#god dmbj au

[sforzesco]

some "new" designs for different crassus and pompey, specifically for a side project I've been playing with that's so removed from anything relevant (action/adventure/horror standalone story lmao) that they kind of needed their own thing. this story's pompey has a neck scar from an Incident™, crassus has shorter hair and wears (checks notes) jewelry sometimes.

[hils79]

Title: Juxtaposition - Chapter 16 (NOW COMPLETE)

Fandoms:  盗墓笔记 - 南派三叔 | The Grave Robbers’ Chronicles - Xu Lei, 盗墓笔记重启 | The Lost Tomb Reboot (TV)

Relationships: Wang Pangzi/Wu Xie/Zhang Qiling

Summary:  Wu Xie doesn’t think life can get much better than this. He gets to use his architecture degree to design buildings for a living and he gets to work with the love of his life who helps make his designs a reality. He’s certainly not going to let something small like an attempted mugging disrupt his world. The mysterious man who saved him, on the other hand…

He feels like there are ants crawling all over his skin. No, worse. He feels like there are ants crawling under his skin and that he’ll go mad if he doesn’t claw them out. He starts scratching his arm but it doesn’t provide much in the way of relief.

Pangzi takes one hand off the steering wheel and gently taps him. “Stop it.”

He glances down at his arm and sees that there are four red lines standing out stark against his pale skin. They almost look like scars. Xiaoge will hate it if he sees them so he resists the urge to scratch again. He tugs his sleeve down and tucks his hands under his arms instead.

It felt like this day would never come, and now that it’s here it doesn’t seem real. It feels like years have passed since they saw Xiaoge off, and Wu Xie has done everything he could during those months to make Xiaoge’s life better and easier when he returned.

It was worth it, he thinks. Even if he’s not the same man who dropped Xiaoge off at the airport.

“Do you think he’ll hate the way I look?” he asks softly. He’s been trying not to think about it, but very soon Xiaoge is going to see him and what if—

Pangzi sighs. “Tianzhen, you don’t look that different. It’s nothing a few good meals and some nights of actually sleeping won’t fix. Besides, we Facetimed with Xiaoge three days ago. How you look isn’t going to come as a surprise to him.”

Maybe. Maybe not. Xiaoge taught him the most flattering camera angles to use, so he thinks he’s managed to hide the worst of the weight loss and sleep deprivation with that and some carefully applied makeup to cover up the shadows under his eyes.

“Come on, don’t worry. Xiaoge would still love you even if you shaved all your hair off and didn’t sleep for a month. Do you really think he’s that shallow?”

Of course Wu Xie doesn’t. But it’s natural to worry when you’re being reunited after such a long time, isn’t it?

“You’re awfully quiet, Jinx,” Pangzi says and it’s not lost on Wu Xie that he’s trying to provide a distraction. “Are you feeling as anxious about seeing Zhang Rishan as Tianzhen is about seeing Xiaoge?”

“No,” Liu Sang snaps from the back seat. “Shut up. We’re not all as pathetic as you are. How are you more insufferable now that you’re about to see him again than you were when you had to say goodbye to him?”

Read the rest on AO3

[lungache]

I can't reply to your post but hello if you want to talk about it i would love to hear EVERYTHING about your thoughts on x men mutants dmbj 👀

I'M MAKING THIS A POST BECAUSE I WANT TO SCREAM ABOUT IT TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS WILL LISTEN. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to yell into the void.

So this isn't an X-Mn AU as much as it is a mutant AU because I think mutants fit really well into the DMBJ universe! Many mutants live and work on the outskirts of society, and the tombs welcome those kinds of outcasts. I also think it would be cool to see teams of graverobbers that have a lot of morlock-types, too. Because this is a place where their powers are useful and can potentially make them money in a world that is otherwise inhospitable. I feel like DMBJ has always written graverobbing as a society outside of society.

I have SO many mutant AUS. So. Many. I have a whole different Pangxie one, but this is the big one that I have that I might actually write.

First and foremost, the M9 are families with generations of mutants who got rich graverobbing who have mutations that are just inherently useful in the tombs AND that allow them to pass as non-mutant. I've been cooking up power groups for the different families but would love input!

Wu Xie: Kate Pryde/Shadowcat

> The ability to phase through objects, walls, and people/intangibility. Disrupts electrical fields. Slight levitation.

I imagine the Wu's having powers along this vein: intangibility, like Wu Xie, some have teleportation (I have another AU where he has Kurt's powers lol), and the like. Obviously, these kinds of powers are just OP in tombs. Being able to phase yourself through walls and potentially through any dangerous traps is a god send, you can understand how with powers like that the Wu's became so wealthy. You can get in and out of there in no time. But have no fear! Wu Xie figures out how to make such a powerful tool into a weapon to use against himself and others completely on accident. You can have intangibility but that doesn't cancel out being clumsy and having rotten luck. I think it could also be interesting for him to still be working out how to use his powers in this context for the first few years and then we see him being an old hat at it in his later years.

(Now, these were NOT selected because of any connection between the characters. It's truly a "I wonder how these characters would utilize these powers" kind of deal, not because I think the characters are alike. HOWEVER, I do think the comparison between the two characters is kind of interesting just because there is the stark development from the naive, bright eyed younger versions of those characters who develop into darker, more jaded people. People who have killed. People who will kill again. And all that.)

Pangzi: Colossus

> Body turns to "organic steel" giving him super strength, endurance, and speed. I've been debating making it so instead of being able to turn his body to metal he is simply metal all the time, unlike Piotr. I haven't decided, though.

Stay with me, here: statuesque, shiny, super strong Pangzi. See, you like it, too! You see the vision! Pangzi already has canonical near-super strength, I see no reason not to make it official. IIRC, Colossus is also, like, Heavier. 500 pounds heavy. So it would make those "you're too heavy" comments they always give Pangzi hold a little more weight (ha). It's a power that would come in handy as a tank in a tomb but also come with its own set of complications, too, that I think would be fun to explore. For example, in TLT2, they do a lot of swimming- in his metal form, Colossus can't swim, he sinks.

(I know it LOOKS like I picked Colossus for Pangzi because I picked Kitty for Wu Xie. I promise I didn't. If for no other reason Pangxie actually STAY married.)

