yet? Does it take some time? If you need anything, then I can get-”

“No,” says Wei Wuxian.

“No?” repeats Jin Ling. “You’re saying you won’t. You just won’t.”

“Jiang Cheng would not want to be a fierce corpse,” Wei Wuxian says, “Jin Ling I’m so sorry,” but when he tries to put a hand on his shoulder, he’s shrugged off.

“You’re sorry,” says Jin Ling, voice strange. “If you’re sorry, then fix it. Bring him back.”

And Wei Wuxian turns to Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan who had whispered to him again, and again, that Wei Wuxian should not; that Jiang Wanyin would despise being a fierce corpse, that he could not desecrate his memory that way.

“So it was you!” cries Jin Ling. “You’re the one who said he can’t. How does. So Sizhui gets to have his uncle brought back to life? Even though he's literally nobody, even though his family slaughtered my grandparents and the whole of Lotus Pier, and yet My Jiu-jiu isn't worth it?”

“Jiang Wanyin would not wish for such a fate, even if Wei Wuxian were able to reproduce his miraculous resurrection of Wen Qionglin,” says Lan Wangji. The words are unkind, but his voice is not. Lan Wangji has lost his parents. Has raised a child.

“You’re wrong! I knew him better than all of you! He wouldn’t leave me! Jiujiu would never!”

“Sect Leader Jin -”

“You didn't bring my mother back! Jiujiu said, after Xiaoshu died, said it was different, that you were half dead and out of your mind yourself! But you’re fine now! You just don't care, bring him back!”

Wei Wuxian can’t stop himself, he’s crying, but he chokes out, “Jin Ling. I can’t.”

“You mean you won’t. Get out. Get out of Lotus Pier, and don’t come back.”

“Sect Leader Jin, Wei Wuxian is Sect Leader Jiang’s brother-”

Zidian sparks on Jin Ling’s finger, making the Jiang disciple and Jin Ling start, and look down at the ring. What’s left of Jin Ling’s composure cracks visibly across his face, then shatters, and he has to press his hands to his mouth to stifle his sob.

He looks up at Wei Wuxian. “You’re not his brother. Not after. Just, leave,” he cries, then turns and runs.

Wei Wuxian stumbles backwards, then turns away.

Wei Wuxian is hiding beneath the pier. He doesn’t know if Jiang Cheng remade this part of the Pier the same way, or if it had survived the Wen. He doesn’t know, because he wasn’t around.

< A-Xian, don’t take his words to heart >

What? Who was? He feels a hand press gently down on his shoulder and turns to see Shijie’s kind, gentle face.

“Shijie!”

<Shh, A-Xian be quiet> Her fingers reach out to silence him. <You’re hiding, remember?>

He nods, blinking, unable to understand. “I’m sorry,” he whispers, “Shijie your A-Xian is so incredibly sorry, I let Jiang Cheng, and Jin Zixuan-”

<Hush now. Let your Shijie look at you.> Careful fingers brush his hair back, and he can’t hold back tears, though he does hold his tongue. <My A-Xian should live well. But if he wants, he can also. He can also save our A-Cheng.>

“I don’t know how,” he cries. “Wen Ning was just. I don’t know how, can’t, and Jin Ling thinks-”

Close his eyes? And look away from her? He stares at her sweet, beloved face for just a moment longer, before shutting his eyes tightly.

He feels soft lips press against his forehead.

Like a blessing.

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ladyofrandom · 6 years ago

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I want to play, don't hate me please?

Pick 10 ships without looking at the questions

1. Taki Tachibana/Mitsuha Miyamizu (Kimi no Nawa)

2. Izuku Midoriya/Uraraka Ochaco (Boku no Hero Academia)

3. Natsu Dragneel/Lucy Hearthphilia (Fairy Tail)

4. Jacob Frye/Evie Frye (Assassin's Creed Syndicate)

5. Sakura Kinomoto/Syaoran Li (Cardcaptor Sakura)

6. Takumi/Elise (Fire Emblem Fates)

7. Adrien Agreste/Marinette Dupain-Cheng (Miraculous Ladybug)

8. Chrono/Rosette Christopher (Chrono Crusade)

9. Black/White (Pokémon Black and White)

10. Eren Jaeger/Mikasa Ackermann (Shingeki no Kiojin)

1- Do you remember the episode/scene/chapter that made you ship 6?

Considering the game, I'll say it was the general cuteness and tsundere-ness permeating their support, I just loved them from the C support, probably one of the few that does.

2- Have you ever read fanfic about 2?

Man, everyday. From fluff, to angst, to smut, to AUs, these guys are just one my favourites.

3- Has a picture of 4 been your screensaver/profile pic/tumblr?

Together no, but I do have an Evie Frye screensaver on my phone.

4- If 7 were to suddenly break up today, what would your reaction be?

Guys, GUYS NO! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?! STOP RIGHT THERE!

5- Why is 1 so important?

Oh boy, time to rant.

First off, they're so bloody damn cute, second they're the first ship that ever made me cry, as in, litterally CRY. If you have seen Kimi no Nawa, you know what I'm talking about, they know each other's life better than anyone else, they experienced each other's troubles and struggles and helped to overcome them, they share a secret only they know, do I need to list anymore reasons? They're just so perfect!

