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sunriseverse · 11 months ago

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DMBJ prompt- Kan Jian doing something that makes Zhang Rishan laugh when they're on a mission together?

😁

this took me.........almost two weeks, i am so sorry. anyway, enjoy!

Zhang Rishan doesn’t expect to see Kan Jian again—once he’d left along with Wang Pangzi and the others more closely aligned with the Wu family, Zhang Rishan had thought that would be the last of it. It had been surprising, how sudden that realisation had felt—he hadn’t realised how well Kan Jian had integrated himself into the hum of daily life around Xinyue, even if Zhang Rishan had been gone for some of that, trapped beneath the sands. But all things must end—this is not an empty maxim, but something that he has learnt through firsthand experience; a man out of time as he is, it’s inevitable that, at some point, those whom he grows close to will leave at some point—even if they stay their entire lives, the way Fo Ye had, death will eventually claim them. It’s something he’s grown used to—something he’s grown around, a tree around a barbed fence, until the wicked spikes no longer dug into his flesh.

So perhaps that’s why, when Wu Xie comes to his side, offers him a nod of acknowledgement as he takes the binoculars proffered to him, he doesn’t expect the shadow at Wu Xie’s back—or, rather, only expects one of them; Wang Pangzi is there, of course, two flaring stars of the Iron Triangle so much dimmer without their third sun, but then, to his side, Kan Jian, who’s wearing his trademark sleeveless ensemble. Not for the first time, Zhang Rishan feels a small flare of exasperation—it doesn’t matter how warm the man might run, one day he’ll catch a cold dressing like that.

To his further surprise, though, rather than following after Wu Xie when he moves to get his allies into order, Kan Jian instead diverts to Zhang Rishan’s side, smiling widely. “Huizhang!” he exclaims, puppyish and bright-eyed, and not for the first time, Zhang Rishan feels incalculably old—had he ever been so enthusiastic? He’s not sure he can remember. But in the tense atmosphere of this pre-ambush gathering, it’s like a breath of spring breeze, carrying the scent of plum blossoms.

“Aren’t you going to join Wu Xie’s detachment?” Zhang Rishan says mildly, and shifts slightly so that Kan Jian can come stand at his side if he chooses. Kan Jian takes the opportunity with a grin, and Zhang Rishan, despite the inappropriateness of it, given the context, finds himself smiling faintly in return.

After that, things fall into motion like an executioner’s blade—a spectacle, coated in blood and a sense of shared fervor from both sides. It’s a race to try and apprehend the Wang as they try and flee, having at some point realised the ambush was imminent. Zhang Rishan would love to know how that had happened, but he supposes, as he sidesteps a blow and brings a knee up into someone’s ribs, that it doesn’t particularly matter; the Wang, though they may have the element of familiarity, are panicking, and not as motivated as the remainder of the Jiumen—and, after all, the capture of the individuals is less pressing than the destruction of the computing division. They can always track down any who flee later on; the computing division, on the other hand, is something that must be dealt with forthwith, as it poses the largest threat.

Wu Xie, unsurprisingly, is the one to take the matter into hand—he disappears without a word halfway into the compound, leaving the rest of them to deal with any other hostiles. They’re lucky to have managed to do a near full sweep of the compound by the time the explosions rock the foundations—the only injuries to his team are some scrapes and bruises, no fatalities or serious wounds, though everyone gets at least liberally coated in dust. Zhang Rishan resits a sigh and wipes a hand across his face to clear his vision, and begins counting off to make certain that no one lagged behind and was caught under rubble.

As he’d initially assessed, no one is injured—Kan Jian, though, is looking dejected, hands shoved into his pockets and covered in grey dust, and he resolves to approach him and find out what the issue is. With that decision made, he leads his team out of the compound and around the perimeter for a final casting of the net to see if any more Wang have emerged from the compound that they missed while inside. They manage to detain a few more, but as Zhang Rishan had suspected, they’re not anyone of consequence. Wu Xie emerges, too, eventually, holding Li Cu in his arms and looking worse for the wear—dusty, bloodied, and exhausted, but clearly satisfied, at least for now. Zhang Rishan leaves him be, and dismisses those who had made up his team to other tasks, and then heads for where Xie Yuchen and the interim family heads have convened to try and decide what to do with the Wang they’ve captured. Kan Jian follows after him, which makes it easier, when the conversation draws to a close, for Zhang Rishan to turn to him with a raised brow. “Did you lose your slingshot?”

Kan Jian shakes his head, still looking absolutely crushed. “I brought some candies for Xiaomaque—Luo Que, I mean, but they got lost while we were inside.”

For a moment, Zhang Rishan merely blinks at him, and then, without meaning to, his lips stretch into a smile, and then he’s laughing, quiet and half-wonderous. Kan Jian—he’s like the golden rays of dawn, sometimes too warm but always well-intentioned. Zhang Rishan has watched the relationship between him and Luo Que grow from a one-sided enmity to something more cordial, even playful—not that it had, he suspects, ever been unplayful, on Kan Jian’s side—, but he hadn’t expected—this, he supposes; for Kan Jian to have grown so attached to the other man as to become distressed when something he’d meant for him was lost. Kan Jia’s gaze flickers, and Zhang Rishan realises, suddenly, he might think he’s laughing at him, and so he says, “Follow me,” and leads a confused but pliant Kan Jian to the Jeep he’d driven in, and opens the glovebox. “Luo Que rode with me on the way here,” he explains as he takes out a bag of lollipops. “These—”

“Are his favourite!” Kan Jian says, excitedly, and takes the bag. “Thank you, huizhang! You really are amazing!” He’s beaming like Zhang Rishan has given him some sort of irreplaceable treasure, and, not for the first time, Zhang Rishan finds himself smiling back automatically. “Thank you!” he says, again, happily, and turns to make a beeline towards the other end of camp, where Luo Que is hovering, almost indistinct, at Yin Nanfeng’s side.

Still smiling, Zhang Rishan shakes his head and closes the glovebox.

#dmbj #sha hai #tomb of the sea #zhang rishan #kan jian #lq is here in spirit but he doesn't talk so he doesn't get tagged #fanfic #ask #spinecorset writes #c.txt

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inimitablereel · 2 years ago

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2022 Fic Fanwork Recs

Saw someone doing end of year fic recs and I decided I wanted to talk about fics. And then I started going through my ao3 bookmarks and realized I had a lot of vids I really loved in there. So under the cut (because even limiting to not too many per fandom and only things published this year this got long) are some things I've liked this year!

DMBJ

So Beat the Drum Slowly by Thimblerig gen: Wu Xie goes to A Ning's funeral I am the center of the target audience for this fic. I love A Ning and this gave me some actual closure over her death.

Wish Your Bed was Already Made by ilgaksu Wu Xie+Heihua I love ilgaksu's version of heihua always. Would recommend this fic for fans of all the times in Ultimate Note where Wu Xie is forced to third wheel them and for everyone who assumed Hei Xiazi put a tracker on Xiao Hua in the heihua movie.

Practical Applications of a Formal Education by Pandelion gen: 5+1 snippets of tomb adventures This is about the most important character in dmbj (Wu Xie's architecture degree). Fun tomb moments and character dynamics for everyone.

Pépito is Out by ladysisyphus iron triangle ot3: snippets of post-reboot hanging out I love the iron triangle and I love most of the ot3 hanging out being retired fics. This one also has a lot of cute visiting reboot characters and a very cryptid Xiaoge.

With Water and a Star by afrikate Hei Xiazi/Xiao Hua/Huo Xiuxiu (mind the metadata: this is the only tomb show fic I've linked that's rated m and not super short) The rare tomb show fic that's mostly about the politics of running mob families (tbh it's rare in canon too except for sand sea so maybe there's a lot of this in fics I haven't read for spoilers reasons): Huo Xiuxiu takes over the Huo family! Love to see her getting to actually be badass. I was skeptical of the ship going in, but this is a getting together fic for all the sides except heihua and it really sold me on the various dynamics.

vid: spike the punch by stellarer Ultimate Note. heihua vid!! this vid really gives you the sense that these weirdos like each other so much and is just really joyful to watch

vid: you're a 10 I'm a four leaf clover by absternr also UN, also a heihua vid!!! they're so weird and they flirt so weirdly <3 and this vid does a great job conveying that

vid: Still Not Dead by teyla multi-tomb show. Honestly if you're in the dmbj fandom and you haven't gone and watched all of teyla's multi vids, congrats, you're gonna have a good day today, go watch all their vids they're all great. This one is a bop but also a good thing to watch if you want to think really hard about Wu Xie as a character.

vid: I'm not your friend by absternr UN. My reclist so I'm gonna rec a little Ultimate Note A Ning vid where she gets to be hot and badass and not dead.