Xiaoge: Wolvrine.

> Do I need to explain this one? Immortality, super healing, adamantium skeleton (given to him by the Zhangs), cool knife hands. 

I may have a love/hate relationship with Logan but my love for Xiaoge is pure and never ending. Alas, they do have the shared life experience of being old as balls and having the memories of swiss cheese.

There's something about Xiaoge having this power set and going through incredible trials to become the man he is today that just make Sense for Zhang Qiling to me. He was chosen because of who he is, WHAT he is. He's been boiled down to what he can do and used as a weapon, a tool in a lot of ways. He also has such a complicated relationship with death and dying, something that adds flavor to his title to me? (Has Logan ever met death? I know Wade has a whole relationship with her, and he got his powers from Logan's DNA. Xiaoge having met death would be FASCINATING.)

And? Honestly? I just think Xiaoge should have blades in his knuckles, that just sounds dope as hell and he deserves them.

I know them having these powers takes away some of the DANGER involved in the series. They are way, way less likely to die- which, to me, just means the tombs should try harder.

Also debating between making Hei Xiazi Mystique (the POTENTIAL of him being a shapeshifter is OFF THE CHARTS, plus she is already immortal) or Destiny (precognition, blind character who is able to "see" because she is able to see the future a few seconds ahead). Both are juicy.

I would love to talk to people about this, about other versions of this AU, about places you agree/disagree, anything and everything. DM me? We can chat here or on discord!

[inimitablereel]

4, 12, 13!

4. Vid you're the proudest of?

To an extent I'm proud of all of them (I have not made so many vids that I'm not like oh my god I made a Whole Thing every time) so I'm going to say two and give two different types of answers:

I think I did a really good job with Tom Paine's Bones. Watching it again a year later I still see what I was doing with the humor and the romance and the politics and it's still fun to watch. (I just did a rewatch of a bunch of my vids and I'm still new enough that I look at a lot of them like I could make it better, but I'm happy with this one!)

In the opposite direction, I don't quite think I hit all the things I was trying to say with A Little Wicked but I am still proud of how much I was trying to do in that one. Does it read as meta-commentary on the role of women in these shows? Eh not really, but I can see how I was trying to put that in there. Is it clear that I was trying to do some kind of AU where she doesn't die? Again, not really, but I still think it was a cool thing to try to do.

12. Most underrated vid that you wished had gotten more views?

I don't know that I'd say that any of my vids are underrated (there are so many good vidders in the world and I'm definitely still learning) but to list one I would like people to check out: I think my pair of one minute vids about the Yi City crew is fun and a good concept and a source that people have seen and people should watch it.

13. Vid that took you the longest the edit?

The real answer here is the one we're working on together that's still not out in the world. When not co-vidding, I definitely tend towards calling things good enough a little too fast, and I don't think anything I've finished has taken more than a month or two. So probably the answer is my very first vid because setup and clipping took me a while? Or maybe I got mine, which also took a lot of time in clipping because main characters have too much footage and I hadn't built up a huge dmbj clip library yet.

[kholran]

twenty questions for fic writers!

tagged by @lucientelrunya Thank you friend!

1. how many works do you have on ao3?

26

2. what's your total ao3 word count?

297,713

3. what fandoms do you write for?

DMBJ right now, but in the past I have written for The Hobbit movies and Les Mis. I've written half a Weilan fic for Guardian but...

4. top five fics by kudos

I Will Go Now to My Pyre (DMBJ, RiSang, 262) And Here My Troubles Begin (The Hobbit, Barduil, 256) When the Stars Align (The Hobbit, Barduil, 220) I Get By (DMBJ, Gen/Liu Sang-centric, 215) Skin Deep (The Hobbit, Barduil, 205)

5. do you respond to comments?

I try to! Sometimes one or two falls through the cracks when I don't have the spoons to respond right away, but I do try and at least acknowledge them even if it's been ages.

6. what is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Probably a little ficlet I wrote here on Tumblr and never put on AO3, in which one of the characters is revealed to have been dead the whole time. Usually I'm not about the super depressing endings though, just about everything else at least ends on a hopeful note, if not a resolved one.

7. what's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I think most of my RiSang fics end on a happy note, especially the one-shots and the exchange fics. Love Light, Ordinary World, ADHAU, Wild Fire, Last to Know...I think they're pretty equally happy?

8. do you get hate on fics?

Not really, but I did get one bizarre comment on a fic where the commenter presumed to predict where the plot was going and then comment on how much they didn't like when things like that happened? Except it wasn't a fully published fic yet and the actual ending was...nothing at all like they predicted.

9. do you write smut?

I sure do.

10. craziest crossover?

I don't think I've ever actually written a crossover. Crazies fusion fic was definitely Les Amis Do Titanic (In Every Age).

11. have you ever had a fic stolen?

I don't think so. I mostly write rarepair/pool noodle fic in a tiny fandom so...who's really going to take it?

12. have you ever had a fic translated?

Not that I know of.

13. have you ever co-written a fic before?

I used to do a lot of forum-based RP, back when invision/tapatalk/proboards forums were all the rage in the early 2000s. In terms of fic I've published on AO3, I haven't. But that's largely due to the fact that I'm the slowest writer known to man, and I'd just end up frustrating any writing partner I had with my slowness ^_^;

14. all time favorite ship?

I think Weilan (Guardian) is the ship I've read the most fic for overall. But it's definitely not my longest-term ship or anything.

15. what's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

The Weilan Mermaid AU I started back in like...2020? I fell into the DMBJ pits before I finished it and idk if I'll ever go back to it at this point.

16. what are your writing strengths?

I've been told I'm good at setting scenes and writing things that people can visualize, so that, I guess?

17. what are your writing weaknesses?

Oh god dialogue. I cannot write a normal conversation to save my life. What even is normal human interaction?

18. thoughts on dialogue in another language?

Nah. I mean I'll use a word here or there, if it's something very commonly understood in the fandom (like calling Wu Erbai "Er-shu" or Zhang Rishan "fuguan" if that's how a character would address them in the show). But in terms of full sentences? I wouldn't be confident enough in my ability to write the language fluently, and even if I could, I'd just have to provide translations anyway. Far easier to say "...'said so-and-so in [language]."

19. first fandom you wrote in?