6- Which one has the strongest bond?

Well, for me it's a tie between 1 (reasons right up ^), 4 (they're litterally twins) and 8 (one is living off the life force of the other, how much closer can you get excluding 1 and 4?)

7- Which ship has lasted the longer?

I'd say 5, considering how old the anime is.

8- How many times (if ever) has 6 broken up?

Taking into account Takumi's tsundere-ness and insecurity during the C, B ,A and S support, I'd say two or three.

9- If the world was suddenly thrust into a zombie apocalypse, which ship would make it out alive? 2 or 8?

Definetely both, they would tag team and kick ass together.

10- Did 7 ever hide their relationship for any reason

Superhero identities are a PAIN! Plus let's remember that Poster Boy is a model, paparazzi would flock to them like vultures if they went out in public.

11- Is 4 still together?

Together as in the same place? Yeah. Together as in a relationship? I honestly don't know, hope so tho.

12- Is 10 canon?

I don't know, I didn't catch up yet, but I don't think so, my hopes are sinking lower and lower everyday, I'm praying that at least LeviHan gets a chance.

13- If all 10 ships were put into a couple's Hunger Games, which couple would win?

Shit, that's though. If we were fighting without strange superpowers mixed in, I would tie between 2, 4 and 6, but with those added, it would be a total disaster, a mess of magic, cards, things flying out of control, demons appearing out of nowhere, bullets, smashed ground, supersuits, swords, knives, brass knuckles and keys... but I trust 4 to at least take out one or two couples.

14- Has anyone ever tried to sabotage 5?

Syaoran's cousin Meiling, if I remember correctly

15- Do you spend hours a day going throught 3's tags?

Not exactly hours, but I do, damn, they're one of my oldest ships, they're veterans, and I still feel like I only scratched the surface of the Nalu fandom.

16- If an evil witch descended from the sky and told you that you had to pick one of the ten ships to break up forever or else she'd break them all up, which ship would you SINK?!

FUCKING BEAT HER AWAY WITH A STICK, WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO ME?! I CAN'T DO THAT!

I don't know, maybe 4? Since it's technically wrong? Or 9, because the poor guy, last time I checked, was trapped inside a fucking STONE!

Tagged by @nooowestayandgetcaught

I’m tagging @straightforwardintj @trench-coat-wearing-angel @lokisinsurrection @bambieyesmccoy @the-murderous-diplomatic-elcor @celestial-demigod and anyone else who feels like playing!

Pick 10 ships without looking at the questions.

Wanda Maximoff/Vision (MCU/Marvel)

Evie Frye/Jacob Frye (Assassin’s Creed)

Anakin Skywalker/Padme Amidala (Star Wars)

Clara Oswald/the Doctor (Doctor Who)

Cosima Niehaus/Delphine Cormier (Orphan Black)

Peter Petrelli/Claire Bennet (Heroes)

Bellamy Blake/Clarke Griffin (the 100)

Bruce Wayne/Hal Jordan (DC comics)

Wan/Raava (Legend of Korra)

Shinji Hirako/Momo Hinamori (Bleach)

1 - Do you remember the episode/scene/ chapter that you first started shipping 6? Oh man, I’m not sure… probably at the moment in season 1 when he saved her from Sylar? Perhaps when she came running back thinking he’d just died saving her only to find him literally putting himself back together?? Or maybe in the holding cell, when she thanked him for risking his life, and she smiled so sweetly at him and he looked at her like she was so worth it - like he really wouldn’t have minded dying if it meant she lived on…

2 - Have you ever read a fic about 2? Yes I have and lord it was a good one. Just enough angst and sex to hook me in!

3 - Has a picture of 4 ever been your screensaver/ profile pic / tumblr? NO OMG HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?!

4 - If 7 were to suddenly break up today, what would your reaction be? Go they have so many issues I honestly wouldn’t be surprised lol.

5 - Why is 1 so important? Oh my god, you don’t even know. He is the first one aside from her brother to understand her, accept her, care for her, see her as a friend. She is the first one who saw he was human underneath the otherworldly exterior. I don’t know, that might seem typical for most ships, but to me it means the world.

6 - Which one has the strongest bond? Fucking Waava are literally bonded in one body and soul for all of his lifetimes how much closer can you get???

7 - Which ship has lasted the longest? Anidala is technically the oldest (?) but the one I’ve been shipping the longest is Whouffaldi.

8 - How many times, if ever, has 6 broken up? THEY’RE BOTH FUCKING DEAD IN HEROES REBORN DOES THAT COUNT AS BREAKING UP???

9 - If the world was suddenly thrust into a zombie apocalypse, which ship would make it out alive? 2 or 8? Christ, I don’t even know… Evie and Jacob are both incredibly skilled, but Hal would protect Bruce’s already paranoid ass with his fucking ring, probably lift them off into space if they need to escape.

10 - Did 7 ever have to hide their relationship for any reasons? I guess not, since they’re not technically together anyway.

