#somesillypig writes

[somesillypig]

WIP clip from my Cherry Magic AU - wayyyy after the opening I posted. I am very stuck.

Xichen sighed and made a show of stretching his limbs out. “Wanyin, let’s get dinner out. Gege will pay!” He carefully examined Wanyin’s face, watching minute shifts in his eyebrows and mouth, trying to decide which twitch meant he was holding something back and if another mouth twist meant he was about to say something he really meant. He definitely knew what set off the eye roll, but that small eyebrow furrow was a mystery.

"Okay. Let's go to that restaurant with the pickled vegetable soup you like.”

That furrow twitched a bit before it went away. “Do you really want to eat there?”

Wanyin huffed and rolled his eyes. “Nothing is wrong. Let’s eat there. I’ll get some beef noodle soup.”

Xichen hummed and studied Wanyin’s face, and made a decision. "Come here, Wanyin. I'm going to touch you."

Jiang Wanyin recoiled and pushed away from the table. "Don't touch me, Xichen."

"You’re not telling me the truth, Wanyin. I want to touch you!!"

"I meant what I said! I want beef noodles! And I won't let you!"

“You’ve left something out again.” Xichen stood and began walking over to Wanyin, who quickly stood and put up his guard. He shook out his own arms and, smiling, assumed his own stance. "Oh dear. Here I come, Wanyin! Try and stop me."

Shufu would be horrified if he saw them, two well-heeled heirs engaged in this slap-fight. Wanyin was deflecting all of Xichen's open-handed strikes and countering with shoves and slaps with his hands tucked into his hoodie's sleeves. Madam Yu would pull his ear.

Xichen became impatient with all the deflections and decided to absorb the hard slaps and lunge with his arms extended for Wanyin's face, but Wanyin! His Wanyin grabbed his wrists with both hands and tried to push him back. 

Xichen went for a leg sweep, taking advantage of an unbalanced, offended, yelling Wanyin to pull Wanyin towards him. Smiling, he used his greater arm strength and weight to pull Wanyin onto him and bring them both to the floor. Trapping Wanyin's legs with his, he forced his hands to Wanyin's cheeks and squeezed that red face between his hands, laughing.

Let-go-let-me-up-let-go you enormous asshole!

“Tell me again, Wanyin! Do you want to go to that noodle shop?”

“I told you! I'll have the beef noodle soup!” I just wanted to eat my leftover marinated eggs!

Xichen smiled and gently squished Wanyin's scowl into an angry fish face. “I knew you left something out.”

Wanyin's scowl screwed up even tighter as he pushed himself into a seated position on top of Xichen. "It was still the truth."

Xichen smiled, enjoying the weight on his lap. "I want whole-truths from you, Wanyin. Not your curated partial truths." Oh no, Wanyin’s scowl was turning flat. His face was going neutral. Xichen felt his smile slip sideways.

“Xichen. You need to learn that I don’t want a romance run on absolutes. I have to run my professional life on absolutes, and I don’t want that in my relationship. There can be compromise in affection without taking advantage. And for some, compromise is a form of affection.” This time, his mouth made a lopsided smile and he leaned back over Xichen and pinched his cheeks. Hard. I wanted to eat my eggs, Xichen-ge. But I wanted to watch you enjoy your noodles more. 

"And anyways, I haven't been to the market. The only vegetables I have are questionable cabbage and cucumbers. I can't feed you that."

[somesillypig]

There are some foods that I don't like, but I eat anyways because ... I don't know. But now I got it. I GOT IT.

Xicheng it. In my food modern cultivators AU. Which is ending up as modern slice of food life with implied cultivation. It's there, but you're not going to see it (unless it's a doggy carrier, apparently. Or a cold storage bag that I haven't brought up yet but have thought about)

Just. They're meeting up at a restaurant between their territories, one they both like. And Xichen is picking through the menu while sipping tea, looking for dishes they would both like. He's super pleased that Jiang Wanyin suggests some of the same dishes and agrees to them all.

And, he asks that Wanyin order a dish with bittermelon.

He knows Wanyin is pulling a face internally, but it's ordered.

When the dishes come, they quiet down and eat.