Like, EVER? I had a generic American Girl doll that I named after a Baywatch character and wrote a story for her when I was like...9? Does that count?

20. favorite fic you've written?

I'm still really proud of Ordinary World. It's not my most popular by any measure, but I put a ton of work into it and I still enjoy re-reading it sometimes. Plus I'm proud of the fact that I churned out nearly 60k words in like a month since it was for an exchange that had a deadline.

Tagging: @merinnan @eirenical @xantissa @alxina @amidalogicdive (if you want to!) and anyone else who may also want to, consider yourself tagged!

[extraordinarilyextreme]

Twenty Questions for Fic Writers!

tagged by @bbcphile～ thank you my dear 🫶

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

30 right now～ what a nice number!

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

363,479!

3. What fandoms do you write for?

so many, lol. right now, i'm actively writing for LHL and YRZX (and a bit LZTJ), but i previously wrote a lot for QYJ, CHSSN, and DMBJ.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

may we tie our hearts together again ⚫️⚪️ QingYa

9k, red string AU, canon + post-canon

NOTICE: Seeking Marriage Partner 💙💚 PingXie

5k, post-canon

青山仍在 | as long as the green hills remain 🪷🐕 HuaFang

7k, post-canon fix-it

but ask for no regrets 💙💚 PingXie

5k, canon-compliant N+1 things

a ghost walks into a soldier's house 💙🤍 SuiTang | 🖤💚 WeiLan

16k, crossover + crack treated seriously

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

i try my best to, but for various reasons comments will accumulate in my inbox and i might not respond to them until even a year later. but please believe me, i do read every single one.

6. What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

i write a lot of HEs... perhaps only an echo, since the entire premise of that (unfinished) series is an AU where Wu Xie isn't there to fulfill his ten-year promise with Xiaoge. rather than angsty endings, i write more angsty stories? in which case, the angstiest might be 千���自同风 | no distance too great as a canon-compliant post-canon fic that follows Fang Duobing's journey of grief. (but i don't think the ending of that is sad, tbh.) alternatively, 飞蛾扑火 | for you, i'll gladly burn is another contender given Shen Yi's big reveal in the last chapter (but also don't think the ending is sad). 红尘似水，万事入歌 | the world becomes song is pretty sad too if only because we the readers know the characters' fates in canon.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

honestly, i think most of my fics are HEs. or if not "happy," comforting for sure. most of my fics end with a promise to be together, to spend an ordinary life together, to have the chance to be in the moment together. it might not be super, like, grand or dramatic or anything - but i genuinely think all my fics have peaceful endings. so take your pick, peruse my works～

8. Do you get hate on fics?

rarely, and the few times that i have, i've simply deleted them.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

nope. i don't know how to, LOL

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

i have a guilty pleasure of writing crossovers, lol. i think they're all kinda wild:

a ghost walks into a soldier's house

镇魂 Guardian & 成化十四年 The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty

do not speak as loud as my heart

盗墓笔记 The Grave Robbers' Chronicles & 镇魂 Guardian

红尘似水，万事入歌 | the world becomes song

鬓边不是海棠红 Winter Begonia & 老九门 Mystic Nine

懷月夢 | on the summit, sun and snow

三生三世枕上书 Eternal Love of Dream & 封神演义 The Investiture of The Gods

照猫画狐 | tracing a cat to draw a fox

猎罪图鉴 Under the Skin & 无眠之境 Desire Catcher

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

not that i know of. don't steal my fics.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

yes! 此生如梦 | this life, a dream was tl'ed into Russian～

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

yes～ @naiwong-bao and i somehow churned out the 111k monster that was 懷月夢 | on the summit, sun and snow. to this day, i have no idea how we did that, LOL

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

impossible for me to choose～ recency bias will suggest 🦊🐼 青也, 🪷🐕 花方, and 🎨🔍 城心城翊 though～

15. What's a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

my 往前走 莫回呀头 | go forward and don't look back series 🥹 i had two more parts planned originally after Xiuxiu's POV... one was Liu Sang, the other was Xiaoge. (there was an undetermined Bai Haotian POV fic too.) i also definitely won't be finishing the sound of snowfall (and don't want to LOL)

16. What are your writing strengths?

atmosphere and rhythm, i think. maybe because i used to write a lot of poetry? i also have faith in my world-building (bc i do a LOT of research) and dialogue. in terms of tropes, it must undoubtedly be hurt/comfort.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

i'm not good at writing fight/action scenes (probably another reason why i literally cannot write smut). i also don't think i'm super great at description, but i think i've been improving.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

this is an interesting question because i actually write all my dialogue in Chinese first and then tl it to English since i pretty exclusively write for c-media now 😆 i like that a lot bc i think it helps me to more accurately characterize these ppl - but also it sucks tremendously when English is just the ugliest-sounding language in the world, LOL. (i always think my original Chinese dialogue is prettier and has more depth～)

19. First fandom you wrote for?

the first fandom i posted fic on AO3 for was Good Omens: i love(d) you. but in my life, it was probably like... Warriors (yes, the cats) or Shugo Chara..? idk, or maybe Case Closed (still love that series despite how insufferably long it's gotten).

20. Favorite fic you've written?

only children need to choose; adults can have everything～

tagging: @rongzhi, @elenothar, @difeisheng, @asterdust, @willowcatkinblossom, @starlitwishforu, @tunnelofdusk

[fandomtrumpshate]

Counting down the hours - a numbers update!

Since the update yesterday evening, THIRTY more creators have signed up for another THIRTY EIGHT offers … including a signup for Goncharov, NINE new write-in fandoms, and FIVE more folks willing to work in any fandom.

Sherlock has managed to tie up fifth place in the listed fandoms, sharing the spot with Teen Wolf. And the tenth spot is now a 4-way tie between Merlin, Original Work, The Sandman, and The Witcher.

Under the cut is a list of the Unlisted Fandoms with just one write-in. A single sign up would bump them up the list. A handful of signups can completely shake things up.

Signups close TONIGHT at 11:59 PM Pacific.