The Untamed/MDZS I've been in this fandom for over 2 years now, so my untamed fic recs are all things that are a little different from a lot of the stuff I've already read. If you're just kind of looking for a wangxian fic there's a lot of new good ones that I am not mentioning here.

the fair and the good and the brave must die by Lise wangxian... kind of. canon-era, during the 13 years Lan Wangji finds Wei Wuxian's angry resentful ghost and has to deal with that. This fic is upsetting and I love that.

grandmaster ranked in demonic cultivation by tshirt Jin Ling centric (Jin Ling & Jiang Cheng among others): modern ...league of legends au? as in they play league I know nothing abut league but this fic author clearly does and I love to read a niche au. Funny and also really really good characterization for both Jin Ling and Jiang Cheng.

年年有虞 | Sweet, but not too sweet by frostferox Jiang Cheng centric: modern au - elementary school Jiang Cheng has a bake sale Okay so you can tell who my favorite untamed boy is from this list :p but this is a really interesting take on what all the Jiang family relationships look like without the big stressors of canon. Also a fic about being first gen kid in a US elementary school.

vid: Fixer Upper by absternr Burial mounds vid! Lots of Wens (+ Wei Wuxian) feels about trying to build a home when everyone wants to kill you. This made me cry.

Nirvana in Fire

The Young Marshall's Ghost by ConvenientAlias gen: Mei Changsu solves a mystery After reading this I went back and read the rest of the series it's in, but given that I read it in this order, it obviously works as a standalone. Fun if you like to watch Mei Changsu be smart but framed more in a mystery way than a political drama way.

boiling point by caulkhead Lin Chen & Mei Changsu This should really have the exhausted character finally gets a nap tag. Lots of cleverness and friendship feels.

All the Distant Stars by BromeliadDreams Mei Changsu/Xiao Jingyan: scifi au This is one of the only setting aus that I've really liked in this fandom, but it's doing really cool things with how you come back different in a scifi setting. More running around having adventures and feelings vibes than political intrigue.

"The wise person avoids parties as far as possible" by Nemainofthewater Jingrui goes to a party (no not that one) choose your own adventure fic This is such a cool fic format and there are so many different possible endings

vid: Mei Changsu is climbing the mountain by sandalwoodbox general nif plot focus This is a remix of another vid (that is also excellent and you should watch) and it's a really cool tonal shift between the two vids. It's somewhere between saying something very serious about canon and doing something very silly.

vid: ...Baby One More Time by absternr Jingyan/Mei Changsu(or should I say Lin Shu?) Okay so I'm choosing the silly nif vids I guess but the thing about this vid is you go in being like haha a Brittney Spears song haha there were so many signs and you come out being like oh no Jingyan's lonliness is killing him I am so sad now every time. Which is the ideal nif vid experience imo, can't spell knife without nif, go have some feelings.

Misc Vids

Don't Worry Be Randall by lizardjay For Infinity Train but I'd rec it even if you haven't seen the show - it's just a charming animation of don't worry be happy

She Works Hard for the Money by teyla For Kinnporsche but you do not have to have seen the show. This is so funny, especially if you've ever seen any show that went hard on product placement. NSFW: don't watch it in public

So far by dirty_diana - fandom: Wheel of Time I saw this before I'd seen the show and then again after it - either way it's very atmospheric but having seen the show I also had a lot of feelings about friendships and the heroes journey and how you can't go home again.

And some ones where you do probably want to know the fandom

Satisfied by CherryIce - fandom: The Good Place Tahani character study! Lots of feelings about Tahani as a character and found family and bio family.

Bad Vibes by jonesandashes, pollyrepeat - fandom: Bridgerton (s2) Kate/Anthony I will admit I haven't seen any of Bridgerton s2 and am saying you should know the fandom on the strength of having read the books. But the real draw of this vid is it really gets that Anthony is a terrible awful garbage man but I love him and so does Kate unfortunately. Just a really fun time and a very iddy look at this generally very iddy ship.

#I have no idea how to tag this #vid selection is a little arbitrary because I was trying to not do a zillion and also going through just my ao3 bookmarks #which is separate from my saved vids on youtube #I also read a fair amount of svsss and tyk fic this year but I didn't have enough things that I a) really wanted to rec and #b) wasn't terribly embarassed about sooooooo #reclist #I'd love it if this starts a trend in my circles - I started making this because I ran into an untamed best fics of 2022 list #which I'll probably make my way through but I'm less into these days

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foxofninetales · 3 years ago

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@xcziel dropped this in the tags to this post: (why is there not a gbbo/cooking show au in the dmbj verse yet??? pangzi as gordon ramsay!), which got me thinking..

Pangzi's show is a love letter to comfort food, from street vendors selling steamed buns to toothless grandmothers making perfect mooncakes. A lot of it is just pure food porn: sizzling fried goods, shimmering sugar-dusted desserts, all eaten with lip-smacking relish. Watching the delight on the faces of the "everyday" cooks as they recognize Pangzi's well-known, pink-aproned figure is half the fun of the show, including how everyone immediately moves in for that trademarked Pangzi hug. The other half of the fun is the horror on the faces of pretentious restaurant owners when they look over to see Pangzi sitting at one of their tables, because Pangzi didn't earn his own Michelin star just to be served half-assed "fusion" cuisine. He once threw an owner literally across the dining room when he caught him taking his servers' tips.

Xiaoge's show has almost as many wilderness-hiking fans as cooking fans, because half the show is the process of catching or foraging whatever he is going to cook that week. It's full of loving panoramas of mountains or wetlands, or meat being turned slowly over an open fire, or artistic shots of water droplets catching the light as a shirtless Xiaoge catches fish with his bare hands. (There are also a fair number of fans who are not there for the cooking or the wilderness.) People who do better with visual than verbal mediums love it; there's almost no talking, just Xiaoge measuring salt in the palm of his hand, or holding up a speared snake to the camera. He smiled onscreen once and Weibo crashed.

Wu Xie's cooking channel is... well. See, his thing is recreating ancient recipes: and we mean ancient. We mean "Oh, hey, a buddy of mine at college excavated a centuries-old tomb and gave me a scraping from the bread he found, let's see if any of the yeast is still active!". We mean "I found this manuscript that's a recipe for either soup or an emetic, only one way to find out!". The viewership spikes whenever he brings out his grandfather’s handwritten cookbook. All of this is done in the preppiest, most generic kitchen imaginable. There are video compilations of every time he's been sick on screen, and he's had to go to the hospital twice. It's INSANELY popular.

Xie Yuchen's show has the best of everything. His kitchen is a museum to modern aesthetic and engineering, featuring top-of-the-line appliances and cookware, all of which he has done designer-dressed promotional marketing for. His food is exquisite, but not pretentious; every ingredient is chosen with precision whether it comes from the nearby market or had to be flown in specially from Iceland. His platings are works of art. There is a popular meme of fans photoshopping faces onto the cooking implements he is handling - fans, animals, other cooking celebs; it started as an "ooh, I wish he was handling me like that" thing, but by now everyone agrees that the one with Wu Xie's vomiting face where it looks like he's barfing milk into a bowl is the best.

Hei Xiazi does not have a cooking show. There is no way that what he does can actually be called cooking, and even calling it "food assembly" is stretching the definition of food. "Dubiously moral science experiment" is one descriptor that has been used: "medical malpractice" is another. The largest container on his counter is for MSG, the second-largest for salt. The heart association once ran a campaign of his face on a "Most Wanted" poster. (He adores these, and always brings a big stack of them to events to autograph.) He once did a six-month challenge where he refused to use any ingredient that did not come out a can, only stopping when he realized that this did not noticeably change the content of his show. (It's called "Throwing Shade".) A framed photograph of Xie Yuchen features prominently on a shelf in the background, about which neither of them will answer any questions.

Bai Haotian's cooking show is officially the cutest thing on television, with an energy that jumps at you through the screen. Her recipes are from all over the world; it's not the cuisine that attracts her, but the potential for excitement. New viewers are baffled by the fact that the overalls-wearing Xiao Bai's kitchen seems to be set in a garage, right up until she whips out a bright pink welder's mask and acetylene torch to caramelize meringues. (Needless to say, it has a VERY high lesbian viewership.) She lends her voice talents to a spinoff animated show for children (with a VERY profitable merchandising line) where "Princess Bai" saves mythical creatures through the power of cooking. Fans were successfully able to sort every single one of her recipes into a Venn diagram with three circles: soy sauce, marshmallows, and fire.