11 - Is 4 still together? HE FUCKING FORGOT EVERYTHING ABOUT HER AND SHE’S OFF FUCKING AROUND INTIME AND SPACE WITH HER GIRLFRIEND NO THEY ARE NOT TOGETHER DON’T FUCKING TALK ABOUT IT.

12 - Is 10 canon? Of course not when are any of my ships fucking canon?

13 - If all 10 ships were put into a couple’s Hunger Games, which couple would win? Shit I think Peter and Claire would win cause??? he steals people’s powers and she continuously heals soooo killing them off would be nearly impossible… unless shitty writing was brought into the mix… OR Shinji and Momo cause they’re both fucking dead already so they can survive things normal people can’t.

14 - Has anyone ever tried to sabotage 5? Death.

15 - Do you spend hours a day going though 3’s tag? FUCKING YES??? OH MY GOD ANIDALA TAG IS LIKE MY NUMBER ONE GO-TO PLACE FOR FEELS AND SMUT I LOVE IT

16 - If an evil witch descended from the sky and told you that you had to pick one of the ten ships to break up forever or else she’d break them all up, which ship would you SINK?! THIS IS THE MOST EVIL QUESTION FUCK Well… I mean, Clara and the Doctor are basically broken up already… I suppose I’d pick them, but it’ll be okay cause the Doctor can go find new love in a new companion while Clara runs about with Ashildr having raunchy sex in their cafe TARDIS whilst running through the universe looking for new adventures.

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meilingndg · 7 years ago

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{ Datos generales }

Nombre FC: Cheng Xiao Nombre: Cheng MeiLing Fecha de nacimiento: 07/10/91 Orientación sexual: Homosexual Mafia a la que pertenece: China Puesto que ocupa en la mafia: Consigliere Vivienda: Hab. 4 Personalidad:

A primera vista te puedes encontrar con una chica dulce, educada, animada y siempre dispuesta a entregarte lo mejor de sí, pero la mayoría del tiempo eso no es nada más que un espectáculo. ¿Qué hay oculto detrás de tal pantalla? Hay que descubrirlo, aunque quizá _no_ sea tan grato, mientras quédate con la joven "princesa".

Historia:

–Tienes que ser la flor más delicada, la más bella (...)

Aún recordaba las palabras de su padre.

(...), pero también la más peligrosa de todas.

¿Sino cómo mantendría el orgullo de la familia Cheng? Para su desgracia (en realidad para la de sus progenitores) fue la única descendiente, sin contar el hecho que fue mujer y eso no impidió al señor Cheng de seguir con lo que siempre planeó: Seguir el linaje y sobre todo lo que pasaba puertas adentros, eso que incluía sus trabajos en la mafia del país. Porque siempre fue así, su familia siempre estuvo envuelta en tales redes, a pesar del poder económico que poseían, algo que también claramente involucraba las empresas del mismo y era que se sabía por cada rincón del ambiente, pero pocos eran capaces de meterse en tales asuntos. MeiLing fue educada como una dama, alguien que siempre tenía lo que quería y debía ser perfecta en cada asignatura que se le fuese enseñada, algo de esperarse en una familia tradicional china y más de su magnitud, aunque a la vez estaban cultivando a una muchacha capaz de eliminar a sus obstáculos gracias a la persuasión, su inteligencia y si era necesario, manchando el suelo de carmesí a su paso. Sin embargo, algo salió mal: La mente de la "princesa" empezó a retorcerse con el mundo que le rodeaba, ¿por qué aquello que hacía parecía tan tentador? Sus padres quisieron tapar lo mejor que pudieron los comportamientos de su hija, pero cuando el jefe de la familia fue asesinado a manos de unos rivales al fin MeiLing pudo hacer lo que quiso con su vida, ya que ni su madre podía opinar allí y lo sabía muy bien. Desde entonces siguió como si nada, recorriendo a gusto la sociedad y divirtiéndose, a su modo.

Otros:

–No maneja las empresas que quedaron luego de la muerte de su padre, pero aún tiene cierto contacto con las mismas, como toda su familia y tiene un rol importante allí. –Aficionada del baile (aunque a la vez lo sigue estudiando), sobre todo de la danza tradicional china, aunque ya aprendió a moverse entre otros estilos. –Es demasiada buena con el manejo de información y también con la tecnología. –Le gusta la fotografía. –Solamente "trabajó" por mero capricho, ya que en realidad tiene el dinero para manejarse a gusto. –Nunca tuvo una relación estable y menos aún se enamoró, le parece algo complejo para ella, además de no tener demasiada atracción sexual tampoco. –Posee un verdadero gusto "especial" en la gastronomía y se la es conocida por ello entre los murmullos de la mafia china, por lo que pocos se atreven en verdad a relacionarse con ella a profundidad, aunque todos quedan cautivados por la forma que muestra de ser en un inicio. –Trata al mafioso Zhang Yue como su hermano mayor y éste como su hermana menor, a pesar de no compartir sangre, pero el tiempo que se conocen bastó para que tuvieran dicha relación, una de las pocas "verdaderas" que siente en tal entorno. No sabe que en realidad es su medio-hermano. –Tiene de mascota un gato llamado "Māo" gato en chino.

