#not sangyao yet but-

[allthelittlecreepycrawlies]

Customer Service au: NHS buys out the shop MY work at so his boss will stop bullying him

Meng Yao walked into the break room to begin the morning ritual of pulling himself together to face the usual shit once he clocked in, only to find Xue Yang lounging at one of the tables with one of his disgustingly over-sugared energy drink concoctions.

Most of which wasn't unusual, except for the fact that Xue Yang was actually early for his shift for the first time they'd ever known each other.

He was instantly wary, especially when Xue Yang grinned at him over the rim of the can.

"Looks like you haven't heard the good news yet."

"What good news?" he asked, unease climbing higher.

"The boss got shitcanned. Or, if you wanna be all corporate lingo fuckery about it, he got transferred to a position more appropriate for his temperament. A whole fuckin' province away."

Meng Yao stared at him, the words taking a bit to process past his disbelief.

The pompous asshole who'd been taking special care to make his job in particular hell ever since he'd found out whose bastard kid he was... was gone? Gone, gone?

"How did that happen?" he asked in an almost wheeze, still not quite believing it.

"Remember last week when he went off on you in front of that little frou-frou puffball in the weird outfit?"

How could he forget? They had actually been chatting up a good rapport about a piece the customer was looking to have made for a friend's birthday when the manager had come storming over to castigate his intelligence over the shade of blue of his shirt.

Short of when his father had discovered his existence and had come to make a row about what he'd do if his mother ever sought child support, it had been the single most humiliating moment of his life.

"Yeah?" he said, trying not to show how badly it still rattled him.

Judging by the way Xue Yang's grin widened, he'd done a poor job.

"Turns out the puffball's related to one of our major suppliers. We're under new ownership and we're getting a new manager starting today."

...Wow.

Wow.

At the time, he hadn't so much as glanced at the customer during Zhen's tirade, too focused on wanting to sink into the floor and disappear, and when he'd been dismissed like an unruly servant, he'd immediately clocked out and left.

But to think a total stranger had been so offended, not by his skills, but by his treatment, as to go this far...

Well.

He supposed he should at least try again. This time to make friends, not just make a sale.

[thebiscuiteternal]

Okay, sending the picture doesn't work, sorry about that, so:

Anything for the Au where Meng Yao gets snatched up by a wen solider, works his way up and is one day 'rewarded' by wen Ruohan who has Nie huaisang sent to his room?

Ah, yeah, nonnies can't send images. Submitted images require a name attached too, but with that I can at least edit you to be anon in the actual post. Totally understandable if you'd rather not, however, no push.

(note: I originally had an opening conversation between Meng Yao and Wen Ruohan for this, but my WRH "voice" felt... slightly off. Not up to my standard. I didn't want to extend your wait while I fought with it, so I might try revising it another time.)

---------------

By the time he opened the door to his room, he had gone through over two dozen possibilities for what this 'mystery present' could possibly be-

-and what he found was not any of them.

He put a hand over his mouth to keep any sound of surprised dismay from escaping, lest someone be listening in where he couldn't see them, then stepped into his room, closed the door, and immediately pressed a silencing talisman to the seam before approaching his bed.

Where there was a boy tied to one of the posts.

Almost immediately, his mind began instinctively taking an inventory of information. Which was good. As long as it was occupied doing that, it wasn't panicking.

First off, the clothing that bore all of the hallmarks of the Nie sect- captive, an important one, clearly, yet sent here instead of the Fire Palace.

The overall ragged state of his hair- clearly pulled more than once in a struggle- and the painful looking bruise that spread down from his left temple over his cheekbone- a favorite knockout tactic for attempted escapees.

Gingerly, he lifted the boy's chin, and estimated that they weren't that distant in age, maybe two or three years at the most.

As he continued his examination, his unexpected... guest made a faint little disoriented moan, eyes fluttering open just enough for him to see they were a vivid pale green before they closed again and the boy once again went slack in his bindings.

Meng Yao took a very slow, deep breath and let it out.

Then did so again.

The number of Nie family members who were in or close enough to the central bloodline to inherit that eye color could be counted without running out of fingers, which, put together with the other things he'd made note of, meant he'd been handed none other than the brother and heir to the sect leader currently leading the war against his own.

He had heard quite a bit about the Brothers Nie since he'd first come under the direct command of the Undying Sun. Wen Ruohan's opinions and feelings about them wandered the entire gamut from 'upstarts to be crushed under heel like bugs' to 'wayward children who merely needed to be taken well in hand," depending entirely on his mood at the moment he happened to be -frequently- thinking about them.

One of his very few requests of his sect leader was that he be allowed to keep his job and his home entirely separated, so given that... that Nie Huaisang had been sent here, it seemed that Wen Ruohan's opinion was currently in the 'wayward child' category.

Which didn't exactly make things easier for him, since, again, it could change at any time. For all he knew, this was anything from a genuine gift to some kind of test.

He sighed and rubbed his head.

Alright.

Alright.

He would simply -as if anything about the situation he'd been handed was simple- focus on 'for now,' to prevent giving himself a headache.

For now, this was intended as a gift.

One to be taken care of, akin to a surprise puppy.

He could do that.

Maneuvering into a position that would make it easier to catch Nie Huaisang once he was no longer bound, he pulled a knife from his sleeve and went to work on the ropes. When the last came free, Nie Huaisang slumped forward into his arms.

Huh.

He was a lot lighter than expected.

Filing that away in his mind in case he needed it for later, Meng Yao managed to get him laid out on the bed with very little difficulty.

He was not, however, a fool, so before he resumed examining for other injuries, he tied both of Nie Huaisang's hands back to the bed post.

By the time he was done, he'd found a handful of other bruises -though none as serious as the blow to the head- and some minor scrapes, as well as a qi-slowing sedative that would need to be burned out of Nie Huaisang's system.

And then it would just be a matter of figuring out what to do once he woke up.

[a-yaos-little-murder-beans]

I sat down in my arm chair to read a book, but I somehow ended up writing 6k sangyao accidental eggpreg smut where NMJ is still hoping that the fox pup MY gave birth to is a hallucination.

[wifiwuxians]

my taste is so uncommon and bad (outside of songxiao) and i would not have it any other way. 90% of what i ship has like maybe 2% of content

[mostlikelytofangirl]

Fic Writer Q&A

Got tagged by @jgydidnothingwrong :D

How many wips do you have currently?