Xichen slowly eats some of the bittermelon dish, and Wanyin eats once slice. That's it. It makes Xichen smile.

After they finish and before they argue over the bill, Wanyin asks him why he ordered the bittermelon dish, when Xichen clearly didn't favor it.

Xichen explains that he used to eat it with his uncle, even though he didn't really like the taste of it. His uncle loves it, so Xichen would always eat one piece of it. No more.

Uncle noticed. Of course he did. He told Xichen he didn't have to eat food he doesn't like, but Xichen constantly took one piece until Lan Qiren always gave Xichen that one slice of bittermelon.

Xichen tells Wanyin all this, and says bittermelon reminds him of Uncle and time spent with him.

JIang Wanyin is quiet until the fight for the bill and Xichen physically pries his hand off the bill (Sect Leader Jiang, did you really think Zewu-jun slacked off on the strength training? Let me show you how much he did not). And the Wanyin is sulky.

And every time they meet up for food, they order bittermelon and Wanyin puts one slice on Xichen's plate and takes one slice for himself.

[somesillypig]

meet-cutes are overrated

You can’t have a meet-cute on public transit because everyone on public transit is a jerk. Even Lan Xichen.

Messy, posted previously and deleted, not-quickly written, and much agonized over meet-cute meet an asshole. This is it for now, because I have something else that I want to work on, and it needs a lot of laying out.

I don’t know if I got all the italicized text, either. Wish that copy-pasted better.

Public transportation must be the unmentioned 19th level of hell.

Taking it was a mistake. Even at non-peak hours, there are too many people for comfort. The seemingly endless black tunnel streaming past is the worst visual droning he’s ever experienced, and the jarring stops in bright stations with garish ads flashing on screens isn’t any respite.

The recorded stop-call snaps Lan Xichen’s attention back to the train car, makes him take a deep breath before trying to find something else to focus on.

Most passengers have found seats as far away from each other as they can get, but there are a few standing like him. There’s one other lone figure ignoring poles and straps, balancing himself perfectly on the moving train while his backpack sways with the train.

Lan Xichen frowns. The backpack isn’t just swaying with the train.

An enormous, fluffy head pops out and peers out of the open backpack.

He steps forward before he can stop himself, hand reaching out for sniffs, then gentle scratches on an impossibly soft head while getting licked.

"Hey. Asshole."

Lan Xichen blinks and refocuses. Calloused fingers have his wrist in a painfully tight grip, pulling his hand away from the dog.

"Don't pet my dog without asking."

Asshole. Lan Xichen pulls himself straight, breaks his wrist out with a strong jerk, and tries on his old serene smile. "Does your sect leader know you've modified a qiankun pouch, and should you be using it so publicly?" Asshole.

The other man's scowl shifts to a curled lip as he looks Lan Xichen up and down, his now-empty hand absentmindedly ruffling his (ecstatic, oversized) dog's head until his expression changes into a more neutral frown.

“Zewu-jun.”

Of course he’s recognized, Lan Xichen thinks resignedly. Retreating from the public for years was never going to take him out of public thought. Or opinion. He pulls himself up even straighter and mentally braces himself for unctuous greetings. Prying questions and insincere apologies.

“My sect leader doesn’t care how I use these things. Publicly.” The other man looks at him thoughtfully. “You don't remember who I am, do you.”

He’s not even giving him the benefit of a question with that flat tone of voice that pulls Lan Xichen up short, and he concentrates on the other man’s sharp features, racking his memory for a name. The other man smirks.

“We’re glad to see you come down your mountain,” he says, “But join us in modernity, Zewu-jun.” How does this (inappropriate, rude) man infuse his title with so much, Lan Xichen hysterically thinks. And why does he look vaguely familiar.

The stop is called, and the other man presses his dog’s head back into the backpack. “This is my stop. You have two more to go." He smirks and gives a head bow. "I'll see you soon, Zewu-jun.” That tone. Lan Xichen thinks he should take offense, but he doesn’t and he’s not sure why.

He watches the man exit the car, feeling more off-kilter.

He does have two more stops.

___________

The walk from the train station to his destination soothes him. It’s a pleasant day in a trendy neighborhood, and with the area mostly empty of people, Lan Xichen is enjoying the steady, quiet progress of putting one foot in front of the other. 

