#orchestral AU CQL edition

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orchestral AU: The Untamed

I am legally required to do one of these for every fandom I’m ever in.  HERE WE GO.

Wei Wuxian is a violinist.  this is the EASIEST of them all, hands down.  Wei Wuxian is the HERO and the PROTAGONIST and everything he does is done with maximum drama!!!! and never not once does it ever even occur to him for a single moment that he might not be the most important actor in the room.  Something must be done and it’s up to him to do it.  with FLAIR.

(I am a violinist.  I know my own.)

Lan Wangji is a pianist.  Lan Wangji is not actually a part of this orchestra.  oh, he gets brought in a lot, because there’s plenty of orchestral works with pianos, but truly he is most comfortable in a little dark practice room playing Chopin.  (And then of course he and his soulmate play Beethoven sonatas and it’s fucking incredible.)

Lan Xichen plays the cello!  Ah, supportive, calm, diplomatic Xichen.  Never the drama queen.  Hidden depths behind that smile.  Strong and beautiful, never aggressive or overbearing.  Deeply faithful.  (Why do I always associate cellos with fidelity?  IDK but I do.  They’re like the presence of a spaniel in old paintings.)

Jiang Cheng plays the clarinet.  Extremely important, but overlooked b/c it’s not exactly glamorous.  (“nobody respects clarinets,” I said confidently to Partner, who gave me the most appalled look: “you mean you don’t respect clarinets.”  “they’re woodwinds.”  “you’re such a violinist.”)  Jiang Cheng practices hard and he shows up early to every single rehearsal and he’s part of the goddamn backbone of the orchestra but do you think that matters to anyone?  No one’s looking at him!  Wei Wuxian is showing off again!

Nie Mingjue plays the trombone.  Powerful, bold, a nice range, not commonly a solo instrument (the Nie sect is all about that well-coordinated teamwork) but not one that’s relegated to oompahs of support either.

Wen Qing plays the oboe.  Also very important.  A little high-strung (“if anyone spends all their time carving reeds, it’s her,” said Partner, and I agree).  Jiang Cheng keeps spares of her preferred reed knives & cane & stuff on his person just in case she ever needs anything.  They’re part of the same orchestra!  He’s just being responsible!  Anyone would, probably!

Wen Ning’s not in the orchestra at all.  He played Suzuki violin as a kid but his family wanted him to focus more on his studies, so he let it fall by the wayside.  (Unbeknowest to them, he’s recently started getting into fiddle.)

Lan Qiren plays viola.  Wei Wuxian has probably told viola jokes in his hearing.  They’re probably the same ones his mother told in Lan Qiren’s hearing back in the day.

Lan Sizhui plays the bass.  Strong, reliable, genuinely content out of the spotlight and in a position of support, doesn’t make a big deal out of the fact that he is very important.  Laid-back and chill.

Lan Jingyi plays the french horn.  Sweet, a little wacky.  He cackles about it every time he gets to do the horn fifths to mean cuckoldry.

The Jins are all trumpeters.  everyone hates Jin Zixun (who sucks, and is an ass) and lumps Jin Zixuan in with him, which is unfair because Zixuan is actually really really good at trumpet.  like, yeah he sure knows it, but it’s completely justified!  And he’s really very nice, just extremely shy about everything that isn’t playing music.  Mianmian plays clarinet, but she hangs out with the trumpets most of time— well, with Zixuan, anyway, who’s her friend, and listen, Zixun is 100% an amoral ass but he genuinely does care about Zixuan, and even Mianmian in a way.

Jin Guangyao solely among the Jins does not play trumpet: he plays flute.  Delicate, beautiful, ambitious (potentially murderous); the violinists of the winds.  (listen to me.  I say this as a violinist and a soprano.  the highest voices of every ensemble are the same.  high pitches are piercing!  you know you’re gonna be heard.  one of the biggest reasons for someone to choose the soprano part is because you want to be the one people are listening to whether they like it or not.)

Partner says Jiang Yanli plays the flute, which I’m actually gonna disagree with because I don’t think Jiang Yanli’s part of the orchestra, I think she’s in some sort of background managerial/support role.  I’m making her the music librarian.  She and Jin Zixuan have a very, very quiet mutual pining thing going on, where they’d both desperately like to spend time together but oh god every time they see each other their minds blank of any possible conversation topics and their hearts race and their hands get clammy and they just????  look at each other???  oh god they’re still looking.  quick.  quick say something.  shit, no, that was the wrong thing to say—

it’s excruciating.  Wei Wuxian tries to keep them apart and Mianmian tries to throw them together and Jiang Cheng is just trying to gently encourage Jiang Yanli to not be down on herself, and otherwise stays the fuck out of it.

Jin Ling plays trumpet, just like his dad.  (don’t think about the timeline.  there is no timeline.)

Su She, of course, plays the piano but isn’t as good as ~Hanguang-jun~.  (Probably he’s genuinely better at other styles, but.  That doesn’t matter, does it?)

Xiao Xingchen is a percussionist.  Song Lan’s a cellist (quietly strong, devoted, precise, hardworking, serious, confident but not egotistical).  They’re both extremely good— the orchestra was lucky to get them— but then something happened and Xiao Xingchen left and Song Lan has been frantically researching every single percussionist of every single orchestra worldwide and finding no trace of Xiao Xingchen’s career— he must be somewhere, surely, surely he hasn’t given up playing professionally altogether—!

Nope, Xiao Xingchen has joined a jazz band.  He plays drumset now.  A-Qing plays the electric guitar and Xue Yang plays saxophone.  They’re called Coffin Town.

Nie Huaisang’s a violinist.  He’s just barely hanging on in the back of the seconds; Nie Mingjue is always always on his back to just practice for fuck’s sake, there are professional standards to be upheld, but Huaisang is very committed to only ever doing the bare minimum to keep the job at all.  (What almost zero people know is that his main passion is composition.  He writes under a pseudonym, and the orchestra actually programs his work quite regularly; it’s weird but really compelling stuff.)

Wen Chao plays harp.  He makes Wen Zhuliu do all the tuning, every single time, including setting the pedals.  Wen Zhuliu’s life is very hard.

Ouyang Zizhen plays tuba.  He’s happy back there.