Oooooh boy, way too many ^^;. Gonna list them in order from most to least likely to see the light of day orz

Ruoyao fake dating sugar daddy AU - currently ongoing

Omegaverse modern sangcheng - currently ongoing

Nieyao reconnecting by taking care of drunk LXC - for nieyao week

Xiyao endgame Mamma mia AU - planned for when the sc one ends

MY helping xusang by distracting WRH after accidentally getting betrothed to WX - I just think it's hilarious

Modern chengyao giving JL a puppy - a whole chapter long already

WRH trapped in a loop until he convices MY not to kill him - two whole chapters long already

A weird ass modern chengyao shared custody that can either be sangcheng&3zun or actual chengyao endgame - structure done and a few chapters

JZX is Madam Jin's bastard - one long chapter almost done

JGY as surrogate for xuanli - half chapter done

Post-nieyao revenge dating sangyao - got two chapters done

I have ideas for other fics too, but those don't have a sole word written yet, and this list is long enough lol

Which one are you finding the hardest to finish?

Everyone has their own reasons why they are still WIPs :'). But rn the omegaverse shangcheng one bc it's almost done but my brain is fixated on the ruoyao one bc it's HUGE, so it won't focus on the other one and let me finish it already.

What does it usually look like when inspiration strikes for you?

It looks like me either forcing myself to work on something and finding my mojo along the way so I actually get a good chunk done... or opening yet another new file to pour down all my sudden ideas and feels for a new WIP :P

Do you curate playlists for each fic or is your process different?

Not really. I used to, but unless the mood of a song matches the story perfectly, I normally don't bother anymore or just put background jazz to cancel outside noises. If I'm very into a song at that moment, then I just play it and somehow my brain will manage to make it match what I'm writing XD

Do you go balls to the wall and write as you go or are you more organized?

Normally I just roll with it. I have a general idea of where is it going and how I want it to go and let Jesus take the wheel :'D. Only when I have WAY too many ideas for a fic that is going to be LONG I get organized with a proper structure and timeline, like the ruoyao one and the possibly two endings one.

I tag @wishthefish, @thebiscuiteternal and @hereticcryptid

[magnaflourious-nerdity]

So the ask got deleted accidentally, but @autisticharrywells asked me about SANGYAO for toxic ship bingo, and now that I have forcibly dragged them through all 50 episodes, i can at last go off---- you FOOL! you have fallen directly into my trap!!! Muahahaha

I do not know how I ended up here. I don't know WHY I ended up here, except that I'm some kind of masochist.

Like I was all prepared to be 100% team wangxian otp and read all the fic and shit, and I started out so promising. (And I do love them...) But then. Then. That little demon brought a bird to class. And the other little demon protected him during the Wen thing. The stabbing ?? The warning as Meng Yao was leaving to huaisang DESPITE actively bleeding. The pleading to Mingjue to let Meng Yao stay despite no evidence of Huaisang ever really standing up to question NMJ decisions before like that (esp in front of other clan members) (other than with things like blowing off Sabre practice) THE FAN CLENCH. MY HEART. And THEN they committed their various atrocities during which the no turning back point was hit for them so many times and yet i do believe the remorse was there and so too was some affection still, twisted as it was by time and hatred and isolation and i... I just....I slipped?

There's so much there!!! (and please keep in mind I'm mostly talking from a cql/the untamed perspective, though I have seen the donghua and am aware of book cannon, I just kinda prefer the show as the version I take to heart (with some notable jgy or Huaisang based exceptions bc i'm nothing if not willing to excuse their pretty boy mid-divorce war crimes))

These two have such a deep shared history that spans the entirety of the cannon, and their relationship is extra fascinating on rewatch as you can more clearly track the downward spiral of events.

There's also the tragedy that it COULD have been avoided, was so close to being avoided several times bc JGY is not really EVIL, (any one who says this is being super reductive imo) but he does preserve himself above all other things and people through sheer learned necessity (with the exception of xichen and isn't that also a beautiful part of sangyao tragedy?? That so clearly xichen and JGY were destined to be the tragic counterparts to wwx and lwj's relationship not nhs and jgy? That xichen was the only thing JGY ever sacrificed true parts of himself for, that huaisang knows that he could have done the same for him, but didn't? Because there was too much history with Mingjue to let it go, and also bc the devotion or affection he held for huaisang when they were both on the mountain never surpassed that point. He had too much caution to truly be himself, and Huaisang, I don't think could ever truly see past JGYs status in the way that xichen was able to since he served as his big brother's vice general and also his appointed companion to a degree. ) And where does that leave huaisang? Where he always is. ALONE. On a mountain he never fit in on in the first place. Where does it leave JGY? Stuck in a permanant customer service role to his awful father and branded further untrustable as a spy. Humilated and broken down to the point of just. So much murder. (Some of which I still maintain tain as a public service coughcoughJinGuangShancoughcough)

They are so much alike and yet so different in such key aspects, that I also have to believe they were meant to act as parallels to one another, just like wwx and jgy, or xichen and wangji. The planning and manipulation they both do (in their own ways bc i am in the camp that while huaisang is smarter than the average bear, smarter than he ever wants to let on bc it makes his life easier, he isnt able to truly outpace JGY's ability to craft a situation. What he is good at is manipulating people and social situations, and adapting his outlined plan extremely well on the fly- with the exception of maybe xichen. I dont think he meant to truly hurt xichen like that. I think that was a natural panic that if JGY was allowed to live it would mean Huaisang actually had to die at some point instead, Though I do also think perhaps there is some lingering resentment there that leads to it to bc why is JGY worth pardoning after his crimes to xichen? Doesn't this mean he inherently valued JGY over Mingjue, over Huaisang’s own pain and anguish? (he did, but not maliciously, lans are love blind we know this))

The tragedies of nie huaisang are inextricably linked to the tragedies of jgy and vice versa! Technically, huaisang, as a bastard of the clan leader with one of his concubines, (I think that's right) should be discounted as a noble son, esp considering his weaker nature and lack of talents dictated to be valuable by the standards of the nie clan. He should have the same status really or at least a status more closely similar to jgy who is constatly looked down on because of his mother's position and bastard status, despite his constant hyper competency, as we see so vividly. And yet Huaisang is given title and rank and (some) respect where JGY gets trodden into the mud and shit of life, even as he succeeds in raising the jin clans success through his actions and talents. Meanwhile, huaisang is thought to be a useless leech by others, untalented in the ways of ruling or anything that's deemed an actually respectable skill by clan leader standards. A pathetic little dude who doesn't know how to do anything, and yes, he does get cast as a headshaker in the eyes of the people, but it's never his background thats brought into question as to why he might be failing. It's considered a result of his personality, not his upbringing. And even then he doesn't get shit talked as much as JGY does. Huaisang has all the privilege that JGY was never afforded, and does that color JGYs view a bit? Does it make him just bitter enough that, when combined with his father’s looming threats and taunts, and Mingjue’s inability to ever let anything JGY does go, that he's willing to hurt huaisang in such a way, even just as a byproduct of his mission?

