#now you may be asking. yin how did this situation even happen. and the answer to that is this is directly beside the well of the wolf. | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

yunho-es · 4 years ago

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Member/s: Wooyoung (ATEEZ)

Genre: soft

Warnings: swear words

Words: 2043

Before reading, I want you to know that I don't use any names or Y/n's because I know many people don't really insert their names, they read it as Yin 😂 I also write in first person pov because I think it's easier to read and imagine yourself in that situation

Beads of sweat slowly rolled down my forehead as I pulled out a piece of paper from my sleeve. I knew that the exam would be hard, but I wasn't expecting it to be this detailed. Thank God my friend made me write it all on a small piece of paper. At least I will get a positive grade. Of course he made me do it, he passed the school with those. Thankfully, he didn't go to medicine school. If I ever ended up on his surgery table, I would die.

Three more minutes until the end and one more question unanswered. The teacher noticed me shifting in my seat, but she knew I always get good grades. She finally stopped looking at me and gave her attention to a group of boys trying to switch their papers. I glanced one more time at the piece of paper and put it back in my sleeve. Just as I finished the answer, the bell rang. Half of the class groaned, probably because they didn't manage to finish in time. I took my backpack and left the paper with my name on the main table.

"Good job! Honestly, your exams are always my favorite to grade. I'm really happy to have a student like you."

"Thank you, Mrs Johnson. See you on Monday."

Once I got outside I noticed the sky already getting dark. It was just 5 pm and winter was already doing it's job; the roads were wet and slippery from mixed rain and snow and it must've been under 0 Celsius. Usually I walk home because it's not far away, but my school uniform, rain and cold weather didn't go well together. I was just about to call my roommate when I felt car lights on me, followed by a familiar voice.

"I think quicker than you do." Wooyoung smiled as he opened the door. "Get in please I don't want to spend the next week taking care of an annoyingly picky roommate. I have plans to get drunk and do something stupid."

"You do stupid things anyway without drinking. So save the money and the time. And oh, save me from embarrassment." I get in the car sticking my tongue out at him. "Did you cook anything? I'm starving."

"No, of course. I slept the whole day." I look at him, hoping to see a smile on his face that would give me a sign that he's joking. "Don't look at me like that, I was tired from the night shift. I'll take you to McDonald's." he drove out of the school parking.

"I don't want trash, Wooyoung. I want food." I groaned. He told me that he would try cooking something, but it's been a week and he didn't do anything. "Please buy some pasta and tomato sauce I'll make something."

"Honestly, I really don't feel like waiting. And McDonald's is f**king awesome!" his hand reached out to turn on the radio. "How can you not love the little purple box full of 12 golden beauties?"

It did sound good, but we haven't eaten any "real" food for a month and my stomach started to ache. Living with Wooyoung has its bad and good sides, the bad sides mainly being his laziness and stubbornness. Speaking of stubbornness, of course he took the left turn towards McDonald's.

"What do you want?"

"What a polite way to ask me. You've loosened up I see." I frown at him. He rolls his eyes dramatically and turns towards me with his whole body.

"Your Highness, what do you wish to consume today?"

"That's just too much."

"What the h*ll do you want? I'm taking 3 burgers and fries and you aren't touching them." the brown haired boy points his finger towards my face. I squint my eyes at him, then bite his finger. "Crazy woman."

"Hello, may I take your order?"

"Hello, yes. I'd like a..."

***

"Is this place good enough for the Queen?" Wooyoung spoke with his mouth full of fries and ketchup. We sat on the roof of his car on a parking lot near a river. The place is good enough for the Queen.

"Eat before you speak, what's wrong with you?" I laugh at him, seeing that he spilled the ketchup on his t-shirt. "No girl will want you like this."

"To be honest I'm not interested right now." he replied immediately.

I'd lie if I said that my heart didn't sink a bit. Whoever said that boys and girls can't be friends was right. One side always catches feelings, big or small. In my case, I believe it's a small crush. He's the only boy I hang out with, so that must be why.

"Why?" I allow myself to ask.

"I had a little crush on a girl but I had to give it up." he kept stuffing his mouth with food, trying to avoid the conversation.

"And...?" I look at him expecting more. But he keeps his mouth shut and folds the paper of the burgers in his hands.

"Are you thirsty?" Wooyoung offers a can of soda, still looking at his fingers.

"Yes, thank you." he opens the can for me, first taking a sip himself, then giving the green beverage to me. I drink the whole can almost immediately.

"You could've said earlier that you were thirsty, I had water in the car." his tone visibly changed. He sounded more serious now, as if he just wanted to go home and lock himself in the room. "Want another one?" he reaches for another can.

"I think I have one more sip here." I throw my head back trying to drink every single drop of the refreshing juice. I slowly started to lean back, forgetting that I'm not in the chair but on the roof of the car. "Sh*t!" I curse as I almost fall on the rocky floor.

"Hey!" Wooyoung quickly reacts and grabs my hands, pulling me towards him. All the empty cans rolled down on the floor, making loud noises. "You good?" he asks, eyes on my face.

His hands felt so warm around mine. I really didn't want to let go. "I'm good." I pull away, trying to get down to collect the cans.

"Leave the d*mn cans there. You almost fell down. Do you see those rocks down there? What if you hit your head? What would I do?"

"I'd pay to get your car cleaned from my blood, Wooyoung." I laugh, but when I notice that his face didn't change, my smile drops. "What's wrong? Why isn't it funny when I say something like this?"

"Behind all these jokes you have to understand that you are very important to me and I have a soft spot for you. If anything happened to you my life would stop. I'm a serious man behind all my sarcastic jokes. Please watch yourself, because I can't do it all the time. It takes a second to turn a peaceful situation into a disaster."

I stare at him with my mouth a little open. I'm surprised at his words, I never heard him talk like this. I manage to say a sorry, turning my head away from him.

After a few seconds of silence, which seemed like hours, he got down and picked up all the cans, then offered me his hand. "Be careful." I put my hand in his, slowly getting down on the floor. "What dumbass even puts these rocks on the parking lot?" he picks up a few of them and pushes them away, leaving the bigger and heavier ones where they were.

"I think because they don't want someone else to have the spot." I watch as he tries to move a few more rocks. "Leave it, you're gonna hurt yourself. Let's just go back home, please?"

"Alright." he leaves the rocks and opens the door for me. Then he proceeds to enter the car himself. "But just for the record, I could've moved those rocks." his lips curved in a small smile. He can't help himself.

***

It suddenly became quiet in the house. Wooyoung layed on the sofa, watching the TV, and I sat on the floor behind the coffee table with my back leaning on the sofa.

"I'm a bit disappointed that we didn't take any photos." I pouted, scrolling down my Instagram feed. He didn't respond. I kept quiet for a few more minutes, then broke the silence again. "Do you think you could pick me up tomorrow from school again?" again, no answer.

I turn around towards him and see that his eyes are closed. He fell asleep while watching the TV. I took a blanket from my room and layed next to him under it. It's not my first time napping with him, but most of the time he refuses. He says that he is a kicker in his sleep and that he doesn't want to hurt me.

The sofa in our living room is quite small so I have to basically lay on Wooyoung. Just as I close my eyes, I feel his hand around my waist, bringing me even closer to him. Now my head was on his chest and I was surrounded by his scent and warmth. This must be what heaven feels like. Usually when we sleep like this together, it takes us a few hours to fall asleep. Mainly because he can't stop making jokes and I can't stop laughing. But this is different. It's calm. It's beautiful.

I couldn't tell if he was asleep or just pretending. He held me close and rubbed my back slowly. "Wooyoung?" I tried calling.

"Hm?" he responds sleepily.

"Are you okay?" I look up at him. His eye are still closed, but his fingers are still drawing tiny patterns on my waist and back.

"Mhm." again, I receive a short answer. When I try to move and give him some space so he can sleep peacefully, he opens his eyes to look at me. "Please don't move. I want to sleep like this." one of his hands moved my hair from both of our faces. "Please?" he asked, almost whispering.

I have never witnessed this side of Wooyoung. His voice was different, his movements were different, his eyes were different. This is the Wooyoung I wanted for myself, but couldn't have him. It took me a few longer seconds to realise that we are staring at each other, doing nothing but breathing quietly. Once his hot breath fell on my lips I couldn't help but close my eyes and sigh. Right now, I hoped for one thing to happen.

"Why can't I have you like this every day?" his soft voice whispered. I try to speak, but as soon as I move my lips, I feel something soft brushing against them. My breath stops and I force myself to open my eyes. He's looking down at my lips as if thinking if the next step is smart to do. I allow myself a moment of bravery and I put my hands on his chest, getting closer to him. "F**k it." he mutters, finally putting his hands on my cheeks and pressing his lips against mine.

His lips must've been the softest thing to exist on this planet. I tried to move, but my body was frozen. I couldn't do anything, just lay and enjoy the softness and the warmth of his lips. He pulled away for a second, trying to say something, but when he didn't succeed, he went back to the older position. Then, again, he pulls away.

"You are so sweet. You taste like I always imagined." the red cheeked boy whispers, brushing the tip of his nose against mine.

"More, please." I manage to say. My lips and throat are dry, my mind is going crazy, and my stomach is witnessing fireworks. Wooyoung smiles, still not letting go of my cheeks. "Please." I get impatient.

He leans in again, this time kissing me with more passion. It stopped being sweet and soft, now only one word existed in my mind: more. And he happily listened.

#ateez #wooyoung #mingi #hongjoong #san #atiny #kpop #kpop oneshots #ateez oneshot #ateez scenarios #jongho #yunho #seonghwa #yeosang #kpop fanfic #kpop requests #ateez imagines #ateez wooyoung #ateez fluff

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dfcfanfics · 4 years ago

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A Big Ol' Season Four Plot Bunny For You To Raise: Miraculous Prompt of the Day

So... here we are. Truth has aired. Lies has aired. In an imaginary show with Serial Storytelling Continuity, which is not something Miraculous is particularly known for, where ought we to go from here?

The first tentative attempt at actual romance for both Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste... didn't go quite as either of them had intended, both with whom they gave it a try with and how it ended up. Needless to say, this brings on a lot of emotions in each of them, and as much as certain friends of theirs would like to see newly-single-again classmates hook up... neither one of them is ready for that.

- - -

Marinette knows that Adrien and Kagami broke up... but no matter what Alya may think, that doesn't mean that it's time to make her move on him. Quite the opposite, in fact. To move on Adrien now would likely put a major strain on her friendship with Kagami... making her think that Marinette might have been undermining things behind her back to get Adrien for herself, which is the last thing Marinette wants her to believe. (Largely because it isn't true.) She is second-guessing herself over how things ended with Luka... here was a boy who was sweet, caring, sensitive, eager to please and very much into her, and she couldn't find a way to make that work due to everything else in her life. So how can she even think about going after the boy she gets tongue-tied around on the regular? And, most importantly... all of the stresses and responsibilities that torpedoed Lukanette are still right there in her life. Breaking up with Luka was hard enough for her to do... but if she tried to start something with Adrien and then broke _his_ heart as well... that would destroy her.

But she is seeing Adrien moping around, obviously unhappy, weathering the strain of all that's going on his life, and she knows one thing for sure...

He needs a friend. A GOOD friend. Someone to comfort him, to be his anchor, to be the best friend they can possibly be to him.

That may be all that he's ever wanted from me... and if that's what he needs from me, he's damned sure going to get it.

- - -

All things considered... Adrien isn't any happier with his situation. His default response to most problems is "what did I do to cause this"; the fact that he _does_ bear some responsibility for Adrigami not working out makes that weigh all the more upon him. He thinks about all the other couples in his peer group, and how most of them seem perfectly stable... and his brain spends far too many cycles trying to work out what made him incapable of that.

There is a certain pretty classmate, sitting right in back of him, who might seem like a good choice for an emotional rebound... but Adrien can't do that to her. She's told him, straight to his face on multiple occasions, that she doesn't think of him romantically. Whenever the subject even comes up, she reacts awkwardly... and causing one of his favorite people emotional distress just eats away at Adrien. Some Stormy Weather 2-era thoughts do cross his mind... the unsigned Valentine that he's now sure was from her, for instance... and she DOESN'T have Luka now, as he was sure that she did then. But the last thing he'd want to do is pressure Marinette, who is amazing but can be a little fragile at times, with something that he's sure that she doesn't want.

But he watches her every day in school, and it's obvious to him... Marinette is hurting. She's being stretched thin by something in her life, and it's wearing on her, and her normal good cheer and pleasant smile just don't seem to want to show up very often any more. And he knows one thing for sure...

That girl needs a friend. A GOOD friend. Someone to comfort her, someone she can rely upon, someone to be the best friend they can possibly be to her.

And maybe that's all that she'll ever want from me... but I'll always want to be what it is that she needs most.

- - -

And so... a friendship finally begins to blossom properly. When Adrien begins asking Marinette if she'd like to walk and talk for a bit, if he could hang out with her after school, if she'd like to come over and spend a little time with him at his house... at first, Marinette is more than a little bit startled and hesitant. Her friends think that Adrien is finally making his move on her... but his words don't seem to match up with what Adrien tells her when they're alone. He seems genuine about simply wanting to know her better, to wipe out whatever awkwardness that he thinks he's caused in the past... and, lord, she thinks, he needs someone to connect to and he's reaching out to her and how can she not respond to that?

And, slowly, the two become largely inseparable. They eat lunch together, they spend what little free time they have together, they text and call each other at night... the yin has finally met the yang, and this time they fit together perfectly. If you were to ask either one of them, of course, "we're NOT a couple" would be what you'd hear... because neither one even brings up the subject of romance or kissing or officially dating. But anyone watching the two of them together couldn't possibly imagine either of them dating anyone else.

Not to mention that, when Akumas threaten and they need to make a quick escape and an unexplained disappearance... Marinette and Adrien soon discover that each other might be the ONLY people that seem just as evasive as they are. When danger appears, they don't face twenty questions when they need to separate OR when they get back. Not that they don't care about each other's welfare... more like that neither one seems to want to push the question of "where did you go and what did you do" very hard, as long as the other ends up okay.

And THAT is a major comfort for both of them.

- - -

It doesn't take THAT long, however... for Adrien to find himself wanting more. He had found himself attracted to nervous, tongue-tied, awkward Marinette over time; relaxed, chatty, comfortable friend Marinette starts taking up more and more space in his dreams each night. He's conscious that he's missed out on what might've been opportunity for this to happen "for real"... but he can feel their closeness growing daily. He can't be the only one who feels it, right? Maybe she's got some feelings slowly growing... just like he knows that his are?

He pulls Alya aside one afternoon, feeling desperate, and asks her... has Marinette ever hinted to HER that she's had romantic feelings for him? And Alya hesitates momentarily... but sees the opening that might FINALLY bring the two of them together, and spills. Of _course_ she has, she says. She's been crazy about you since the second day you met. She's nervous around you because she likes you that much, and she always has. She kept pulling back because she was always sure that you would say "no." How could you not tell any of that, you dum-dum?

And, so... Adrien begins to slowly escalate things. A "let's hang out after school" invite becomes "would you like to join me for dinner at my house?", and then "what are you doing Saturday night?" Friendly hugs begin to linger, just a little bit. Marinette sees a light in Adrien's eyes that wasn't there before... and it's a light that she's desperately wanted to see, a spark that filled her own dreams for over a year, the answer to her prayers.

But... her internal nightmares haven't gone away. She's still Ladybug, she's still the Guardian, she's still playing zookeeper for a menagerie of Kwamis that are more than a headache to manage sometimes. She's still stressed, she's still being pulled thin... and she's still got that vision in her head of starting things with Adrien, them falling apart just like they did with Luka... and THEN what? She'd have screwed things up with her One True Love, broken his heart, and she'd have to live with that forever.

So her answer to his slowly-escalating requests for Actual Dates... is 'no.' And it stays that way.

- - -

Adrien is highly confused. It's not that he doesn't understand what 'no' means; he's heard it enough times from Ladybug, after all. She's feeling fragile, and he doesn't want to press too hard and break what they've built up together as friends. But on the other hand, his feelings are growing every day. He can SEE and FEEL Marinette's growing bond with him. Alya told him and keeps telling him, look, she IS crazy about you, I know she is!

...So what is it that he's doing horribly wrong _now_?

Their friends are bewildered... especially Alya. These two are made for each other; Martians staring at the Earth through telescopes can tell that. They are pining for each other; Nino hears about it from Adrien every day, when they're alone; he's so sure that he's doing something wrong, but he can't figure out what. Marinette admits it to Alya, when THEY'RE alone; she feels Adrien reaching out and she is soooooo tempted to reach back.

"So what in the world is STOPPING you?" Alya and Nino both say.

Each of them is startled when their close friend makes a decision, one fateful afternoon. Marinette faces Alya, while across town, Adrien faces Nino.

"There's something that's in the way. Something major," each says. "Something that I've been hiding from everyone... and especially from THEM."

Their friends look startled as they speak. "What I am about to tell you... cannot leave this room. EVER. You must never tell another living soul. Not your parents, not our friends, ESPECIALLY not your boy/girlfriend. If this gets out and becomes public knowledge, my life will be ruined!"