1 A Series of Unfortunate Events 1 A Voice from Darkness (Podcast) 1 Ace Attorney 1 Alex Stern series - Leigh Bardugo 1 All The Wrong Questions 1 Animorphs 1 Be Kind My Neighbor 1 Bioshock 1&2 (only) 1 Blood of Youth 1 Blue Exorcist 1 Blue Lock 1 Bug Fables 1 Cabin Pressure 1 Call the Midwife 1 Cats the Musical 1 Charlie's Angels (2019 film) 1 Cherry Magic (TV) 1 Citizen Sleeper 1 Cobra Kai 1 Coco Pixar 1 Coffee Talk [Video Game] 1 Cosmere (Brandon Sanderson) 1 Crossover Chaos AU (multifandom crossover AU) 1 Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 1 Dead by Daylight 1 Dead Poets Society 1 Derry Girls 1 Dice Punks (podcast) 1 DMBJ/Grave Robber's Chronicles 1 Downton Abbey 1 Dr. STONE (anime/manga) 1 Dragon Ball Z 1 Dragonriders of Pern - Anne McCaffrey 1 Dungeons and Daddies 1 Eerie Indiana 1 Emma - Jane Austen 1 Fire Country 1 Firefly 1 For All Mankind 1 Glee 1 Grace and Frankie 1 Greys Anatomy 1 Grimm 1 Guardian/Zhen Hun 1 Gundam 1 Half-Life 1 Hello From The Hallowoods 1 Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni / Higurashi When They Cry 1 Hit the floor 1 House of the Dragon 1 How to Train Your Dragon (Movies) 1 Hudson & Rex 1 IDOLiSH7 1 Ikemen Vampire 1 Imperial Radch Series - Ann Leckie 1 Infinity Train 1 Jane Austen (any novel any pairing) 1 Jeeves - P. G. Wodehouse 1 Jojo's Bizarre Adventure 1 Jurassic Park 1 King of Scars Duology 1 Les Misérables 1 Los Simuladores 1 Love Between Fairy and Devil 1 Madre Solo Hay Dos 1 Miss Scarlet and The Duke 1 Mob Psycho 100 1 Monochrome Factor 1 Motorcity 1 Naomi Novik's books (Temeraire /Spinning Silver/Scholomance) 1 Obey Me! 1 One Last Stop 1 Outlast 1 Paper Girls (TV) 1 Parasol Protectorate 1 Peacemaker 1 Persuasion - Jane Austen 1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen 1 Prodigal Son 1 Psych 1 Qi Ye 1 Ranger's Apprentice 1 Ranma 1/2 1 Roseanne 1 RPF 1 Sable 1 Sanders Sides 1 Scooby Doo 1 Shameless (US) 1 Sidemen 1 Silicon Valley (TV) 1 Skins (UK) 1 Tamora Pierce works 1 Tangled the Series 1 Ted Lasso 1 Teen Titans (Animated Series) 1 Temple of the White Rat series by T. Kingfisher 1 The Ancient Magus Bride 1 The Boys 1 The Daevabad Trilogy 1 The Dark Pictures: House of Ashes 1 The Diviners (Libba Bray) 1 The Goblin Emperor - Katherine Addison 1 The King: Eternal Monarch 1 The L Word: Generation Q 1 The Legend of Drizzt 1 The Lion Hunters Series - Elizabeth Wein 1 The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (2015) 1 The Man From UNCLE (TV) 1 The Princess Weiyoung (Jinxiu Weiyang) 1 The Tarot Sequence - K.D. Edwards 1 The Terror (TV 2018) 1 The Vampire Diaries (TV) 1 The Wilds (TV 2020) 1 This Way Up 1 Timeless (2016 TV series) 1 Tortall - Tamora Pierce 1 Tower of God 1 Transformers 1 True Blood (TV) 1 Twilight 1 Twilight (All media types) 1 Until We Meet Again 1 UuultraC 1 Valorant 1 Velvet Goldmine (1998) 1 Vikings (TV) 1 Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold 1 Warframe 1 White Collar 1 White Collar (2009-2014 TV series) 1 Whiteley Foster's Mansong 1 Xena: Warrior Princess 1 Yellowjackets (TV) 1 Yu-Gi-Oh!

[fixaidea]

So this is basically Crossover Central here, and I was contemplating which combo I've written over the years is the most bonkers, but then I thought, hey, why not let you guys decide?

So here are all the crossover fanfic I've written (as in, sat down, typed up and posted to a fic hosting site and not just shitposted about on Tumblr), from oldest to newest, starting in 2015:

(Also what I mean by crossover here is a story where the characters of the different canons interact, otherwise I'd just call them an AU.)

Harry Potter/LotR (Now lost to time and the death of the platform it was posted on.)

Death Note/Discworld

Death Note/The Master and Margarita

Harry Potter/Les Misérables

LotR/Astérix

American Gods/Miss Marple

Maurice/Master and Margarita

Maurice/BBC Sherlock

MDZS/Star Wars

Harry Potter/TGCF

Discworld/MDZS

TGCF/MDZS

Guardian/DMBJ

DMBJ/Discworld

DMBJ/The Da Vinci Code

[thelaithlyworm]

DMBJ Stats

So the latest podfic I posted reached the big 100th Work in a Single Fandom, and I felt that deserved a bit of a celebration, so herewith some number crunching.

Thimblerig’s DMBJ Stats:

Earliest Work: As the Butterflies Brush the Flower (Fic, the many loves of Xie Yuchen)

Latest Work: Settled (Podfic, orig. writ. Elenothar, Wu Xie/ZQL sweet and cuddly) 

Shortest Text Work: The Grand Unified Theory of Tomb-Raider Power/Costuming (Meta, look the point is that when I spin a crack theory I back that shit up with textual references, that is the point my guys)

Loooooongest Text Work: Know Your Snakes! (Meta, the other point is that the depths to which I will go for accurate, locatable textual references are the level where you find elegant tea parties around the corpse of a whale…)

Shortest Podfic: where all the veins meet (Podfic, orig. writ. Shadaras, Wu Xie/Xie Yuchen, lovers in a dangerous time and THE PAIRING I CRAVE)

Longest Podfic: Cabbages and Kings (Podfic, orig. writ. fox_of_nine_tales, AU, magical + retirement + there’s a damn fox raiding the bins and being cute…)

Most Popular (Kudos): Innocent (Fic, sleepy retirement, flirty massage, ZHANG QILING EATS HIS FEELINGS but that’s okay)

Most Popular (Bookmarks): The Sweetness and the Savour (Fic, Wu Xie gets everything he wants and… crashes badly. Pangzi and Xiaoge catch him.)