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nanashi1869 · 7 years ago

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Suitwatch (end)

So the last dozen of episodes or so (probably not in chronological order).....what the hell????

You give my Wang back and then just like that he dies!? Might as well have buried him under another rock slide and wave it off...(parallels to MT’s fail with the first try tho).

I WAS SO SURE MING LOU WAS GONNA DIE...?????....I mean great he’s ok (not mentally) and all but, people in those roles usually have an obligation to die just because....(props to JD he really is the star of the show, as much as i love HG because of the MCS role this time it doesn’t add up).

What kind of production spoils their show in the end credits? Tbh I was sure she’d die regardless of spoilers anyway.

1. point proved: MING TAI IS AN IDIOT AND IF HE ACTUALLY PAID ATTENTION NOTHING BAD WOULD HAPPEN. (To make a parallels JY was guilty of the same thing.) In other words if you combined all the slaps Ming Lou got and used them on this moron instead and they actually beat some sense into him the show would have gone as I expected...aka ML’s plan version.

Ah Cheng...poor furniture boy (I really don’t know why I call him that....might be because of Umineko...which I’ve never seen or played...) so underappreciated.

2. point: if you treated Ah Cheng as something more than an errand boy less bad stuff would happen as well (aka he would not pick stuff up randomly).

Thanks for reminding me you can use flour to blow stuff up, I genuinely forgot.

Manchun was a nuts ride. And Liang goes to that “greedy but nice” list where I keep Jinghuan and Ito hehe.

But yeah...I like the first half of the show more (same with Nif). During that period I thought this might actually rank higher than Nif with me but MIng Tai being a baby ruined that chance so the bundle of “all that is MCS” that kept Nif ready to tip the scale won.

Arguably I could weigh “the entirety that is Ming Lou” against the “Meiling reveal with Zheng” and the final conversation with LC to see what wins but...

Those gratuitous wrist scenes payed for all the Nif bonus points.

In conclusion: first love still wins for the current watch-list round.

oh.....THEY DIDN’T MENTION THE PAINTING I THOUGHT IT WAS GOING TO BE MORE IMPORTANT CHEATERS

#suitwatch

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boxoftheskyking · 4 years ago

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Something Good, Part Twenty. The End.

I don’t know how cultivation works and I’m not about to learn now. There’s some blood here.

I can’t believe it’s done. Thank you everyone who has been reading, and everyone who’s left beautiful comments here, on AO3, in tags, yelled out a window. I’ve never finished a piece this long or in this way, and I would not have gotten further than 2 chapters without yous guys

Let’s get to it.

Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five, Part Six, Part Seven, Part Eight, Part Nine, Part Ten, Part Eleven, Part Twelve, Part Thirteen, Part Fourteen, Part Fifteen, Part Sixteen, Part Seventeen, Part Eighteen, Part Nineteen

On the last morning of peace, Lan Wangji wakes up in Wei Wuxian’s arms. He smiles before opening his eyes, small and instinctive, and Wei Wuxian can’t not kiss him for it.

“Did you sleep?” Lan Wangji’s voice is rough, soft as raw cotton.

“No.”

“Hmm.” He presses his face back into Wei Wuxian’s chest.

“What are you thinking?”

“It’s foolish,” he mutters against his collarbone.

“Tell me.”

“I am afraid.”

Wei Wuxian holds him tighter. “That’s not foolish.”

“I keep waiting for someone to come and fix everything. Wen Ruohan shouldn’t be allowed to do what he is doing. I want someone bigger than him to come put him in his place. I feel young and stupid and weak and I want someone else to be in charge.”

“Yeah.”

“It’s foolish.”

Wei Wuxian kisses his hair. “If we get all the sects together. Maybe all the sects and the citizens as well, we’ll be bigger than the Wens.”

Lan Wangji looks up at him. “What if we’re not?”

“I don’t know.” Wei Wuxian runs his thumb lightly under Lan Wangji’s eye, over his cheekbone, over his ear. “I don’t know, Lan Zhan.”

The Wens come as the children are changing into their play clothes after lunch. Wei Wuxian is waiting at the door when the older disciples come running to their room, eyes wide and confused. Lan Xichen follows.

“The Wens are here.”

“Fuck!”

“They’re commanding the disciples to leave today, now; they’ve got at least thirty armed men. We can’t fight and win.”

“Fuck, fuck, what do we do?”

Three Wen soldiers come up behind the running teenagers. “Hurry up! You should be packed already. Didn’t the Sect Leader tell you you’re going for indoctrination?”

Lan Wangji joins them, jaw so tight it looks like his bones are about to crack.

“Brother. What do we—”

“I can get the little ones out,” Wei Wuxian whispers, brain spinning faster and faster like a wheel heading down a hill. “I don’t know about the older kids.”

“We’ll have no choice; we have to send them.” Lan Xichen watches the flurry of activity with such profound regret that Wei Wuxian grabs his arm and turns him away from the soldiers.

“They’ll be all right. They’ll be hostages, right? Technically you still have an alliance, so there’s no reason to harm them.”