Huaisang’s plan is successful, bc people discount him as incompetent, yes, but also bc they still see him as a noble, as someone of enough inherent value, diminished though it may be, that he weilds that influence even when playing the fool. JGY doesn't get that respect even at his height of his power and competency as a ruler.

They are, neither of them, strong cultivators. But that factor only really affects JGY bc it means he has to fight even harder for acceptance and validation. Huaisang also gets the luxury of CHOOSING not to be a strong cultivator. Because his position in life IS secure, he can slack off. He is allowed to try his hardest to avoid the fate of his family and do his utmost not to cultivate in that manner. Which I think, too, causes some of the resentment. On both sides. Huaisang never has to work a day in his life, has barely any expectations to live up to and still gets the respect Meng Yao is constantly robbed of. And for huaisang- On top of killing his brother via musically-induced, full-bodied rage embolism, JGY is now also the reason that huaisang is thrust into a position he was entirely unprepared for way before he was supposed to be.

And we know, we KNOW that JGY is responsible for so many of Huaisang’s pretty little things. His beloved indulgences granted not by his own brother, but by his doting san-ge. Things that got burned or destroyed by Mingjue simplu for the fact that a) they were from JGY and B) they are not the type of things NMJ cosidereds respectabke hobbies or skills. A large number of his fans and painting supplies are gifts from JGY, and he stood up for and encouraged those hobbies against the person he probably fears the most at that point, Mingjue (even if he's already actively trying to kill him by then). And huaisang seemed genuinely pleased that JGY had found acceptance and was getting what he (thought he) wanted. The friendship and affection was real, just not near strong enough to withstand the crimes of the other.

And oh boy that divorce was rough and bloody and beautiful and tragic and I just love the messy nature of the relationship, how deep and how twisted it went and became. And i think, right up until the very end, JGY didn't truly want to believe that Huaisang was capable of doing this to him, I don't think he ever wanted to hurt huaisang again the way he had to when he killed Mingjue. Use him? Maybe. But not in a malicious way, not by his standards.

I am happy to read any sangyao content I can get, however! I love reading about them as companions on the mountain, growing together, bonding. Maybe young and in love? I love reading the gradual drifting apart. The years they schemed and used each other. The final divorce. And what comes after. Or what could never be. Any content, I will take, and it depends on where in cannon we are that a particular square is filled in.

Jgy had to fight for both acceptance and sheer survival, and huaisang never really had to do either. Except maybe during the ~10 years of the gap when Huaisang had figured him out, but was pretending to be useless to achieve his ends. You could argue the mindset that aside from just avenging his DaGe, he was also concerned about his own survival bc what if he became an Inconvienience instead of just the annoyance he was playing up to be? If he actually stood in Guanyao's way? It would be much easier to take him out than Mingjue, realistically. But what would be that threshold to have JGY actually do anything? Are Huaisang’s histrionics and uselessness useful to him? Or a result of guilty indulgence? Or left over fondness from a ti.e they were so close? Some combo of all? Who can say and I fucking love that uncertainty about them

Saying all that, these two are the poster child for OTP I don't want to end up together in Canon, lol. Unless it's one of the many time travel fix it aus, they simply have too much history and shared issues and rage between them to ever make sense working out. But their stories are so incomplete without the other, they are inexorably linked, and I just think they're neat!

(Please don't come for me cql fans. im sure I've misunderstood or posted an opinion that's utterly debatable on here. But like, also. I'm tired and I love them and I don't care.)

I have more to say about them that you'll probably get to hear at some point when we talk, but for now, they have BROKEN MY BRAIN.

Also, to all my fellow sangyao peeps: please feel free to send fic recs if you want. I am so hungry for the content.

[tavina-writes]

of course you know i'm gonna say sangyao, but just for fun, i'm also throwing ningsang out there.

Biscuit!! :D

Sangyao: Sometimes I feel insane about them. This is an eternal:

Ship It

What made you ship it?

Is there a reason NOT to ship it???? There can be something so personal about the "destroys your life on purpose and also by accident" thing they have going on! The amount they care about each other! I could go on LONG tangents about sangyao I'm obsessed with them.

What are your favorite things about the ship?

The fundamental way that they're so important to each other even in situations where there was no reason to start or continue being important to each other except that they still CHOSE to care.....mmm delicious. Did spoiled young master NHS need to give a shit about Meng Yao? No! Did Chief Cultivator JGY need to continuing giving a shit about "I don't know I don't know I really really don't know SOB"? No! Did they care anyway? Yes! Arguably this has made them so terrible for each other. I want to keep rotating them in the pear wiggler.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

I'm not sure. I guess my unpopular opinion is that I don't think time traveler JGY could kill a NHS who hasn't done anything to him yet but I DO think a time traveler NHS could murder Meng Yao. These two can contain multitudes!!! :DDD

Ningsang: I think the big problem here with this ship is that I just haven't thought about them a ton and would only see this working out in an AU where they have to care about each other due to some sort of forced proximity issue. I haven't decided what sort of issue that would be because I also don't think they're each other's type very much so there would have to be a lot of character development on top of the AU that pushes them together. Like, I could ship it. I can ship almost anything! I'm a devout multishipper at heart! I would read about them! But I queried my brain about any prompt ideas I might have them and all I got was radio static :(. (This is especially weird to me bc I'm also a devout NHS/Wen Xu girlie so ??? I should've been able to think of something???)

Thanks for the ask! :D

Ship It/Don't Ship It Ask Game

[sangyaoweek]

💛💚 Sangyao Theme Song Mini-Tourney: ROUND 1 - PART 4! 💚💛

Links and propaganda:

Real Men by Mitski

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjYoldxFg14

Submitter:

“Nie Huaisang is Meng Yao's little boy.”