His destination is an unfamiliar house but thankfully, his brother is sitting outside on a chair when he approaches.

“Wangji.”

“Ge. Glad you came.”

Xichen smiles. “It’s important to you, and so I'm here.”

Lan Wangji hmms. “Small gathering. Good place to meet Wei Ying.”

They walk into the house, slipping their shoes off at the door.

There’s a very familiar bag next to the shoes and a snort makes Xichen whip his head around.

“Welcome to the party, Zewu-jun,” a familiar voice says. “Do you remember me now?”

It’s a Jiang, because of course he would make a bad impression before meeting Wangji’s potential in-laws. And of course, it’s Jiang Wanyin. Sect Leader Jiang.

___________

The Jiang siblings are a well-oiled, dumpling making machine. Everything is made from scratch, and Xichen has already unintentionally offered insult. His contribution of premade dumpling skins was met with the most polite “absolutely not” face he’s ever seen, and the rudest, derisive face he’s ever been given.

Instead, Wei Wuxian is kneading and rolling out dough before cutting precise lumps that he passes to Jiang Yanli, who deftly rolls them into perfect circles with thin edges and places them onto the clean, floured butcher block.

Jiang Wanyin is seated on the far end of the table, accompanied by several large bowls and spoons, expertly filling and pleating dumplings that he places in neat rows on lined baking trays. When he finishes up the latest set of skins, he looks up and crooks an eyebrow.

“Zewu-jun. Hanguang-jun. It’s a dumpling party. That means you have to sit and make dumplings.”

And that is how Xichen and Wangji find themselves learning to fold vegetable dumplings, because Yanli is a gracious and prepared hostess.

__________________________

That’s it. I had plans, like overly ambitious urban fantasy plans with lots of food. But, NO PLOT. Just ideas. Mostly involved with Jiang Cheng feeding Lan Xichen food and forcing him to recover from isolation. Gently forcing him to come out, eat, interact with growing affection and brusqueness.

[somesillypig]

Steaming mad

Your piddling sect has offended Sandu Shengshou on a subject that he can't demand reparations for, but that doesn't mean he isn't angry and he's definitely petty enough to do a small, somehow terrible, act of vengeance.

The Yunmeng Jiang has banned of all of their people from selling your sect and villages lotus leaves.

Your steamed packets of sticky rice don't look right, don't taste pleasing. It's terrible and you crave sticky rice in lotus leaves.

All because your sect leader claimed his daughter was as beautiful as Zewu-jun within earshot of Sect Leader Jiang.

___________

Anyways this is how the cultivation world learns that Sandu Shengshou is courting Zewu-jun.

[somesillypig]

modern cultivators AU cont

First part.

Some parts edited and reposted below

_________

The Jiang siblings are a well-oiled, dumpling making machine. Everything is made from scratch, and Xichen has already unintentionally offered insult. His contribution of premade dumpling skins was met with the most polite “absolutely not” face he’s ever seen, and the rudest, derisive face he’s ever been given.

Instead, Wei Wuxian is kneading and rolling out rested dough before cutting precise lumps that he passes to Jiang Yanli, who deftly rolls them into perfect circles with thin edges and places them onto the clean, floured butcher block.

Jiang Wanyin is seated on the far end of the table, accompanied by several large bowls and spoons, expertly filling and pleating dumplings that he places in neat rows on lined baking trays before covering them with damp towels. When he finishes up the latest batch of skins, he looks up and crooks an eyebrow.

“Zewu-jun. Hanguang-jun. It’s a dumpling party. That means you have to sit and make dumplings.”

And that is how Xichen and Wangji find themselves learning to fold vegetable dumplings, because Jiang Yanli is a gracious and prepared hostess, even if one of her brothers is a discourteous (asshole) person and her other brother is as thoughtlessly improper as he is brilliant. Jiang Wanyin has clearly taken some pity on them though, having them fold and press the vegetable dumplings in half instead of doing pleats. When Xichen asks why, Jiang Cheng gives him a penetrating, assessing look.

"These will be sui jiao, or tang jiao if you want them in the soup. Pleats are for fried dumplings, and you don't look like you're well enough to eat fried foods, Zewu-jun."