“We can’t just—” Lan Wangji cuts off as a little hand tugs on Wei Wuxian’s shirt.

“Wei-qianbei, what’s happening?” Lan Feifei asks, big round eyes tracking everything.

“Shhh, here, come back inside. Lan Zhan, I’ll get them to the back hill, okay? Just meet us there, with food if you can.”

Lan Wangji grabs his wrist, a question on his face, but he shakes him off and goes back inside. With luck, the teenagers will take a bit of time getting organized, but knowing the Lans it won’t be much.

“Disciples!” he says in a stage whisper, waving them all over. “Come here, we’re going to play a game.”

“A game?” Lan Ting asks, doubtfully.

“Yes, yes, gather around everyone. Now we have some visitors, and they want us all to go on a trip. So everyone will grab your bag and pack up everything you can. Clothes, blankets, whatever you have. Wen Ning, Lan Bin, Yao Hualing, help the little ones.”

“How is that a game?” Hualing asks.

“I’m getting to that part. What I want you all to do while you pack is to pretend to be the most badly behaved children in the world. I want you to whine and cry and yell and stamp your feet. Make a mess. When I ask you to do something, I want you to say that all you want is to see your bunnies. Can you do that?”

“I still don’t see how this is a game.”

“It’s a trick. We’re playing a trick on the visitors.”

“But how is it—”

“Then when I say the word, you’ll be your wonderful obedient selves again. It will be so funny! They’ll be so surprised.”

“That’s funny?” Lan Bin says, wrinkling his nose.

“Yes, yes!” Wei Wuxian tries not to seem desperate. “They’re very strange men, very strange sense of humor. Trust me.”

“Isn’t that lying?” Su Meiling asks. “Lying is forbidden.”

“Not lying, no, it’s a joke, just a joke. Hanguang Jun says it’s fine, okay? Trust me. When I give the signal, start crying, okay?”

The children look around at each other, still not convinced, but Wen Ning says, “Okay, Wei-qianbei,” and that seems to be good enough for them.

“Okay, go!”

It’s silent for a long moment. Then Ouyang Zizhen gives a tentative, “No, I don’t want to?”

“Good, good, louder,” Wei Wuxian whispers.

“No!” Su Ming yells, stamping her feet. “I want my bunnies!”

“Yes, the bunnies!”

“I won’t go! No! No! No!”

“Beautiful, excellent! More!” Wei Wuxian lets the racket build, encouraging them, before messing up his hair and running to the door.

“Ah, Zewu Jun!” he says, loud enough for the soldier to notice. “These children are so willful! I can’t get them to pack their things.”

One of the soldiers comes over. “What’s the problem?”

“No, no, no, NO!” the kids yell from inside, and someone throws something against the wall.

Yes, perfect! He thinks.

“Oh, sir, I’m so sorry. These children, they won’t travel without their bunnies.”

“That’s ridiculous,” the man sniffs. “Just get them packed.”

“I mean, I’m trying, sir. You’re welcome to try.”

The soldier grunts impatiently and pushes past him to the door. He opens it to utter chaos—someone has flipped their mattress, half of the kids are lying on the floor and wailing, and Lan Jingyi has no clothes on. I guess this is what’s hiding behind three thousand rules. Behind the soldier’s back, Wei Wuxian gives an encouraging smile and conducts them louder and louder. The soldier turns and he schools his expression back to overwhelmed as he runs over to wrangle Jingyi into his pants.

“What is wrong with these children?” the soldier demands.

“It’s their bunnies, sir, they never travel without them. They’ve got cages and everything.”

“Well, go get the damn bunnies then.”

“You know, I would,” he says, shoving a shirt over Jingyi’s screaming head. “But I can’t tell them apart. These children, they’re very particular. You know some bunnies are more energetic than others, some have favorite foods, or special—”

“Shut up, fool, just take the children and get them. I won’t listen to whining all the way to Qishan.”

“Right away, sir!”

Wei Wuxian shuts the door in his face and waves the children over. “Good job everyone! We almost have them fooled. Bags all packed? Excellent. Now we’re going to go to the back hill, so just keep crying and yelling until we get there. Okay? Good work.”

He leads them out, wailing and sobbing, and the older disciples freeze, staring at them.

“Oh no!” Wei Wuxian yells over the racket. “Such willful children! Shame on you all! We’ll be right back, sir!”

They pass the infirmary, where Wen Qing is waiting in the doorway.

“What the fuck, Wei Ying?” she hisses at him.

“Ah, Lady Wen!” he yells. “The most gifted rabbit catcher in Gusu! Please come, help us!”

She glares at him, but then sees the soldiers behind him and her face goes carefully blank. She follows.

When they reach the back hill, he gestures them all quiet and close.

“Excellent work, everyone! A-Ning, I need you to keep an eye on the path, let me know if someone is coming.”

“That was fun, Wei-qianbei!” Jingyi shouts. “I want to misbehave all the time!”

“Yes, you’re a prodigy, but it’s time to be quiet now. We’re going to go on an adventure, okay?”