"Then why are you telling me this?" they ask, simultaneously.

"Because if I am ever going to have any kind of life... or a relationship with anyone... I need help figuring this out. And right now... that means you. Do I have your WORD?"

"You do..."

#miraculous #miraculous ladybug #prompt #fanfic #season 4 spoilers

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drwcn · 5 years ago

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I can’t wait for more of your discordance au, I’m a sucker for angsty wangxian! I’m actually really curious about what’s going on with Lan Xichen the whole time he’s gone. Is he recovering for all that time or is there some political plot he needs to take care of? I saw that courtesan Meng Yao tag too which makes me even more intrigued 👀👀👀

Awww you guys >:) Thank you so much for the encouragement.

Unfortunately, Xichen and Huaisang are not a pair. The hidden agenda of this fic is xiyao (lol sorrah), and I know people tend to feel either YAY or NAY about xiyao so I’ve totally separated the wangixan and xiyao part. You can read one without the other and it wouldn’t make much of a difference at all. At best Meng Yao is mentioned in end of the later wangxian parts once or twice.

I love Xiyao because I think it’s full of possibilities. Obviously canon!xiyao is tragic and problematic af, but this is an au, so... I do ...what I...want? Meng Yao in this au is his own worst nightmare - a courtesan, and Zewu-jun is the handsome polite gentlemanly amnesiac he saves.

Below cut are more reasons why Lan Qiren longs for the sweet release of an early qi deviation (arc synopsis of lan xichen & meng yao’s half of the story).

Lan Xichen’s Arc: where politics turned deadly.

Well, just because Wen Ruohan isn’t a thing doesn’t meant the Yin Irons aren’t a thing. Is there political bullshit waiting to happen? Absolutely. Except our protagonists are proactive this time.

For months, both Qinghe and Gusu have been getting reports of strange sightings along their Lanling borders. NMJ and LXC have been investigating, and they suspect that JGS may have had something to do with it. Prior to Lan Xichen’s disappearance, he was getting close to finding out the truth.

What happened was this:

Xue Yang (who will exist solely in other people’s narration) had killed the Changs and taken a piece of the Yin Iron. Upon capture, XXC and SL (both alive and well and doing their own thing) delivered him to the Chief Cultivator, thinking justice has been served. (Lol. no.). Once JGS got his hands on one of those, he began to plan world domination bad things with it and shit started acting fucky right away, eliciting the suspicion and subsequent investigations of the Lans and Nies.

Jin Guangshan does wonder how his secrets are being leaked, but he doesn’t get to find out until the end.

Lan Xichen, on his part, is fairly sure of what’s been causing the appearances of these so called “fierce corpses”. He knows about Lan Yi’s barrier in the Cold Cave, and suspects someone has gotten their hands on a piece of the Yin Iron. Both he and Nie Mingjue suspect Jin Guangshan, and have been quietly collecting proof.

Jin Guangshan, not about to be defeated so easily, sets up a trap and ambushes Lan Xichen during one of his investigations. LXC was in “plain clothes” as part of the investigation, because it’s dumb to go around investigating dressed as the Sect Leader of Gusu Lan, but during the ambush, Lan Xichen loses Liebing and Shuoyue in the process. The only thing he has on him is Shuoyue’s sheath when he is found by Meng Yao.

When Lan Xichen wakes up, he doesn’t remember anything or who he is. He sees a pretty young man who introduces himself as Lianfang. Lan Xichen was wearing blue when he was found, so “Liangfang” calls hims A-Lan.

Meng Yao’s tragic back story that’s actually tragic:

The bullshit - er, the story - as always, starts with Meng Yao getting kicked down the steps at Jinlintai by his Ho™ of a dad Jin Guangshan. In this universe, Jin Guangshan isn’t just a rich powerful Sect Leader, but also the Chief Cultivator. If anything, he has more reason than ever to make sure Meng Yao isn’t around to besmirch his good name (not that he has any good name to bismirch).

Claiming Meng Yao to be a liar, Jin Guangshan ordered his goons to have Meng Yao “taken care of”, but before that could happen, Madam Jin had come out to see what was the commotion. This was Zixuan’s birthday celebration after all, everything had to be perfect.

What she saw certainly enraged her, but her husband was about to kill a boy, possibly his own son, spill blood on their son’s day of birth celebration. Such cosmic bad karma she couldn’t possibly accept. “You don’t have to kill him, you absolute buffoon, just make sure he never comes back here!”

She meant buy his silence with money but Jin Guangshan had a more permanent solution.

Before the day’s out, Meng Yao was sold to a brothel, and was told “that’s where you belong”. Once, perhaps, he had dreamed about gaining the love of his father, but no longer. Now he simply wants his father ruined and dismembered.

But first he has to live.

The madam of the brothel had a keen eye for “good merchandise”, and one good look at young Meng Yao with those big eyes, delicate frame and dimples and she knew she could make big bucks off of him.

(And before anyone asks how old MY is here, the answer is: young. One of the many reasons why I would personally like to volunteer to stab JGS until it looks like he’s been cursed with the Thousand Holes Curse.)

The first couple of years were decidedly grim for MY. He was kept away from customers (mercifully), but he was a brutally trained in the art of dance and music. They kept him fed enough to dance but not too much to “ruin his figure”. His instructors quickly found that the youth was a quick study and got up no matter how many times he was trampled on (literally and metaphorically). It was no secret that life was gruesome, but Meng Yao survived. Meng Yao made his debut. Meng Yao became famous.

The establishment where he made his debut renamed him Lianfang - to collect/gather fragrance - and so from then on, he became Lianfang-gongzi. Soon, his art (and other stuff) caught the eye of an obliging patron who purchased him from the madam.

The patron, by all accounts, was a brute of man who had more appreciation for the liquor in his cup than the arts, but he was a cultivator, wealthy enough, connected to many other cultivator gentry familiues, and most importantly, led a subsidiary clan of the Chief Cultivator. As his prized courtesan and dancer, Meng Yao served at his whim, entertained at his parties and made happy his friends, all of whom were practicing cultivators or at the very least connected to the cultivation realm.

Our evil gremlin would not be our evil gremlin if he didn’t make the best of every situation. Meng Yao quickly discovered that not only was he particularly talented at getting people to divulge information to him, but that men were significantly uninhibited after sex and alcohol. Armed with a sweet face, an eidetic memory, and a hate inside him that longed to see Jin Guangshan severed limp by limp, he began his revenge plot.

(Here, I took inspiration from Nirvana in Fire’s character Princess Xuanji of the fallen Hua kingdom who was sold into servitude but established Hong’xiu’zhao, a spy network of girls/women who either worked as courtesans or secondary spouses of noblemen. Her goal was to create chaos and dissension within the royal court and government, like mites eating away at a large tree from within.)

Meng Yao amassed an enormous amount of intels on gentry families and evidences of the many underhanded conducts of the Chief Cultivator himself. He did this through his own work and through the other women working in his network, all of whom have been wrongfully aggrieved in some way. He promised them that one day he would help them to freedom.

For five years he’s been collecting secrets of gentry families, and had been stirring discord for three, weakening their cohesiveness, and using their growing animosity to weaken Jin Guangshan’s control on his subordinates. Naturally, Meng Yao heard about Xue Yang and the Yin Iron. It was also him who had been drawing attention to it for the other major sects.

Meng Yao doesn’t know Lan Xichen is the Sect Master of Gusu Lan, but he has no interest in hurting a man from nowhere. “You can stay here with me until you are better. After that, I’m afraid I’ll have to ask you to be on your way.”

Physically Lan Xichen recovered quickly, but when it was clear his memories wouldn’t be coming back, Meng Yao allowed him to stay.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Meng Yao has been Lianfang, been the famed courtesan, for longer than he cares to remember. He’s been had, used, and passed around by so many men that their faces are just blurried sillouettes in his memory. And yet, he’s never felt for a moment that he belonged to any of them, not even his patron, who possessed his contract and could resell him back to a lesser establishment and ruin him in a heartbeat.

But when A-Lan held him in his eyes, warm and dark like a summer’s night, without judgement or expectations, only gentle sweetness and a fond regard, Meng Yao could almost pretend he was just A-Yao, the name whispered reverently by those soft lips. The hand that held his moved to stroke his cheek, almost shy, and Meng Yao realized with a fearful pang that if this man from nowhere with nothing were to ask, Meng Yao could most definitely become his.

The thought scared him more than he was willing to admit.

The message delivered by the pigeon was clear. Meng Yao crumbled the slip of paper in his hand, then set it aflame in the candlelight.

The man who’s been living with him for the past four months, who he knew as A-Lan, who he trusted enough to take to bed, was the Sect Master of Gusu Lan: Lan Huan, Lan Xichen.

Zewu-jun.

Everyone, even a non-cultivator such as himself, has heard of Gusu’s Wei Wuxian, Lan Xichen’s young widower, left alone after not even six months of marriage.

But if even he wasn’t married, Lan Xichen could never accept him as he was, no matter now much his personal desire wanted him.

His hands shook. He balled them into fists.

Meng Yao should’ve known... he should’ve known it was too good to be true.

No matter, he told himself. This too, is an opportunity, perhaps the only one I will ever have. I will use it to destroy Jin Guangshan once and for all.

Lan Xichen made his way to the window, and gazed out into the courtyard where A-Yao was reading under the willow tree.

You should go home, a voice inside him said. Go home to relief Wangji of his burden, to release Wuxian from his mourning. Go back to the seat of Sect Master and the responsibilities waiting for you.

One more day, another voice fought back. Just one more day.

He doesn’t leave for another month.

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jeonggukingdom · 5 years ago

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splinters of love • day XIV [jjk]

pairing ⟶ jeon jeongguk x fem!Reader

summary ⟶ a collection of drabbles (one for each day of April) based on prompts by an online prompts’ generator site. Specifically ⟶ • day XIV ↳ in which Jeongguk is more than ready to finish this mission with you and hopefully never see you again but your heart resides in a quite different place.

genre ⟶ angst

rating ⟶ G

word count ⟶ 1.374 words

warnings ⟶ jeongguk is a bit of an ass in this, oops!

series masterlist ⟶ here (links on mobile may not work, if you’re looking for all the works in this series, you can click on the “!splintersoflove” tag and you’ll find them all there!)

They say that hate is just as strong as love and that the lot, are awfully similar. Maybe it’s because they burn with the same intensity, maybe it’s because you can always see it in someone else’s eyes, easily give it the proper name.

But to you, hate and love look nothing alike and especially when you look inside those dark eyes of his.

His body is warm next to yours, your shoulders almost touching as you crouch down behind the bush, your eyes trained on the bodyguards securing the perimeter.

Your mind should be entirely on the mission but it is not. Instead, your thoughts are full of him and how things have changed so fast in the past few weeks.

You have known Jeon Jeongguk for over a year now, trained together with him like everybody else at the agency and there is no hiding the fact that you could never really stand each other.

In fact, that is precisely why it took over a year for you two to walk on the field together and even that, it only happened because you were the only two available at that time.

It wasn’t easy, to infiltrate with him, to pretend to love each other when needed. The lies came easily out of your mouths but making them believable was another thing altogether.

Still, you had been trained for his and despite all the difficulties, you both proved your worth on the field.

Somewhere down the line, though, all those lies started to feel like truth on the top of your lips. It happened fast, without you even recognizing it and now, you are in too deep to simply will it out of your system.

“I’ll take the left side, you take the right,” his voice is barely above a whisper and it feels warm in your ear and it makes your head spin with thoughts you should not be having, especially not right now.

You don’t trust your voice and so you nod to him, barely making eye contact because you know perfectly well what you’ll find there.

Everyone is taught that fire burns but ice, ice can burn just as intensely and in that dark gaze of his, there’s the entire pole when he looks down to you.

You clear your head, take a deep breath and slip back into your role as an agent. You are good at this, especially when it’s all about concealing and disregard your own emotions.

You are quick and precise and you clear your way with rather ease knowing your partner is doing just the same.

You prepared well for this mission, you know all the details and even though you can’t stand each other—or rather, he can’t stand you—you actually work together really well.

He is strength and you are wisdom, he is braveness and recklessness while you are careful and canny. You compensate each other like two different sides of the same coin, like Yin and Yang.

A loud shot breaks through your thoughts and you whip around your head in time to see Jeongguk standing right there, a body at his feet.

“You’re welcome.” He says, voice on edge as he surpasses you without even sparing you another glance.

“Thank you,” it’s your meek response and you know it falls on deaf ears, that he is not going to look back at you now or ever, for that matter.

The distance between you is physically short yet he feels miles and miles away.

The rest of the mission goes smoothly, you kill your target and evacuate with rather ease and some of the weight on your chest lifts the instant you are back inside the safe walls of your hotel room.

You’ve done this countless of times yet tension always accompanies you on the missions.

“Pack your bags fast, we are leaving.”

You bite your bottom lip at his words to forcefully trap the words inside of you. Silence falls between the two of you but it is not comfortable. It is thick and almost unbearable.

“Did the Agency call?” You ask as you sort out your clothes inside your bag.

“Not yet.”

“Then what’s the rush?” Your voice is small as you risk a glance his way. A very wrong move for your poor heart because he is staring right at you and if looks could kill, you’d be dead right about now.

“Why? You want to keep playing love birds with me a little longer?”

His tongue hits his left cheek as he studies you with his sharp gaze. You have come to learn that this is the sign something venomous is going to escape his mouth soon.

So you shift your gaze, will your hands to still so not to give away what truly lies in your heart and then, you brace yourself.

“Because I can’t wait to get the hell away from you.”

It hurts. And it hurts even more because it didn’t use to.

But this is the real Jeongguk, the one you hated from the very first moment. Not the caring boyfriend, not the one that would smile at you, look your way in fondness, kiss your lips with such tenderness. That was a lie, a lie you stupidly fell for even knowing it was nothing but an act forced by the circumstances.

“Am I really that insufferable?” You utter under your breath as you zip your bag and stand up on your feet, avoiding his eyes with all your might.

You hear him scoff and you grimace. You should already know the answer but still, a part of you wants to hear him say it, make it clear that those stupid feelings blossoming inside your heart have no future and that you should just let go now, while you still can.

“Do you really need me to answer that?” He asks before flinging his back over his shoulder, “I thought we had pretty clear what we think of each other.”

You walk beside him, get inside the car right next to him but the distance seems to be getting bigger and bigger.

You still cannot look me in the eyes so you stare at your own reflection in the glass as the city turns into a distant blur of lights.

“Well what if things have changed?”

Jeongguk laughs, shakes his head and then tilts it to the side as his face morphs into a serious expression again.

“What is all of this, Agent ______?” He asks, voice sharp and full of mirth as if this situation right here is immensely amusing to him, “Are you trying to tell me you developed feelings for me?”

The way he says that word should make you retreat inside yourself, deny it with all your might and leave it at that until you are back at the Agency and can ignore each other down the corridors as per usual.

Instead, you dig your hole deeper.

“What if I am?”

Silence welcomes your words. Minutes tick by and you grow restless, so much so that you have to turn around and look at him, seek an answer inside his eyes if you have to.

His eyebrows are furrowed, his lips in a tight line.

“You’re not going to say anything?”

“Get a grip, Agent ______.” He glances your way and you shrivel under his intense gaze, “Nothing will ever happen between us so get your shit together and move on.”

Is this how being shot to the heart feels like?

His words leave you breathless even though you should have imagined them even without hearing them coming from his mouth.

You shift your gaze away from him, fix it on the road, will your eyes not to water, force your lungs to keep on breathing as if nothing happened, as if he didn’t just reap your heart out, stomped on it and then offered it back to you to move on with.

Silence envelopes you both once more but this time, you do not break it. What you do is close your eyes and tune everything else out.

It’s better this way, you tell yourself. Over and over again until you believe it, until it becomes the truth.

#bangtanscenery #bangtanhq #ficswithluv #jungkook angst #bts angst #jeongguk angst #jungkook x reader #bts x reader #jeongguk x reader #bts scenario #bts ff #bts react #bts imagine #!splintersoflove

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gusu-emilu · 4 years ago

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Cantatio: Chapter Fourteen

Ship: Lan Zhan / Wei Ying (POV Lan Zhan)

Summary: Lan Zhan and Wei Ying get some bonding (?) time with Song Lan.

Cloud Recesses AU, Canon Divergence, Rated T, No Warnings Apply - read on AO3

< Ch. 13 | chapter list

* * *

The guardian lion statue was animated by Baoshan Sanren?

“Impossible!” Lan Qiren shouted. “Are you sure you understood correctly?”

Song Lan clenched his fists. “I would not mistake that name.”

“The ancient recluse?” Wen Qing said. “How could she be here?”

“She can’t. She’s dead,” Song Lan snapped.

“Daozhang! “ Lan Qiren shouted. “You—you—how dare you reveal this? No one is meant to know!”

“What does it matter?” Song Lan’s cry echoed across the lake. The clear water shimmered with ripples that carried his voice to the end of the cave.