#dmbj #dmemebj #yet another AU not to write

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sleepy-subtitles · 3 years ago

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Beating Hearts: Unexplored

from The Sounds in Silence series

set after Reboot, vaguely

Characters: Liu Sang, Pangzi, Wu Xie, Zhang Qiling

Chapter: 4 of 4

WC: 3269

He hears it like the strike of a match in the dark, a sharper sound that pierces through is fog and wakes him up. Liu Sang slides back a little on the narrow path they’re hiking up, uncertain if he’s now imagining things.

Pangzi catches him easily with hands on the backs of the his shoulders, just like he’s been doing for the past hour any time Liu Sang stumbles, surprisingly without comment.

“I hear knocking,” Liu Sang says breathlessly, so tired but feeling a shiver of exhilaration nonetheless. That’s the friendship, his brain supplies, somewhat gleefully. He tells himself not to think about that right now.

“You can?” Pangzi doesn’t stop supporting him but he moves closer, so that Liu Sang can hear his breathing beside his ears. It doesn’t bother him, and he really can’t think about that right now. “Tianzhen? Xiaoge? You can hear them?”

“Hang on.” Liu Sang leans further against Pangzi and lays his head nearer the rock wall. Thankfully, his hearing is not playing tricks on him. The knocks reverberate through the stone again, the series of sounds very familiar. As soon as “Pangzi? Liu Sang?” fades away, he is sending his own set of sounds back through the rocks and tunnels.

Pangzi and Liu Sang are safe. Climbing up the wall.

They both wait and Liu Sang realizes once the responding knocks tell them that Wu Xie and Zhang Qiling are safe as well, that they’re actually at the same level, just separated by a new maze that he hasn’t sounded out. That he couldn’t, because the river was so loud, but they’re much farther from it now. He can actually do what he’s good at.

“I need to map,” Liu Sang says in the quiet, dropping his own bag and reaching for his jacket where it’s tucked into the strap of Pangzi’s.

“Don’t be ridiculous. You’ll hurt yourself doing that.” But he lets Liu Sang take the jacket, his face clearly eager to see his friends again.

“I’m okay,” Liu Sang reassures him, because he knows Pangzi needs that. “I think we’re level with each other. I want to find the way to make us meet.” Yes, mapping will hurt, but he already hurts, so at this point he really doesn’t care.

Pangzi can’t really argue against his points, so he just nods and then taps his own message: Liu Sang will find the way. Liu Sang’s heart flutters just a little at the easy trust given to him, but he is busy and absolutely cannot think about this now.

He digs his whistle out of where it’s been trapped inside a damp jacket pocket, shoving Pangzi out of the way when he peers too intently and too close. A cool hand pats his head in an absent kind of way, though Liu Sang is pretty sure Pangzi is trying to sneak in a temperature check. He doesn’t know why, though. Obviously, he still has a fever, but it’s not bad, and he can breathe and everything.

“Isn’t your whole bag soaked?” Pangzi watches Liu Sang remove the plastic bag containing his drawing supplies. “Wah, Jinx, you’re so well prepared.”

“Are you surprised?” It comes out much more amused than snappish, thankfully. That is how he intended it, after all. He pushes up the sleeves of Pangzi’s big coat and settles himself as comfortably as he can on the cold stone of the path. It permeates his whole being in seconds. At least his hands aren’t shaking.

“I guess now,” Pangzi says after a couple extra beats, a soft chuckle accompanying the admission. “And a good thing, too.” He hand returns to Liu Sang’s head and it’s nice. It’s nice.

Liu Sang shoots him a final “be quiet” glance before getting to work on the map. He hasn’t lied to Pangzi. It is okay, even if the shrill notes of the whistle do irritate his already tender eardrums. The all too familiar thrum of anxiety begins to stir in his gun, but he stubbornly ignores it to continue his task. His heartbeat spikes once, then twice, when the sounds he’s sent out bump up against two moving objects. Hearing their knocking was relieving, but sensing the sound shapes of both Wu Xie and his ouxiang spreads a warm happiness through Liu Sang’s whole body.

Feels like friendship, his mind nudges at him, and he pushes the thought back so he can concentrate.

When Liu Sang finishes his mapping, his whole head is ringing. It’s worth it, of course, to know the way to reunite with the others and get out of this tomb. He doubts that any of them want to wander around, at least in this part, where everything is damp and empty and crumbling. They might return later, and try to find another route to the burial chambers or whatever Wu Xie wants to find. If he wants to explore the deeper levels, he’ll also want Liu Sang along to map. His ouxiang and Pangzi will just go wherever Wu Xie goes, and he’ll end up agreeing because he seems to have lost to ability to say no to Wu Xie, or at least, to say no and then succeed in the denial. Liu Sang sincerely hopes that nobody wants to keep exploring.

“So we can get out of here, then? Too bad we didn’t find any treasures.” Pangzi’s voice is low and almost soothing.

It would be soothing if even gentle sounds are now like sandpaper in Liu Sang’s ears and he wants to disappear from existence or just maybe not be conscious anymore. But Pangzi would have to carry him, and then Liu Sang would have to hear about it for at least a month after, so never mind. He’ll make it through like he always does.

He pushes the map up at Pangzi. “Can you read that?” It hurts to talk, too.

Pangzi scans the map, making various humming sounds. “I can. You drew it well. Excellent notes.”

Liu Sang hadn’t been fishing for a compliment. He just wants Pangzi to knock out directions to Wu Xie and his ouxiang while he covers his ears. Squinting up at Pangzi again, he prepares to force more words out of his dusty throat.

But then Pangzi starts knocking of his own accord, eyes fixed on Liu Sang’s notes about distance and blocked off tunnels and it’s such an excellent show of teamwork and understanding. Liu Sang holds his hands against his ears and continues to ignore the happy jumps his heart is doing as he tries not to think about this good friendship that is developing between the two of them.

Friendship. Liu Sang needs a nap so badly.

—

He hears the heartbeat, he registers it above the churning of his gut and the hot pulsing of the blood vessels directly beneath his skin and the still present background scratching of the river down below and away from him; Liu Sang allows himself to just run into the familiar body of his ouxiang anyway.

Strong arms wrap around his trembling frame, hands grip his waist under Pangzi’s large jacket and hold on. Liu Sang feels even more relief than when he’d been certain that his heartbeat hadn’t been the only one to make it out of the river. His forehead rests against his ouxiang’s collarbones like a stone, heavy and useless. More hands pry it up again and are cold against his cheeks. He knows, he does, that he himself is very cold, but he’s also very tired and his ability to feel that chill is slowly slipping away from him.

This is bad. Liu Sang knows it’s bad. But also he’s finally back where he’s supposed to be, right? He’s back with his team, with his friends, and now he’s safe, so he doesn’t have to worry that he’s losing an awareness of what’s happening with his body.

A finger taps gently on his eyelid. Ah, he’s closed his eyes. Liu Sang takes a breath and opens them to see Wu Xie in front of him. Those are his hands holding his face up.

“Are you alright?”

Liu Sang thinks it’s pretty clear that he isn’t, judging by how his ouxiang isn’t even pretending that he’s the only thing keeping Liu Sang on his feet right now. But maybe that’s not what Wu Xie is asking.

“He’s sick,” Pangzi butts in.

Liu Sang can’t see him from this angle, but his heartbeat is steady so he doesn’t need to worry. He wants to protest that he isn’t, that sure, maybe he’s very cold and has a fever and his whole body aches so badly he feels like he’s slowly turning into a ceramic statue to stand guard at the tomb entrance, but he’s alright, really. He squints a little at Wu Xie, trying to decide if that would be the right thing to say.

Wu Xie seems concerned, and one hand is now placed on his forehead, and his ouxiang adjusts his hold so that Liu Sang can rest more comfortably against him. They all can tell that he’s not alright. Liu Sang chews on his lower lip for a minute before he shakes his head.

“He’s gone mute?” Pangzi shuffles around so Liu Sang can see him. “Jinx, speak up. Tell us what’s wrong so we know what to prioritize.”

Isn’t getting out of the tomb the priority? Liu Sang gestures at Pangzi, his arm not really doing what he wants it to. He has maintained his strength up until now, until the immediate goal was reached: find Wu Xie and Zhang Qiling. They’ve done this, they’ve all found each other, and Liu Sang’s body has taken that to mean that it can give up now.