“With the soldiers?” Lan Yixian asks.

“No, we’re going somewhere else. Okay? But we need to be quiet and fast.”

“Wei Ying,” Wen Qing murmurs. “You’d better have a plan. There’s no way we can outrun them through the forest on foot.”

“I need your knife.” He holds out his hand. She looks doubtful, but gives it to him. He cuts a long strip from the bottom of his shirt, leaving his stomach bare.

“Wei-qianbei, your belly!” Zizhen yells, pointing at the scar.

“Shh, Zizhen, it’s okay.” He spreads the cloth on the ground and makes a deep cut in his finger, starting to write.

“It’s a talisman?” Sizhui asks, leaning over his shoulder.

“Yes, A-Yuan, but it’s very complicated, so please be quiet.”

“Wei Ying,” Wen Qing says, one hand on his back. “I can’t power this kind of—”

“It’s not for you, it’s for me.”

“You’re not strong enough.”

“I have Chenqing. It’ll help.”

“It’s too risky.”

“Wen Qing, unless you have a better plan right now, let me work. I need you to go through first, make sure they land okay. Will you do that?”

She’s quiet for a long time while he writes. “Don’t make me watch you die,” she finally whispers.

“If I do, you won’t be here to see it.”

He finishes, rises, and holds the talisman in his hands, closing his eyes and breathing deeply. He’s been shutting off the pull towards resentful energy for so long, it takes a moment to find it again, to open himself up to it. Chenqing isn’t a source of energy, but it’s a good conductor, so once he attunes himself to it the rush begins. It’s harder to feel the pit inside of him—he’s been too happy, too content, but if he pushes it’s there. He thinks about Wen Zhuliu, Wen Ruohan. He imagines Jiang Cheng’s face, Jiang Yanli’s, feels the pain of missing them. He sees the frightened eyes of the older disciples being marched away from home, Lan Xichen’s clenched fist, Lan Wangji’s rough voice saying I am afraid. He feels Wen Qing’s solid hand at his back. He opens his eyes and sees the children gathered around him, thinks Mine, mine, mine.

He flings the talisman out in front of him with a burst of flame, and it explodes into a swirling black portal a few feet off the ground.

“Go. Wen Qing. Go,” he grits out, already feeling his reserves of energy running thin.

Wen Qing takes a breath, nods once, then runs and leaps through the opening.

“Lady Wen!” Lan Bin cries. “Where did she go?”

“We’re all going,” Wei Wuxian says, fighting to get the words out and hold the opening. “Help the little ones.”

He has a vague idea of where the portal might lead, an open field in another part of Gusu, but he’s trusting Wen Qing to make a plan from there. He may have sent her off the side of a cliff or in the middle of a lake, but he has to believe it will work. It has to work.

Lan Bin looks doubtful.

“Please,” is all Wei Wuxian can say. The portal shimmers for a moment, losing stability, and Wei Wuxian shuts his eyes to focus again. He feels his feet root into the soil and deeper, into the mountain, the stone, veins of power eons old, power that sees all of human life come and go like a single drop of rain against a roof tile. Resentment grown centuries before there was a word for it, before there was reason, a time before logic.

It hurts. He’d forgotten how much it hurts.

When he opens his eyes again, Lan Bin is passing Jingyi through the opening.

“Wei-qianbei, I’m scared,” Yao Hualing says.

“I know. Me too. Just.” He groans through another burst of energy. “Get them through.”

Something rips inside him, a sail ripped from the mast in the middle of a hurricane, and resentful energy floods him. He feels it in the spaces between his heart and lungs, the invisible gaps between each drop of blood, his pores yawning open like canyons. He can’t see, can’t hear over the whispering, roaring, wailing that’s tearing through him. Hold on, just hold on he repeats in his mind, and the darkness answers give, give, give.

“Wei-qianbei!” Wen Ning cries, running from the road.

He forces himself to see, in flashes like a series of paintings. The last child’s foot disappearing through the portal. Wen Ning, appearing at his side. Lan Wangji coming down the path, followed by two soldiers. Sizhui, running for his father with arms outstretched.

“A-Yuan!” Wei Wuxian screams, but it’s too late. A soldier grabs him around the middle and holds him, sword unsheathed and held to his wailing throat.

“No!” Lan Wangji shouts, but as he takes a step closer, the soldier tightens his hold.

“Baba!”

“What do I do, what do I do?” Wen Ning gasps, crying, hands clenching.

“Go. Through.” Wei Wuxian manages.

“I can’t, I have to—”

“A-Ning. Go. Now.”

With a last look over his shoulder, Wen Ning dives through the portal. Wei Wuxian plants his feet and shifts his focus, transferring the current of power into his left hand, holding the portal open.

“Let him go,” he growls.

“Close the portal now, or I swear I will kill him.”

“Last chance.”

The soldier nicks Sizhui’s neck and his screaming cuts off with a tiny gasp that hits Wei Wuxian like a thunderclap. His vision goes red, dark at the edges, and his mind snaps.

MINE roars the darkness, and for once it’s in unison with the rest of him.