Favourite (Fic): Oh god, this is tough, but Slice of Life (Fic, Hei Xiazi and Wu Xie training together and it is messy and spiky and loving and fucked up, and these are the things I want in a HeiXie story. Also comes with a v. nice podfic if I say so myself.) 

Favourite (Podfic): Also tough but he wakes up in a dark room (Podfic, orig. writ. chirpy, I just really like the little jumps, and the lullaby at the end.) 

I have so many, many other faves though: Downburst (scherzanda), Detective Wu, How Zhang Qiling Comes Down the Mountain, Unreliable Narration (fox_of_nine_tales), So Beat the Drum Slowly, Proof of Life (MountainRose) oh god there are a hundred things here and with so many of them I want to say hey, you guys! I’m so proud of this, come see! (In a, like, totally chill way, of course.)

Big takeaway: I have had so much fun in this fandom. Lots of wonderful things to watch and read and think about, lots of lovely people to chat with. Rock on, my dudes!

[good--merits-accumulated]

Thanks @sinni-ok-sessi for the tag! :D

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

Going to sort these by fandom and type of WIP:

Dead Poets Society:

Vesuvius - Finished, but being expanded haha. (Sorry to anyone who has seen the absolute state of my Anderperry tag recently because I haven't shut up about this WIP in a solid month.)

a gleam of light - Still planning, but I have bits written!

southward bound - WIP

same x3 - Will never be finished but every year or so I pop in and add another chapter

Mini 15-years-later fluff - WIP

Much Ado AU - WIP

DMBJ:

amhrán na farraige - WIP (Will I finish it? Well. I would like to.)

The Message and the Messenger - WIP, also barely planned

Zhang Qiling and the Train to Nowhere - WIP

silly idol au - WIA (Work Is Abandoned)

little scraps of light - WIA unless I get hit with another wave of interest in Stray

unnamed silly Princess Bride-esque AU - WIA

nothing much in a name

Qi Hun/Hikaru no Go:

ex astris, scientia - to finish this I would probably have to finish TOS first and I don't know if I have that effort in me tbh

Yu Liang vs. The World - semi WIA

voulez-vous... aha? - WIA

Haikyuu! (These are all WIAs but I like to look at them and believe that I can finish them one day lol. Maybe when the film comes out):

exothermicity

MQG (Maurice Quill Gaming)

and the sun comes up again

THE SUMMER WILL NOT END

The God's Long Way Home

made for two

The Detectives' Guide to Love, Crime, and Cybersecurity

Miscellaneous:

All's Fair in Love and Neurosurgery

O, My Saint!

MOURNING MAN

Tagging @echosghoast, @whisper-my-serenade, and any other writing mutuals (or non-mutuals!) who want to do this!

[sforzesco]

a view from the Tañon strait :) and also my desk, since this is a desk post lmao

Cleopatra 1963 was on TV last night and ohhhhhh my god Richard Burton’s Mark Antony is everything to me for real. I wrote an Antony comic a million years ago, junked it because I don’t care about him, but I’m not immune to Richard Burton’s Antony in love and despair. like, I was frantically writing scenes in my notebook during commercial break, I was on Twitter talking about how much I love this film, etc. unparalleled. show stopping.

in other news, Trikaranos ch 1 should be up sometime this month or at the start of the next! I also have some Italian renaissance comics I want to knock out of my WIP folder. low key kind of thinking of turning the DMBJ au into a little side project for when I get tired of thinking about the implications of Roman coins and taxes or whatever, but I’ll probably attempt that as a combination of rough pencil comics and prose if I do it because it would strictly be For Fun 🤔 we’ll see! there’s some original comic stuff I want to tackle before the end of the year too. augh. the passage of time

[hils79]

For the writing ask meme: 3 and/or 6?

What work are you most proud of (regardless of kudos/hits)?

2023 has been a weird year for me. I legit can' remember which fics I wrote this year, and which ones were from last year. I think the idol au broke me.

ANYWAY. Now that I've checked AO3 and filtered by fics posted this year I'd say the one I'm most proud of is Reflections of Memories. I got to merge two things I love (Dragon Age and DMBJ) together and I had such a blast writing it.

Favorite title you used

God, I am so bad at titles. Strength in Numbers is a fun one, I guess. Because Baozi is the strength, and Luo Ji is the numbers. I don't know it made me smile at the time anyway.

AO3 Wrapped Questions

[sunriseverse]

Made up title game: Is Nothing Sacred?

ohhhh i have a couple of ideas for this buckle in as i try not to vibrate to death about my horrid little thoughts on the word “sacred”.

1. merlin fic where morgana is Going Through It in relation to her internalised issues and fears about magic and gwen is Going Through It as she realises she’s attracted to women. the “sacredness” of “normality” (lack of magic/heterosexuality) and the realisation that sometimes sacredness is cracked to the foundations and actively harmful. fix it au of course! merthur are also there in the background doing. something. who knows! gay people in avalon for the win. also uther trips and falls out a window and gets impaled on some spears or something love and light <3

2. dmbj fic. the iron triangle fuck in a sacred temple that’s it that’s the plot i don’t have anything else to say here. toss in some throne sex maybe if you’re feeling spicy. no wait i do have more to say here apparently i changed my mind. the in universe positioning of xiaoge as “other” and “above” the people around him is incredibly dehumanising in equal but different ways to the more obvious dehumanisation he’s experienced. l.iu s.ang calls him ouxiang/idol Canonically and it is Bad to me okay it is Bad. sometimes a man needs to be reminded he isn’t a god and he doesn’t have to be and sometimes the reminder in question is sweet, sweet gay sex with his husbands who just want him to be happy thank you for coming to my TED talk. nothing IS sacred because “sacredness” is a construct used to other both those that are deemed divine and those who are deemed mortal.

(this was VERY fun thank you adrian <3333 you ALWAYS know interesting things to toss at me)

[dual-domination]

For the AU game - book!DMBJ and Reunion are parallel universes and one or more characters fall through from one to the other.