Xichen winces. He almost misses conversations that dance around the topic of his indisposition, instead of heading straight-on. "Please, no titles. Lan Xichen is fine."

"Yeah," Wei Wuxian chimes in. "And we'll be family soon! You should call him Xichen-ge!"

"Who's going to be family?!" Jiang Wanyin snaps back. "I haven't given my approval yet!"

Wei Wuxian let out an enraged gasp. "Who says we need your approval?! You're my didi!"

"You need your sect leader's permission." Jiang Wanyin raises an eyebrow and curls his lip. "Sect leader Jiang is unconvinced."

"No pulling rank at sibling meals! We AGREED!"

"Then who called me didi?!"

Lan Xichen watches with bemusement as the argument devolves into airings of childhood grievances and more current, irrelevant grudges, while his unmoved brother steadily folds the rest of their dumplings. A small cough makes him turn to Jiang Yanli, who nods at filled trays and gestures for him to follow her.

They take the trays to an empty freezer and load them onto shelves after removing the towels. After the freezer door is firmly shut, she smiles at him. "Let me show you some things before we eat.”

They walk to the circular dinner table, already laid with dining ware and a few appetizers.

Jiang Yanli’s face is very serious when she looks at him. “Very important, Lan Xichen. These are dishes for you and your brother,” she said, gesturing at pickled vegetables with no chilis, smashed cucumber salad, and jellyfish salad. “And those with chilis are for the Jiangs. Don’t eat them. This is a-Xian’s special chili sauce; don’t eat that either.

"And absolutely do not let a-Xian give you food, or take food from your dishes with his chopsticks."

__________

The Yunmeng Shuangjie squabble concludes by not actually concluding, and finishing with mutual headslaps just in time to help their sister finish cooking. They refuse the Lans' offers of help and chivvy them to seats at the kitchen island. Yanli gives them a smile and a dish of lightly salted peanuts, encouraging them to eat. Xichen is careful to eat a few nuts under Wangji’s watchful eyes.

When they sit to eat, the table is laden with food. There's a pile of flakey fried onion pancakes, and cubed tofu dressed with sauce and topped with century eggs in addition to platters of fried or boiled dumplings, and tureens of plump dumplings floating in soup.

Xichen carefully plates a little of each vegetable dish onto his plate before ladling soup and dumplings into his bowl. He eyes the fragrant onion pancakes before deciding not to chance it, even for politeness' sake. When he looks up, he sees Jiang Wanyin to his right, watching him and frowning. Annoyed, Xichen looks him straight in the eye and starts to reach for a pancake.

Jiang Wanyin whisks the plate away from him with a tsk. "No. Zewu-jun, do you eat fish?"

Xichen doesn't respond and just looks at him.

Jiang Wanyin rolls his eyes. "Lan Xichen, do you eat fish?"

Feeling vaguely guilty about his petty satisfaction, Xichen nods. Wanyin grabs a clean pair of chopsticks, reaches out, and places a boiled dumpling on his plate.

"Eat this instead. Jie's fish dumplings can't be matched."

No one has put food on his plate for him since his mother died. Taken aback, Xichen looks from the dumpling to Jiang Wanyin, who pulls back looking annoyed and puts down the chopsticks in his hand with an audible clack.

"Does it bother you? I'm not left-handed; I use both. Don’t look so put-out.”

Wei Wuxian and Jiang Yanli turn to look at them with worried expressions. "Cheng-cheng, I'm sure that's not it."

Panicking at the deepening glower on Wanyin's face, Xichen hurried picks up the dumpling and takes a bite. It...it is deliciously tender and smooth in the mouth, with the perfect amount of juice. He takes another bite and chews more slowly, tasting the delicate flavors. It’s satisfying without feeling sickening, and he eats every last bit. When he looks up, everyone is watching him with varying levels of relief and satisfaction.

Jiang Wanyin picks up another fish dumpling, this time with his right hand. “Would you like another, Lan Xichen.?”

Lan Xichen would.

______________________________________________

I think I have a plot. But it’s hard to tell under the piles of food I want to wax poetic about.

fuuuuuck how do I paste italics in this thing.