But it can’t, because they’re not out of the tomb yet. Liu Sang attempts to stand up properly. He ends up falling toward Wu Xie who, while mildly surprised, catches him rather easily. Liu Sang ends up on the ground in the middle of an ouxiang and Wu Xie sandwich. It’s unpleasant because the stone is cold, not because he dislikes being held by these two people.

This is so very weird.

Liu Sang sighs. “Map,” he says. He means to say, “I drew a map. Pangzi has it,” but nothing else comes out of his mouth. That’s a little disappointing. He hides his annoyance in his ouxiang’s shoulder. A hand comes up to pet his hair. Liu Sang isn’t sure whose hand it is, but he doesn’t tell it to go away. He’s not sure he could if he wanted to.

“Here,” Pangzi says above him, passing the map over to Wu Xie. Liu Sang can’t see anymore, only his ouxiang’s hoodie, but his hearing, while muffled and kind of screaming at this point, can still pinpoint each heartbeat in the space around him.

“Where are we in this? Oh, I see. Very good work, Liu Sang.”

Liu Sang definitely hadn’t asked for that compliment. He hums into his ouxiang’s sweatshirt and the hand pats his head again. Oh, so it’s his ouxiang who is petting him like a kitten. Pangzi is looking at the map with Wu Xie, so it’s Zhang Qiling’s job to look after Liu Sang. And pat his head.

This is so very weird.

“Liu Sang, is there any obstructions? Can we follow this route to get back to the surface?”

With great reluctance, Liu Sang pulls away from the source of warmth keeping him steady and once again focuses on what’s held in front of him. “This way,” he says with his tongue as thick as overcooked rice. “No blocks. Goes up.”

“Excellent.” Wu Xie smiles at him, that very genuine, grateful kind that makes Liu Sang feel included and awkward anyway. It’s nice.

“Xiaoge, you’re not hurt, are you?”

Wu Xie frowns at Pangzi, then a realization crosses his face. Liu Sang frowns instead.

“Ouxiang, you’re hurt?”

Zhang Qiling smiles at him, similar to Wu Xie, just smaller. “I’m fine. Are you alright with me carrying you?”

Liu Sang deepens his frown. “I can walk.” It feels like a lie.

Pangzi snorts and his heartbeat doesn’t flicker, so it must be. “Sure you can. I definitely haven’t been holding half your weight for the last stretch.”

“You haven’t?” Liu Sang can’t totally remember. He can’t really think of anything other than bruises and ouxiang’s soft hoodie, really.

“We should get him out of his shirt. He’s so cold he can’t feel it anymore. He can still wear my jacket.” Pangzi advances on him and Liu Sang shrinks into himself.

His ouxiang betrays him and helps Pangzi take off the jacket and then his shirt and oh, he does feel that. His body shivers without a covering and Pangzi grins with some satisfaction while he zips his big jacket up again.

“He’s still able to shiver, that’s good.” Wu Xie pulls out heat packs and strips the plastic off of them. Liu Sang holds onto them while remembering and forgetting and remembering to shake them active. “Will you hold onto this tight while Xiaoge carries you?”

Liu Sang is not a child. He can follow instructions. “Yes,” he says, before his brain takes its time figuring out the other implications of that question. He’s being pulled onto Zhang Qiling’s back by the time he catches up with it. “No, I can walk!”

He means to say it loudly, in protest, but his voice is all hoarse and his teeth are chattering again, so it sounds more like a quiet, “No, I- c’n walk…”

“Of course you can,” Pangzi says, rather placating. “But this will be faster.”

“I don’ like it,” Liu Sang tries to explain, very unhappy about the tightness at the base of his throat. He can’t quite swallow it away, so he has to just let the tears creep up the inside of his mouth. “Feels bad.”

“You’re safe,” his ouxiang says, the first time he’s spoken since they reunited and it shuts Liu Sang up in a good way. Those dark eyes that are watching him are gentle but unfathomable, something not to be feared but simply unexplored.

He doesn’t know how to process how much more relief he feels hearing it, even more than hearing his heartbeat again just now. Liu Sang doesn’t know how to process any of these feelings that he’s experiencing, but he wants to believe that it’s just because he’s very cold and tired, and since he’s very cold and tired, it’s not hard to go ahead and do that. He believes that he can’t process this now, so he’ll just lean on his ouxiang and let him take him out of here.

Liu Sang sinks his head down to rest against that warm hoodie and lets his ouxiang take him out of there.

—

It’s almost strange being somewhere so quiet, where the dark doesn’t feel suffocating and Liu Sang can’t feel sand rubbing at his skin. This is twice that the attempts to explore a new tomb, the same tomb, have gone awry, and yet there’s no frantic atmosphere, no rabid disappointment. It just feels like a day, another day, some kind of day and there’s always another one to try again on. Liu Sang doesn’t really want to, but he also doesn’t want to be defeated. Wu Xie will end up coming back eventually. He hates leaving something unexplored.

Liu Sang is not like that. His curiosity is much more satiable.

“You’re coming home with us,” Pangzi says after a period of silence. He looks much more comfortable now that he has a hideous sweatshirt on.

“I figured as much,” Liu Sang mumbles from where he’s trying to become a rock. “But I’ll go back to my apartment tomorrow.”

“Mm. But I was thinking you should just stay with us, like, full-time.”

“No.”

The word comes out significantly less horrified than Liu Sang means it to and instead it just sounds like he’s only putting up a resistance for the show of things. Which, if he thinks about it, is exactly what he’s doing.

“Come on, Jinx. Don’t fight it. We’ve even got your room all set up.” Pangzi stirs the pot over the campfire vigorously. “If you keep objecting, Xiaoge will just keep watch outside your apartment anyway.”

Liu Sang pulls his head out of the blankets wrapped around him. The night air is not very cold, but he still feels the chill of the river throughout his whole being. Dry clothes have made a world of difference, but plenty of painkillers and hot tea can’t instantly fix his fever or his aches. He glances over to where his ouxiang is watching Wu Xie study some old journal while polishing his sword. Their shoulders are relaxed, every minute or so Wu Xie mentions something and his ouxiang quietly responds. The adventures of earlier have faded into the background, and the focus is now Pangzi, who is giving him a funny look while he muses.

“Why would ouxiang watch my apartment?” Liu Sang grouses.

Pangzi sucks his teeth. “To make sure you were getting on alright, obviously. He worries about you the most.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Of course he doesn’t worry about me.” Liu Sang glances at the other again when he hears movement. His ouxiang rises from his seat like a dancer, walking over to sit close by Liu Sang.

Pangzi shakes his spoon at him. “Xiaoge, tell Jinx that he needs to move in with us.”

His ouxiang meets Pangzi’s gaze evenly, then turns to look at Liu Sang. Those eyes are as deep and as immovable as ever, but the longer he looks, the longer he feels like he’s soaking in something soft and encompassing. Liu Sang breaks eye contact first, his blanket falling off his shoulders a little. He pulls it back up distractedly, coughing into his elbow as he does so.

“Make him drink his tea,” Liu Sang hears Pangzi say. His ears are buzzing again, but it’s normal after a day when they’ve been put through a lot.

Zhang Qiling holds out the tin cup toward him. “You don’t have to do what you don’t want to do.”

Liu Sang takes the cup and blinks at him. “What?”

“Stay with us if you want to, only.”

Liu Sang sips at the tea, chokes and spits it back out onto the ground. For five whole seconds he feels like he’s surrounded by cold, dark, rushing water that’s trying to invade his lungs and keep him trapped. Then, his ouxiang’s hand is grasping his wrist. Two long fingers press very lightly at the pulse point on his neck. Liu Sang coughs once more, deep and painful, then shutters his eyes closed. The hands are warm. The heartbeats adjacent to him are steady, familiar.

“Do you want to stay with us?”

The question makes Liu Sang open his eyes again. Wu Xie has joined them. He’s crouched beside Zhang Qiling, his elbow propped against his ouxiang’s knee. The expression on his face is genuine, it matches with the beats in his chest. Liu Sang is lost in the rhythm, in question that really only has one answer.

He looks at Wu Xie, sees the sincerity in his eyes. He looks at Pangzi, sees the openness of his face. He looks at Zhang Qiling, sees the softness of his smile.

There is so much to figure out and many feelings to process, so much that remains unexplored, but Liu Sang knows this much, at least.

“Yes.”

He wants to stay.