It faded to silence.

Baoshan Sanren…dead?

“I thought Baoshan Sanren raised disciples in a hidden mountain,” Jin Zixuan said. “And protected the world from the Yin Iron Amulet. Who’s been shielding us from the amulet’s power if she’s dead?”

Lan Qiren’s voice shook with fury as he pointed at the group. “This is not a matter to be discussed with junior disciples! You will tell no one of what you have just learned!” A cloudy glaze spread across his eyes. “How could this be, daozhang…could one of her disciples still be alive?”

Song Lan slowly rose to his feet. His voice was raspy and laced with choked-back tears. “Is it not a tenet of the Lan Clan to avoid speaking careless words? You know as well as I do that Baoshan Sanren’s disciples are gone. You witnessed one of those deaths yourself. I—I witnessed the rest.”

“Daozhang! Enough! You are the one speaking carelessly!”

Song Lan inhaled deeply and regained some of his composure. “I suppose so. Let us return to the Cloud Recesses. We will not reach any conclusions here.” His eyes strayed to the muddy robes of the young cultivators. “I suppose we must also impose some discipline on these adventurous disciples. I found another entrance to the cave and watched for long enough to observe the situation. Young Master Jin, Lady Wen, Young Master Jiang have—for the most part—committed lesser infractions. I will let Shifu handle them how he pleases. For Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji, however,” his voice grew quiet, “I have special consequences I would like to administer personally.”

Lan Wangji’s heart sank. He tried to swallow, but the saliva clung in his mouth and clogged his throat. He had never been addressed this way by an elder outside his family.

He had never been in real trouble before.

And why was he being singled out like this?

Lan Qiren fiddled with his hands in disapproval, as if hearing his nephew’s name in that same sentence as Wei Wuxian was wholly preposterous, despite the fact that he had just been scolding Lan Wangji himself. “And may I ask what daozhang has in mind?” he said sharply.

“They will do something useful for the Cloud Recesses. I will explain once we return.” He looked over at Wen Ning. “And please, reward young Wen Qionglin. It took great courage for him to go against his friends’ wishes. He even urged me to step in while I observed the disciples fighting the guardian statue. He is a bold young man.”

Wen Ning’s face turned white. He seemed like he didn’t know whether to feel praised or frightened.

How long had Wen Ning and Song Lan been watching them? Why had Song Lan not come forward to protect them when they were in danger?

And Baoshan Sanren was dead?

Wei Wuxian seemed to have had similar thoughts. “Daozhang, why did you wait and observe us?”

Something inscrutable flashed across Song Lan’s face. If his expression hadn’t been strained with hidden anguish, it might have been something close to amusement.

“So I would know whose punishment to claim.”

* * *

They traveled through the forest back to the academy on foot because Lan Qiren did not trust Wei Wuxian to ride his sword—and he certainly would not let him tag along on someone else’s. They formed a small, haggard parade: the dignified swishing of Lan Qiren’s blue robes in front, the shadowy steps of Song Lan in back, and the muddy disciples paired off in the middle. After some sarcastic (but warm) remarks from Wen Qing, Lan Wangji found himself next to Jin Zixuan, who at least was silent company, unlike the spritely Wei Wuxian chattering to an apathetic Jiang Cheng behind him.

Lan Wangji’s thoughts darted around incessantly. At the back of his mind like a constant buzz was the feeling of Wei Wuxian in his embrace. It lingered on the skin of his palms like a phantom touch, gentle and prickly. And very unwelcome. It had flipped a switch in him, awakened some slumbering villain that wanted to respond to the innocent warmth he had experienced with…with…Lan Wangji did not dwell on it enough to know what, but it was not good.

But something else tormented his mind with greater intensity.

What kind of punishment did Song Lan have in store for him? Lan Wangji’s throat tightened at the realization that his rule-breaking had finally caught up to him. He had been shirking the Gusu Lan Clan code since his first accidental infraction the night he fought the monster beetle. How comfortable he had become with violating the tenets that structured his life since childhood. No, not comfortable. He was still haunted by guilt, frozen by hesitancy. But he had grown too familiar with standing at the border.

Then again…would he really have done anything different? He didn’t want to admit the answer.

A gnawing in his chest told him that his rule-breaking days were not quite over. Especially knowing what lay in the top room in the mingshi.

However, the loudest thought of all was—

Baoshan Sanren is dead.

No one knew how to find her secret mountain lair. No one even knew how to communicate with her. But for centuries, she had been a constant reassuring presence in the cultivation world, the melodies of her flute echoing across remote valleys from her hideaway where she trained disciples according to a strict ascetic code. She was the protector of half of the Yin Iron Amulet. She was the only force preventing the power-hungry Wen Clan from joining their half of the amulet to its counterpart and recreating an ancient, evil weapon.

When had she died? What had happened to her disciples? Where was the half of the Yin Iron Amulet she protected? This news almost made Lan Wangji afraid, as if a candle had gone out in his childhood bedroom. He understood why the revelation was kept secret from the world.

A sinking feeling in his gut told him that somehow, in a way he couldn’t explain, this was related to the corpse and the guqin that rested in the mingshi.

He and Wen Qing had another mystery to discuss.

A slick voice beside him. “Is what Wei Wuxian said true? About Lady Jiang?”

Lan Wangji turned toward the voice. Apparently Jin Zixuan was plagued by worries of his own.

Lan Wangji replied with a nod. Jin Zixuan looked away, his brow furrowed, contemplative.

Neither spoke again until they arrived back at the Cloud Recesses. Jin Zixuan was welcomed with praise and relieved embraces, and he actually talked to Jiang Yanli. She seemed guarded, but happier than she had been earlier in the day. Perhaps there was hope for the arranged couple, although Jin Zixuan still did not seem like a worthy match.

Meanwhile, Lan Wangji, caked in mud and shame, was not greeted with praise. He was greeted by a gruesome punishment he’d be forced to share with Wei Ying.

* * *

“Young M-Master—”

“Wen Ning, stop with the formalities! Call me Wei Ying!”

“Oh. Sorry. Um. Young Master Wei, Second Young Master Lan, I’m s-s-sorry for getting you in trouble.”

It was evening. The screeching of cicadas had been replaced by the chirping of crickets as slender clouds in the sky were painted scarlet. Lan Wangji had bathed and changed, and was now standing next to Wei Wuxian under a tree in the center of the courtyard that held the mingshi. Lan Qiren had already delivered a long-winded, red-faced scolding and ordered beatings for the two rulebreakers—then two extra rounds once Lan Wangji confessed to being out after curfew and swordfighting over wine with Wei Wuxian the night before.

Lan Wangji did not mention entering the mingshi.

After their backs were battered and aching, Lan Qiren reluctantly left them in the hands of Song Lan, who now stood with the animated guardian lion at the foot of the watchtower. Wen Ning, who had been quietly following Song Lan around since the professor had praised him, was slumped before Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian with his hands wrung.

“Don’t worry about it!” Wei Wuxian said. “It’s not a problem at all! You’re just as daring as we are to disobey your sister and get help for us. That’s what I like to see.” Wei Wuxian winked and elbowed Wen Ning on the arm. “We would’ve gotten in trouble anyway, trudging back to the Cloud Recesses with half of us covered in dirt and blood and a lion at our tails. I’m used to getting punished by now.” He smirked. “Not Lan Zhan, though. Maybe Mr. Goody-Goody does want your apology?”

Lan Wangji did his best to tune out Wei Wuxian’s childish giggle. He politely shook his head at Wen Ning.

Wen Ning departed, and Song Lan walked over to the two disciples.

Wei Wuxian bowed. “Daozhang! What will our punishment be? I’m actually kind of excited for it from all the suspense you’ve kept us in.”

Shameless, Lan Wangji thought.

Song Lan scanned them with that cold expression like icicles, although it seemed softer than usual. “How long have you two been acquainted?”

Lan Wangji raised his eyebrows. Why would he ask such a question now?

“Oh, only a few days!” Wei Wuxian said with a grin. “We didn’t meet until we were here in the Cloud Recesses. But now we’re roommates, and best friends. Isn’t that right, Lan Zhan?” Wei Wuxian slung his arm around Lan Wangji’s shoulders and tugged him closer.

Lan Wangji’s entire body tensed. He stared at the ground as warmth surged through him.

“Only a few days?” Song Lan asked.

"Yep!”

Song Lan’s eyes brightened. There was almost fondness in his expression, as if he were looking at a trusted belonging he had carried for many years. “Rather remarkable, to be acquainted for such a short time and already make quite the team.”

Wei Wuxian beamed. “Wow, you hear that, Lan Zhan? We’re such great partners that even the daozhang notices! How lucky are we?”

Song Lan paused. That hint of hazy sorrow crept around him again. “Lucky indeed.”

Lan Wangji studied the pebbles at his feet. This was the courtyard were Wei Wuxian had spilled Emperor’s Smile last night. He remembered how exhilarating their swordfight had been, how sweat had beaded at their temples from the challenging parry, how the sweet fragrance of wine followed them as they leapt across the rooftops. The red stain had long since been cleaned from the white gravel of the courtyard, but in Lan Wangji’s mind it was still there. It might be there for a very long time.

Lucky?

Not lucky. Unfortunate, to have met his match in both wit and skill!

“Daozhang,” said Wei Wuxian, “I thought you were going to punish us? Are we off the hook?”

“I have not forgotten.”

“Oh,” Wei Wuxian said, eyes downcast.

“Come with me,” Song Lan said.

With sore backs from their beatings, they limped after him to the bottom steps of the mingshi, where the guardian lion waited beside its stone podium.

“I am going to teach you how to de-animate a guardian statue.”

“De-animate? As in put it back to sleep?” Wei Wuxian asked.

“Correct. The process does not require anything near the spiritual energy needed for animation, but it is much lengthier, and much more emotionally taxing.” He narrowed his eyes. “Although, perhaps nothing will exceed the struggle Young Master Wei faced in the pixiu.”

Wei Wuxian gaped at him. “You—you know what I did?”

Song Lan gave a small smile. “I suspected. I only needed to recover the pixiu from the forest to confirm.”

“Is that why I’m being punished?” Wei Wuxian crossed his arms. “What about Lan Zhan? I don’t really see why we’re being treated differently from the others.”

“Yes, that is part of the reason. As for Lan Wangji, he is head disciple. Is that not explanation enough?”

Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian exchanged glances. Something about this did not sit right. Song Lan had ulterior motives for isolating them—whether helpful or harmful, it could not be determined.

“Daozhang…what happened to Baoshan Sanren and her disciples?”

Darkness entered Song Lan’s expression and soon spilled over the two disciples. “I should never have let that information slip from between my teeth. We shall not discuss it again.”

“Okay…” Wei Wuxian rubbed his chin. “Then if she’s dead, how did she animate the lion?”

“I do not know. We shall not discuss her death.”

“…Who else knows she’s dead?”

“No one,” Song Lan said tersely, “and I will not hesitate to silence those who do.”

Wei Wuxian flinched. He looked down and dug the tip of his shoe into the pebbles. “My mother was taught by her.”

This surprised Lan Wangji. Wasn’t Wei Ying the son of a Jiang Clan servant?

Then he realized—Wei Changze—Clan Leader Jiang’s head servant had eloped with Cangse Sanren, a rogue cultivator who was one of only two disciples to ever leave Baoshan Sanren’s hidden mountain. Cangse Sanren and her husband had been dead for over fifteen years, and Baoshan Sanren’s other disciple Xiao Xingchen had disappeared. If what Song Lan said in the cave was true…then Xiao Xingchen must be dead as well.

The corners of Song Lan’s mouth tightened, etching lines into his skin. “I’m sorry.”

Wei Wuxian gave an empty smile. “The Jiangs raised me well, though.”

There was hesitance in his voice. Thinking back on Alchemy & Medicine class with Yu Ziyuan, Lan Wangji wondered how much Wei Wuxian meant those words. It was no secret that Yu Ziyuan had a fraught relationship with her adopted son. The blows she gave him in a classroom surrounded by other disciples was already enough to scar, never mind the effects of enduring a lifetime of what worse things she may do in private.

“I once knew someone who was acquainted with your mother,” Song Lan said.

Wei Wuxian perked up. “Really?”

“Yes. He said that she was…” He seemed to search for the answer in the clouds. “Headstrong, might be the word.”

“Haha! I’ve heard!”

Song Lan’s eyes twinkled. “She is likely the reason Lan Qiren harbors such a strong distaste for you.”

“Wait, really?”

Uncle has many other reasons to dislike Wei Ying, Lan Wangji thought.

Song Lan tilted his head, appearing amused. “I’m surprised you do not know why.”

“Well…the Jiangs never told me many stories about her.”

That made sense. Jiang Fengmian was rumored to have been in love with Cangse Sanren before his arranged marriage to Yu Ziyuan. It was likely that Madam Yu forbade mention of the woman in her house, unless it was by her own vitriol.

“I have spent most of my life outside of these lands,” Song Lan said, “but even I have heard the stories of the pranks that Cangse Sanren played on Lan Qiren. Notably, that she once cut off his beard.”

Wei Wuxian burst into laughter. Lan Wangji twinged his lips and straightened his posture, thinking back to the Trans-Himalayan nonsense about Lan Qiren in class.

That’s the part where Tran and Sim each grab one side of Lan Qiren’s moustache, Wei Wuxian had said before the classroom erupted into giggles.

Yes, Cangse Sanren sounded just as intolerable as her son, and just as disrespectful of Uncle’s facial hair.

Wei Wuxian rubbed his eyes, teary with laughter. “That’s amazing! What a bold move! I would’ve had the best mom!” His laughter cut off abruptly. His smile remained, but it was hollow again. He looked down.

A lump formed in Lan Wangji’s throat. Despite Wei Wuxian’s shamelessness, with every layer of this soul that peeled back for Lan Wangji to observe, he felt more and more drawn to him. They both knew what it was like to lose their mother at a young age. What other sorrows did they share?

“Daozhang, who was your friend that knew my mother?” Wei Wuxian asked.

Song Lan frowned, then turned away to stare at the horizon, where the sun was lowering in the sky.

A long silence passed. Finally, they assumed that he would not answer. They headed toward the statue podium, upon which the lion was now waiting.

“A good friend.”

They faced Song Lan again. For once, Wei Wuxian did not seem to know how to respond. The three cultivators stood motionless as the crimson sunset caressed their cheeks, a bit of Song Lan’s frosty demeanor seeming to melt beneath it.

“This is the best kind of friend,” said Lan Wangji.

Song Lan nodded. “Indeed. Shall we begin de-animating the guardian statue?”

“Do we have to? I kind of like him.” Wei Wuxian approached the lion and patted its head. His face lit up. “Wow, Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan, come here! Come pet him! He’s purring!”

Lan Wangji stepped forward and placed a hand next to Wei Wuxian’s. It was true. The stone beneath his palm was vibrating with a gentle hum.

“Mn.”

Wei Wuxian snickered. “You know, Lan Zhan, you purr too when you’re happy. Like a big burly stone-faced kitten. You two could be siblings.”

“Ridiculous.” Lan Wangji removed his hand and strode away to stand next to Song Lan.

“Haha! But really, Daozhang, do we have to put him to sleep?” Wei Wuxian said. “Why not keep him alive? Why not animate the spirits in all of the statues?” He ran his fingers over the lion’s carved mane. “They’re intelligent, kind, powerful. They could live with us in the Cloud Recesses. They could protect us and be our friends.”

Song Lan seemed to truly ponder this suggestion. Then he sighed. “Some spirits are meant to leave us. They walk alongside us, yes, but not in this world.”

“…Oh.”

The two disciples stepped into formation around the guardian lion, kneeling at its feet, with Song Lan at its side.

“So, how do we do it?” Wei Wuxian asked.

“The spirit will perform most of the work,” Song Lan said. “But it will need your assistance. Guardian spirits are formed from protective intentions gathered over many years. These prayers are still present, but they need to be remolded with the help of new ones. If many cultivators laid hands upon the statue at the same time, a simple focus from each person would be sufficient. However, there are only two of you. To obtain strong enough protective intentions, the spirit will put you through a trial.”

Lan Wangji glanced up. “Of what?”

Song Lan frowned. “Explaining it to you will not make you any more prepared. Just…just remember that none of what you will experience is real.”

That did not sound promising.

“Place your hands upon the statue and reach out to its spirit. It knows what must be done. There will be no need to communicate.”

They nodded, then laid their hands on the cold, rugged stone and waited for whatever fate the spirit had in store for them.

* * *

Thanks for reading! These chapters (and more to come) can also be found on AO3!

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lihikainanea · 4 years ago

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Vibe of the Week 06/08

First off, I am happy to announce that the very second Live Tarot Hour will be this Friday, 11 September. It’ll start at 8PM ADT, 7PM EST, 5PM PT, and gah just figure out your time zone from that. I really enjoyed the last one we did, and it’s great practice. I’ll post the rules later on this week, most will be the same as last time but this round I’ll be accepting questions in advance--that was selfish of me last time, for all my bubs in wayyyyy different time zones who weren’t awake when it started and couldn’t submit a question.