[somesillypig]

Chapters: 2/2 Fandom: 魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù, 陈情令 | The Untamed (TV) Rating: Not Rated Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Jiāng Chéng | Jiāng Wǎnyín & Jīn Líng | Jīn Rúlán, Jiāng Chéng | Jiāng Wǎnyín/Lán Huàn | Lán Xīchén Characters: Jiang Cheng | Jiang Wanyin, Jin Ling | Jin Rulan, Lan Huan | Lan Xichen, Original Characters Additional Tags: Crack, Accidental Baby Acquisition Summary:

Jin Ling shook his head. “It’s not that kind of emergency; it’s personal. JIUJIU! Don’t roll your eyes at me!”

or,

Jin Ling is in dire straits. + The Bonus Lotus.

[somesillypig]

I get why people have Jiang Yanli as a fine-dining chef in modern AU fanfic, but I think she cooks at home and for her siblings or people she cares about. Sounds like home cooking instead of fine dining to me! So, let's consider this:

Jiang Yanli doesn't do fine dining for her restaurant; it's a small-ish restaurant that does home-style cooking. The menu changes every week except for one item: the lotus root and pork rib soup, of course.

Scenes from her small, perfectly clean and well-appointed, mom-shop include:

People who don't eat the veggies in their dishes until the head chef comes out and asks, worriedly, if something is wrong with the dish. Customers frantically tell the chef everything is perfect and they stuff the vegetables into their mouths. (Yanli totally knows what she's doing)

When there's a red chili hanging from the awning, there's a brother helping to cook in the kitchen. This is a popular time for college students to come in and egg each other on to try the different spice levels.

Dragon boat festival! Zongzi only. Anyone who protests gets thrown out by the sneering brother. No one protests after the first year.

Reality television celebrity chef challenge. She does it after much persuasion. Her assistants are spicy brother and sneering brother. There’s a lot of head slapping and food thrown on the Jiang side during the cooking challenge. Audience loves it. They totally win. If you know the Japanese Iron Chef episode where this well-known home-cooking show chef is on it and she wins, picture that. Just, the judges going into ecstasies about how it reminds them of their mom or popo, but better, and how they can’t go home without groveling now that they said that on TV.

Mooncake festival. You can either buy a box or 2 of mooncakes, or you can come in during the week and learn to make your own. Ingredients and molds supplied, appointments only, and they run out fast.

Outside of the restaurant is a place for dogs to get water. On the opposite side is a tall tree with climbable branches.

Dang, can I work this into my Xicheng AU? Probably not.

[somesillypig]

Get up in the stacks

3)      Library AU

i)       You’re overdue on this book and I want it so I’m tracking u the fuck down

ii)      I work in the library and I’m a little concerned for your health bc you never stop studying

iii)     The library’s pretty empty save for you and me and OH that couple making out loudly in the shelves somewhere

from this prompt list by @nerds-are-cool

I had an idea.

It is:

MDZS

Alternate Universe - Modern AU, Modern cultivators for convenience of my lame title/joke.

Not quite the prompt, but also all of the prompt?

short

ridiculous

Get up in the stacks

_______

Lan Wangji will pull Wei Wuxian out of the Gusu Lan Library by his ridiculous ponytail.

As soon as he finds him.

Wangji is getting frustrated with having to hiss at Wei Wuxian every day to be quiet and to walk, not run or leap, through the stacks. He's positive Wei Wuxian isn't studying, and if he is, he shouldn't be. Wangji has had to throw him out of the restricted section an innumerable amount of times; it's humiliating that he had to ask xiongzhang for help in keeping the room secure.

Xiongzhang readily agreed, but Wangji shouldn't have needed help maintaining order.

Frustrated, he resumes his search. He didn't see Wei Wuxian enter the library, but he's seen little paper men running up shelves out of the corners of his eyes.

Improper.

Wei Wuxian has gotten quieter in the library in the past few days, and it unsettles him, that Wei Wuxian is repressing himself and not boisterously calling his name or trying to grab his ribbon.

All this leaves his mind when he sees Wei Wuxian jumping off an upper floor and gliding towards the restricted entryway.

"Wei Wuxian!" He leaps forward and grabs Wei Wuxian's ear, pulling him down to the ground.