#dmbj #dmbj fic #the lost tomb reboot #the lost tomb reboot fic #tltr #liu sang #pangzi #wang pangzi #wu xie #zhang qiling #ff: the sounds in silence #hurt liu sang

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merinnan · 3 years ago

Link

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Relationships: Wu Xie/Zhang Qiling, Hei Xia Zi & Zhang Qiling, Chen Pi A Si & Zhang Qiling

Characters: Zhang Qiling, Wu Xie, Wang Pangzi, Chen Pi A Si, Hei Xia Zi, Pan Zi

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Enemies to Lovers, tomb raiding, tomb adventures, drama characterisation wu xie, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, tomb monsters, Action/Adventure, Humor, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, First Kiss

Summary: Zhang Qiling had been robbing tombs in Chen Pi Ah Si’s employ for over a decade, ever since the man had found him half sane in that godforsaken forest. He was good at it. In and out, leaving no traces, suffering no damage. Clean and easy jobs. Until he met a young man named Wu Xie with messy hair and expressive eyes, and suddenly it was all blood zombies, shibie, flaming bats, and Forbidden Women everywhere.

Zhang Qiling could feel Wu Xie bury his head against him as they both clung onto the statue for dear life, and felt an odd sense of warmth that he couldn’t quite explain. He wanted to give the younger man a reassuring pat, but couldn’t risk letting go of the statue while the platform was still swinging all over the place.

He risked glancing up while Wu Xie was distracted, scanning the ceiling for any sign of Hei Xiazi, and spotted the man over on the other wall, where they’d both been headed before Zhang Qiling head leaped down to save Wu Xie. Hei Xiazi was crouched in the space between wall and ceiling, watching them, and frantically gesturing towards the platform. Zhang Qiling blinked, then looked at where Hei Xiazi was pointing.

And audibly cursed, loud enough for Wu Xie to look up at him.

“Xiaoge? What’s wrong?”

Zhang Qiling shook his head. There was no point in telling Wu Xie that one end of the ancient platform - the end that Zhang Qiling had been using, and would be using again to balance it while Wu Xie got safely into the tunnel - had started to crumble under the violent swinging movements. It would just worry him about something that neither of them could change. If worse came to worst and the platform crumbled before he made it back towards the statue, Zhang Qiling would have to risk falling down along with the rubble.

While he didn't see what was below him, he could safely assume that it was spikes or some other passive trap that would kill whoever fell. Hell, this might even have been a sacrifice ritual where those who stayed behind were meant to die.

If he had to fall, then he had to choose what was more dangerous to him - whatever trap was below, or the stone rubble. The trap would probably kill him instantly, while the rubble very possibly wouldn’t kill him outright and, as long as he was alive, he could work himself free.

He looked at the way the platform was cracking and tried to judge the best way for him to stay up long enough for substantial rubble to fall ahead of him. There was no guarantee of his survival, of course, he might not manage to follow the rubble well enough or the trap wouldn't be neutralized by it. If he survived the drop, he would have to free climb all the way up to the ceiling afterwards, and the only tools he had were his sword and his knives, and some of the climbing hooks still in his backpack. Most of the ropes were still up with He Xiazi.

The other choice was to abandon Wu Xie and save himself by jumping into the tunnel. He was pretty sure that if he asked, Wu Xie would agree to go last, but the words wouldn’t even form in his mouth.

Read the rest on AO3

#pingxie #zhang qiling #wu xie #wang pangzi #hei xiazi #dmbj #daomu biji #the lost tomb #fanfic #xantissa #canary3d-obsessed gifs

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amidalogicdive · 3 years ago

Text

The Last Qilin Chapter 3

Rating: Mature

Archive Warning: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Category: M/M

Fandoms: 盗墓笔记 - 南派三叔 | The Grave Robbers' Chronicles - Xu Lei盗墓笔记 | The Lost Tomb (TV 2015)

Relationship: Wu Xie/Zhang Qiling

Characters: Wu Xie (DMBJ Series), Zhang Qiling, Zhang Rishan, Luo Que (Tomb of the Sea), Wu Nainai, Liu Sang (DMBJ Series), Wang Pangzi, Wu Erbai, Wu Sanxing, More Characters Added As Needed - Character

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Strangers to Lovers, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Qilin, Huli Jing, Missing Persons, Friendship, Developing Relationship, Spies, Dangers, Mysteries, Kidnapping, Character Death, Main Character Death, Temporary Character Death, Found Family, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Emotions, Family Secrets, Questions, withheld information, Revenge, Protectiveness, Other Additional Tags to Be Added

The Last Qilin

By LogicDive

Two days had passed since they had left Changbai Mountain when the three men finally arrived at the gates of Wushanju, in Hangzhou. It had been close to fifty years since Zhang Rishan had last come to the Wu compound. Back then, there had only been a few buildings scattered close to a lovely lake, low walls marking the boundary of their property. He remembered finding it quite charming and welcoming.

What stood before him now was far from what he recalled.

The property seemed to have grown in size over the years. Tall white walls spanned at least two blocks on either side of a large metal gate, and were lined with bushes - ones that were extremely toxic if someone were stung by their barbs. The walls were topped by curved metal spikes to deter individuals from trying to scale them. If the lake still existed, it had been swallowed up by the size of the compound and walls that now concealed all of the buildings within. With how fortified it was, it was better to compare it to an Emperor's summer palace.

Which made Zhang Rishan wonder why they sought protection for themselves to such a level. However, it did explain why the Wang Clan had a hard time placing a spy within the family.

All the same, he never would have guessed the Wu Clan had grown in such ways since leaving the Jiumen Association, especially with what little he did know about the family. Last he'd heard, Wu Laogou and his wife had three sons. Only the eldest, Wu Yiqiong, had gotten married and bore a sole son, who, as far as he knew, had remained unmarried. To him, that signified a decline within the Wu, yet what he was seeing before him indicated the opposite. Regardless, he knew Wu were talented tomb raiders who either owned or possessed assets in almost every antique business in Hangzhou.

Luo Que pulled off the main road, stopping the van a few feet from the gates. He clearly wasn't surprised when they remained shut, looking out the front window at the large metal barrier that stood as tall as the walls on either side. Breathing out, he sat back and glanced at Zhang Rishan in the rearview mirror.

"I don't think they will be allowing us entry at this time."

Given that Zhang Rishan hadn't called ahead to inform the Wu of their arrival, he had no doubt that this was the case. In any case, the walls that made up the boundary of the property didn't exactly have a very welcoming appearance. Which, if the Wu had become as private as he'd heard over the years, then that wasn't a surprise either. It was obvious they didn't want people to feel comfortable or welcome.

Wu dogs, indeed.

Zhang Rishan could only hope they would allow them entry once they realized who he was. Patting Luo Que on the shoulder, he smiled. "Stay here with Xiaoge. I'll see if they will let us in." His eyes moved to meet his Patriarch's. "If anything happens, if you're in danger, I want you to leave with Luo Que." Without waiting for a response, he glanced back at Luo Que. "Don't hesitate, Xiaoge is your priority, understand?"

"Yes, President Zhang."

Patting the young man's shoulder one last time, he grabbed the door and slid it open. "I'll be right back." Exiting the vehicle, he glanced around for a moment as his eyes followed the lines of the arched metal gate. Off to the right side, he found what he was looking for. A small security camera was mounted on the tall wall and pointed down at the drive. He took a few steps towards it, bowing his head slightly out of respect.

"My name is Zhang Rishan, president of the Jiumen Association in Beijing. I would like to speak to the head of the Wu Clan, or any family member who might be available." He paused for a moment, waiting to see if he would receive a response. When nothing came, he breathed out and held up his hands. "I promise, I am unarmed." Needless to say, he couldn't speak for Xiaoge, or the three-foot-long black sword he carried.

Read More of Chapter 3 Here!

#Xiaoge #Wu Xie #Wu Nainai #Zhang Rishan #the lost tomb #dmbj #daomu biji #dmbj fic #daomu biji fic #the lost tomb fic #logicdives writing #logicdives fic

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cross-d-a · 4 years ago

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I wanna know about Liu Sang time loop bc that sounds like a fic I would die for

(this refers to the WIP tag game I completed a few days ago!)