He lashes out his right hand and a cord of darkness, thin and strong as a whip, shoots out from his palm, curls around the soldier’s arm, and slices through. The man screams and tumbles backward, sword and arm together falling to the ground, blood spurting out and soaking Sizhui’s blue shirt to black. Sizhui shuts his eyes and freezes where he stands, little hands clenched at his sides.

The second soldier lunges forward, but Wei Wuxian flicks the whip back the other direction and catches him across the face, slicing open his cheek until half of his jaw and teeth are exposed.

“This is mine,” he says—it feels like nothing, just like breathing, but it echoes through the forest, shaking the trees and frightening the rabbits to run around them like a river current, screaming like ghosts. “You dare touch what is mine.”

The soldier stumbles upright and holds his face, half raising his sword, and Wei Wuxian pulls the whip back into the air, hovering in front of him. The blood soaking into the ground rushes up through him, the soldier’s pain. Sizhui’s terror hurtles through him, making him stronger. He feels hot blood against his neck, in his hair, as clearly as if he were in the boy’s place.

“Give me a reason. I dare you. I beg you. Give me a reason.”

Before the soldier can move, the tip of Bichen bursts through the center of his chest. Lan Wangji shoves him off the blade to flop onto the ground. Wei Wuxian watches his life wink out like a lamp and drinks it in, spinning it into darkness. Lan Wangji doesn’t wait to sheathe the sword, just grabs Sizhui up with his free arm.

“Wei Ying,” he says urgently, which shakes Wei Wuxian back to the moment. The fear, the death, it all gives him a burst of energy, but he can feel the end of it coming near, like stitching a torn cloth back together with the last few inches of thread. Hold, just hold, please just be enough to hold. He pulls the whip back into himself, dissolving harmlessly into smoke, and throws his right hand back to the portal.

“Go.” It’s still not his voice. He tries to get his voice back. “Lan Zhan, please, hurry.”

“Wangji!” Lan Xichen runs down the path behind them, taking in everything, the portal, the bodies, the bloody sword. “Wei Ying, your face—”

“Go!” Sweat is rolling down his cheeks, or maybe tears, or blood, or maybe all three. Lan Wangji looks back at his brother for a long moment, then steps through the portal.

“Zewu Jun, hurry, jump through.”

“No, I— Wei Ying, I can’t, the soldiers. They’ll burn it all down, they’ll kill everyone.”

Wei Wuxian groans and the portal starts to shrink.

“We’ll find you. We’ll go—”

“Go to Yunmeng.” Lan Xichen grabs Wei Wuxian’s wrist and forces a current of clean energy through him. He’s nothing but a conduit, hollow, but it holds the portal in place, blue light weaving in between tendrils of black smoke. “The rebuild has begun. Jin soldiers are there for defense. Lanling is preparing for war, and they will protect you. Stay off the roads.”

“You’ll meet us there? The older children—”

“I’ll look after them. I’ll make some excuse for you—”

“Tell everyone I took them. Demon Wei Ying. Tell them I tricked you, all of you, I stole them away. I’m an unknown, I’m on no one’s side. Say I killed them. The worst things you can think of, tell them, they’ll believe you.”

Lan Xichen nods once, face going tight with pain. “We’ll clear your name, after—”

“Doesn’t matter.”

“I’ll hold the portal. You go.”

Wei Wuxian takes a halting step towards it, legs heavy as through iron chains were wrapped around them.

“Wait,” Lan Xichen says. “I”ll need— It needs to look like we fought. If I use my own sword—”

Wei Wuxian nods. “I’m sorry.” He lashes out—the whip is smaller this time, weaker, but it cuts up the side of Lan Xichen’s face and down across his shoulder, red blooming on his white robes. He winces, but his energy doesn’t falter. Shouts ring out through the forest, the sound of dozens of men crashing towards them through the trees.

“Take care of them,” Lan Xichen pleads.

“They’re mine.”

Wei Wuxian takes a step and throws himself at the portal, just as it begins to close. He hears Lan Xichen shout “Wei Wuxian!” behind him, then feels himself pulled in all directions, torn into pieces and slammed back together. His lungs are flattened, his stomach is missing, his eyes are backwards, his hands are multiplying like a flock of crows around him, choking—

And then, in an instant, it’s over. He hits the ground and lays flat on his back, gasping.

“Wei-qianbei!”

“Wei Ying!”

“Wei-qianbei!”

He’s surrounded by a flickering, moving mass that half blocks out the sunlight. He can’t see shapes, can’t see colors. Little hands on his face, his body, pulling at his clothes.

“I—” his mouth is dry, his tongue thick and heavy. “I—”

“Back, back, step back.” He knows this voice, these hands on his forehead. They feel his neck, his stomach.

“W— W— Wen—”

“Shh, shh, don’t talk.”

“ ‘vryone? Ev— ‘ryone?”

“Yes, yes, shh.”

“Where?”

“Other side of the mountain. Miles away.”

He relaxes into her hold. Time flickers, disappears, and reforms around him. He sits up, coughs, spits blood onto the ground.