"Lan Zhan!" Wei Wuxian cries out, thrashing and trying to pull away. "Wait! It's not how it looks!"

Lan Wangji keeps a firm grip on his ear and gives him another shake. "Explain."

Wei Wuxian collapses onto Wangji's lap like a deadweight and resists any attempts to throw him off. "Jiang Cheng's been vanishing for hours, and I've been trying to track where he's been disappearing to for weeks."

Wangji tsks and ignores Wei Wuxian's yelps as he stands and drops him on the floor without letting go of his ear. "And?"

"I put a tracker on his phone last night! He's been here for hours! The restricted area is the only place I haven't looked!"

Wangji frowns. "Impossible. Jiang Wanyin doesn't have access."

"Maybe he snuck in." Wei Wuxian tries to shrug as much as he can from the floor.

"Again, impossible. Xiongzhang has been guarding the room."

“Let me look anyways!” Wei Wuxian leaps up and heads to the door before getting blocked again. “Lan Zhan, let’s look together! If he’s not there, I swear I won’t come back for a week.”

Wangji feels an inexplicable pang, but opens the door and lets Wei Wuxian into the room. He frowns when they enter; Xichen’s bags and instrument case were alone at the front desk, their owner nowhere to be seen.

Wei Wuxian gets serious air about him, looking around and stepping forward quietly. Rustling noises from the window makes him whip around and step silently towards the sound. When he rounds a shelf, he lets out an outraged yell.

Worried, Wangji runs forward and comes to a stop.

Jiang Wanyin IS in the restricted section, trapping and pinning his xiongzhang to a bench!

“Lan Xichen, unhand my shi-di!”

What.

Jiang Wanyin tries to jerk away, but is pulled back onto Xichen’s lap.

WHAT.

“Wei Wuxian!” Jiang Cheng snarls. “You nosy asshole, get lost.”

“Cheng-cheng, nooooo! You’re too young to date! He’s not good enough for you! He’s too old!”

WHAT?! “Xiongzhang, not Jiang Wanyin! He’s not good enough for you.”

Xichen smiles. “Everyone out,” he says, grabbing Jiang Wanyin around the waist. “Everyone except ah-Cheng.” Jiang Wanyin smirks before throwing a barrier that pushes Wei Wuxian and Wangji out of the room.

______________________________________________

(The Jiangs and Lan Wangji are university age)

[somesillypig]

Short scene from my food modern cultivators thing

____________

Xichen looks at the violently proffered drink, boba gently bouncing the bottom, and unthinkingly says, "Milk in tea is an atrocity," before he can stop himself.

Jiang Wanyin narrows his eyes and deepens his scowl. "My popo drinks boba milk tea. Hear that, Zewu-jun? Should I tell Yu-zhongzhu that Lan-zhongzhu declares her weekly boba milk tea, brought to her by her favorite grandson, to be an atrocity?"

Xichen can feel a glare beginning to wrinkle his brows before he can push it back, taking a breath to school his features back to neutrality before looking Jiang Wanyin in the eyes. "No. Because I don't believe you're her favorite grandson."

Jiang Wanyin lets out a bark of laughter, making Diandian run ecstatic, fluffy white circles around his feet. "That's true. She has no favorite grandson." He looks at Xichen thoughtfully, then places the boba milk tea back into the bag and pulls out a cup that Xichen could only assume is another drink, but it is an unnatural purple.

"Lan Xichen, do you like taro?"

Xichen blinks. "I do."

Jiang Wanyin gives him a straw and the purple drink. "Drink this. It's taro milk tea. Pretend it's a taro dessert, not tea."

Xichen reluctantly takes the straw and punches it through the lid. The first sip is creamy but not unpleasant, with a subtle sweetness mellowed by the distinct light taste of taro and its faint texture. The second sip brings a tapioca pearl with a pleasant chew and sweet taste that complements the taro. He finds himself taking careful, slow sips under Jiang Wanyin's watchful (smug) gaze while the other takes bigger pulls of boba tea.

----------

My popo does drink boba milk tea, and she likes it. She can't chew boba anymore though.

I don't like taro sweets, so I'm totally guessing what taro milk tea tastes like.