Hi there again, Fixa! I got a new ask and decided to check all the things I have here in the askbox and... oh gods. I'm answering this one because is the only one I'm sure I won't be able to work with, because I didn't read enough of DMBJ books to create a satisfying setting for this prompt. (The plan is to read everything in 2024! Wish me luck!) As for all the other prompts, requests and games, I'll answer slowly, the way I really do most of times ;D Yours and other people's too. In particular, there's a prompt you sent me for a snippet, but I got the idea for a whole story as soon as I saw it and drafted it. Later brainstormed with Tazzy (at least twice) about this fic. It's something you said in another ask game that you wanted to write but believe you never will, so it ended up becoming a bit of a long fic here, but it will come one day!

[pinkbalrog]

Of Gods and Tombs

A Noragami Lost Tomb AU I decided to actually write up. Apologies for cultural errors. I probably could have researched more. No offense was meant. :) Feel free to comment. I consciously tried not to sink too much focus into this because I am a perfectionist and would have brooded over this for weeks, and I do have other projects! All supernatural elements are improvised, perhaps badly. I also wasn’t sure of Xiao Er Ye? Thoughts? I don’t know Chinese : (. 

Mentioning @jockvillagersonly because they have been ridiculously nice. :)

Here we go!

Pangzi stared. The man stared back, holding Pangzi’s wilting incense in one hand. He’d been, savoring it? Maybe? Wide eyes stared back over a thin trail of smoke and, was he blushing?

“Who the FUC-”

“Shhhh!” the man lunged forward. He dropped the incense, wincing and grabbed Pangzi’s arm. “You’ll wake something up!”

“You’re something!”

“We can talk but—yes, I am?”

Pangzi got a handful of silk. Where did he get the hanfu? He jerked him close, eyes narrowed, grinning so hard his cheeks ached. “You,” he grated, “are not part of the expedition”.

Wide eyes blinked at him. “What expedition?” Pangzi cuffed him.

“You think I came in here alone? You did not come in with us.” The guy wasn’t frail, was pretty solid actually, but he had the look of a bird plucked out of a net.  

“No. Obviously?” Thoughts moved rapidly behind his eyes, and he scanned Pangzi, taking in his sweat stained shirt, abraded hands, and his unshaven face. “You came with a group then, and you came up.” He pried off Pangzi’s grip and took a step towards the dark where Pangzi had dragged the heavy door mostly into place. “At least that’s the only way you’d be in this corridor, it’s inaccessible on this level.”

Pangzi gaped. He exclaimed, “Then how the hell did you get here?” The man ignored him, squatting down to look at Pangzi’s sleeping bag. Pangzi stepped in front of it defensively.

The man continued, “They must be dead, otherwise you wouldn’t be alone, and you need help”. He nodded at Pangzi, as if they were having a discussion. They were not.

Pangzi loomed over him. “Again, how are you here?”

The man rolled back on his heels, straightened, and damn well held his hands in front of him like he was lecturing. Long sleeves slid back from thin wrists. His hair was short, and not neat at all. “I’ve been here for a long time, and I need help too.”

“You,” Pangzi sputtered, “you need help. You look, look you’re not a ghost right? You would have already tried to kill me. Right. I’m sitting down for this.” And he threw himself down on the platform of the pitiful, wedged open coffin, nearly squashing his back pack. He crossed his arms. “Well, what’s your name?”

The guy, whoever he was, smiled hopefully. “You can call me Xiao Er Ye.”

Pangzi grunted. “Wang Pangzi”.

Xiao Er Ye bowed, weirdly formal.

Stretching out his legs, which ached from walking uneven corridors for literal days, Pangzi idly rifled through his bag until he had a good grip on his gun, then he pulled out a water bottle and let it hang from his hand. “And what are you anyway?”

“I’m a god.”

The bottle thunked on the floor. “What?”

Xiao Er Ye smiled wider.

Pangzi sneered. He waved his arms. “A god. Bullshit.” Whoever lost their lunatic in that pathetic village was probably wondering what hole they fell into. Pangzi’s hole apparently.

Xiao Er Ye regarded him steadily. “It’s true. Did you wonder why I had your incense?” Pangzi scoffed,

“Becasue you’re a weirdo?”

“Because your offering allowed me to appear to you.”

“Right. And that seems like a reasonable explanation to you?”

He was ridiculous, but he was really clean. There was fat on his bones, and his nails were neat. Pangzi let go of the gun, considering. The guy clearly got in here very recently, which meant there was a way out. Could Pangzi humor the lunatic to get out of a literal death trap? Hell yes.

“Oookay,” he drawled, “So you’re a god. I can see you. What do you need my help for, your holiness?”

Immediately, Xiao Er Ye sat close beside him. “I can’t leave here because someone is here in a trap meant for me. I can’t free him because the trap is meant for me.” He paused to see if Pangzi was following. Pangzi smiled wide. Apparently reassured, Xiao Er Ye went on, “and I’m having a hard enough time keeping the trap from doing what it’s supposed to do, which is make the whole thing even more inescapable. You’re mortal, so you can free him”.

Taking a drink, Pangzi considered. So yes, Xiao Er Ye was off his rocker. He put the cap back on and asked,

“But do you know a way out of here?”

“Yes, many.”

“And you’re still here.”

Xiao Er Ye set his jaw, obstinate. “I need help.”

Pangzi tapped the bottle. So, do one nonsensical thing and finally get out? Or do nothing and lose what might be a chance. He remembered red hands, gleaming wetly.  

“Okay,” he said, and watched Xiao Er Ye light up. He was ridiculously easy to read. “Say I believe you. How does this work?”  

“I lead you to the trap, and you follow my instructions. Then we get out.”

Pangzi eyed him incredulously. “Then we get out. No real plan for that?”

Xiao Er Ye grinned, gestured at the tomb around them, and said, “That’s the easy part.”

Pangzi snorted. “Easy he says.” He made a production of standing up, and folded, “You better not screw me over, your holiness.”

“Thank you.” Pangzi paused. Xiao Er Ye’s voice was soft, earnest, “Thank you Wang Pangzi.”

Pangzi huffed a laugh. Atleast this was a harmless idiot. “Yeah, you’re welcome, let’s go get your boyfriend, or whatever, and get out of here.”

Xiao Er Ye’s voice pitched up, “my whatever?” and he kept talking.