:)))) it’s also something Liu Sang would die for :)))))) Many many many times :)))))))

(warning ahead for blood/death/suicidal ideation bc timeloops are a TRIP and a HALF and we all know i’m a SLUT for ANGST)

I haven’t gotten much more than an outline and it’s a lil’ tricky bc I’m not gonna stick to the traditional “loop every time you go unconscious.die” which just adds more Trauma and I love it :) Because Liu Sang will constantly be wondering if he’ll get one more day, just one more day to wake up. And maybe he got to wake up to a new day today, but what about the next? Or the day after that? Is he finally Done with the loop or will he get sent back??? And undo EVERYTHING he’s accomplished?? :))

Basically, Liu Sang encounters Something in Thunder City (or maybe he gets knocked into the golden coffin, not quite sure yet!) and keeps waking up in the cave after they’ve all reunited in the zombie jungle. He keep waking up to Wu Xie gone. And he knows if Wu Xie Leaves then someone DIES, but if Wu Xie DOESN’T leave then they ALL die. And ok?? Maybe??? I just want Liu Sang to wake up screaming bc that Nasty Dude actually DID hammer that giant spike into Liu Sang’s head :)) and maybe I want Liu Sang to think: “well if SOMEONE has to die maybe it should be ME” and then he wakes up again and again and again and every time he dies he just gets sent BACK so what’s the POINT.

And Maybe I want Liu Sang to see every iteration where every single person in the Desperado Fam dies. :) Wu Xie chokes on his own blood and Pangzi lays so silent and still on the ground with his eyes wide and blank and glazed. And Xiao Bai dies in Liu Sang’s arms with a shaky smile on her face and terror in her eyes. And Jia Kezi gets his throat slit over and over and over and sometimes it’s Li Jiale who becomes a zombie but sometimes it isn’t. And sometimes Liu Sang watches as his friends tear each other apart like bloodthirsty beasts because they are beasts, there’s nothing left but breath in their chests and hunger in their bellies. And sometimes Hei-ye dies with rage on his tongue and a bullet in his head.

And worst of all is Zhang Qiling who dies when Wu Xie dies, if not in body then in soul. Who sometimes gives Liu Sang such a small, soft smile that it guts him. Who sometimes doesn’t and it hurts worse because Liu Sang remembers how that smile looked. He remembers the warmth in his chest and the relief burning his eyes and sliding down his cold, numb cheeks. So in those loops Zhang Qiling doesn’t smile at Liu Sang he wonders what he did wrong. What he can do better. How can he make Zhang Qiling like him?

And worst of all, is watching Zhang Qiling choose a dying man over himself every single time. And worst of all is watching Wu Xie fractureshattercrumble apart as they all watch Zhang Qiling fall, blood splattering hot, eyes going hazy and deadeadead.

One time Zhang Qiling steps in front of Liu Sang. He takes the hit. He falls to his knees. There is blood on his breath and a smile on his lips. Liu Sang looks into his eyes and sees relief.

He hates that he can relate to that so well.

And he hates himself more.

But most of all he hates Zhang Qiling for finding that absolution when Liu Sang in cursed to live live live when all he wants now is to die die die and never have to wake up again.

(and how awful it is, to begin to hate someone you love so much?)

He tries going to Jiao Laoban’s side.

He tries negotiating.

He tries making them turn back but no one wants to do that at all.

He tries forcing Wu Xie to stay in that little cave of theirs and he tries making Wu Xie take them all with him and one time he tries to last out in the jungle all alone but that loop gets a little hazy because his breath goes ragged and his hands start twitching and there is a headache hazing his head and blurring his eyes and there is a deep awful hunger in his belly and thousands of ants skittering just under his skin.

Liu Sang wakes up with the taste of blood in his mouth and he wonders whose it is.

SO BASICALLY. A giant ANGST FEST. Mostly HURT, with very little comfort until the end. :)) Because I Like Pain. I am VERY excited about this fic. ALL the Liu Sang whump! :)

#blood #death #suicide #kinda #suicidal ideation #my fic #wip #cross talks #I dunno what to tag these anymore #tag game #ask game #??#dmbj #liu sang #the lost tomb reboot #wip tag game

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curiosity-killed · 4 years ago

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Hi....If you don't mind me asking, who are your favorite MXTX characters (top 5 from each novel)? And why? I'm sorry if you've answered this question before.

Aw of course I don’t mind! Though I feel like my answer is going to be a disaster bc I love these casts so so much aha let’s see:

✨ SPOILERS AHEAD ✨

MDZS/CQL

1. Wei Wuxian

Ah so I feel like this is obvious based on the sheer quantity of things I produce and the effort I put into hurting him 😅 but yeah! I love how much of a classical tragic hero he is and I love how much love he has and how that gets twisted around and shaped into a collar of spikes around his own neck. I saw gif sets of wwx before I ever knew about CQL and my reaction was “fuck. I’m going to love him” and I do! And I love that he does learn from his past and I love most of all that he learns to accept the love he is given and is able to make a happy ending in a place of being loved and held in respect and appreciation

2. Wen Qing

On the other hand, I did not expect to be like “mine now” with Wen Qing. Don’t get me wrong, the sexy immortal look got me but it wasn’t really till I started writing fic that I was like ohhhhh Oh Boy. Wen Qing is brilliant and ruthless, fiercely loving and aloof and cold. I love that she gets the lose-lose challenge of balancing what is right for her family vs what is right in the world, what she owes to her sect and what she owes to individuals. The golden core transfer is my favorite dubious science experiment in p much all media I’ve consumed. She gets to be so human—prickly and tough and also achingly gentle and afraid and putting on a tough face and sometimes still crying. “I’m sorry and thank you” ! Im!!

3. Jiang Yanli

The first fic I wrote for this fandom was literally “Jiang Yanli died no she didn’t” lmao I do feel like I underserve Jiang Yanli in that I often fall prey to using her to further the complexity that the male characters are permitted while denying her the chance to be given the same space for development and breath — something to work on! But in that, I really genuinely love how tightly she binds herself to her family and how she tries so hard to be what others need her to be—and then she does make a choice for herself and for a single moment at least, she gets to be loved and to be happy and to have this, a husband and a son and a place, for herself. And terribly I love how much she permeates the story still after death. She is the unspoken voice, the face turned from the camera but always still present, carried in the hearts and names and memories of the ones left behind

She deserved better but—I am weak for the tragedy of it all

4. Jiang Cheng

Another surprise (tho hardly surprising in hindsight): Jiang Cheng is just...horribly understandable. He makes terrible choices and his greatest heroism is undone by a choice made for him or, in the case of “killing the Yiling Laozu” is a lie. He is such a youngest sibling who doesn’t want to be the youngest until all at once, he’s the one in charge and he doesn’t want it at all. He is full of anger and hurt and so much love he doesn’t know what to do with it, doesn’t want it anymore, has no place to put all of its terrible, overwhelming flood.

5. Lan Wangji

I almost didn’t put Lan Wangji or Jiang Cheng on here and then I realized that this is sort of a list of characters I’m pickiest about in fic and...yeah. I think what I love best about Lan Wangji is his journey of grief and healing and through that, his decision to step into world. Where Wei Wuxian’s decision to travel and be removed from the cultivation world (in varying degrees depending on your headcanon preference lol) is really, really important to me, Lan Wangji’s decision to go from being an isolated lone agent working apart from the systems of the world to being involved and invested in changing those systems and working to make them better is also really important to me. I’ve talked before about how relatable Lan Wangji is to me (esp with regards to our interaction with the outer world) and there is something deeply hopeful and comforting about post-timeskip Lan Wangji being in his like mid-/late-30s and still making decisions and growing and changing and choosing to invest himself in the world and the future

yeah. i have thoughts here that I don’t really have the maturity, life experience, or articulation to put into words but Lan Zhan Good basically

TGCF

1. Xie Lian

suuuurpriiiiise!! Yeah honestly mxtx’s mains in TGCF and MDZS really just hit all my buttons basically. What appeals to me most of all about Xie Lian is, fittingly, how he is humanity taken to extremes. His capacity for incredible kindness and compassion is equaled with his capacity for cruelness and ruthlessness. His heaven-shaking highs are matched with calamitous lows. He is the hyperbolic of what it is to be human—and he is also the small moments, the wildflowers and the maple leaves and the mundane chores and the comfort of whispered conversations late into the night. I could quite literally go on for pages about what I love about Xie Lian but I am not Hua Cheng and can restrain myself LMAO

2. Hua Cheng

of all the characters on these lists, Hua Cheng is the one I’m pickiest about tbh! When I say I love him for similar reasons as Xie Lian I don’t actually mean this as being similarities between the two but the fact that both of them so richly convey mxtx’s points about the nature of humanity and what it is to be human. Hua Cheng is both the boldest and most arrogant of all and also the most vulnerable, the one who shies away from the truth because he’s braced for it to hurt and isn’t sure he can take it. He is gory blood rain and an umbrella to shelter a fragile bloom; he is a blade whose wounds only heal if he permits it and he is a sacrifice that he brushes aside as a fit of madness. *pats his head* this boy can fit SO MUCH inside him that he refuses to acknowledge

3. Jun Wu

Definitely my favorite antagonist in recent reading. I was doubtful of him from the start (something something issues with authority something something probably should talk to my theoretical future therapist shhh) but the unfolding of his reveal was so delightfully painful and exquisite that I was like “YES!!!” reading all of it. About the epitome of a satisfying plot twist imo. But about the character himself, I love how he parallels so many — Xie Lian in his rise and fall, his glory and disgrace; Hua Cheng in his fixation and ruthlessness; He Xuan in losing himself to the plot and not knowing how to move forward. I love that he feels beyond human in a way the others don’t—he’s so old and has gone through so much and he doesn’t feel things the way humans do anymore, doesn’t remember right how love squeezes the heart or how hate can exist without acting on it. I love that he thinks he knows how to control everyone and that it’s such mundane things that fool him: Xie Lian’s absurd stubbornness, Hua Cheng’s foolish faith, Yin Yu’s...emotional maturity??? Not Sure how to verbalize that one. But in the end, he is defeated by both the humanity of others and by his own—he’s so tired. He’s exhausted in a way that gods and ghosts aren’t meant to be. He is, under the armor and the masks, the curses and the power, human—benevolent and cruel, evil and good.