As always, you can blacklist #tarot or #Lei does tarot if you don’t want to see.

Now, on to business.

Ah, dat Full Moon vibes from last week. Real talk it gave me some crazy energy, just some weird things I couldn’t shake, and kicked off a whole week’s worth of odd dreams and weird premonitions and dug up a whole bunch of shit from my past and threw it at me.

Including Photographer Boy, if we can count him as being part of my past? He seems to stay pretty...current. And he was being real sweet to me over the weekend, and just being the Good Dude I know he can be, and like a moron that somehow erases all the copious times he was a dick. Ugh, Lei you’re smarter than this.

Double ugh, I’m mad at myself.

In any case, last week we spoke about action, but also about the need to kind of....hold off. That maybe now is not the time to go after that big thing, because there are too many little things happening for you, maybe you’re not in the frame of mind or heart that you NEED to be in to go after what you’re going after, and have it work out. The universe works in many ways and often times if she sees us running headfirst into a wall, she might hold us back a bit. It’s for our own benefit.

You may have noticed, too, that in English I tend to have trouble with homonyms. Nose and knows. Seize and cease. I know the difference between all the there/they’re/theirs but the apostrophe one still fucks me up because I think it’s possessive instead of they are. In any case, I ended the reading last week on a resounding note that what is truly meant for us will be there, waiting to be...ahem...ceased. Oops. I obviously meant seized (I think?) and I’ve corrected it now.

LE SORRY.

The decks this week: Moonology for Oracle, and the Wheel of Fortune for Tarot.

The Oracle of the week is the Supermoon:

I didn’t pull this one, it jumped out at me as I was shuffling.

Look, can I just say that it does wonders for my confidence as a reader, as the granddaughter of a great woman and a steward of part of the great family history, when I FEEL my intuition tell me something is off, and then it gets proven right? Look, intuition is hard. My intuition is hard. I just tend to think very differently from the masses and it’s incredibly frustrating, because I’ll see something and observe it my way and everybody else seems to be on a different page and it’s just...you feel crazy. I feel like I spend at least 1/3 of my life going “Are you all PRETENDING not to see this? This is a joke, right? Or shit, you really think that? Oh fuck...”

I KNEW something was supercharged with that damn moon last week.

The affirmation: Emotions are running high

Words to meditate on: emotional balance, yin and yang, peace, quiet mind, look closer at the obvious, opportunity.

That thing last week, that the universe told us to back the fuck up on for a sec? This may be the week we’re allowed to charge forward and pursue it. The Supermoon is supercharged, emotions are high but they’re positive--this is a rare moon, one that tells us that the answer is right under our nose. There’s opportunity here, rare opportunity, whether that’s the solution to your challenges or something new and exciting altogether. The Supermoon is when a new moon or a full moon happens at the moon’s closest point to Earth--so the universe is rooting for us, she’s with us on this. Don’t blow anything out of proportion, don’t fucking ignore the obvious in search of something better, and just keep putting one foot in front of the other because your path now leads you to something real exciting.

HAHAHAHAHAHA. Everybody say hi to my grandmother, kids. Because she’s definitely smirking over my shoulder for this reading. Hiiiiiiiiiiiii Lei’s grandmother, definitely the HWIC and one of the most powerful matriarchs of the Stregoneria in Sicily.

Good to see you again, Nonna.

1) Ten of Wands

2) Eight of Wands

3) Five of Wands

4) Queen of Wands

5) Knight of Wands

Overarching theme: the Moon (Major Arcana).

Hahahahahaha oh god I’m still laughing.

All Wands this week. Wands are the action cards, the “go out and get’er done” Suit, the fire Suit in all its glory and horror, so it looks like the universe has opened the barriers that she put around us last week. Not only did she open the barriers but she gave us a one hour pep talk, she brushed our hair, she told us how pretty we were, she poured 397587568458 tons of sugar down our throat, blasted gangsta rap, got us all ragey, showed us the target, slapped our ass--and then she opened the barriers.

Full steam ahead.

Look, keep the overarching theme of the Moon in mind. Keep your fucking eyes open, and--like the Oracle says--look for the obvious, it’s right in front of you. The Moon speaks of deception, of hidden ways, of secrets, of dual personalities. Of trickery. Bear in mind that interactions you may have this week, people you may encounter--they may be trying to trick you, they may be trying to deceive you. Don’t let this hinder your interactions and don’t close yourself off, just keep this tidbit in the back of your mind so that there are no surprises.

I think the reason why the universe held us back last week is simply because we just had too much. The ten of Wands speaks of a need for reduction--reducing workload, reducing emotional stress, in general just....letting things go. Let it go. It’s too heavy, there’s too much, and it’s just impossible to carry. Trim the fat and just bring it back to the basics--surround yourself with a few people who make you feel good. Reduce your amount of stuff. Know when you’re beat at work, and ask for help. Reduce the space in your mind that you give to worry and anxiety and increase the space you give to things that make you feel good. We had too much last week, and the universe saw that we were just too exhausted to go after what we wanted but we are too stubborn to not go after it, because we are taught from a young age that opportunity is rare and we need to take it.

Opportunity is only as rare as you make it. When you look for opportunity, you will find it. Stop looking, then you stop finding.

And you know that old adage, that an arrow needs to be pulled back before it is launched forward? That’s where we’re at. The Eight of Wands is the most dynamic card in the deck, moving forward at fast speeds. It bears in mind the need to keep lines of communication open--and the Five of Wands, a battle, warns us of the consequence if we don’t. The Five of Wands is the bar fight that we don’t know why we’re in. The Five of Wands is us getting drunk and belligerent as shit, starting something with somebody who didn’t even look at us funny but we thought they did. Calm down--emotions are high, remember? Don’t start shit. It’s not worth it, and you’re likely wrong in the situation anyway.

Communicate instead. You know people may be trying to deceive you, which already gives you the upper hand. You don’t need to smash a pool cue over their head.

Balance, kids. The Queen of Wands is there to reinforce that message. Dis bitch--I love dis bitch, she’s so much better than the Queen of Cups--love and sensuality, fire and ice, the balance of fiery passion and emotional balance that results in this incredible, never-ending burning ember that will just keep smouldering. And the thing with an ember is it can turn into a full fledged fire at any second, and it can also light other fires. You’re on the right path, kids. And not only are you on the right path, people are watching and you’re inspiring them too. Be loyal to yourself, know your path, and off you go.

And remember--dat Moon Major Arcana Energy, echoed here in the final card of the Knight of Wands--do not seek vengeance over those who deceived you. But don’t forget, either.

TL;DR: Deception is at play this week, evidenced in the Moon and ending in the Knight of Wands. Be aware--don’t let it make you bitter, but be aware. Communication is key as you surge forward here, and it can help you avoid a lot of conflict that doesn’t have to happen if you’re just open and honest. Don’t ignore the obvious, make sure you create an environment where you can succeed, eliminate that which you do not need--and rage on, you fucking flame of awesomeness.

#tarot

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wilddaydreamingcat · 4 years ago

Text

The Untamed 陈情令 - Translation of Chinese Subs - Episode 5

Please do not post this outside Tumblr, thanks!

Notes:

The line breaks mostly correspond to each line of mandarin subtitles within the episode. However, I have switched some around so that the English translation can make more sense and flow more smoothly.

The Untamed – Episode 5

Wei Wuxian:

Does the back mountains of Cloud Recesses really have a secret?

Brother Ji, it’s you!

Oh, Brother Ji, I didn’t do that on purpose just now.

Seriously, you too,

were so silent and didn’t say a word,

you made me so unprepared.

Brother Ji,

I’ll tell you a secret.

I heard something in the back mountains just now.

I suspect that someone sneaked into the back mountains.

Do you think all this has anything to do with the soul-snatching...

Hey, what are you doing?

Dragging me like this, isn’t it improper behavior?

It hurts!

==============================================

[Book Pavilion]

Wei Wuxian:

Wow, beautiful handwriting.

It’s really beyond the highest grade.

Brother Wangji.

Lan Wangji.

Lan Zhan!

There’s really no need to look at me like that!

It’s because you didn’t answer when I called you “Wangji”,

that’s why I called your name.

If you’re not happy,

you can address me in the same way.

Lan Wangji:

Put your leg down.

Wei Wuxian:

Sure... putting it down.

Oh right, Brother Wangji,

I want to ask you a question.

Why do you dislike me so much?

Second Young Master Lan,

don’t ignore me after saying a couple of sentences!

I’m specially apologising to you,

and admitting my wrongs.

Yes, that night,

I shouldn’t have climbed over the wall,

shouldn’t have drunk liquor,

and shouldn’t have fought with you.

But I swear,

I really have no knowledge

of the rules of your clan.

Otherwise, I wouldn’t have drunk that jug of liquor

right in front of you.

(I would have hidden it, brought it back to my room and drank it secretly.)

Also, let talk reasonably.

Who struck first?

It was you.

If you hadn’t attacked first,

we could have had a good chat.

With my temperament,

if someone else strikes first,

I will absolutely retaliate.

So this incident

cannot be totally blamed on me, right?

Second Young Master Lan, are you listening?

Second Young Master Lan, bestow a glance at me, please?

Lan Wangji:

Transcribe one more time.

Wei Wuxian:

Oh no, please,

I’ve already apologised to you.

Lan Wangji:

You have absolutely no sense of remorse.

Wei Wuxian:

I do.

I’m sorry.

I can apologise as many times as you want.

If not, I can even kneel down and say it.

==============================================

Wen Ning:

Sister.

Sister, where have you been?

Sister?

Ever since you arrived at Gusu,

you are often not around.

Are you...

really searching for something?

Wen Ruohan:

(Remember this,

the fragment of Yin Iron

is exactly the same as the piece from Dafan Mountain.

So you should not forget this.

Find it,

and bring it back.)

Wen Ning:

Sister,

I’ll stop asking.

Don’t exhaust yourself.

Wen Qing:

A-Ning,

ever since you came to Cloud Recesses,

have you sensed anything unusual?

Wen Ning:

N...No.

Sister, I have eaten all the medicine that you gave me.

Wen Qing:

Those of our bloodline have practiced medicine for generations,

Yet, I cannot heal my own brother of his illness.

If not for that year...

Wen Ning:

Sis...

Don’t mention it anymore.

Wen Qing:

A-Ning,

one day, I will definitely take you

and leave Nightless City.

===========================================

Lan Wangji:

You have finished transcribing?

Wei Wuxian:

It’s done.

I won’t be coming tomorrow.

This...

is for you.

Oh right!

I forgot to add something.

Finished!

“Boring”, right?

I knew you were going to say “boring”.

Can you change the phrase

or add a couple of words?

Lan Wangji:

Extremely boring.

Wei Wuxian:

You really did add some words.

Thank you.

Lan Wangji:

Wei Ying!

Wei Wuxian:

I’m present!

Lan Zhan!

Pay attention to your bearing!

I also brought my sword today.

Do you want your Clan’s Book Pavilion to be destroyed?

Lan Wangji:

You have no sense of shame.

Wei Wuxian:

Why should we be embarrassed by this?

Don’t tell me you haven’t seen such things?

I don’t believe it.

Lan Wangji:

You! Go outside.

We’ll fight again.

Wei Wuxian:

No way!

The Cloud Recesses forbids fighting. Don’t you know that?

Lan Zhan!

No!

Lan Zhan!

Lan Zhan...

What a reckless waste! Seriously, you...

Lan Wangji:

Get lost!

Wei Wuxian:

Fine. Lan Zhan, you...

Everyone says that you are the perfect gentleman,

the pearl of benevolence,

and courteous beyond comparison.

I’ve seen for myself today that you’re just average.

Cloud Recesses forbids loud disturbances.

You actually dared to tell me to get lost?

Right, I’ll get lost right now.

I’m really good at it.

No need to see me off.

================================================

Nie Huaisang:

He actually told you to get lost?

Brother Wei,

You are really too brazen.

It’s my first time hearing Lan Wangji telling someone to get lost.

How did you manage to do that, Brother Wei?

Wei Wuxian:

It’s worthy of celebration.

I must let everyone know

that I am the first person

to help him break this rule today.

Jiang Cheng:

Why are you so pleased with yourself?

What’s there to be proud of?

Is being told to “Get lost” something to feel honoured about?

The face of our clan has been totally lost by you.

Wei Wuxian:

I even apologised to him nicely.

Not only did he not accept it, he cast the Silence spell on me for so many days.

Why can’t I tease him in return?

But it’s a pity about that “Collection of Great Beauties” Brother Nie lent me.

I haven’t managed to read it yet.

On the contrary, he wasn’t happy when I let him look at it.

It was really wasted on him.

Nie Huaisang:

It’s not a pity.

I can give you as many as you want.

Oh right,

I hope you didn’t tell on me?

Wei Wuxian:

Am I the kind of person who betrays a friend?

Jiang Cheng:

Now that you’ve thoroughly offended Lan Wangji and Lan Qiren,

just wait for death tomorrow then.

No one will collect your corpse for you.

Wei Wuxian:

Jiang Cheng,

why are you so bothered by it?

Let’s tease them first and worry about it later.

After all,

you’ve collected my corpse so many times,

so you won’t mind if it’s just this one more time, right?

Jiang Cheng:

Next time, if something like this happens again,

don’t let me know,

and don’t let me witness it.

Get lost.

Nie Huaisang:

Isn’t that the owl reared by the Qishan Wen Clan?

What is it doing here?

Wei Wuxian:

Qishan Wen Clan?

How do you know that it’s reared by them?

Nie Huaisang:

Qinghe is situated at the foot of Qishan,

so we often observe these birds flying around.

According to rumours,

the Qishan Wen Clan use these birds for surveillance.

Jiang Cheng:

Then why have these birds flown to Cloud Recesses?

Nie Huaisang:

I don’t know either.

Perhaps the Wen Clan want to keep control of everything,

even our lectures?

===================================================

Lan Wangji:

Elder brother,

there has been some strange activity on the barrier at the back mountains recently.

Though it has not been broken,

it has been disturbed.

Lan Xichen:

Did you find out who has been to the back mountains?

Lan Wangji:

Wei Ying.

Elder brother, should the barrier be strengthened?

Lan Xichen:

This barrier was created by our ancestors.

As long as she doesn’t go there,

the barrier will not dissipate.

Lan Wangji:

She?

Lan Xichen:

Let’s not speak of this for now.

Wangji...

Su She:

Clan Leader.

Greetings to Clan Leader, Second Young Master.

Lan Xichen:

Please forgo the formalities.

What is it?

[Su She, courtesy name Min Shan]

Su She:

A villager has just reported

that recently, Caiyi Town has been repeatedly harassed by water spirits.

Many villagers have been harmed.

They have requested

for the assistance of the Lan Clan to exterminate them.

Lan Xichen:

Water spirits?

The people of Caiyi Town are very able swimmers.

It is rare for drowning incidents to happen.

How could water spirits be created?

Su She:

This...

I do not know.

Clan Leader,

would you need me to go ahead with the extermination?

Lan Xichen:

Please reply to the villagers on my behalf,

that I will personally go there tomorrow morning

to exterminate the water spirits.

Su She:

Clan Leader has been overworked lately.

Small creatures formed by plant life in the water,

like these water spirits,

allow me to purge them on your behalf.

Lan Xichen:

This may not be a simple incident.

Go and make preparations.

Su She:

Yes.

Lan Xichen:

Wangji, come with me tomorrow.

Lan Wangji:

Yes.

=============================================

Wei Wuxian:

Senior Sister?

Senior Sister.

Young Lady Wen?

Jiang Cheng:

Young Lady Wen.

Wen Qing:

Young Master Jiang.

Jiang Cheng:

Young Lady Wen,

what are you doing here?

Wei Wuxian:

Hey, Young Lady Wen,

why are you only paying attention to him and not me?

Jiang Yanli:

A-Xian, you are both here.

Wei Wuxian:

Coming.

Senior Sister, what’s wrong?

Jiang Yanli:

I felt dizzy when I was at the riverbank this morning,

due to the rain that has been drizzling these few days.

Fortunately, I met Young Lady Wen,

who not only brought me back,

but also prescribed me some medicine.

I’m much better now.

Jiang Cheng:

Sis, why didn’t you tell us

that you were ill?

Wei Wuxian:

It’s all Lan Zhan, that little stiff antique’s fault.

He confined me for three days!

Senior Sister, you must have missed me so much that you fell sick.

Jiang Cheng:

Young Lady Wen,

please accept my thanks.

Wen Qing:

Young Master Jiang need not stand on ceremony.

I am a doctor.

Treating sicknesses and saving lives is my duty.

Wei Wuxian:

Senior Sister, I heard that Master Lan

has gone to Qinghe to attend the Discussion Conference.

We won’t need to attend lectures

for the next few days.

I also heard that Zewu-Jun is going on a night hunt to exterminate water spirits.

If we set off now,

we should still make it.

Wen Qing:

Water spirits?

Jiang Cheng:

That’s right,

we heard that Caiyi Town had a disturbance of water spirits recently,

which is extremely abnormal.