I don't know anyone that thinks milk in tea is an atrocity. My dad used to pull faces if anyone did that to any kind tea, but now will take his morning PG Tips with milk and sugar.

God, I really miss boba milk tea.

-----

[somesillypig]

I am fortunate that my spouse will listen to me talk about my obsessions and actually listen and give feedback. But we both do, and that’s how it works. ANYWAYS.

I was telling him that there’s so much poetry and other literature referenced in “Word of Honor”/Shan he ling/Faraway Wanderers/Tian ya ke , that I was pretty sure my grandmother would like it. Then I was thinking about the reference in MDZS in the names, and posited that maybe Chinese writing always quotes poetry and lit or references it.

SO thought this must be really hard to read, a bit much, if you have to be so well-read to read or write Chinese stories. I said, maybe that’s just the way they write and everyone is used to it. And maybe we’re not used to it because the English speaking world is more wide-spread with divergent lit. Like, I don’t think people in the UK read American lit, but for sure. American students have read some sort of English lit.

Then I realized. Everyone in every language writes and references literature. We do it all the time.

The easiest thing I could think of was a scene in “Mad Men” where one guy quotes Ozymandius and says, “Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!” Smugly, like he’s winning. And his co-worker snaps and tells him to read the rest of the poem. That made me laugh, because yeah, first guy clearly didn’t understand the whole poem, and that was the point.

But also every time someone talks about:

Frankenstein’s monster

bubble bubble, toil and trouble

gather ye rosebuds while ye may

the road not taken

the fate of Sylvia Plath

two houses both alike in dignity

makes a Bennet reference

reference the Light Brigade in terms of hopelessness

etc

they’re referencing a commonly known piece of literature in daily speech, and a lot of people will recognize it.

I recognize many references and let me tell you, I’m really poorly read in classic literature of any kind.

I have very little point to this. It was just a personal revelation.

[somesillypig]

Worthy - almost end

I haven’t actually written anymore parts of this thing. They’re just kinda sitting in my head, vaguely mapped out. I’m not sure when I’ll be up for finishing the mapping, let alone the actual writing.

But, I did write what I thought was going to be the end. “Thought,” because once I wrote it and felt okay with it, I realized ending here would be too abrupt, a little too pat. I HAVE mapped out more of the almost-end, but uh. It felt too saccharine. At least, as too saccharine for what I finished. Just going to stick it here. Was going to save it, but well. I’m not sure I’m going to finish this.

It’s like the song that never ends. It just goes on and on, my friend.

Opening is here. This is the almost-end. It takes place post-canon and Lan Xichen is in seclusion.

___________________

Hands slam into the table, rattling the cups and pot. "You will listen to me." Jiang Cheng jerks his head up to see Lan Xichen, quietly furious with hard eyes in his wan face.

"Sect Leader Jiang. Your brother was gifted and brilliant. He was easy to love and admire, but he would never have been able to do what you did for Yunmeng Jiang. He couldn’t have persevered in reviving the sect, nor make it prosperous, the way you have.

“Your disciples know this. Your villages know this.

“The only one who doesn’t know this, is you.

“What will it take for you to acknowledge that you are deserving?” Lan Xichen pulls his hands back into himself and pulls himself upright.  “Jiang Wanyin, you are harder to love, but no less desirable for it. You are more than deserving of any effort to love you."

Jiang Cheng avoids Lan Xichen’s oddly burning gaze and sits, clenching and unclenching his fists before putting them on the table, palms up and open.

"Zewu-jun," he says, ignoring the other's flinch and hunching shoulders. "You once advised me to allow people I hold dear to leave me and wait for them to return to me, for then I would know our regard is mutual.”

JIang Cheng takes a deep breath and turns his gaze to the askew cups, leaving his hands open.

“This time, I find myself unwilling to wait for someone, for you, to come to me and tell me if you hold me in equal regard." He ignores the small jerk that rattles the table again and keeps his eyes down.

“Lan Xichen, I wish to deserve you. This one hopes you will return to him, if he is worthy, when you are ready to leave seclusion.”

____________________

so melodramatic, I feel the wind ruffling my hair and orchestral strings crescendo-ing.

Why the hell do I write in past-tense, then edit to present? It’s torturous. I might go back and change everything to past-tense.