4. He Xuan

I love my fish man! No but really I love how He Xuan is so fixed on his one goal that he refuses to acknowledge anything else in his (after)life—which doesn’t make it go away. I love that he is left unmoored, purposeless through the very act of completing that which gives him purpose. I love his long con and the ways he clings to himself but loses himself not in the act but in the telling himself it’s an act. I love that he tries to be a moral man and then becomes a ghost king, a calamity. His reveal is also terribly badass and I do love his bone fish wholly unironically. Like I’m not going to get a He Xuan tattoo (for one thing I’ve been meaning to get a tattoo for 5 years and still haven’t gotten around to it) but also. B o n e f i s h

5. Mu Qing

Of course! The Jiang Cheng of tgcf lol Mu Qing (which my phone desperately wants to autocorrect to my Qing) is so...gah he’s such a mess! And he so fully commits to the belief that no one will ever see and understand him as he is but will always view them through their own convictions about him and his actions — which is simultaneously heartbreakingly lonely and also. Sir You Are a Clown. I genuinely think he’s owed apologies from both Feng Xin and Xie Lian for their treatment and assumptions of him and think that he would be HORRIBLY offended at the thought (while secretly touched? But like secretly even to himself). He will never explain himself and will just clam up tighter the more people accuse him and it’s such a self-sabotaging behavior and also so horribly relatable. I love u sir, you’re a disaster

SVSS I have not read but I do really like the moshang art 😂

#long post #asked & answered #lol sorry this is so long and incoherent #the truth is that I really love these stories and their casts #and I think it’s v hard to extricate the characters from the cast #because they are so deftly and beautifully interwoven #but here are the characters I think are my favorites lol #loosely in order #tgcf spoilers #also this is why I prefer tgcf to mdzs tbh?#jgy is intellectually interesting to me and a good antagonist #but not personally compelling in the way jw is

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docmanda · 4 years ago

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Whumptober 2020 No.2: In the hand of the Enemy (”You pick who dies”/Collars/Kidnapped)

Fandom: TGCF Characters: Xie Lian, Jun Wu Pairing: None Prompt: Collars Warnings: Jun Wu. He needs a warning all by himself read it on AO3

Xie Lian stares at the abomination in the Heavenly Emperor´s lily-white hands and swallows hard.When he had asked for his spiritual power to be locked away as penance for his misdeeds he hadn't thought that the term “shackle” would be meant quite so literally. He had expected an array of some kind, maybe even drawn directly on his skin...but not this. The starkly black leather collar in Jun Wu´s hands is as wide as three of his fingers and even from where he is kneeling at the foot of the Emperor's throne he can feel the malice it emits and has to forcibly keep himself from shrinking away as the Emperor descends the steps and comes closer.

“Are you truly sure about this Xian Le? I would not require it, a few decades of banishment would suit me just fine. The application of this is...uncomfortable, to say the least.”

Jun Wu´s voice is gentle, kind even but Xie Lian shakes his head vigorously. They had this argument before already and he had made his choice….even though it takes every last bit of steel left in his core to not take the offered possibility of an out, even now. From up closer the aura of the thing in Jun Wu´s hands is even more vile and he can see what seems to be metal spikes on the inside of it too. He bows low in front of him, more to get the collar out of his line of sight then out of true subservience, his forehead nearly touching the cold floor of the Great Martial Hall

“This lowly one thanks the Emperor for his kindness and concern...but I have made my decision and beg that his Imperial Majesty would grant this lowly servant´s wish.”

The honorifics taste foul in Xie Lian´s mouth and he keeps his head low so the Emperor can´t see his face. Yes he had been generous, kind even when Xie Lian had dragged his sad body back up to Heaven to ask for his punishment, thousands of lives lost weighing heavily on his heart. And while Jun Wu was willing to grant leniency now he hadn't lifted a single, royal finger when Xie Lian had begged him for help before, not even when it had been clear that one of the Ghost Kings had been the main culprit responsible for the disease that had cost him everything he ever held dear. Xie Lian knew that the Heavenly Emperor couldn´t get involved in every little problem and he knew that, with his decision to descend from Heaven and personally get involved in Xian Le´s civil war he had violated nearly every rule that existed for a case like this. And yet he could not help but think that it was unfair for a single Martial God to be able to hold his own against a Devastation Class Ghost King like Bai Wuxiang. Jun Wu might have had his reasons for turning a blind eye on what was happening in the earthly realm until it was too late and he finally got involved..but Xie Lian wasn´t quite willing to forgive him for that.

“As you wish then. Stand, Xian Le.”

Xie Lian does as he is told, staring straight at Jun Wu´s breastplate and trying not to look at the thing in his hands too closely. The Emperor is taller than him by nearly a head and with his snow white armor and cape he presents an imposing picture, especially up this close where Xie Lian could just reach out a hand to touch him. He takes a deep breath, trying to prepare himself for the pain he is sure will soon follow...and yet he can't help but jump a little when the Emperor´s fingertips slightly raise his chin so he has to look at Jun Wu´s face.

“Ah my little one..the things I do for you.”

The Emperor chuckles indulgently as a warm hand cups Xie Lian´s cheek, his thumb gently stroking the soft skin right underneath his right eye making him shudder with sudden, unexpected revulsion. The smile on Jun Wu´s face projects nothing but benevolence and a little sorrow at what he is about to do...but his eyes are as dead and lifeless as a corpse´s and Xie Lian can feel the small hairs on the back of his neck rise, something cold and scared settling right between his shoulder blades. He has seen eyes like this before, they haunt his every dream and most of his waking moments, eyes as dead as a corpse´s hidden behind a white mask. But before he can finish the thought the grip on his face turns from gentle to rough, Jun Wu mercilessly holding his face in place as he finally places the collar around Xie Lian´s throat...and the last memory Xie Lian has when the collar locks in place and he starts screaming is of a grin turning greedy and cold eyes sparkling with malice in a face as cold and beautiful as snow

----------*~ ~*----------

(..the collar grows tight enough around his throat to choke him, metal spikes embedding themselves in his soft flesh, opening the way for something entering him, cold and foul and terrifying, and Xie Lian had fought back then but the Emperor´s grip had been merciless, holding him in place and crushing the small bones in his wrist as he tried to grab for the collar and tear it of, all the while tutting at him and gently admonishing him as if you would a misbehaving child, the feel of icy cold armor against his skin when his legs had finally given out and he had collapsed against the Emperor´s body, eliciting a small burst of pearly laughter from Jun Wu as he softly patted his back, cooing and comforting with one hand while the other ruthlessly pressed the collar into Xie Lian´s skin until there was nothing left but pain pain pain and a pattern of black bruises around his throat, just like there had been around his mother's throat when he had cut her from the ceiling beam and the first thing Xie Lian does when he sees a reflection of himself is to rip a piece of fabric from his sleeve to tie around his throat and then retch for what felt like hours, his empty stomach bringing up nothing but bile)

----------*~ ~*----------

Later, after he has stumbled his way out of the Great Martial hall without so much as a glance at the Emperor he won't be able to recall any of their last exchange, the only thing he can think about is to get away as fast as possible and when he throws himself from the Heaven´s and sees their golden glow vanish behind the clouds Xie Lian should feel despair...and yet, when his body impacts with the ground below, shattering his back and making blood rise in the throat of his newly near-mortal body the only thing he can feel is relief.