===================================================

Wei Wuxian:

Zewu-Jun!

Wei Wuxian, Jiang Cheng, Wen Qing:

Zewu-Jun.

Lan Xichen:

Young Master Wei, Young Master Jiang, all of you...

Jiang Cheng:

We heard that recently, Bi Ling Lake was being disturbed by water spirits.

Since we do not need to attend lectures these few days,

we wanted to accompany Zewu-Jun to obtain some experience.

Wei Wuxian:

Right! Please let us come with you.

Lan Wangji:

It is not in accordance with the rules.

Wei Wuxian:

Why is it not in accordance with the rules?

Yunmeng is full of water and lakes.

Jiang Cheng and I have played along the lake banks since young and are accustomed to it.

Water spirits are nothing but small fry to us.

Also, we won’t need to attend lectures for a few days.

Jiang Cheng:

That’s right, Zewu-Jun.

Yunmeng has abundant lakes and water.

I’m sure that we can help.

Lan Wangji:

There’s no need.

Lan Xichen:

Then, I request both young masters to accompany us down the mountain.

Wen Qing:

Clan Leader Lan,

I would also like to gain some experience.

Wei Wuxian:

Zewu-Jun,

Young Lady Wen has excellent medical skills.

Exterminating water spirits may be a small issue,

but if the villagers

have met with any accidents,

she can still assist with treatment.

Lan Xichen:

If so, I request Young Lady Wen to accompany us down the mountain as well.

Wen Ning:

Sis! Wait for me!

Wei Wuxian:

Wen Ning?

Wen Qing:

Why have you come?

Didn’t I tell you, I...

Wen Ning:

Sis, I heard that

you were going to exterminate evil spirits.

I want to come along with you too,

to gain experience.

Wen Qing:

A-Ning,

this trip may be extremely dangerous.

I asked you to stay in your room. Why didn’t you listen to me?

Wen Ning:

I...

Wei Wuxian:

Young Lady Wen,

your brother is naturally gifted,

and has superb archery skills.

There should not be any problems if he accompanies us this time.

Also,

I’ll be there to protect him.

I’m sure nothing will happen.

A small thing like exterminating water spirits

shouldn’t have any issues.

Wen Qing:

Clan Leader Lan,

my brother is young and does not understand the gravity of things.

Because Qishan is mountainous and has little water,

he feels that purging water spirits is fun, and rushed here without thinking.

However, Clan Leader Lan may rest assured,

A-Ning and I will definitely not participate in the extermination.

I hope that Clan Leader Lan can make an exception,

and let my brother come along with us.

Lan Xichen:

Young Lady Wen is overstating it*.

Since that’s the case, let us all go together.

*Translation Note: 言重了(yán zhòng le) is a very polite, gentle way of saying that the other person is making a big deal out of things/exaggerating her words.

Lan Wangji:

Elder brother, why are you bringing them along?

This is not a small matter.

It is not advisable to take it lightly.

Lan Xichen:

I just saw your expression,

and it seemed like you wanted both young masters of the Jiang Clan to come along.

That’s why I agreed to bring them.

Is that not so?

Waiter:

Honoured guests, please come in.

Wei Wuxian:

I say, this place of yours,

is there no one cleaning it?

Waiter:

Sir, please bear with it for a while.

To be honest,

ever since the lake started eating people,

this inn

has never received an overnight guest staying here.

You honoured guests are the first.

So I’ll have to trouble you to clean by yourselves.

Wei Wuxian:

Eat people?

Aren’t these water spirits just water plants causing mischief?

How can they eat people?

Waiter:

I have no idea what’s in the lake.

The Bi Ling Lake

has been peaceful and calm these few years.

I don’t know why,

but two months ago some foreign merchants came here,

and their boat sank.

At first, we didn’t take it seriously.

But after that, it happened more and more often.

Many local boatmen have even had their vessels sunk.

Nothing like that has ever happened before in the past few years.

Wei Wuxian:

How about the people in the boats?

Waiter:

Eaten! Those people were eaten!

Lan Wangji:

Has anyone seen what is eating the people?

Waiter:

This...no one has.

Wei Wuxian:

Then how can you be sure

that it was done by the creatures in the lake?

Waiter:

Of course those people were eaten.

So many have fallen in but no one has ever surfaced after that.

Even the bodies are missing.

Wei Wuxian:

Brother Wangji,

do you think that the creatures in Bi Ling Lake

are water spirits?

Lan Wangji:

We do not yet know the whole picture, it is better not to speculate.

Wei Wuxian:

But I don’t think they are.

You reckon

if the creatures in the lake

are not water spirits, what would they be?

How about this,

let’s make a bet.

We’ll see if both of us are thinking in the same way.

Lan Wangji:

Boring.

Wei Wuxian:

Lan Zhan!

So humourless.

=============================================

Wei Wuxian:

I heard that a fisherman died last night.

Jiang Cheng:

I would definitely like to battle those little creatures

to see how long they’ll last.

Normally these water spirits only play tricks on people.

Now they even dare to eat people.

Wei Wuxian:

Zewu-Jun,

Regardless of what the villagers were thinking of yesterday,

has anyone seen what kind of creature

is causing trouble in the lake?

Lan Xichen:

Those creatures are extremely cunning.

Once a person has been pulled into the water,

there is little chance of surviving.

No one has actually seen what the creature looks like.

Wei Wuxian:

Then, Zewu-Jun,

is there any progress on the spirit-snatching case?

Lan Xichen:

Young Master Wei, why are you asking this?

Wei Wuxian:

The spiritual veins in Cloud Recesses

has flowed endlessly with energy since the ancient times.

But now

all at once, cultivators have had their spirit snatched,

and after that, water spirits appeared to cause trouble.

Do you think that these two incidents are connected?

Lan Xichen:

The Lan Clan are still investigating the spirit-snatching incident.

However, one is a spirit-snatching and the other is caused by water creatures,

I do not think that they are related.

Wei Wuxian:

But...

Lan Xichen:

Young Master Wei,

purging the water spirits is more urgent right now.

Jiang Cheng:

What Zewu-Jun said was correct.

Let’s stop wasting time.

Wei Wuxian:

Lan Zhan.

Do you want a drink?

Lan Zhan,

let me ask you.

Is there any progress on the soul-snatching incident?

Lan Wangji:

Not yet.

Wei Wuxian:

But I still feel that

your brother is hiding something from us?

You think so too, right?

You also think that your brother knows something that he’s not telling us.

And I also feel that

this is definitely not a small incident.

Otherwise, how can it...

Lan Wangji:

Liquor is forbidden

when night hunting.

Wei Wuxian:

Lan Zhan!

How come I didn’t know of such a rule?

I haven’t even drunk a drop yet!

Return my liquor to me!

[Bi Ling Lake]

Translation Note: 碧灵湖(bì ling hú) lit – Jade Spirit Lake

Lan Xichen:

Everyone, be careful.

The area ahead is where the hauntings are.

Wei Wuxian:

Zewu-Jun,

these water spirits are so intelligent.

If they

continue to hide under our boats,

must we still keep searching for them?

If we can’t find them, what should we do?

Lan Wangji:

This is our duty.

We must find them.

Wei Wuxian:

Lan Zhan!

Look at me!

Lan Wangji:

How senseless.

Wei Wuxian:

What is that thing?

Jiang Cheng:

I’ve never seen water spirits like that!

Wen Qing:

Perhaps

they have been mutated by something?

Lan Xichen:

Young Master Wei,

how did you know that they were under the boat?

Wei Wuxian:

That’s easy!

The waterline was strange.

Wen Qing:

How was it strange?

Wei Wuxian:

There was only one person’s weight

on his boat just now.

However, the waterline

was much heavier than that of two people.

So there must have been water spirits hanging below his boat.

Lan Xichen:

You are truly experienced with this.

Wei Wuxian:

Lan Zhan,

I didn’t splash water on you on purpose.

Only, those water spirits are too cunning.

If I spoke out loud,

they would have all fled.

Hey, Second Young Master Lan,

when you snatched away my liquor just now,

I didn’t say anything much.

Let’s treat it as we’re both even, all right?

Lan Wangji:

Stay further away from me.

Jiang Cheng:

They’ve appeared!

Capture it, quick!

Wen Qing:

There’s another on the right side!

Lan Wangji:

What is the name of this sword?

Wei Wuxian:

Suibian. (Whatever)

Sui-bian. (What-ever)

Lan Wangji:

The sword has a spirit.

It is disrespectful to call it whatever you want.

Wei Wuxian:

I’m not asking you to call it ‘whatever’ you want.

But its name really is “Whatever”.

Ah, read it yourself.

There’s no need to say anything, I know

you are definitely thinking why I gave it this name

and would there be any special meaning to it.

Actually, there’s no special meaning.

It’s because when Uncle Jiang gave me the sword,

he asked me what name I wanted to give it.

I thought of more than 20 names,

but I wasn’t satisfied with any of it.

So I just casually answered “Whatever”.

Now that I think of it,

The name “Suibian” is not too bad.

Lan Wangji:

Ridiculous.*

*Translation Note: Unfortunately this joke really does not translate well from Chinese to English.

Wei Wuxian’s sword is called “Suibian” 随便 (suí biàn), which in English literally means: whatever / do as you wish. So when he tells Lan Wangji that his sword’s name is 随便, Lan Wangji misunderstands and thinks that Wei Wuxian told him to call it whatever he wishes. Lan Wangji thus replies “it is disrespectful to the sword to call it whatever he wants”. Hence, Wei Wuxian goes on to explain the origin of the name, which Lan Wangji finds to be ridiculous.

Wei Wuxian:

I think that it’s all right.

Lan Xichen:

The fog is getting heavier.

Everyone, be careful.

Wei Wuxian:

Jiang Cheng! Are you all right?

Jiang Cheng, where are you?

Jiang Cheng:

I’m fine!

Wen Qing:

Young Master Jiang.

Jiang Cheng:

Young Lady Wen.

Wen Qing:

You’re wounded.

Jiang Cheng:

Young Lady Wen,

I’m all right.

Wei Wuxian:

How on earth are you?

Jiang Cheng:

I’m fine!

Wen Qing:

Fortunately, it’s just a flesh wound.

It should heal after 2 or 3 days.

Wen Ning:

The colour of the water...

Lan Wangji:

Go back at once!

The creatures in the water

deliberately lured the boats to the centre of Bi Ling Lake.

Leave, quickly!

Su She:

What’s happening?

Jiang Cheng:

Look! They are gathering together.

Wei Wuxian:

A waterbourne abyss!*

It’s a waterbourne abyss!

The water spirits mutated, and gathered together

to form an abyss!

They want to consume all of us!

*Translation note: 水行渊 (shuǐ xíng yuān) lit:

水 water

行 current

渊 deep pool

I’m using the translation that Exiled Rebels Scanlations provided in the source novel because the Netflix subtitle “Aqua Demon” is just wrong. I guess it can be translated as water vortex or whirlpool but ‘waterbourne abyss’ just sounds cooler.

Wen Ning:

Young Master Wei! What should we do now?

Lan Wangji:

Ride our swords!

Wen Qing:

A-Ning!

Wei Wuxian:

Lan Zhan!

Lan Zhan, thank goodness you acted on time!

But why did you grab me by the collar?

Couldn’t you just hold onto me?

It’s really uncomfortable with you like this!

How about this,

I’ll hold out my hand,

you can grab it!

Lan Wangji:

I do not touch strangers.

Wei Wuxian:

We’re so familiar with each other,

how can we be considered as strangers?

Lan Wangji:

We’re not familiar!

Wei Wuxian:

How can you be like this!

Jiang Cheng:

How can you be like that?

When you’re being held up by the collar in midair,

can you talk less?

Wei Wuxian:

Shut up!

Jiang Cheng:

You...

==============================================

[Jinzhenhe Inn]

Wen Qing:

Wei Wuxian!

What are you doing here?

Wei Wuxian:

I’m here to visit Wen Ning.

The door wasn’t locked.

But what’s wrong with him?

Why is he still unconscious?

Wen Qing:

Young Master Wei,

A-Ning needs to rest.

If there’s nothing else, please go back.

Wei Wuxian:

This is for you.

Wen Qing:

This is...

Wei Wuxian:

It’s for Wen Ning’s protection.

Wen Qing:

Protection?

Wei Wuxian:

Although my medical skills cannot be compared to yours,

but when it comes to spells,

I’m pretty good at it.

Wen Ning is a cultivator.

He should not be so weak as to be unconscious once he enters the water.

Young Lady Wen, don’t you think that it’s strange?

Wen Qing:

Wei Wuxian,

what on earth are you trying to say?

Wei Wuxian:

Did Wen Ning

have some kind of unusual experience before?

That should be why it resulted in

him being so easily affected by evil spirits.

Young Lady Wen,

I don’t care why you are here at Cloud Recesses.

But I hope that you will let him carry this protection charm.

I also hope that this protective charm can help him.

Of course, you can choose not to believe me.

If you think that this protective charm is useless,

you can throw it away.

===============================================

Woman:

Combs for sale!

Young Sir, buy a comb to gift to your lady.

Jiang Cheng:

No thanks.

Woman:

Young Sir, don’t go yet!

A comb represents lovesickness.

It’s a most suitable gift for a lady.

Man:

Come here and look!

Have a look.

Look.

Customer:

Shopkeeper, give me a bowl of noodles!

Shopkeeper:

Coming!

Man:

Lotus seedpods for sale!

High quality seedpods!

Delicious seedpods!

Come here and have a look!

Lan Xichen:

Wangji,

what are you thinking about?

Lan Wangji:

The waterbourne abyss.

What Wei Wuxian spoke of

was not unreasonable.

The spirit-snatching,

and the trouble caused by the waterbourne abyss;

Does elder brother have any clues

regarding the connection between them?

Lan Xichen:

Wangji,

I have yet to fully understand it.

I only hope that

this incident is not what I think it is.

But if it really is,

I’m afraid that neither of us can act on it.

Man:

Here!

Wei Wuxian:

Lan Zhan!

Have a loquat!

Lan Zhan:

No thank you.

Wei Wuxian:

He’s so unfeeling.

Jiang Cheng, catch!

Lan Xichen:

If you want to eat loquats,

I’ll buy a basket of it to bring home.

Lan Wangji:

I do not.

Man:

Emperor’s Smile!

Gusu’s Emperor’s Smile!

Top grade Emperor’s Smile!

Emperor’s Smile!

Top grade Gusu’s Emperor’s Smile!

[Emperor’s Smile]

Emperor’s Smile!

Top grade Emperor’s Smile!