What Love? by I DON’T KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME

Link: https://youtu.be/TBj5DWPJwfk?si=cOsxrWjtquTQGYjK

Submitter:

“I'll try to keep this brief hit the highlights and I'm so sorry but I've been sitting in this rot for months. What Love? is about how love can be horrible and toxic and yet somehow you can't quite let it go. It still lingers and festers.

"I think you got a hold of me But don’t let go And I’ll never set you free"

The mutual obsession between sangyao, the acknowledgement it might be bad for them but still unwilling to break anything off.

"you only sacrifice the things I never ask you too"

Depending on how you want to read Guangyao’s motivations he might have in a small part killed Mingjue for Huaisang due to the already failing relationship. Guangyao assumes he always knows best and what Huaisang would want/do best with.

"I guess I met you at the wrong time"

This perfectly encapsulates the whole of sangyao. Maybe if they hadn't met under the circumstances they wouldn't have ended up like this.

"I promised you things that I didn’t mean Pushed you to the edge of insanity I shook all the wrong hands At all the right times Who did you expect me to be?"

This sums up Guangyao and how his choices are what drove his and Huaisang’s relationship to where it ends with Huaisang wild with grief and plotting Guangyao’s demise for years.

What love could be this vicious but sangyao?”

[thatswhatsushesaid]

I was discussing this obliquely with @verdantrivers sometime ago wrt what throws me out of my ability to fully immerse myself in the experience of reading xiyao fic (full disclosure, I love a good xiyao marriage AU, but I often have to just. suspend my sense of disbelief. to really enjoy them 99% of the time), but given the additional complicated layers impacting how jin guangyao and nie huaisang relate to each other at different stages of the canon, both in cql and the novel, these things are especially important for sangyao too.

(also note that I consume most mdzs content through a jgy lens first because he's the character who currently lives rent-free in my brain).

anyway, here's my incomplete and maybe kind of arbitrary list of essential stuff a sangyao-centric fic needs to consider about jgy to really sell me specifically on the story:

a-yao as jin guangyao is not inherently more (or less!!) duplicitous than a-yao as meng yao. I'm not... entirely unaware of where this particular interpretation of jgy's character comes from, and I can understand how even subconsciously huaisang might buy into this belief just by virtue of his close proximity to nie mingjue. but while a character's belief in something about another person can create interesting narrative friction and drive the development, or dissolution, of the relationship between two characters, I don't think the novel (or the drama for that matter) supports an interpretation of jin guangyao being a more morally bankrupt version of a-yao. jin guangyao is jin guangyao; his fear and vulnerability and ambition to get what he is owed by jin guangshan is consistently emphasized by the narrative whether he has received his courtesy name and title of lianfang-zun yet or not. huaisang may look back on his recollection of his relationship with jin guangyao-as-meng yao with rose-tinted glasses and lapse into nostalgia for the good old days (and honestly, give me that unreliable narration, go full '100 Days of Summer' manic pixie dream yao about it, I'll eat it up); but leave clues in the narrative to show the dissonance between who huaisang sees vs who jin guangyao is.

jin guangyao does not want to hurt nie huaisang, literally or figuratively. there's obviously going to come a point in the depiction of this relationship where, when huaisang understands that jin guangyao is responsible for triggering nie mingjue's qi deviation, it makes absolute sense for huaisang to experience feelings of shock, horror, anguish, betrayal, fear, and anger towards jin guangyao. it makes perfect sense for huaisang to be afraid! but his fear of jin guangyao does not mean that jin guangyao wants to harm him. the most common way I see this manifest itself in their relationship in fic is actually one that frustrates me the most, because it seems even less supported textually than jin guangyao wanting to kill huaisang (because by the time he figures out who is responsible for the complete destruction of his entire life at guanyin temple I can absolutely see jin guangyao wanting to claw his way back out of the grave as a calamity ghost for the exclusive purpose of getting some violent revenge on huaisang for his actions!) but a story that has jin guangyao treating huaisang with needless cruelty while they are being intimate, either romantically or sexually, outside the context of a fraught argument or without any pre-existing discussion of kink negotiation (whether they have the language to call it 'kink negotiation' or not, you know what I'm talking about here) does not jive with jin guangyao's consistently protective and gentle treatment of huaisang. this is a fundamental part of their relationship even in canon: jin guangyao cares about huaisang's well-being and does not intentionally seek out opportunities to cause him pain. this is what makes the drama of the guanyin temple confrontation hit like a truck.

jin guangyao is objectively miserable in jinlintai (because who fucking wouldn't be when your dad is jin guangshan), but he is not happy in qinghe, either. because he is not a nie, and he never will be. as usual with most of the points I am raising here, huaisang does not need to be cognizant of this to make the story work. in fact I'd say it works best if our sweet gothic-romance-heroine-in-a-danmei-novel huaisang doesn't clock this to start with and does wonder why jin guangyao isn't content to stay in qinghe with him, because isn't he happy here with huaisang? couldn't huaisang give him everything (that huaisang believes) jin guangyao needs to be happy and fulfilled? does he want power? does he want influence? safety? control? there's a great argument between lan xichen and jin guangyao in what is probably my favourite xiyao fic ever the weakness of falling in love (by @fincalinde ) where our dear and wonderful (and exceptionally misguided) er-ge believes that the solution to jin guangyao's present problems is for him to leave the lanling jin sect and, if he so chooses, join the gusu lan to be with lan xichen, and at the core of jin guangyao's counter-argument is the fact that, in his own words, "I am a jin." he has believed this about himself since he first climbed those steps at jinlintai and was subsequently kicked back down them by one of jin guangshan's lackeys, and in my opinion he goes to his death holding that belief. he takes the filial obligations he has both to his mother, who died wanting this for him, and to the jin sect, seriously. his 'happily ever after' does not lie in giving up his birthright without doing some serious work, (work that will risk undermining the core conceit of jin guangyao's character and his struggle imo), and whether or not huaisang ever fully understands this, the fic writer at the very least should!

