#prob won't actually write any until after work because i'm trying to stay moderately on task BUT

[veliseraptor]

why the hell not! let’s play this game again. the 150 words meme is back - send me one of the numbers from below and I’ll write 150 words in that project. you can send me up to three. if you don’t recognize a project/want to know which one it is, the WIP masterlist is here with some brief descriptions.

let’s go!!

1. He paused, considering one more time, and then wrote, I am going to heal Xingchen.

Xue Yang jerked. Then laughed, though this time it was harsh and humorless. “Right,” he said. “Sure. That’s nice, Zichen, but it’s not possible, maybe you didn’t hear but there’s not - not enough-” His voice choked off and for a moment he looked like he might vomit, or scream, and then the sneering snarl was back in place. “Xiao-daozhang did too good of work destroying himself. Thanks for that, by the way. I have to give you credit.”

Song Lan let that brush past him, over him. Or tried. I don’t care what you think is possible or not. I am going to find a way to mend his soul so that he can rest. His mouth twisted, and he added, thanks to you, I have time.

Xue Yang was staring at him with narrowed eyes, wary and cornered-animal. Song Lan erased what he’d written and went on: I am not going to let you die. If you behave, maybe I’ll let you speak to him once in a while. He wouldn’t. But he wasn’t going to feel guilty about that lie. And if you live long enough to see his soul mend, he added, after a moment, I’ll let you beg on your knees for his forgiveness before you die. (Walking Far from Home)

2. “You said,” Xue Yang said, slowly, as though he was just remembering, “that you had a friend, a close friend, and you fell out. Was it him?” 

Xiao Xingchen was quiet again, his breathing soft and ever so slightly strained. “Yes,” he said, finally. “We...he was hurt because of me.”

The oddest thrill went through Xue Yang. Yes, he thought. He was, wasn’t he. And then you were hurt because of him. There was something nice about that. Symmetry, sort of. “What do you mean,” he asked, because Chengmei wouldn’t know. 

Xiao Xingchen hesitated, then shook his head. “It isn’t important. He lost...I believed he didn’t want to see me again.”

“Guess you were wrong,” Xue Yang said. Wish you hadn’t been. 

“It seems so.” There was something soft and hopeful in Xiao Xingchen’s voice, and that fist curled in Xue Yang’s guts again and yanked. He set his back teeth and waited until he thought he could control himself to speak again. (tell you my sins (you can sharpen your knife))

3. So it turns out that if you touch the tendons of a dead person’s wrist and channel a little bit of spiritual energy just right, it makes the fingers twitch and curl like they’re still alive. 

Xue Yang’s not totally sure how it works, exactly, but he’s been playing around with this corpse for a while, seeing how far he can take it. If he can make it hold a brush, for instance, but it seems like the control isn’t quite fine enough for that. There might be a theoretical application for this knowledge somewhere, but right now he just sort of finds it funny. (Abattoir)

4. “Do you want to keep standing out here in the rain like an idiot or do you want to come with me?”

Wei Wuxian blinked a couple times, both to try to avoid the rain running off his eyelashes and to confirm that he wasn’t experiencing an especially vivid and lengthy hallucination. 

“Guess I’ll come with you,” he said after a few moments to collect himself. Jiang Cheng jerked his head in a nod. 

“Good answer,” he said, and turned to march in the direction of Lotus Pier. Wei Wuxian tagged after him.

“Don’t suppose you brought another umbrella,” he called.

“No,” Jiang Cheng said. “Maybe next time you’ll remember to bring your own.”

A few steps later, though, he fell back and moved the umbrella to the side. It wasn’t really big enough to cover both of them, but it provided a little shelter from the pouring rain. (an aging wound)

5. Time passed. Without benefit of light, she did not know how much, so she wasn’t certain how long it had been when she woke to someone standing in the doorway of her room, leaning against the frame and watching her with bright, intense eyes.

Wen Qing stared at him. He smiled at her.

“Hey, Wen-guniang,” said Xue Yang. “Fancy seeing you again! I heard they burned you alive.” 

She stood up, careful to keep her face calm and unaffected. She didn’t know him well, not personally. Their interactions had been fairly limited, by design. She’d found him once sitting with Wen Ning, apparently telling him a story, and for all his laughter and smiles there was something sharp in the way he’d looked at her brother. Curious in the way a cat was curious about a bug.

Wen-guniang! he’d said when he’d seen her. This is your brother, right? He’s so much fun to talk to. (fall apart, destroy, release)

6. Jin Guangyao’s expression remained placid. “If there’s anything I can assist with, Chengmei, you know you only need to ask.”

“Really?” Xue Yang said sweetly. “Thanks, a-Yao. That’s really nice of you.”

Jin Guangyao’s mouth twitched, but it turned into a dimpled smile before Xue Yang could quite decide if it was toward a laugh or a frown. Very briefly, a stupid part of him sort of missed this. The good with Jin Guangyao had been good.

Pity the bad had meant stab wounds and being left to die in a ditch. Besides, he liked his new life better. (Mutual Friends)

7. His shixiong was strong and damnably smart and had survived being trapped in a cave with no sword and a legendary monster. He was out there, somewhere.

Jiang Cheng just had to find him, and he would.

But there was also a war to fight. 

Jiang Cheng squared his shoulders. Fine. He could do both. They’d shoot down the Wen sun - and as he carved his way through their armies, wherever Wei Wuxian was, Jiang Cheng would find him.

His left hand clenched. He missed holding Sandu - he wanted its familiar weight in his hand, the comfort of its presence. But of course it was locked away in a Wen stronghold. 

Suibian would be there too, and some stupid part of him briefly imagined that if he could retrieve Suibian Wei Wuxian wouldn’t be far behind. (in our respective ways)