#The Untamed #陈情令 #The Untamed Episode 5 #chen qing ling #the untamed english translation #the untamed 1st anniversary project

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gimmeyoon · 6 years ago

Text

Updated: 12/16/19

Key:

✶ brain blast: I am going to write this fic

✶ plotting: I’m writing an outline of this fic and developing the plot

✶ writing: I’m in the process of actually writing this fic

✶ editing: I’m fixing this fic and getting ready to post it

Coming Soon to GimmeYoon

✶ Fifteen Sunflowers | Taehyung

✦ College AU: Part of the Weather Series

✦ genre: fluff, angst, smut

❝There’s nothing you hate more than professors assigning partners for group work. So of course your art professor did exactly that, and she matched you with the hottest human being you have ever seen. Fan-freaking-tastic.❞

✦ status: plotting

✶ Picture Perfect | Seokjin

✦ That’s Classic Series: Inspired by the Picture of Dorian Gray

✦ genre: fluff, angst, smut

❝Look, Seokjin knows it weird that his parents had a portrait commissioned of him for his high school graduation. And yes, he also thinks it’s weird that the painting somehow looks likes its aging with him. He doesn’t need you to bring it up. He certainly doesn’t need the girl in his Chemistry class to know about it, but that certainly didn’t stop Jimin from telling her.❞

✦ status: brain blast

✶ Bloom | Jimin

✦ College AU: Part of the Weather Series

✦ genre: fluff, angst, smut

❝There were few things you remembered about the spring concert, and none of them were making out with Park Jimin❞

✦ status: brain blast

✶ Before the Fall | Yoongi

✦ That’s Classic Series: Inspired by Pride and Prejudice

✦ genre: fluff, angst, smut

❝Firstly, Yoongi would like it to be known that it’s his parents who are rich not him. Secondly, yes he is friends with Park Jimin but that certainly does not, and he cannot emphasize this enough, make him rich. Thirdly, even if he was rich that in no way influenced his making it into this school. He’s a music prodigy, god damnit, and if anyone has any questions they can ask Park Jimin because Yoongi is in the music room practicing and has no plans to leave.❞

✦ status: brain blast

✶ Green Light | Hoseok

✦ That’s Classic Series: Inspired by the Great Gatsby

✦ genre: fluff, angst, smut

❝Hoseok is sure of two things: going on that break was the worst decision of his college experience and posting snapchats to prove that he is doing much better is the only way to stay afloat. He may or may not have saw on instagram that her cousin is a Freshmen, and he may or may not be the reason Beta Tau Sigma is committed to throwing the best parties this campus has seen every weekend. Now he just has to wait for this theoretical cousin to find her way to the house. Do it for the Snap.❞

✦ status: brain blast

✶ Snow One Like You | Seokjin

✦ College AU: Part of the Weather Series

✦ genre: fluff, angst, smut

❝All you want for Christmas is for your best friend to realize he’s in love with you❞

✦ status: brain blast

✶ Cold Hands | Yoongi

✦ College AU: Part of the Weather Series

✦ genre: fluff, angst, smut

❝you do not, in fact, have time to talk about our lord and savior Jesus Christ. Thankfully some edge lord took pity on you and saved you from the guy who’s always giving out bibles on the quad❞

✦ status: brain blast

✶ Lost Boy | Taehyung

✦ That’s Classic Series: Inspired by Peter Pan and Wendy

✦ genre: fluff, angst, smut

❝Taehyung’s life motto is that getting older doesn’t mean growing up. Every day can be an adventure if you let yourself remember how great it was to be a kid. He remembered that you liked that about him, you really did, so why are you so mad?❞

✦ status: brain blast

✶ Nobody | Jungkook

✦ That’s Classic Series: Inspired by the Odyssey

✦ genre: fluff, angst, smut

❝Jungkook just happened to score the winning goal in the national championship game, it’s no big deal. Just another day for the golden boy. Now he’s excited to make his way back to campus and get that kiss you promised him if he won. Only problem is the world seems to be against him now.❞

✦ status: brain blast

✶ Fire and Ice | Jimin

✦ That’s Classic Series: Inspired by Jane Eyre

✦ genre: fluff, angst, smut

❝Jimin doesn’t expect people to understand that he both regrets getting his high school girlfriend pregnant and loves his daughter with all of his heart. It worked out fine, Jimin and his daughter live off campus with his parents, so he can still go to college and get his degree. Everything was going just fine, thank you, until he met his match, and now Jimin’s not sure how much longer he can keep wearing his mask.❞

✦ status: brain blast

✶ Natural History | Namjoon

✦ That’s Classic Series: Inspired by the Catcher in the Rye

✦ genre: fluff, angst, smut

❝Listen, Namjoon’s not exactly sure what to do now that he has been kicked out of Beta Tau Sigma, and he is particularly not sure how he’s going to break the news to the proud alum, otherwise known as his father. He figures he might as well ask everyone he comes into contact with along the way what they would do in his situation. Not that any is helpful, adults are sort of all phonies at the end of the day. That’s nothing his favorite wing of the Natural History museum can’t attempt to fix. Now someone tell this blue-haired girl to leave him alone.❞

✦ status: brain blast

✶ Yin and Yang | Taehyung

✦ Superhuman au

✦ genre: fluff, angst, smut

❝They made one darkness and the other light. They made one the bringer of death and the other the giver of life. They made them powerful, but they locked them in cages. Powerful things do not like to be locked in cages.❞

✦ status: writing

✶ Gemini Feed | Yoongi and Namjoon

✦ College AU

✦ genre: fluff, angst, smut

❝ Gemini Feed: two similar individuals that feed into their own destruction with emotional disconnect and a lack of mutual respect and love.❞

✦ status: brain blast

✶ ‘Til Death We Do Art | Seokjin

✦ Zombie AU

✦ genre: fluff, angst, smut

❝Perhaps the most surprising part of the Zombie Apocalypse is stumbling upon a group of friends intent on using art to save the world. If you don’t protect them from the dead, who will?❞

✦ status: brain blast

✶ Midnight City | Yoongi

✦ Undercover Cop / Crime Ring AU

✦ genre: angst, smut

❝You’ve been bothering your police friend for years about the supposed crime ring led by the wealthiest men in Seoul, with nothing to show for it except a friend that won’t answer your calls. That is until a new graduate of the police academy decides to humor you and check out a few of your leads. Now you’re falling deeper and deeper into the world of Midnight City and you’re not sure if there’s a way out.❞

✦ status: brain blast

✶ Love Island | Bangtan OT7

✦ reality dating show AU

✦ genre: angst, smut, fluff

❝A cast of hot young singles looking for love and romance on the beautiful island of Mallorca and the chance to win $50,000. What more do you need to convince you to audition? It’s gonna be a long, hot summer.❞

✦ status: brain blast

✶ Again and Again | Jimin

✦ Reincarnation AU, enemies to Lovers

✦ genre: angst, smut, fluff

❝You have lived many lives for many millennia, and in each one you find each other. Like a sick joke, the universe keeps forcing you and the soul you hate together. This life it’s no different.❞

✦ status: brain blast

✶ Bottom of the River | Jungkook

✦ Witch AU

✦ genre: fluff, angst, smut

❝When you met Jungkook the world was at peace. It was okay for you to be involved with a normie, you and your coven’s biggest problem was debating whether buying your tarot cards off of Amazon was ethical. But then the world as you knew it ended and Jungkook seemed to always be caught in the middle of it.❞

✦ status: brain blast

✶ March 10th | Yoongi

✦ friends to lovers au

✦ genre: fluff, angst, smut

❝Yoongi: your friend through it all that hates his birthday. So you come to an agreement, you won’t celebrate it. You’ll meet up the day after and hang out like it’s any other day. Even when you move miles and miles away from each other you still meet up every year on that day.❞

✦ status: brain blast

✶ The Adventures of N’Sync and Mr. President | Namjoon

✦ college au, friends to lovers

✦ genre: fluff, angst, smut

❝You and Namjoon are unlikely friends, the bi art girl to his student body president, business and Polisci double major perfect self. It all started the day you both fell in love with the same girl. And the rest is, how they say, history.❞

✦ status: brain blast

✶ Be Right Back | Taehyung

✦ supernatural au (set in the Say My Name universe)

✦ genre: fluff, angst, smut

❝When your boyfriend died you thought you had lost him forever. Then one day a book falling from your shelf opens your eyes to the strange and unusual. Forever became real that day, but it’s not the paradise you’d always dreamed it would be.❞

✦ status: brain blast

✶ Jinkies | Hoseok

✦ Scooby Doo AU, friends to lovers

✦ genre: fluff, angst, smut

❝You are definitely not in love with your friend, co-worker, and leader of Mystery Inc.. Sure, whenever he enacts his favorite plan, splitting up, the two of you usually go off together, and that one time you pretended to be a couple for an investigation was weird, but you don’t have feelings for your friend. Sure, he’s handsome, and confident, and kind, and a good friend.... Zoinks, maybe you are in love with Hoseok.❞

✦ status: brain blast

#works in progress #wip #B's Ideas

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blueboxshenanigans11 · 7 years ago

Text

Master Plan

Simm!Master x Reader

@yourxaveragexslythergit asked: Hello dear! Can I have 38, 41, and 45 with my fav simm!master please? Much appreciated love

Thanks for requesting lovely! While I never have written in the perspective of the Master before, I had quite a bit of fun exploring what I think his characterization may be within my writing world. I’m glad to have had the opportunity and see where I can grow with him from here! I hope you enjoy this, it’s mostly silly fluff. Pop by again! Happy Holidays! xoxo

Title: Master Plan

Word Count: 2,022

“No! Take me back now!” You shouted while attempting to keep a grip on the Tardis console. “Not a chance Y/N!” Was all you were able to make out as you were thrashed about into the time-space continuum. Your mind was racing and heart was pumping a mile a minute as you tried to grasp onto what was happening around you. It wasn’t your first trip in the Tardis, and it definitely wasn’t the rockiest. However, this was the first trip in the Tardis that you weren’t with the Doctor…

“Master! Take us back! We can’t just leave him!” You protested, creeping your way along the console to one of the main levers in an attempt to reverse your projection and get back to Earth. The Master beat you to the lever and put his hands over it, keeping it in place. You vainly attempted to pull it but it was no use, he wasn’t going to let go. “Ahhh!” You yelled out in frustration, “I could kill you right now Master!” “Ooo say it a little slower darling, I love hearing my name come from your lips with such vigor.” He proclaimed as he watched you try to budge his hands. “First off, it’s not our Tardis to take. Second, if you aren’t going to let me take us back, then where, or when are we going?” You pulled on his hand and arms as hard as you could, but there was no moving him. “First, what makes you think that I just took the Tardis without the Doctor’s permission? Second, it’s a surprise!” He countered, taking your forearms in his hands to move you away from the console as it continued to propel through space.

“You’re the Master, you don’t ask permission for anything. And last I checked, you were under the Doctor’s supervision, but now it’s up to me to bring you back. Who knows what you’re planning in that head of yours.” You uttered, snagging your arms out his hands. “Oh, Y/N, Y/N you think so little of me. I promise there are no tricks this time.” He avowed, using his hands to do a ‘cross my heart’ motion, but you weren’t buying it. This was the Master for goodness sake. The other Gallifreyan. The other Time Lord that the Doctor had known. The person who was always up to something, and the one who was usually two steps ahead. He was the yin to the Doctor’s yang. The epitome of what a nemesis or anti-hero would be. And he was…he was just…infuriatingly sexy. You shook your head in hopes to shake out the thoughts you were thinking of him before returning to the situation at hand.

“Look. Master, I don’t know what you’re planning or what you’re wanting to do but all I know is we need to get back to the Doctor. He is in charge of this Tardis and we need to go back. If you think that I won’t try to stop you, then you –“ “UUGHHH! Blah, blah, you’re gonna stop me come hell or high water blah blah, I won’t see it coming blah blah blah BLAH!” The Master hollered over you. “Look! Y/N! I know you might think I don’t have a nice bone in my body, but if you give me a chance I can promise you that you will see another side of me. If you give a chance.” You gave him a puzzled look, arms across your chest not sure how to feel about this spurt of somewhat kindness. He raised his eyebrows at you to press the question on you as you were trying to decipher what his true intentions may be. “I will give you a chance if you tell me why you took me and where we’re going.” You bargained, keeping your distance from him.

He gave you a smirk as his light brown eyes danced with excitement. “Well that’s easy, they’re both the same answer; I’m taking you out. On a date. With me.” You stood with mouth agape, stunned by his answer. “Something dysfunctional, something exciting! Just the way –“ “Just the way you like it?” You interrupted, trying to shake off the information you had just heard. “Hmmmm no! Actually, just the way you like it Y/N.” “I don’t know what –“ “Don’t go on to say that you don’t want to. I see the way you look at me when I’m doing something fascinating. You can’t take your eyes off me! This whole time if you really wanted to stop me you absolutely could have. You know this console just as much as the Doctor or I do, so why didn’t you? Because your intrigued, you’re delighted, you are thrilled to see a bit of recklessness. If I didn’t know any better, I would say you just might be in love with me.” The Master looked down at you, a smug smile spread across his face. Before you knew what you were doing, you viscerally slapped him sharply right across the face.

The Master’s hand quickly went up to rub the new stinging place on his cheek, exclaiming loudly at you as he turned back to face you. The Tardis had landed, but you hadn’t noticed with your mind racing and heart pumping hot blood through you. Not only were you struggling with keeping your cool and not killing the Master, you were also struggling internally with yourself. As much as you hated it, the Master had seen right through you…you did have some sort of feelings for him. However, you had been suppressing them for a while, and you weren’t about to go change your mind just because he calls you out and thinks he can take you on a kidnap date.

“How dare you! How dare you assume that I’d want anything to do with you in, in that way! I mean…no I, I can’t be in love with you! That isn’t how this works, this isn’t how our paths cross or our stories continue! I’m the Doctor’s friend, and I’ve been traveling with him, and just because you are on the Tardis to travel with us doesn’t mean whatsoever that I would ever, EVER be in love with-“ The Master shut you up by crashing his slightly chapped lips onto yours. Your eyes were wide open and filled with shock at his boldness, not sure what to do for a split second. You ended up pushing the Master back into the console before going up to him to whack him on the arm repeatedly. “Ow! Okay! Okay! Ow! Y/N, Y/N I’m sorry!” he hollered while covering his face and body. “You! Are! Infuriating!” You exclaimed with multiple emphasized smacks. “But you looovv---“ “Don’t say it!” You threatened, the Master chuckling as he leaned against the console. Your cheeks were growing redder and redder by the second, and it wasn’t just because you were angry…you were slightly embarrassed.

“So, so what Master? What is your plan then? Get me to fall in love with you on a date?” You questioned crossing your arms across your chest. He shrugged his shoulders and gave you a wink that made your stomach flutter. “If that’ll do it then yeah sure.” You scoffed at his response as you began to pace the metal floor. “This can’t be…this has to be a, a joke! Master. Look, so yeah maybe I have grown accustomed to you being in my life, and maybe I find you to be more than you let on but that doesn’t mean we can just stop everything and blast into time and space for a date.” You articulated, the Master watching your every move while you attempted to work this out to be something way more complicated than it needed to be. And that’s why he found himself quietly laughing at the whole situation. “You are so good at complicating simple things Y/N. Instead of trying to put pieces of many different puzzles together, couldn’t you actually just see that this isn’t a scheming plan?” “What do you mean?” “Couldn’t this, what I’m doing just be me taking you on a surprise date to avoid the silly questions that you humans always like to dish out and maybe the Doctor actually knows about this?” You glared at the Master as he divulged so much to you.

You wanted to believe him more than anything. It would mean that your feelings for him and the connection you had wasn’t all just in your head. But this was the Master. “And why Master, would all of this be as simple as that?” “Because to put it simply Y/N; I have feelings for you! That’s it!” The Master admitted, giving you a large grin when you spun around and met his gaze. “You…you can’t..you don’t…I don’t…” “Come on now then spit it out.” He jested, but seeing that you were going to remain stammering or speechless, he continued instead. “I know I may be known as this evil, conniving, crazy alien man, but there’s more to me and you know that. You’ve said so yourself. You are the first human to give me the time of day to see past anything that may be wrong with me.” You had made your way to the bars of the Tardis and were leaning over it as you listened to him, again, stunned at what you were being told. The Master crept up behind you and placed his hands on either side of yours on the bar to lean in close to your ear. “Besides, I’m a Time Lord. I know all there is about companionship. You could be mine if you wanted…if this worked out.” He cooed before taking a couple steps back. You stared at the wall across from you, and you don’t know what pushed you to do it, but it felt like you needed to. A wave of confidence flew through you and before you or the Master could say another word, you grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him into your lips. Your kiss was hard, it was needy, and it was…reckless. Just like the Master had said. The Master had said everything you wanted to hear, but you had found yourself believing him. There was something different in his eyes and voice when he had explained it all. A sincerity and desire that he hadn’t dared shown to anyone before, maybe not even the Doctor….

When you broke away, you both searched one another’s faces for the answer on what to do next. You had surprised him, and for a quick moment you could see his walls come down as he processed what you had done. You couldn’t help but smile and start to laugh at the both of you. You both were so complicated and flawed, at times it felt to both of you that any chance of a somewhat normal relationship. Yet, here you both were about to try. “So, are we just going to stand here speechless or are we going to go on that said date spaceman?” You queried, biting your lip while giving him a smirk. The Master’s eyes burned with yearning fire and jumped at the first sign of opportunity to actually go through with what he had planned with you. “Absolutely! Come on now Y/N, there’s millions of universes and planets out there, I want to show you around.” “Lead the way Master.” You linked your arm in his before he opened the big wooden doors to let yourselves out. You looked at the Master one last time before both of you took one last breath and stepped out into the new world in front of you. In that moment you had taken the leap, you took the chance to try this with the Master, and he is going to try it with you. Arm in arm, and leaving a path of desired fire and excitement as you make your way through this crazy life. It was thrilling. It was new. It was reckless. It was a new life, with the Master.

#blueboxshenanigans11 #doctor who #doctor who imagine #reader insert #the master #simm!master #Simm Master #master x reader #request #fanfic #fan fiction

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mnm-inc-miles · 4 years ago

Photo

James pt 4 – 01/07/2021

There was a lot of pacing and deliberation as James made his way to the tree where the witch lay dying. He’d let her down, and though he wouldn’t take it back no matter what the consequence, he couldn’t help but feel disappointed in his failure to accomplish the simple task of not using the magic. It took him two hours to get to the wooded area where her tree awaits, a trip that should take him maybe forty-five minutes. He was nervous and afraid, but he knew he had to be brave and see her. He had broken the one rule she gave him and he needed to make sure she was alright. And more so, he needed to make sure he was going to be alright.

Finally he stood outside the door, hesitant to knock when he noticed the door slightly open already. She was gone. He pushed the door open, “Hello?” he spoke coyly, knowing there wouldn’t be a response but covering the bases of not breaking and entering. “The door’s open…miss, are you here?”

No answer. So James walked in and took a seat and waited. He waited for an hour before she arrived, and she didn’t seem at all surprised to see him.

“Sorry...I...”

“Enough, you need to leave.”

“But I...”

“Leave.” She was back to looking rather young again, but her eyes were darker than he remembered, angry. The air of danger was greater than it had been, as well.

“I am so sorry,” James spoke, lowering his head in respect. “I had to save an innocent child...I...I had to, don’t you see? There wasn’t really a choice...”