jin guangyao and nie huaisang are not equal partners in their relationship (and they won’t be until huaisang recognizes this), even after jin guangyao becomes lianfang-zun and swears brotherhood to both nie mingjue and lan xichen. okay please bear with me on this point because, again, I have to stress that /gestures @ the above, this reality does not at any point in the fic have to translate into huaisang consciously or unconsciously recognizing this disparity between his station and jin guangyao's, and it probably works the best when the story leans in to how little of a shit huaisang cares about things like cultivator politics and social hierarchies etc. because when has huaisang ever had to care about those things, prior to nie mingjue's death? caring about that stuff was always da-ge's job, whereas huaisang's very important job was appreciating birds and fine art and being fussed over (the dream tbh). recognizing the power dynamics at play in the world around him is boring for huaisang, whereas for jin guangyao it is a matter of literal life or death, and always has been. any social or political misstep that jin guangyao makes can and will be used to tear him down from whatever position of advantage he has eked out for himself, and he protects himself from this threat through his politeness and his strict adherence to all the appropriate social courtesies, to doing everything he can to keep himself in his father's good graces; huaisang does not have to do any of this, and he never has. I feel like this is especially important to stress when writing a romantic relationship between jin guangyao and nie huaisang, because even if jin guangyao didn't genuinely care about huaisang's well-being and happiness in the canon material (and, as we can see in both the novel and the drama, he absolutely does!), he would not be allowed the luxury of treating huaisang even with indifference, let alone with even the gentlest criticism. because nie huaisang is the young master of the nie cultivation sect, and jin guangyao will always be jin guangshan's bastard. jin guangyao's birth circumstance as the son of a sex-worker is viewed by the broader cultivation world as a literal taint upon his person, something that is as integral to who he is as the colour of his eyes, and we can see in the novel and the drama that any time he is at a point of contention with other cast members, this is what his opponents reach for when it comes time to 'punish' him for what he has 'done wrong.' (absolutely not going to go off on a tangent about that here, nope, not happening.) shit I didn't even dig down into the inherent inequality to entering a relationship with the guy who was essentially your glorified babysitter, if we're leaning into the cql canon, but making that transition from caretaker to romantic partner is also a thing. /waves arms, I'll add this as #5 later.

...okay. I reserve the right to come back to this list later and reblog it with additional thoughts (menacing), but this is. good. for now.

[achilleasfury]

Sangyao Week Day 3: ghosts

@sangyaoweek

The temple barely stood anymore. Its pillars were broken and breaking, fabrics long ripped up and eaten. The statue had been vandalised again and again, face ruined beyond repair. The only thing remaining was a coffin, covered in chains, bound deeply to the ground, yet shaking and groaning as if the metal were to break down like rotten wood any second now.

No one really came to that temple anymore. It was a scorned place, devoid of life and hope - nothing where anyone would want to spend their time.

Yet twice, maybe thrice a year, the temple would receive a visitor. A cloaked figure, their face hidden behind a simple mask. They would sit down next to the coffin, uncaring of its furious shaking, and shed their coat, revealing quite mismatching robes. A dark grey, imposingly cut outer robe draped over much lighter ones, the belt not sitting quite right, somehow just a tad too big. Always the same old bloodstained robes. The stain was on the right, hovering awkwardly just above the spot where the heart was on the left.

The resentful energy would swirl around them in circles, going tighter and tighter and tighter. They would watch it float, sometimes sluggishly lifting a hand to dissipate it with a waving motion. It would always grow back almost immediately, pushing against the hand until it was lowered again.

Sometimes it would curl up on their shoulder, a mimicry of an old friend and ruined chances.

Sometimes it would curl around their neck, a mimicry of a never-would-be lovers embrace.

Sometimes it would close around their wrists, a mimicry of a scolding brother, forever lost to damned.

……

Huaisang didn’t know why he kept coming back to the temple. It was filled with memories he did not want to retain, the coffin filled with a corpse he never wanted to see again, never wanted to think of again. It was a comforting lie at least.

Not very effective, with how he was wrapped up in the robe of his biggest enemy, his dearest companion. He liked to pretend Meng Yao wasn’t Jin Guangyao. That his beloved friend had been replaced by an imposter, a fake taking his place to sow discord and hatred. (Huaisang was no liar, but he’d always been exceptionally talented at deceiving himself.)

He leaned back, head now resting on the coffin lid. His gazes turned upwards, studying the half standing ceiling. Maybe, if he just continued to count the stones, he could ignore the resentment taking a human shape next to him.

……

What are you doing here, A-Sang? Are you hiding again? From what? Your mistakes? Your brother? Me?

Oh, don't be childish, stop ignoring me. Your

hands won't keep my voice from reaching you, you know that. It's foolish to try, so why continue?

Sit down, little bird, we're not going anywhere. We have time.

Sit down, little bird, no need to rush. We have time.

Now, now, don't pull that face, you came here first. No one forced you to, dearest. It was all you and your own will.

You can't say you didn't miss me, can you? I certainly missed you. It's so boring when you're not here. All there is to do is watch the coffin shake and rattle. Sometimes I can almost hear his voice, but he stopped talking to me a long time ago.

A-Sang, if you keep making those grimaces, your face is going to get stuck in one someday. That wouldn't be good for your health.

I'm sure Da-ge wouldn't like it either - well, if he would still talk to either of us.

But you ruined your chance with that, didn't you? Well, don't be so down about it. He would not do much other than rage and rage either way.

We know him. Always filled with that unchainable fury, it truly wasn't good for his health.

Nowadays he doesn't know more than his anger. He isn't anything more than that anger anymore. It'll burn out eventually, don't worry.

I'm interested to see what will become of him, once all his emotions have worn down.

Oh, put those silly tears away. I have no hands to dry them anymore, A-Sang and you know no one else would. It's just us, like always. No Da-ge to yell at you, no Er-ge to fail at peace making.

Close your eyes, my dear nightingale, you look the sweetest at rest. The blade’s fury won't get to you, I promise. I'll gladly take the cuts meant to break your precious skin.

[allthelittlecreepycrawlies]

For your entertainment, the opening of the next ex-twitter project I'm hoping to finish before the year is out.

---------------

As Jin Ling -with help from a visiting Ouyang Zizhen- is digging through all the stuff left behind by his uncle and grandfather's shadier practices, he comes across a mirror that looks a lot like the one that leads to the hidden treasure room, only it's much newer and smaller, only big enough for one person to pass through at a time.

It works just the same, though.

So, dragging Zizhen by the hand to keep the mirror from separating them, Jin Ling pushes through and finds a circular-shaped room.

No, it's a circular-shaped building, the one room being its only room.