Ignoring him, Pangzi faced the door. Damn it, he had to shift it again.

 . . .

Pangzi reconsidered this decision. He reconsidered it strongly. Ripping another lotus arrow out of his shirt he threw it at Xiao Er Ye. Xiao Er Ye dodged, and it clicked on the floor with all the others. This was trap number six. He tried to stay calm.

“And why,” he hissed, “Are you setting off every trap in this godsdamned tomb? How are there even this many left? Didn’t you come this way? Why aren’t you dead? Are you dead? Are you a fucking ghost because so help me I will hit you.”

Turns out, Xiao Er Ye was right about the corridor earlier being inaccessible from that level, but you could climb up another pit trap. Pangzi was getting very tired of squeezing up pit traps, and apparently this guy just clambered up and down them? Without getting dirty? Without seeming flustered in the least? Maybe his people put him in the hole on purpose. Was this all just enrichment? Even the spear traps? It was a fucking blessing that they seemed to be malfunctioning, or aged past effectiveness.

Xiao Er Ye looked sheepish, shrugging. “I forgot to worry about them? I’m usually not materially here when I walk around, but you need to see me and get past them so...”

Pangzi took a deep breath and counted to ten. “I need a drink”.

“Are you hurt though?” and now Xiao Er Ye was all sharp-eyed and attentive, all his focus on Pangzi, on his bruises and battered ego. Pangzi’s shoulders slumped.

“From this?” he shook his head and clapped a hand on Xiao Er Ye’s shoulder, “I’m fine. Can we just—what is THAT?”

There were hands, white, emaciated hands pressing through the stones at their feet. Black writhed up. Shrieking, Pangzi stomped, and stomped again.

Xiao Er Ye was stomping too, ranting, “Oh not again, no no I will not humor you. Do you want to be dead? Really? I told you no!”

The hands shrank back with a plaintive keen and one last lingering caress on Xiao Er Ye’s leg.

Pangzi and Xiao Er Ye stood there, breathing heavily. Their eyes met. Xiao Er Ye wore a strained smile and he looked, desperate.  

“So,” Pangzi stepped past Xiao Er Ye, careful not to step on any cracks, “Where next?” He didn’t look back, but he heard Xiao Er Ye take a shaky breath.

“Down this way. We’re almost there.”

. . .

“Almost there” was a lie. Pangzi sympathized, he did. It seemed Xiao Er Ye really believed a friend of his was down here; but the longer it took to reach, whatever it was, the more Pangzi worried he wouldn’t get the chance to talk Xiao Er Ye down, and nudge him towards showing both of them out of the tomb. He did not want to wander until he starved, or end up like his former team mates, spattered across the walls of a noisome pit.

The corridors were getting smoother, more ornate, and Pangzi swore he could feel fresh air vented in from somewhere. Xiao Er Ye was silent now, heading doggedly forward. Finally, he turned a corner, and, in the light of Pangzi’s flashlight, there were massive doors, green gold bronze with jade inset panels. They glimmered, untouched by dust. In fact, and here Pangzi swung his flashlight around, splendor wasn’t confined to the doors. There were murals faded but intricate all over the walls of the corridor.

There was no way to smuggle those doors out, but Pangzi wanted. His fingers twitched. Why had the expedition come in on a lower grade? If they’d realized the tomb was mostly vertical, that stuff like this was at the top, well, this would have been a different raid altogether. It was quiet, hushed but for the sound of Pangzi’s and Xiao Er Ye’s foot steps, the sound of their breathing, and the rustle of Xiao Er Ye’s ornate coat as he strode forward.

The doors swung open at a touch, soundlessly, and, hesitating in the corridor, Pangzi believed for the first time, that maybe Xiao Er Ye was non-human, at least a little. Was this really real? He pinched himself, which hurt. Nothing changed.

What prayers had he used, when he lit the incense? He lost track sometimes. Was he even doing any of them correctly? “Pangzi?” Xiao Er Ye’s voice echoed.

Pangzi swallowed his nerves, steeled his gut and called back, “Yeah, yeah I’m coming.” Inside was a riot of gold statues, positioned as an audience, a circle of jade set into a stone platform, intact the whole way around, and a man suspended in the air, curled defensively, dark hair falling over his shoulders. Long sleeves of richest, deepest blue, hung from his slender frame, and as Pangzi crept closer, rapt, he saw that the man’s face was ridiculously pretty. He seemed asleep. He was definitely, no doubt about it, floating.

“What.”

“I told you,” that was Xiao Er Ye, his voice grim. He was standing at the edge of the jade circle, intent on the characters carved inside it. He was holding out his hands, and for the first time, in the weird eldritch light the whole thing gave off, Pangzi could see scars on Xiao Er Ye’s palms and wrists, as if they’d but cut with a straight blade. Xiao Er ye shook, straining to reach with everything in him.

“Please, Pangzi, you can break it.” 

Pangzi felt, calm, as if he was in his home town, standing outside the Lucky Frog bar, staring into the fervid eyes of old man Wei. His voice was even,

“What happened to your hands?”

“My hands?” Xiao Er Ye drew back, glancing at his palms, “What does it matter?” he looked back at the circle, “I tried to put more of me in the circle, to get it to grab me but blood didn’t work, or hair. They just, evaporated, or fell apart on contact and nothing works. Please, break it.”

“How long have you, right—What do I do?”

Xiao Er Ye’s instructions apparently, amounted to “break it” all his easy words gone. Pangzi tried wedging the jade up, but he couldn’t get any purchase, and blunt force didn’t even dent it. He sat, panting, and chugged the last of his water. Xiao Er Ye stood by, fretting.

“I can’t, not like this.”

“What?” Xiao Er Ye hunched, looking very small.

Pangzi stood with effort, and stretched, turning to loosen the muscles of his core. “So you’re a god huh, sure it’s not that guy? He looks more, holy.”

Xiao Er Ye’s face was stone. It was unnatural. “I’m a god. He’s Xiao ge” and he said Xiao ge as if, of all things in the world, that he was most sure of.

“So you can get us out, if say, I blow up the room?”

Xiao Er Ye burst forward, breathless and all glimmering silk, “You can do that?”

Pangzi bared his teeth, “Oh hell yeah.”

. . .