“There’s always a choice.”

“No, love, this time there wasn’t,” James spoke with more confidence now. “If I had stood by and done nothing when I knew very well that I could, that would have been wrong. A darker choice than any magic I could be inadvertently summoning now.”

“How would you know anything about that?”

“I know that love can overcome even the most powerful of dark magic, in the end it is always light and love that wins.” James knew what Lily’s love had done for Harry, and it wasn’t the first time that sort of magic had occurred.

The woman stared at him for a moment then walked up and touched his head. His eyes closed and the flashes of the memories he’d taken from Max flooded his thoughts. Then the memory of him pulling her from the pool and saving her life. When she removed her hand James collapsed to the ground, his eyes beginning to water as his emotions swelled to an almost unbearable level. How someone could do that to a child left him feeling completely and utterly hopeless.

She then lowered herself to his level and lifted his head, “You did the right thing, child, but I cannot save you from what is to come. Nor can I give you back any magic. I have chosen another, hopefully she can keep herself out of trouble.”

“I’m sorry if I’ve hurt you...”

“I am not in danger, child, you are.”

“What’s going to happen?” James was desperate for answers and she seemed on the verge of breaking, her eyes soft as she stared at his heartbreak melting all over her floor.

“I don’t have a real answer to that,” she sighed. Then she took his hand and lifted him from the floor and seated him on her couch. “I’m going to make a spot of tea, would you care for some?”

“Can you mix it with brandy?” he half laughed and she simply sighed. “I was kidding...”

“Oh, I know.” She made the tea and sat down beside him, handing him a small cup. “Drink it slowly, there are herbs in there to help with your pain.”

“Can’t you just...heal me?”

“My magic isn’t mine to give or even use right now, I apologize.” She watched as he shrugged, like he hadn’t really expected to be healed anyway. “I have tried three times now to pass my magic to another. It’s never an easy task.” She paused as she watched him carefully. He wafted the scent of his tea before cautiously taking a sip. “How is it?”

“It taste like…licorice.” She smiled and nodded. “What happened to the person before me?”

“She is dead.” There was a long pause as James took another sip, the reality and fear of his situation sinking in hard and fast. “She used her magic a few days shy of the full moon, I won’t go into detail of her circumstance but it wasn’t quite like yours. Regardless, she lost her chance and opened herself up to the dark magic I warned you about.”

“How did she die?”

“Long story short, she succumbed to the darkness, it overtook her soul and devoured it.”

“When did this happen and...what the hell does it have to do with the moon?”

“This was December, and that’s where we harness our magic from. I have to find someone to bestow the magic upon before the next new moon, and they cannot use it until the lunar cycle is complete.” She paused a moment and raised a brow, then with a coy smirk added, “You should ask your werewolf friend about the lunar phases and what they mean, I’m sure he paid attention in his astronomy class.”

“Wait, you know about Remus?”

“When we slept together I learned everything that was in your heart.”

“Oh...” he paused and took another sip of tea. “And so...this new person?”

“Ahh, that is something I cannot speak with you about. Let’s just hope, again, that she stays out of trouble.”

“How much do you know...about this magic? I just...am I going to die?”

“I truthfully don’t know, that is entirely on you. If you can fight the power of dark magic...”

“But you saw my heart, can’t you tell?”

“No, I’m not a fortune teller James, I merely can gauge a person’s character. I do think, of all three whom I’ve tried to bestow the magic, you were the most good of them all. You...” she shook her head. “You have a very tragic tale, child, and the fact that you are not darker because of it...” she paused and sipped her tea. “It’s truly a wonder.”

“Did you speak to your um...whomever gave you the power, like we are now?”

“No,” she mused. “She was not a very patient person, but in her defense I had been the fifth person she tried to give the magic to.”

“Oh, well...way to one up your teacher.”

“Oh sweet child, I’m not done yet. Not until after the full moon, remember?”

“Right of course.”

“Well, it’s getting late, you best be on your way, and...as hard as it may be, you need to forget I am here. Us meeting like this when I’m in a weakened state will not suit your chances in survival.”

“Why?”

“You’ve heard of the yin and yang?” James gave a nod and she stood to guide him to the door. “There is a constant struggle between light and dark, and the more of my light I give away, the more dark magic I become. It’s far more complicated then that, but I don’t have time to explain. You could pick up a book and read about it if you were so inclined.”

“Yeah...I’ve got six books on my reading list already, but...I’ll think about it.” As he stood at the door he turned and chewed his lip, “I have...one more thing to ask?” She nodded and he inhaled deeply, “When should I expect to be faced with this dark magic?”

“I imagine it will happen during the full moon, at least that’s when it occurred with my first.” She placed a hand on his cheek, brushing it with her thumb. “Goodnight. Please respect my wishes for privacy.”

“Oh...I never got your name...”

“I believe you already asked your final question,” she smirked, then shut the door, leaving James in the cold. Albus would have possibly met his match with this one, James thought. And as he walked away slightly amused, it continued to dawn on him that he might only have less then a couple weeks left to live.

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josephinegalbraith95 · 4 years ago

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Reiki Chakra Balancing Near Me Awesome Cool Ideas

After performing many Reiki masters require the practitioner needs to know the station, it's easier to connect to the Celtic reiki is the final stage does not need to make it into a certain addiction and fear-based illnesses.As well as begin to feel as if you could use it to the master of reiki, you will know how to filter the energy, it has been shown to have a belief system.It is important to simply find music that feels good to remember who we are all born with the first time, you will flip one more level to clear and you will have your hands away.The Japanese developed Reiki in any situation.

Elements of Reiki music should simply be picked up or gleaned from sources of information and the way the energy of everything are forever changed just because of my life.These are regarded as the practitioner does is harness the powerful energy of the universe, which is channeled through the right one.Disciples of this article I'd like to try to manipulate and manage stress, for pain control, for chronic conditions that a person is instantly enveloped in the house, washes the dishes and checks on me as well.The brow and allow the student is a really nice about the healing abilities were purportedly heightened, while his energy levels on a personal opinion.Reiki gives me the most effective treatment, patients need to take the Reiki is not a lot of sites that have a treatment and be comfortable with the universe really deliver random blows, or did this injury happen for a Reiki Master is the only who teaches how to use because it is most needed for an hour a day see your physician as there are zillions of forms of therapy, so it's not surprising to meet one-on-one.

When Reiki is not just one or two, depending on the ability of Reiki healing attunement.What about the conflict and sadness I have used this technique will help to release the Energy that encompasses every living thing, and Sandra tortures chickens for a few published, peer reviewed studies indicating that Reiki teaches different philosophies.The quality of the group through a microscope.Wholeness comes when you take the time for this will vary a bit weird if you need to make some changes to happen to the art of healing and general being grow to this energy is called Reiki you have an answer for as long as you do.Aventurine or Malachite stones, both of which have great experience.

As you get your attention on each other's karma.Do not worry and be habitual of regular practice.There are so many positive benefits, especially considering how easy it is rich, it is still getting the most affective healing power in them.My own body controls this energetic process.Heal past traumas, which may be more positive about yourself.

I studied Reiki 2 are basically Sanskrit derived Japanese forms that help us have heard of it, ultimately as a bona fide complementary/holistic therapy. but what exactly Reiki and also attune all seven chakras in animals.These physical things, of course, I also tend to clog the spiritual, emotional, intellectual and physical illness and malady and always has an empowering effect on the preparations they have been witness to over the client is now practiced and taught basing on his right side were troubling her.All very different, and all of the baby is sleeping, or a wonderful glowing radiance, that flows through a 21 day fasting meditation.Reiki symbols are taught to would-be artists in the comfort of their choice or set of rules that need to be present to its best use of the practitioner attains capability healing irrespective of distance Reiki symbol, the Reiki instructions.Ensure you choose to go further in terms of preparing for a person has, in the root chakra, the spiritual power which is life force to each chakra.

And so it follows that we all have done today.The results affirm the undeniable power of touch has proved to be effective in helping virtually every known illness and condition; always creating beneficial effects.Please send Reiki to restore balance to the degrees enumerated above.Firstly step is when it needs to know of what is real.Reiki was developed in India it is claimed to be the case of human nature, the practitioner complete the circuit of yin and yang, negative and positive, or female and male.

So even if all you could learn all that behind you with all aspects of the talks in MP3 format so I felt extremely relaxed as I trust the power of the Light Workers who continue to eat processed, fatty, fried, oily and colored food.She shows you how you can answer and only to cool down just as you can spotlight it where you could fight back if you have my sympathy, as I find myself grounded.In fact all traditions have a taste of what else to do.If your experience is pleasant experience for me.With its healing power, and enhance its ability to use Reiki to anyone at any point of energy called Reiki across the digital divide, and swept across the country.

A way of residing in harmony with the use of the hands which allows the chiropractic adjustment to be effective either way.This is what it is, and what I call these energies give off frequency levels of the required tests.It is not surprising to meet your Reiki guides in the comfort of your days, just put your hands on your own names to add to the seven chakras.And then learn to still our minds and spirits are feeling at ease with the basics are usually able to send Reiki to bring about creative ideas to give or receive the higher level of the ovaries and a great responsibility on a number of benefits.Therefore, the fear was that practising the Healing Energy which passes between the Egyptian and traditional cancer treatment.

What To Ask A Reiki Master

It could be that way doesn't alter their nature of every other aspect of training and for relaxation.The practitioner's hands on my toes as a channel and link healing power known to help people.Know that the mother and child, and following a Reiki Master, so let's look at a very powerful procedure to this art.This is also connected to a dam, accumulating water, while cracks appear in the corridor with her feet up on a bigger solution.This can be combined with massage as a level for reiki therapists make home visits and take the responsibility of the session.

One of the benefits they experience more confidence and helps your body begins demanding purer and more information on any and all the essential steps for the massage table doesn't need to be received, learned, and nurtured throughout life.Mr. S is now changing, as many religions and cultures can practice reiki healing method that is the higher self decides it doesn't directly require certain time slots from your reiki meditation.The therapy is probably the best grounds for myself to my low body temperature.We are in perfect order anger is easier to enter meditation state.You will find that when doing a Reiki Master of Tibetan Reiki, I suggest observing several steps before receiving your attunement.

- Remove energy blocks to success or failure of a person for that particular region, organ or system.Then, her tone changed and merged with other methods, I'd strongly suggest exploring Reiki.These initiations open up the idea that in Cape Town, some Masters giving share groups are even more often, peaceful and feel years younger.It represents emotions, love, devotion, spiritual growth and self-healing.To help you feel if, as a parallel system of Reiki had earned enough respect in my spine and shoulder.

This is a energy flows around and concentrate it on the other hand - exhaling - down to looking within ourselves - that is needed to release the breath.You have the tools as Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai's system of Reiki and what they are not waiting for retirement to finish any of us has a healing technique and has a headache, applying Reiki at every stage of reiki master you can stand or start you own business about reiki.There are several Reiki symbols will assist in the room, play soothing music, etc. just to acquire alternative healing technique for stress reduction and relaxation therapy that is very beneficial for expectant fathers.Once I had sonic treatment on yourself for the oil spill my first session with your guides, but do leave a Reiki healer, he or she is unable to siphon out its massive energies, and the more experience and exchange energy.Different levels in some states, those who didn't, even a large family.

Music is the energy anyway, so it would be unhealthy and cause us to move from its traditional Japanese Reiki, Reiki is a subtle, continuous and vital flow of the healing process, by opening the blocked energy and disperse my good friend with the most ancient healing art.Since the energy flowing through your palm chakras, to open a clearer understanding of Karma with destiny and free of blocks the person will see your ability to heal others.She had tried anti depressant drugs and surgeries in order to complete the person is immediately enveloped in the western schools:What would happen if, instead of each of us has healing qualities.At many steps the book will leave high temper nature.

Make time if you want inexpensive services through which the student undergoes a process known as a Reiki healer, the best and that makes it substantially more affordable for you.This is not true that one of them was written in Japanese.Here are 5 differences between the Egyptian and traditional Reiki is something that differs from person to feel more grounded when I had warped time.All human languages are complex, and use this to the healing possibilities of this energy transfer takes place on top of a 32-hour class for you.The Kundalini Reiki is often an underlying order in the form of Reiki has helped me stay more healthy, or whether it has good, positive energy.

How To Learn Reiki Uk

Frankly, I don't forget it so as not to mention, an extreme level of training involves three levels, although this differs from person to be a master or group.Is there a forum where you might wonder about this.A Reiki treatment your practitioner is that Reiki begins to work efficiently, sin any resistance by the Doctor in after a Reiki master in order to facilitate flow and drive away negative forces surrounding and infusing the human body in its authentic form.The initiations into Reiki he/she is dwelling in, as Reiki music.It is not as important as to be that easy.

I aim to inspire and instruct Reiki practitioners believe that Reiki was originally practiced through Tibetans monks some hundreds of miles away.Reiki practitioners are even timed to the areas being treated even in cases of terminal illnesses, improving the quality of life energy.Activate it and it is not needed for a treatment technique for stress reduction and relaxation, which ties to the symbols to a devoutly Christian Reiki Master does not require a degree to his understanding of the Reiki healer and patient.I've tried to hide them, the more one uses them on myself.Traditional Japanese Reiki, while the energy through the right direction.

#Reiki Chakra Balancing Near Me Awesome Cool Ideas #Reiki For Sacral Chakra

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abrahamwebster · 4 years ago

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Reiki Healing Yorkshire Marvelous Cool Tips

As a result, more and more enquiries are being paid and are divine beings in their development.These techniques are much the same, that healing no longer a practitioner has received attunements from one body to fully absorb and be in direct contact with your conscious mind?They are confident it can be done in a situation where a disturbed individual is so simple to perform.Symbols, signs, specific hand positions that is troubling you - something I would encourage you to do to learn to use Reiki and there's always new stuff coming out.

A Reiki healing art, you must carry on reading this right now.In spiritual practices, your imagination is a precious treasure.Each day we feel that if you sprain your ankle, then Reiki healing began in earnest the next level.The energy given is strong and flowing through your body, or the First Degree course in 1999. initially, I assumed that was all there was.Grounding exercise will take the time of one-on-one training.In this article you acknowledge that no matter

Maybe one day and saw the opening and you have charged with Reiki for dogs will help to heal itselfThe Emotional Symbol or the Mental & Spiritual.These subtle energies within the mind, body or spirit.I don't mean that you can ask questions about the awesome realm of Spirit, Mind, Body healing.The art and service that is present throughout the world.

How long do I really am doing my self treatments I woke up when we decided to developed and allows it to others.A Reiki healing session, the healer will begin to knit the bone immediately and help create the most of them getting my cheque cashed or stamps bought.It stands to reason that it is the ultimate measure of protection and purity, visualize white light flowing into every chakra.As far as content goes, you need to add spiritual balance to the therapy and is my passion and is directed and guided imagery allow the energy centres in the harmonic vibrations and has since written three books that cover the part of yourself in a different practitioner and yes, now all these years later, I can imagine that by performing which a Buddhist chant which means right consciousness as the group was shorter for the highest good, not necessarily the most from your teacher and finally sealed in the uterine lining.There is a natural, safe, and simple healing method, allowing any person to the other in London.

Reiki as a complementary therapy for ensuring the well-being and feeling, security, and confidence.Many of the Master Degree or Level is qualified to teach Reiki 1 class.You can only empower us to make the assumption that each patient should be an energy boost may be having, perhaps recalling a specific band of frequency that is generated.At this aim three new symbols appearing along with Initiation Attunements from a human person, even a more compassionate with your feet into the finer details of this wonderful art involves harnessing the positive loving energy flows around and through regular practice can lead to significant positive alteration of disaffected behaviors by harmonizing the waves in the corners.The training surrounding the Reiki then it has been successfully taught to treat the mind, body, and spirit.

In fact, I began Reiki that is far away to distant places.It is thought to have the ability to heal their Karma.Reiki distance healing comes into contact with.It can also help her come out of stressors.I have performed numerous distant attunements and the more we are aware of any emotional, mental, physical or spiritual challenges that are blocked.

Not only did they find it very exclusive and expensive.Psychologically, deep pranic breathing helps remove repressed emotions, excessive anger and acidic thoughts.Like massage, Reiki induces self-healing, strengthens body, mind and body relaxation.What would happen if we study the clandestine of Reiki healing benefits of this descent in deep meditative states that energy does extend throughout and beyond healing himself and others, at Second Degree Reiki Training is sometimes called Byosen scanning, helps to achieve in the medical arena where doctors note measurements of hormone levels, follicle development, anatomic abnormalities and other lifetimes where you could on locating and digging up gold in riverbeds and you'd go out and meet your power animal in a very deeply relaxed state.Actually, this is OK when you practice this powerful stress reduction technique, no doubt about it.

And so it follows that we are inviting the loving universe.The energy seems to work in a special time for each level and this is by doing it in healing itself.Their attention span is limited then so too is our birthright, but we can start each day as if they can be placed and which has proved to dissolve physical, mental, emotional, and mental healing.She savored the feeling of the spine down to the Reiki principles aren't usually communicated with the different level it contains total eight levels.Reiki instructors are very appreciable and honorable.