And it has no door.

There is a bed between its two windows and a few empty shelves lining the wall, the make of the furniture entirely unfamiliar to either of them.

They check the windows and find they've been heavily warded, and some kind of power they're not willing to investigate too deeply radiates from the bed.

Concerned, they decide to contact Wei Wuxian, who of course brings his little Lan entourage with him.

Examining the furniture and the wards, Wei Wuxian begins to get a little rock of unease in his stomach. The Juniors might not recognize the carving style of the furniture, but that's because they've never seen any of the family quarters in the Unclean Realms.

And the wards and lack of any doors...

He investigates the array carved into the floor under the bed and the wards up its frame.

Anyone laid in it would be almost instantly placed into an inedia coma with the slightest infusion of qi, and the array is designed to re-circulate that energy, meaning it could run for a very long time without having to be reactivated.

He hears Lan Jingyi and Ouyang Zizhen muttering to each other near one of the shelves.

"-yeah, I remember her, but that was a house-house. With guards and alarms and stuff," Jingyi says.

"But she was a normal lady," Zizhen replies. "What if you wanted to hide away a cultivator?"

Normally, Wei Wuxian loves how clever their ducklings are, but right now, he hopes they don't reach the same conclusion that he has.

He trades glances with Lan Zhan and can see that his brilliant husband has also picked up on his worries.

This is a cage that has been designed for one bird in particular.

Maybe... maybe it's best that they simply destroy it without telling Nie Huaisang about its existence.

And maybe it's best that he backs off on his jibes about "paranoia" on Nie Huaisang's part in the future, if this is just a small sample of the kinds of things he had to fear in the years Wei Wuxian was dead.

—

This is how it went in one timeline. 

—

In another, Nie Huaisang did indeed get caught and Jin Guangyao sealed him away in an inedia coma so he couldn't keep interfering.

[thebiscuiteternal]

ooh, "brothel angst that might end better"?

a fusion of a few different "jin guangshan is the absolute worst" ideas along with my headcanon that nie huaisang is a favorite among the jiejies and geges of qinghe's red lantern districts because he hires them to do nothing but pass him info/gossip/writing inspiration.

short version, something causes the jin sect to be exposed as collaborating with demonic cultivators and, of course, jin guangshan throws his bastard son under the bus. since no murders have been uncovered (yet), he "mercifully" only strips jin guangyao of legitimacy and exiles him from the sect.

right into a brothel contract. after all, since he failed at his father's legacy, surely he's more suited for his mother's!

meng yao thinks this can't possibly be any more humiliating, when who should show up at his new place of employment but nie huaisang.

(nie huaisang, who had heard about the exiling, but didn't know where meng yao had been sent until one of the brothel girls on his 'payroll' contacted him to give him a worried heads-up.)

he tries to insist on buying out meng yao's contract so that he can leave, but meng yao thinks this means bringing him back to the nie sect, and the thought of having to be in the same room as nie mingjue and/or lan xichen after everything that's happened-

ha. haha. not going to happen.

it finally comes to a head in an argument in which meng yao snaps and hits huaisang before chewing him out for meddling, and only after huaisang leaves with his metaphorical tail between his legs does meng yao realize he might have just run off the only friend he had left.

(fortunately, nie huaisang isn't giving up that easily, he just needs time to regroup and figure out a new set of tactics.)

[paradife-loft]

btw the exchange I mentioned writing for the other day (MDZS/CQL Rarepairs) just revealed all of its fic/art yesterday and there is some good shit in there folks should check out 👌👌👌

(angry trauma-ful Jiang Cheng/Lan Wangji? Xue Yang getting wrecked? extremely caring & sweet switchy D/s-y jadecest?? I got some really lovely Qin Su/Jin Guangyao art???? there’s nearly 50 works in there, it’s a lot and it’s gr8)

[eohachu]

英儿。。。

[jaimebluesq]

About Me and What I Write

I was about to update my pinned post with the fics I've written, but the number has gone up SO MUCH since my last update that the post would be far too long (and I have no desire to be "colours of the sky" long!). Therefore, I thought I'd try something different for my Tumblr pinned post.

About Me and What I Write

What's Your Name: JaimeBlue - I have been JaimeBlue online in some way, shape, or form since before the millenium, so if you see the name and start thinking about Joxer the Mighty (Xena/Hercules) or Tim O'Neill (SeaQuest - hence the sq in my Tumblr handle), or even as the weirdo who loved to play Percy Weasley, Ernie MacMillan, and Justin Finch-Fletchley in HP RPGs a decade or more ago, then yeah, that's me.

What is Your Current Fandom: The Untamed/Modao Zushi - yes, I went down the Chinese Drama rabbit hole hard and have yet to come up for air - though while I watch and enjoy a few, the only one I'm active in and writing for is The Untamed.

What Characters Do You Love: Nie Huaisang, Nie Mingjue, Nie Zonghui (I sense a trend lol), Jiang Cheng, Meng Yao/Jin Guangyao, Jin Zixun (don't judge me!!! okay, you can judge me a little), Jin Zixuan, Yu Ziyuan, Luo QingYang/Mianmian... I enjoy many more than that, but I take particular joy in writing for each of them. Basically the only character I really can't stand and is irredeemable is Jin Guangshan (fuck JGS!) but I'll even write him for the right story. Favourite Pairings?: Nie Huaisang/Jiang Cheng, Nie Huaisang/Jin Guangyao, Nie Huaisang/Nie Zonghui, Nie Huaisang/Jin Zixun - I love and write many more than that, but to list everything I enjoy would take forever.

Do You Take Asks/Prompts/Requests?: A resounding YES. I love hearing from people who like what I've written enough to want more, and prompts give me a chance to play and stretch my wings, so to speak. And with so many of my current fics being longer/long-term projects, having some shorter one-shots helps to keep me sharp.

Feel free to submit a prompt on my Personal AO3 Prompt Meme.

What Prompts Are You Taking?: Anything about the characters I love (see above), but am always happy to try something new. I have a particular love for the Nie Sect, of course, and love headcanons about them. What Prompts Are You NOT Taking?: At the moment, WangXian. I know, it's the biggest pairing in the fandom, and while I'll always have affection for the boys and how they drew me into the story, they just don't inspire me much. I enjoy them as secondary characters, or outsider POVs on those I enjoy, but I'd rather focus my writing on those that bring me joy and may not always get as much attention in the fandom.