Turns out it was a good thing he’d lugged all those incendiaries up so many floors. It took a while, but Xiao Er Ye had surprisingly steady hands once he had something to do with them. He talked to Xiao ge as he worked, but it wasn’t any dialect Pangzi knew, and he didn’t ask. At the last, Xiao Er Ye made Pangzi stand close, so close that he could smell incense and something like petrichor.

Xiao Er Ye met his eyes and Pangzi hit the trigger.

. . .

The world was dust. Dust and nothing. No sound or feeling, like the world fell away. It cut back in as a blade to the throat.

A literal blade. Pangzi was suddenly, viscerally aware of sun, beaming down on him, of the rumble and clatter of stone as the chamber collapsed around them, radiating outward. He ached, he was thirtsy, his stomach drew in, his breath caught, and they were out.

Xiao Er Ye was standing behind Xiao-ge, who was awake, with a predatory gaze pinned on Pangzi’s face. He held a black and gold sword against Pangzi’s throat and one arm was held out in front of Xiao Er Ye. Xiao Er Ye blinked, looking dazed.

“Uh” Pangzi tried again, throat dry, “Xiao Er Ye?”

The god shook his head, drew a deep breath, and noticed Xiao ge. “Xiao ge!”

He threw himself on him dragging him away from Pangzi. Xiao ge went willingly raising a long fingered hand to Xiao Er Ye’s arm, gazing into his face with an intensity that hurt to look at. Xiao Er Ye, reverent, cupped his face, grazing his thumbs beneath ink dark eyes. He breathed out, bright eyed, “You’re awake.”

Pangzi found somewhere else to look. All that shattered gold looked promising.

. . .

The chamber they’d broken was indeed, at the top of the tomb, and had seemingly been built atop an older structure, carved out from inside the tomb so that it was built on top of a place of death, so that it would draw Xiao Er Ye up. From where, Pangzi didn’t ask. What he knew was that there were trees, green and rustling, and sunlight warm on his face. The underbrush was thick, but they managed to find a route that wouldn’t exhaust them within an hour. Pangzi got out his kukri, and Xiao-ge put his sword to better use.

Together, they made their way through the trees, Xiao-ge going ahead, presumably to clear the way of threats, like squirrels. He’d tied back his heavy sleeves and accepted a torn bit of silk from Xiao Er Ye to pull back his hair. Pangzi watched him go, then turned to Xiao Er Ye, who practically glowed. Was he literally glowing? It was hard to tell. The god stood on his toes, soft eyed and open, watching where Xiao ge went.

Pangzi cleared his throat, and asked, “So if you’re a god, what’s he?”

Xiao Er Ye started, then settled back on his heels. “Oh! He’s a Hafuri vessesl!” Pangzi looked at him, dead eyed. “Oh, it means he is the most loyal and, potent? Of shinki, of named spirits that serve a god.”

Pangzi mulled that over. He dug out a few protein bars and made to hand one to Xiao Er Ye, who declined. “Named spirits?”

“Gods give spirits a new existence with a name. He is Xiao ge. He becomes a tattoo! It’s beautiful.”

Pangzi unwrapped his bar and replied, “Right. A tattoo.” He drew himself up, and bit the bullet, asking, “And what god are you?”

But it was Xiao-ge who answered, stealthy as a cat creeping up on them, regarding Xiao Er Ye with a warm gaze, “Qinguang Wang”.

Pangzi choked. “What?”

The God of death and misfortune ducked his head, then smirked impishly, leaning into Pangzi’s personal space. Neatly, he swung Pangzi around to face forward, and rested his with an arm over Pangzi’s shoulders. “And you’re a Priest now!”

Pangzi stopped dead. “What.” He blinked, raised a hand to his chin, and asked carefully, “Are there perks?”

The god’s laughter pealed out, obnoxiously loud. Xiao ge’s lip twitched upward. He glanced at Pangzi, and intoned, nodding gravely, “Do well.” He resumed his walk ahead of them.

Pangzi shrugged off the—his god’s arm and stomped after him, “And what is that supposed to mean? I haven’t even agreed to this yet!”

. . .

Pangzi insisted that the shrine have a full size kitchen and more than one Hello Kitty egg timer.

Fin

[xcziel]

help y'all - who else is a dick character in reboot that isn't an old guy? i am mentally casting my sassy and fun legally blond liu sang brain movie and i can't think of anyone to be kan jian's trailer park living ex (bc kj is the jennifer coolidge character)

like huo er jing is liu sang's snotty bf who dumps him to join the 'big time' tomb raiding/antique business (obviously we are in modern imaginary romcom china) but influencer and model liu sang follows him anyway, determined to prove er jing wrong

he at first is antagonized by bai haotian as the vivian character who later comes to see er jing as the sleaze he is, befriends pangzi (the guy in the movie who needed romance advice), and gets support from kan jian and the others in the background wu crew. wu erbai is obviously the awful professor and thus wu xie and xiaoge who've been working with the families for years kind of split the characteristics of the friendly and experienced/laconic but hot luke wilson love interest. bai haotian liu sang and kan jian get an empowering shopping montage bc i think it would be super cute

i just love the idea of liu sang swanning in with a flawless blowout and ridiculously high end but actually very practical tomb-crawling gear. "You think you can map this tomb in 20 minutes?" What, like it's hard?" liu sang knowing how to use explosives so he can get the best results and bonding with pangzi.

for some mumblemumble plot reasons the diaries and documents they need for locating an artifact disappear (er jing selling them out?) and wu xie and wu erbai are tearing their hair out and liu sang is like "Oh hey i have images of everything saved on my phone bc i take pics of any paperwork that comes near me - it's a thing - you wouldn't believe the shady stuff people try to pull with modeling and promoting contracts" and just, like, ... always taking selfies in front of like people trying to steal or eavesdrop, catching them on camera, and the wus are able to identify them etc

(i've just decided hei yanjing is the one who gets framed for murder, only it turns out his husband wasn't actually dead but faking it to lure out the wangs and i want liu sang to come up with some clever trivia related to sunglasses a la the perm scene but i haven't gotten that far)

but so who in reboot is enough of a jerk for kan jian to dump them for being gaslighting and a waste of space? i can't remember all the warehouse people ... (don't say jiang zisuan bc he is too hot to be a sad-sack ex ok?)