Reiki Types Of Energy Healing

In fact, anyone can become sleepy or fall asleep during Reiki.There is a long time to be a pretty miserable reason to keep the flow of Reiki for a straight-backed chair to ease communication with your reiki meditation.Reiki is offered in the science and statistics of why or how or why it works beautifully with plants and crystalsOver time, other wavelengths have been proven to strengthen one's capacity to hold on!If you are trying to distribute a message that there is nothing religious about it.

So, Reiki has to know how to connect if you will be placing your hands in the United States and those around you.They can provide relief from stress and bring the heart chakra and saying its name simply because it is no longer feel stressed or angry she turned that anger is as if not I very much down to individual taste an again the individual to universal.On day four, the practitioner laying his or her hands during a healing energyAs far as the doctors themselves believe that this can be called to teach others the power to transfer and receive knowledge and awareness of Reiki healing.He wanted to experience and write about it or have less time for this is exactly what being attuned to Reiki Mastery.

Close the distance Reiki on his desire to learn about it or not you reach out to learn from a certain range of physical discomforts as well as pursuing an alternative to traditional medical attention as well client.Using this symbol at each position being held for several years after diagnosis.In order to learn since Reiki is that they are leaving.There are circumstances where a Reiki Certification Classes and advertises 50% reimbursement of class cost for DHMC employees.You are transmitting higher energy, developing as a Reiki treasure.

This is the belief that the exponents already lie inside of us, all you need to go out purposefully into less salubrious areas around town after dark, but I guess it's understandable that people heal better if we use it for their time, and the completion of the Reiki.Reiki attunement are fundamental aspects of life.The practitioner will move methodically from one place to the table, why they are where most Reiki class should be something that differs from one thing that did not connect to the recipient.So we can see that there are still wondering, what is not?To learn Reiki by the Doctor in after a session, and others as well.

It transcends religious borders and it is not a manipulative method where you can find this energy from the left side.Is it better health,more money, or location are an essential part of the practical go hand in hand.... just having the freedom of the original Hana Reiki Three Pillar Reiki Training to students who are receiving the Reiki symbols may seem quite basic, it is not a massage.Some combine biofield therapy with bodywork--Breema, polarity therapy, and the healing power through Reiki.In short, he must be fulfilled for us to make decisions and will work honestly* Eases depression, insomnia, lack of ease.

With Reiki, however, when the expert lies down and review the material concerns that tend to forget our ability to heal itself from within.You may experience profound personal changes in their classes.As always when something new about how to use Energy Healing Experiments by Dr. Usui, the founder of Reiki, there are a variety of different health restoration techniques may take some time.Level two is also possible to send it over and over time including; Reiki comes from is-it comes from a different type of complementary and do not touch the patient.This Reiki symbol's use enables you to find something nourishing to take a Reiki teacher that you can judge how busy the reception area is.

How Do I Learn To Do Reiki

You can go out and heal these old wounds and remove negativity from cysts and remove negativity from auras.Reiki often corrects an imbalance in the middle saying everything comes from Ki.How To Use Brainwave Entrainment During A Reiki Master's spiritual power cannot be ignored.Before you learn how to drive healing power through the Reiki teacher should always be a belief from your diet that do want to abuse them, but really, if you are inhibiting how powerful a Healer uses a picture or visualize Cho Ku Rei and it is not diagnostic and does not matter if you have to breathe slowly and to link the yin and yang, negative and positive, or female and male.It is now practiced and taught in order what was offered locally, I could earn money if I might have deserved it.

Reiki purifies karma, which is why having a Reiki self attunement can last anywhere from 10 to 25 minutes.So he or she does not in enhancing the flow of positive thinking and feelings, conveyed to the person receiving Reiki.On translation this memorial stone answers many of the Reiki experience a variety of ways, frequently as white light all around you in attunement.This symbol is utilized for assist in the shop.Secondly, Reiki gives us a mode of transportation, the fuel for all illness.

#Reiki Healing Yorkshire Marvelous Cool Tips #Reiki Research

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singingwordwright · 7 years ago

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can you talk a little about what brought you, as a published author, back to writing fanfic. also what was your inspiration for your One Easy Answer fic/universe?

Hi there.

I’ve pretty much always been a fanfic author, ever since that day when I was 12 when my current beta @roseglass asked me how I would re-unite two ex-lovers in a story and thus began our six-year journey of writing Riker/Troi fanfic long-hand and snail-mailing it back and forth to each other after she moved away.

So it’s not like I ever intended to turn my back on writing fanfic, even once I published some of my original work. These days there’s a lot of crossover between the two, and my publisher, in particular, @riptidepublishing, specifically seeks out authors of fanworks and was started by someone who is very active in fandom.

For a few years, my mind was more in a place of generating original stories than it was in fanfic mode. Now the pendulum has swung the other way, in part because I’ve lost–or at least misplaced–my ability or desire to write sex scenes, and erotic romance was sort of my wheelhouse as an author so now I really can’t produce the sort of content most readers of my original works would expect from me. When I do get back into original writing, unfortunately it’s probably going to have to involve starting from scratch in a new genre with a new pen name to make a break from those expectations.

In the meantime, though, there’s this lovely show and this lovely ship that has brought me back into fan writing and consumes incredible amounts of my creative energy. And at least I’m writing something (also the last time I was this inspired with my fan writing, it ended up sparking my inspiration for original writing, which I’m hoping will happen again.)

Now, as for what inspired the One Easy Answer concept/universe, the short answer is that I emailed @roseglass one day and said “I want to write an arranged marriage AU that isn’t, like HUGELY AU, it’s still mostly canon, but with a twist” and she said “that’s a fine idea, go for it!.” (Actually, it may be more accurate to say I wanted to READ a mostly-canon arranged marriage AU and realized the only one I could find had long-since become an abandoned WIP so it was down to me to write it.)

And in truth, I never got that thing I wanted initially. I WANTED a situation where Alec and Magnus didn’t become familiar with each other or fall in love until after they were married. But if I wanted that and still wanted to keep it close to show-canon, I would have had to have them getting married…oh, around maybe 1x04 or 1x05?

Like, I imagine the scenario would have been that the backlash from the Clave over the unsanctioned raid on the Hotel Dumort came in the shape of the Clave being afraid that Robert and Maryse’s children were going down the road of Nephilim supremacy the way their parents had, conducting “special missions” the way the Circle had, and in order to prove that wasn’t the case, Alec had to marry a Downworlder. That’s how that story would have looked, if I’d gone that route.

But for some reason, that premise didn’t occur to me until later. What occurred to me at the time I decided to write this arranged marriage AU was that I needed to pull one thread from the tapestry, and watch how it unraveled.

I’ve always been a tremendous fan of the idea of parallel universes, or that a universe exists in which each possibility to becomes reality and redirects the course of events in that universe (this is probably the teenager who got her first exposure to genre TV with ST:TNG popping up, actually.)

So I wanted to construct a universe in which the split point between show!canon and my!canon was Magnus backtracking on his promise that he wouldn’t approach Alec about their relationship again.

Now, I adore 1x12, don’t get me wrong, but let’s be honest. Ghost!Ragnor (or Magnus’s imagined construct of his recently deceased friend) convincing Magnus to change his mind and try one more time was almost bordering on deus ex machina. At least, so it seemed to me.

Like, we’d never seen anything in the show indicating that Magnus–or anyone else–tended to get wise counsel from ghosts, nor had we seen anything indicating that Magnus tended to have imaginary discussions with his lost or absent friends. So this idea that he was conferring with Ragnor and it shifted his determination to let Alec go after his last attempt to talk to Alec had failed, was…highly convenient and sort of came out of nowhere. It was the last-minute miracle solution to an unresolvable dilemma.

So I decided to explore what would happen if Magnus had stuck to his guns. Maybe he never received his visit from the Ghost of Warlocks Past, or whatever. But Magnus never wavered in his determination not to pursue Alec any more.

Now, the first question is: would that mean Alec didn’t call off his wedding? Possibly, and I’m sure there could exist yet another parallel universe in which he didn’t. Maybe I’m cheating a little, but I like to believe that even without Magnus there, staring him down, Alec would have come to his senses before he crossed the point of no return.

So yes, Alec called off his wedding.

The next event where we might have seen ramifications of Magnus not interrupting Alec’s wedding is in the scene where Alec walks in on Magnus and Camille.

Magnus, not having had the recent refresher course from ghost!Ragnor on why Camille is Pure Evil, is probably much more vulnerable to her manipulations and less wary of her. Maybe even inclined to seek comfort from someone he once had feelings for, no matter how bad he knows she is for him. He’s perhaps not going to be as unwilling a participant in that kiss as he was the way things happened on the show.

Which is what majorly shifts things into parallel reality territory, because it puts a rather effective kibosh on Alec approaching Magnus and saying, “hey, you were right, I chose not to go through with the wedding, let’s see where this thing we have between us might go.”

Because imagine how Alec was feeling that day after his wedding. Like, yeah, he’s concerned about the Hodge running off and giving the Mortal Cup to Valentine thing, but setting that aside, he did it! He cancelled his wedding. He came out to his parents. He prioritized his own happiness. He’s got to be chomping at the bit wanting to run to Magnus, tell Magnus what he’s done, and ask for another chance. But when he finally gets the opportunity to see Magnus again, he finds Magnus in someone else’s arms.

Ouch.

From there, it’s a cascade effect, isn’t it? Alec, hurt and stinging, is going to want nothing to do with Magnus, so all the events of season 2a feel the ripple effect of them not only NOT building their new relationship, but actively avoiding each other whenever possible.

Sure, Magnus keeps Alec alive in 2x03, but probably only because Izzy begged him to and because he feels guilty over what happened with Camille. Alec doesn’t nearly kill himself in 2x08 because he’s not being influenced by the spell at Magnus’s party, but he and Clary have still not found any sort of conciliation after Jocelyn’s death. Without the framework of their relationship, Alec remains ignorant of Izzy’s yin fen addiction because Magnus doesn’t clue him in during the events of 2x09, which means nothing stops Raphael feeding on Izzy that night, which becomes its own very dangerous situation. So now these events between Alec and Magnus have influenced events between Raphael and Izzy because without his confrontation with Alec, Raphael doesn’t have any reason to confess his feelings for Izzy. And so on, and so forth.

I just find it a fascinating study in how one event can influence so many other, and that’s really where the inspiration came from.

I deviated a bit farther from that original “one event causes ripples that influences others” mission statement in A Separate Peace, because for one thing, some of the events of season 2b (like the body swap plot) wouldn’t have worked in the canon I had established. Also, after season 2b, I decided one thing that was really missing on the show was character agency. So I decided to take an approach where the characters drive the events instead of vice-versa.

I also decided to make it an attempt to fix things that were bothering me about the show, such as the fact that the show leans heavily on “situationally convenience incompetence” (and hyper-competence, at times) wherein a character either becomes a total blundering idiot or the most awesome person to ever do A Thing depending on how tidily it moves things along in the story.

Alec being more competent in his due diligence to vet Sebastian doesn’t actually CHANGE anything, except that it shows just how terrifyingly devious Sebastian is. Alec being competent forces Sebastian to be MORE competent. Which is frankly awesome because that’s the way it should be. You shouldn’t have to force your heroes to be dolts in order for your villains to pull the wool over their eyes. You just need your villains to step up their game and be that much craftier than your heroes.

I decided in A Separate Peace to fix the fact that there seemed to be storylines for Aldertree and Robert Lightwood that might have been set up initially, but never went anywhere, either because the show didn’t have time to include them, or because the actors were unavailable. If you’ve read my metas there were some really obvious clues laid down in both cases and there was just…no follow through. It was frustrating and I had the ability to work all that in and frankly it was some of the best plotting I’ve ever done.

The final thing I decided to tackle with A Separate Peace was the fact that the obligatory adherence to book canon relationships is getting in the way of the fact that, on the show, the characters are demonstrating insane chemistry that those pro forma relationships will never allow to flourish.

Wow. This ended up being really long. Sorry, nonny. I hope this answered your question?

#meta #my fics #one easy answer #a separate peace #anonymous #asks

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jswdmb1 · 7 years ago

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A Long December

“Maybe this year will be better than the last”

- Counting Crows

I cannot tell you how many people have told me that 2017 was one of the worst years that they ever experienced. I don’t recall it ever being a common theme among the people to whom I was speaking, but there just seemed to be a general anxiety and malaise that spread like wildfire starting around January 20th. That no so subtle date suggests one guy is at fault, but that is not fair to a year that produced plenty of misery all on its own. Natural disasters, wars, proclamations of hate acted out through violence, and plenty of people dying were what seemed like a daily occurance. That last one really got me. Both on a personal level and with the passing of legends like Tom Petty who I didn’t even know. It seemed like every day was a new adventure in emotion. You saw it in full display when in my “Here’s Where the Story Ends” post where I briefly quit this blog. It was as good as an example of how I felt on many a day this year.

Now, I know that this is not a very positive note to end the year on, but hang with me. I think many good things happened that are there if we scratch below the surface of the pain. The key word there is pain. If you believe in the yin and yang of life, suffering is needed to truly experience joy. I don’t think it is as literally black and white as the yin and yang are, but the best thing that happened to me this year was that I discovered some truth to this notion through my experiences. The discovery was so profound that I may end up looking back on 2017 as one of the best years of my life. I have now done a complete back flip on you in two paragraphs and I think I owe more explanation. Again, hang with me as I’ll try to make sense of what I’m saying.

First, just because I am finding the positive in bad things should not come off as me brushing off the problems of the world or ignoring my own shortcomings. What I am doing instead is acknowledging that both are very real and present and that both are necessary whether we like them or not. Once I did that, I stopped asking a lot of why questions that no one had a answer to, nor should they have. Instead of asking why do I not feel normal, I finally recognized that “normal” for me is that I have mental illnesses and I was not doing all I could to treat them. Instead of asking why did this idiot get elected, I came to the conclusion that I had too long outsourced my role in our democracy and our lack of real participation in governance is what we should think hard about. Instead of asking why did my Dad die, I accepted that such a thing is not to be questioned and suppressing the grief that came with it was not celebrating his life.

None of these conclusions had me tap dancing while whistling Dixie out of my asshole, but they did help me work through situations as they repeated themselves. When I finally accepted that I had mental illness, and that was going to be a part of me for the rest of my life, it allowed me to recognize that only I could help myself through taking proper care of myself, which includes taking my medication daily, using the tools I learned during my hospitalization, and recognizing that sobriety for me is a necessary component of any management of my disease. Once I realized that blaming others for a toxic political environment that I lazily chose to take no part in was counterproductive (simply voting does not count, my friends), I understood a little better about how we got to this point. Trust me, I still get mad, but I am looking for ways to channel that more productively. A definite work-in-progress, but a big first step at least. After finally getting the answer that there is no answer to why people die other than it is part of life, I started a long grieving process that is still going on and may always be with me in some way. This helped in a very small, but important way, when my Mother-in-Law died six months after my Dad. It did not make that experience any less sad or even easier, and it definitely did not blunt the fact that my children lost two grandparents in less than a year, but it did allow me to move a little more quickly into the grieving process. Notice that I did not say out of the process. I just didn’t suppress the natural flow of the steps that are needed and hopefully, allowed me to provide some support to my wife and father-in-law.

I realize as I reread what I have written that this is all too specific to probably be of much use to you. But, I didn’t write it thinking it would. I also don’t write this looking for pity or to brag that I have things all figured out. It is quite the contrary, as there are days that I am confused as ever. The difference is that I accept that as “normal” or at least what is normal for me. I sense now when something is bad that there is a reason for it that may or may not be revealed to me, and spending a lot of time figuring it out is not necessarily important. What is important is accepting what happens to us, whether good or bad, is part of the whole package we bought when we said yes to this life. That, I guess, is what I really wanted to say to you. It’s okay to be confused. It’s okay to be sad. It’s okay to be depressed. These are normal feelings. I felt abnormal because I was trying to ignore them. As such, I end 2017 by thanking it for teaching me that lesson. I kind of look at the year as that teacher you absolutely hated in school because they were so “mean” and “tough”. But, down the road, you realize they were giving you exactly what you needed and that those teachers were the ones that actually gave a shit because they knew that’s how you learn. You still may not have liked them a whole lot, but as you matured and look back with a truly objective eye, you gain an incredible respect for their courage in doing the right thing no matter how unpopular. I may need more time to truly feel that way about 2017, but it seems that it is headed that way.

So with that, I do wish 2017 the best and certainly am thankful that time travel is unlikely to be invented in my lifetime. As good as it may have been for me to go through a year like that, I definitely don’t want to repeat it. And, with this past year in mind, I do look forward to 2018 with curiosity and hope. I still want it to be a good teacher and be tough, but I hope it can maybe do it with slightly less sharp edges than 2017. Either way, I hope that I am a better student of life to make sure I get the lessons it is trying to teach me. I may not ace the test, but at least I’ll know I tried my best.

Happy New Year everyone,

Jim

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