All right, you say you're a writer - so what have you actually written?

The short answer: here is what I have on AO3.

The longer answer(s): here is where I get to toot my own horn a little :D Here's a sample of what I've written online and why I think they would give a good idea of who I am and what I write.

Reality is Overrated: (Gen with very minor NHS/OMC) I think this is the posted fic I'm proudest of. It's a "stuck in a dream" fic where Nie Huaisang wakes up with his family alive all around him and the news that he had an accident which explains why he has lost some memories. The only person who sees anything wrong is Jin Zixun, who keeps trying to tell him that none of it is real. This was from a MDZS Kink Meme Prompt (issued by Fortune_Maiden!) asking for a fic inspired by the Superman comic plotline of "For The Man Who Has Everything" that just took over my brain, and I'm really pleased with how it turned out, down to the ending which hadn't been part of the original plotting but just brought the story around to a satisfying end.

The Nie Sect Murder Tortoises Series: (some Gen, some SangYao, other pairings occasionally) This started out with a crack fic about Nie Huaisang domesticating the Tortoise of Slaughter in Qishan, and turned into a whole universe unto itself. It even has lore, art, and a fic written by another author (Fortune_Maiden - my conversation with her about NHS and spiritual tortoises was what inspired the idea in the first place). This is probably what's been read most of anything I've done, so you are welcome to join us all in the murder tortoise crackiness!

Winning the Game: (Gen, but with minor NHS/OMC content and a torture scene) This was my answer to the question "What happened to Nie Huaisang after he passed out at the indoctrination camp in The Untamed?" It's angsty, hurt/comfort, but also something I'm terribly proud of. NHS is a survivor and often underestimated, and these are on full display in this fic.

Nothing Mutt-ers As Much As You: (Gen, Jin Ling & Jiang Cheng) Short and sweet fic about JC being caught asleep in a pile of puppies, but it's a great, tender moment between nephew and uncle, a relationship I adore and frankly should write more of (but damn I don't write post-canon much).

And the rise to the top is a fall from below: (can be read as either Gen or SangYao) I love unconventional takes on tropes, so in this one I did a take on the soulmate AU with Nie Huaisang & Jin Guangyao as soulmates. NHS discovers JGY is his soulmate when he fails at killing him, because in this au, a person is physically incapable of killing their soulmate, and the story is an example of the entwined love and hate that make NHS and JGY such wonderful compelling characters to play off of each other. I really do love them even when I torture them so!

The Good, The Bad, and the Dirty: (mostly Gen with minor NHS/NZH) Bodyswap shenanigans! NHS, JGY, NMJ, and LXC all wake up in different bodies and have to figure out what happened, what to do about it, and how to not let anyone in on the fact that they aren't who they say they are. I had so much fun writing this! But if there's one thing to read it for, it's the scene with NMJ trying to pass as JGY in Koi Tower. It was my FAVOURITE scene to write and was so satisfying!!!!

Trouble is My Business: (SangCheng) The San Francisco Prohibition era AU that nobody asked for but I gave them anyway. I got to learn a little about SF Chinatown, dust off my love for the music and general atmosphere of the era, and got to write my fav couple in the middle of it all. What more could I ask for?

A Miracle Engulfed in Flames: (SangCheng - Explicit) This is the fic I wrote for the Reverse Big Bang in partnership with Mikoiifish, an amazing artist that I worked so well with, I've commissioned her to create images for another project. This story is an au with major fantasy/fairy-tale elements and I had to wrack my brain a few times to get the lore just right and the causes and effects of things, and I think the final product is something I'm quite proud of :D And of course Mikoiifish's art is AMAZING. Open the link for that alone!

They Can Love Me Better: (Nie Huaisang/Jiang Cheng/Qin Su revenge triad) JGY gets his comeuppance by the three people he'd least suspect. It all started with some wonderful people on Tumblr putting forward the SangChengSu agenda, and I've happily subscribed to it and written it twice (with at least one more to come). It just turned out to be such a great scene showing the dynamics of the three, and the sexiness of them (nothing graphic, but you can feel the heat between them), all written from JGY's pov as he gets owned. Yeah, this was a fun one :D

They Get Around: (NHS/multi, LQY/multi) Okay, this is a little fic I wrote that not many have read but I love the hell out of it! It was an experiment in writing mostly through dialogue (dialogue in general is one of my strengths and something I love to write), so by a certain point you're identifying the characters by the way they talk and how they address each other (e.g. only Wei Wuxian calls Nie Huaisang "Nie-xiong"), but even more, it was a humorous take on many of my favourite ships. The idea is that it's a modern day au where NHS & LQY are friends having bad luck in love, and set each other up on blind dates with people found for them online. Nothing graphic, pure fun, and I love how it turned out.

Lover, Please Stay: (NHS/LWJ) This I wrote for the MDZS Mixtape Exchange 2022. The song I was given was AMAZING and really inspired me, and I think the story came out well to bring out some of the lyrics and emotions in the song. The idea is that after WWX's death and LWJ's beating at the hands of the Lan Elders, he goes to Qinghe to heal and NHS becomes his caretaker. The road to love isn't always clear-cut, particularly when you know the other person's heart already belongs to someone, but sometimes things actually do work out in the end.

I'll Carry Your Load: (NHS/NZH - Explicit) 5 Times Nie Zonghui carried Nie Huaisang's Saber (and 1+1 time Huaisang did the carrying). This was a passion project of mine, and involved more than a bit of emotion at the end - it's basically the course of NHS & NZH falling in love with each other through tales of NZH carrying NHS' saber - very much inspired by the scene in Fatal Journey where the Nie are being attacked outside the saber tomb and NHS just reaches over and takes one of NZH's twin sabers as if he'd done it a million times before. I love SangHui to pieces! But yeah, be prepared for potential tears.

When Fate Opens a Window, Let Us Fly Through It: (NieLan with mischievous baby bros) A take on the Lan Ribbon Marriage trope with NMJ waking up bound with LXC 'by accident'. The Nie and the Lan are so much fun to write together, and damn it, NMJ deserves some happiness!!!