The figures around him are still blurry, but he recognizes them. The children. Wen Qing and Wen Ning at his sides, propping him up. Lan Wangji is standing, staring at him, holding Sizhui. Wei Wuxian squints. Sizhui’s blue shirt is gone and he’s wrapped in red. Wen Qing’s outer robe, he realizes. His hair is soaked, drying stiff against his back, and there’s blood smeared across his cheek. His eyes are still closed and Wei Wuxian can see him shivering in Lan Wangji’s arms.

“A-Yuan,” he breathes, reaching out one hand.

“Wei-qianbei,” it’s little Lan Feifei. She reaches out and touches his cheek with one tentative finger. “Your eyes.”

“My eyes?”

“They’re not . . . right.”

“Oh.” He touches his face as well, as if he could feel the difference. “What do they look like?”

“They’re red. And your face, it’s so white. There’s black, here.” She traces uneven lines up his neck, across his temples, his cheeks.

“Is it scary, Feifei?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m sorry, sweet one. You’re being very brave. You’re all so—” he’s suddenly finding it hard to talk, swallowing around the lump in his throat. “So brave.”

“We need to move,” Lan Wangji says, not unkindly. “It’s too open here.”

Wei Wuxian struggles upright, a dozen little hands reaching out to hold him. They look wary, staring at his face, but they aren’t scared to touch him. He loves them so much he’s about to dissolve in it. Mine rumbles through him, not violent this time, but low and satisfied like a purr.

“Wei Ying,” Lan Wangji says, and reaches out for his hand.

Sizhui suddenly turns his face and opens his eyes, staring over at Wei Wuxian. His face is blank, and Wei Wuxian wishes he had a scarf, a mask, something to hide his appearance.

“A-Yuan,” he starts, “I’m so—”

But then Sizhui reaches out and grabs his shirt, pulling hard enough to make him stumble. He crashes into father and son and wraps his arms around both while Sizhui hides his face in his neck.

“Oh,” Wei Wuxian breathes, sweeping a hand over his hair and kissing the side of his face over and over. “I’m so sorry. You’re okay. It’s all okay now.”

It isn’t. It’s not okay now. But for a brief moment, as Lan Wangji holds all of them upright, they can breathe.

“We have a lot of traveling to do,” Wen Qing says. “It’s going to be difficult, and we’re going to have to be very sneaky. Can we do that?”

“Yes, Lady Wen,” a few children chorus.

“Where are we going?” asks Ouyang Zizhen.

“It’s a surprise,” Wei Wuxian answers at the same time Lan Wangji says, “It’s a secret.”

“But where—”

“How would you like to see your Wei-qianbei’s family?” Wei Wuxian says, meeting Wen Qing’s eyes. She smiles slightly and nods. “Wouldn’t that be fun?”

“Your family?” Jingyi pipes up. “I want to go!”

“Good. Then we will. It’ll be a surprise for everyone.”

“What about my big brother?” Lan Hua asks.

“Yeah, and my cousin?”

“My brother too!”

Wei Wuxian looks at Lan Wangji, unsure.

“They will join us later,” Lan Wangji announces, the voice that allows for no doubts and no arguments. “We have to go our own way for now, but we’ll see them again soon. For now, we need to stay together and take care of each other. We are a family, aren’t we?”

“Yes, Hanguang Jun.”

“Yes, Baba,” Sizhui whispers. Wei Wuxian kisses his cheek again.

“Let’s get moving,” Wen Qing says. “At least down to the tree line, then we can make a plan. We should be able to go a few miles before dark.”

“If we find a graveyard for the night, I can—” he stops himself, looking at the children. ”We can be safe in a graveyard.”

“Don’t overdo it,” Wen Qing warns.

“I never overdo it. Come on, everyone. Gather your things.”

He presses his forehead into Lan Wangji’s shoulder for a last moment, then lets him go and bends to pick up Jingyi. The weight is too much for him, and he ends up back on his knees in the dirt.

“I’ve got him.” Wen Ning comes up and hauls Jingyi up on his hip. “It’s okay, Wei-qianbei, let me help.”

Wen Qing gets him upright again and they move off through the grass towards the trees.

They will walk for as long as the children can stand it tonight, and Wei Wuxian will call corpse puppets to watch over them through the night. He can see it all in front of him. It’s like reading a score and hearing the song come together in his mind. There will be rivers to cross, mountains to climb, caves and ditches to hide in night after night. They will be frightened and exhausted and starving. But they will arrive in Yunmeng, at Lotus Pier. He will row them all across the lake, and they will lean out of the boat to pluck lotus blossoms. Jiang Cheng and Jiang Yanli will meet them at the gate, and Wei Wuxian will fall into their arms. Jiang Cheng will protest, will yell, but he’ll catch him. And Yanli will take his ruined face in her cool hands and tell him that he’s home.

He tightens his arm around Wen Qing’s shoulders and gets an answering squeeze around the waist. As if he can hear their thoughts, Lan Wangji turns back and catches his eye. Wei Wuxian looks at him, singing the song in his mind, showing him the way. Lan Wangji nods, and Wei Wuxian smiles.

The End.

#assorted writings #something good #the untamed #cql #mo dao zu shi #and that's it.

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