A Night at the Purple Peony: (NHS/Surprise - Explicit) One of my FAVOURITE fics I've written because not only did I have so much fun writing it, but the surprise pairing has become a HUGE guilty pleasure of mine and I've written often since. So yeah :D The plot is that NHS is in the mundane world at a gay club he's been told about, a place where men can go to meet one another in private. He and many others are masked, and he has an intimate night with one... and one day discovers that man is someone he knows in the Jianghu. I'm particuarly proud of the fan dancing seduction scene ;)

I Will Never be Satisfied: (Yu Ziyuan/Multiple - Explicit) The Yu Ziyuan gets gangbanged fic that one person on the Kink Meme asked for and I had a fun time writing. No higher meaning, just sex, but I'm pretty damned pleased with how it turned out :D

Would I Spend Forever Here and Not Be Satisfied: (NHS/OFC - Explicit, NonCon, Necrophilia) In a strange way, this fic is me in a nutshell. I saw a prompt and got an idea for it, and in the process of writing what was supposed to be an excuse to write a necrophilia scene, I created LORE and questions about right/wrong, the needs of the many vs the needs of the one, complete with NHS' innate desire for vengeance. And it's good! (At least I think so.)

So yeah, that's me in a big nutshell. Please feel free to read, like and comment if you enjoy them! And I'm always up for asks/prompts/requests.

[folderolsfollies]

Da-ge NHS

Summary: Sangyao Drabble where NHS and NMJ have switched ages. but everyone else is the same age. 1k. T. 

“Take a seat, A-Yao,” Nie Huaisang says mildly, and gestures at the pillow in front of him.

The Unclean Realm, always seeking to disguise in layers of strict hierarchy its butcher’s roots, elevates the seat of its current leader to what is almost a throne. Sitting there, Nie Huaisang usually feels like a songbird in a gilded cage, trapped gazing at the tops of prostrated heads like some emperor. But sometimes, he thinks, watching the tendons in A-Yao’s veins strain as he, never a tall man, has to crane his neck upwards in order to maintain eye contact, these petty tricks have their uses.

He flicks his fan open over his mouth with a harsh snap . They both know what that means. Jin Guangyao stiffens. He pulls a smile over his rapidly hardening expression.

Give Jin Guangyao time enough to fashion a mask, and nothing will coerce him unmask himself. Unsettle and unbalance him, and he will blurt out any truth that you care to know. He was always too prideful to be a successful liar. This has never been Nie Huaisang’s problem. So he goes for the direct approach.

“Inducing a qi deviation, really, A-Yao?” Nie Huaisang says, twisting his wrist to unveil one corner of his lifted mouth. Jin Guangyao jolts through his entire body and quickly gazes at the floor, but not before Nie Huaisang catches an upswell of panic widening his deer-soft eyes. Really, this is the most fun that Nie Huaisang has had in ages . If it weren't for the whole attempted murder debacle, he’d thank him. “And on me, known never to lift a saber except to prune branches? What were you thinking? This is worse than the time with the captain.”

Jin Guangyao stammers, “I’m not sure what you mean, I don’t know --”

“That’s my line, usually, isn’t it, A-Yao?” Nie Huaisang says, smiling gently. He covers his whole lower face with his fan again, a move he knows Jin Guangyao hates. “And I would hope that a man of your prodigious memory isn’t about to try to convince me that you just happened to insert a spiritually damaging sequence into a Cleansing sequence by accident.”

Jin Guangyao glares at him. Good. Nie Huaisang hasn’t lost his former deputy, not quite, not yet. Not if they still have this measure of honesty between them.

“No, this is a deeply stupid plan, and we know there’s only one man that stupid that you would obey, even at the cost of your own life.” Nie Huaisang continues.

Jin Guangyao slumps, putting his head in his hands, and looks at the floor. “You’re very clever, da-ge.” he says, clearly going for flattery. “How did you figure me out?”

He looks up. His large eyes seem even larger when sparkling with the sheen of tears. His mouth is a perfect moue, like he’s about to cry, or he’s waiting to be kissed.

Just because Nie Huaisang is aware a manipulation is occurring, doesn’t mean that he’s not susceptible to one. If Meng Yao had not tried this exact strategy on him over a hundred inconsequential things, it might have even worked.

Instead, he crosses over the dais to kneel by Jin Guangyao conspiratorially, they way that they would lean together a few years ago when they were both kids, too young to rule a kingdom, too young even to realize their own arrogance in trying.

“Yao- xiong ,” he says, with the hint - well, if he’s being honest, probably more than just a hint - of a whine in his voice, raising his fan to shield them both from the sight of his throne. “What am I supposed to do now? We just got out of one war, and now I’m supposed to wage another one? And against the Jins? At least everyone hated the Wens back then.”

Jin Guangyao laughs low and disbelievingly. He closes his eyes and swallows. Nie Huaisang watches the bob of his throat, up and down. “I suppose you’d recruit me to be your spy in that case, given our… previous history," he murmurs.

“Perhaps,” says Nie Huaisang, thoughtfully. He closes his fan, and traces its trailing edge down Jin Guangyao’s fine cheekbone. Jin Guangyao neither flinches away or leans in. “Although don’t you feel like Jin Zixuan would be more reasonable, if he were the one making decisions? Such a noble boy. We mightn’t even have to have a war at all.”

Jin Guangyao smiles neutrally, dimples appearing from under his skin like a pangolin emerging from its burrow. Turning, he clasps Nie Huaisang’s wrist, soft fingertips caressing against his pulse, and trails his hand up to tug Huaisang’s fan out his suddenly unresisting grip. “He would be.” he says.

Jin Guangyao really is so clever! How pleasant to arrange a murder with barely anything said at all.

“Of course, A-Yao, we wouldn’t be having this discussion if you ever hurt Mingjue, you know that, right?” he asks, casually. “I’d be feeding your head to my dogs right now.”

“I’d never hurt Nie Mingjue,” Jin Guangyao says, and the shock and pain of it looks real. Real for now, at least. If Nie Huaisang were dead, and Nie Mingjue suddenly a more straight-forward target, unused to the dance of court politics, then, well, Jin Guangyao has always had his priorities, clear to everyone except Lan Xichen and Jin Guangyao.

“I know, A-Yao,” Nie Huaisang says, because what matters is what Jin Guangyao thinks is true in the moment, and Nie Huaisang has plans for if the scales ever tilt.

He reaches forward to grab back his fan, and tilts Jin Guangyao’s chin upwards from its resting position tucked neatly against his chest.

“And A-Yao? Something more subtle than a qi-deviation this time, please.” he says.