(if you liked it, leave a comment or a kudo for a poor starving author <3)

#whumptober2020 #no.2 #collars #tgcf #fic

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hils79 · 1 year ago

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Hils Watches Cross Fire - Ep 1

Apparently this year is the year I watch all the esports dramas. Don't know a huge amount about this one but it's been on my to watch list for ages, much like The King's Avatar was. Again, it's got a DMBJ actor I like in it. I will try not to compare the dramas too much

They said the name of the thing in the thing before the opening credits had even started

Ooh I like that the in-game footage is a mixture of live action and animation. That's really fun.

So I'm guessing this is a Call of Duty style game. I'm enjoying the way this is shot

Aww there he is! I do enjoy Wu Lei's dramas. Haven't seen him in a bad one yet so I am hopeful about this one too

I'm guessing King is going to be the antagonist of this story?

Aww did he get into it because of his brother?

I like that his chair has spikes on the handles to stop other people pushing him. Little way of showing he wants to do things for himself.

This is how we know it's a flashback

I don't know who flashback kid is but apparently his girlfriend broke up with him and married a rich dude because she didn't consider esports a real job. I'm sure this will become relevant later.

Oh my god he has a hat with his own name on it. He has to be the antagonist. What a douche.

"In this team who you are related to is more important than what you can do." God, I hope he finds a better less capitalist team to play for

Of course they do. Because his dad is an investor.

Oh please tell them to fuck off

YES! Destroy them!

Apparently flashback kid is Time Raiders Wu Xie. I have blocked most of Time Raiders from my mind (apart from the stupid dancing to escape a trap scene)

I don't know how old Xiao Feng is supposed to be but he's older than their 22 year old youngest player. I thought he was a teenager.

I don't even know you and I know you're lying. You totally took the substitute deal and you're going to throw the game, I can tell.

Okay, I was wrong about throwing the game but GASP they falsely accused him of cheating. I'm not even joking I did legit gasp

This is even worse than him throwing the game. HE WAS YOUR BRO!

Okay, really don't like his dad manhandling him and even bathing him without even asking

Ah, I'm seeing some parallels between him and Xiao Feng

Oh my god is he going to start gaming on his old Windows XP laptop after his dad confiscated his computer? Will that even run a modern game?

Ah, he's 25. I suppose that is quite old in terms of pro esports careers

"We need to save electricity because we're broke but I'm now going to lie in bed clicking the lamp on and off repeatedly because I'm sad."

Okay, I don't know who has time travelled or even if anyone has time travelled but apparently internet magic has enabled them to meet in-game. This is FUN.

Aww Xiao Feng made it as a pro gamer in the end. I assume he's still alive in Liu Xiaobei's time. Can he go and meet up with the older version of this dude he just met?

Well, that sounds familiar

I love that that's the conclusion he reaches and not that someone is just fucking with him. I could tell someone it was 2008 now and back it up with facts because I was in my 20s then.

That was fun! Wasn't expecting the wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff. I really should read the synopsis for a drama before I start it

#hils watches #hils watches cross fire #hils watches cdramas #cross fire #crossfire #cdrama

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hils79 · 3 years ago

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Post your top 5 otps and then tag people

I was tagged by @jaecomments. Sorry this is so late I’ve just got back from a week in Scotland (finally) visiting my parents.

This is hard because it’s always my inclination to list the pairings I am currently reading. I’ll try and mix it up a bit and put some old fandoms in here too.

1. Buffy/Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

This was my first proper OTP in the sense that it was my first online fandom. I shipped stuff before this, but this was my first time having a ship and talking to other fans about said ship. I shipped it years before it became canon, and it’s the usual thing of be careful what you wish for because the canon version wasn’t at all what I had in mind. They still hold a fond place in my heart despite the direction the show went in

2. Jack/Norrington (Pirates of the Caribbean)

My first exclusively m/m ship. James Norrington deserves better than what these movies did to him. As you can see I was very much into the enemies to lovers trops in my early days of online fandom.

3. Dean/Castiel (Supernatural)

Yeah, I know. Who among us wasn’t burned by this fandom (if you weren’t please count yourself lucky). This ship switched me from being casually invested in the show to being a hardcore fan. It’s also the reason I ended up leaving the fandom so, you know, time is a circle or whatever.

4. Zhao Yunlan/Shen Wei (Guardian)

I can’t believe it’s only been a year since Guardian both ruined and vastly improved my life at the same time. These beautiful perfect assholes.

5. Wu Xie/Zhang Qiling (DMBJ)

And this brings us to where I am now. It doesn’t matter which version of the characters it is I love them all dearly.

Not sure who’s done this already but I’m tagging @s1utspeare @jockvillagersonly @foxofninetales @kholran @bambiesque @merinnan

#tagged #spuffy #sparrington #destiel #weilan #pingxie

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merinnan · 4 years ago

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Did you know that @xantissa and I wrote a spin-off to Cat’s Paw? Well, we have!

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply

Category: M/M

Fandoms: 盗墓笔记 - 南派三叔 | The Grave Robbers' Chronicles - Xu Lei盗墓笔记重启 | The Lost Tomb Reboot (TV)终极笔记 | Ultimate Note (TV)怒海潜沙&秦岭神树 | Explore with the Note & The Lost Tomb (TV)

Relationships: Jiang Zisuan & Liu Sang, Liu Sang/Wu Xie/Zhang Qiling, Liu Sang & Wang Pangzi, Wang Pangzi & Wu Xie & Zhang Qiling

Characters: Liu Sang, Jiang Zisuan, Wu Xie, Zhang Qiling, Wang Pangzi

Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, idiots being idiots, Canon-Typical Violence, prickly kitten and feral cat, prickly kitten and guard dog, Angst and Humor, Angst, Humor, Grief/Mourning

Summary: The story of the cats and dogs friendship between Liu Sang and Jiang Zisuan, and how the truth about A-Ning's death was revealed.

Once the ringing had subsided to ‘no longer actively painful’ levels, Liu Sang shifted a little to his left, to see if he could manage to spot the sniper without the sniper getting a clear shot at him. His hearing was too fucked right now to identify him by sound, which he would have vastly preferred. Another loud bang that had him almost retching from the noise and the pain, another shatter of glass, and the slight rocking of the car he was huddled against quickly put paid to that idea as he dropped lower to the ground and trotted out every single curse he knew of at the absent Wu Xie. Once he ran out of curses he knew, he invented several new ones while he tried to figure out just how the hell to get out of this situation.

Wu Xie, who was with Zhang Qiling at the exact other end of the country now. Because this was supposed to be an easy job. A favor. He’d even had the absolute gall to ask Liu Sang for a discount, for which Liu Sang had glared him out of the room. No way was he ever giving anyone a fucking discount. Wu Xie was just getting spoiled by the fact that Liu Sang always caved in to him and gave him freebies. Well, he got his payment in other ways, so he had to admit that maybe they weren’t complete freebies. But he liked his money, he worked hard for it, suffered many a migraine for it, and he wasn’t going to cut his prices for anyone.

The result was that neither Wu Xie nor Zhang Qiling were anywhere near Harbin, Pangzi was still in Hangzhou as far as he knew, and while he knew he could call him for help, it would take time to get the man here. Hei Xiazi hadn’t been around in weeks, but Liu Sang still pulled his phone out and found the man’s number amongst the veritable flood of contacts. God, he missed the times when he had five phone numbers saved on his phone.

The call rung out.

Frustrated, he kicked the ground he was sitting on, sending a few clumps of glass and dirt skittering away, then had to pull his legs close to his chest as a bullet hit the grass that was dislodged by him, the bang of the shot spiking painfully through his head.

He closed his eyes, counting under his breath to give himself something to concentrate on other than the pain until it faded back to manageable levels. When he opened his eyes, he glared once again at where his earphones were laying about half a meter away from the car, having been knocked loose as he’d dived for cover. So close, and yet too far for him to be able to get without being shot at. He’d tried.

He looked back through the contacts in his phone, and once he’d ruled out everyone who he knew was nowhere near Harbin, he was left with just one number. He frowned. God knew where this one actually was. God knew if he could even help at all, or what that help was going to cost. On the other hand, it wasn’t like Liu Sang had many options right now.

He opened a new text message and stared at the blank screen for a while, trying to decide how to start. He started and deleted the message several times before finally hitting send.

Hypothetically, what would you do if you were pinned down behind a car by sniper fire?

Read the rest on AO3!

#pingxiesang #liu sang #jiang zisuan #the lost tomb #dmbj #daomu biji #fanfic #xantissa #kholran gifs

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merinnan · 4 years ago

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Rating: Explicit

Archive Warning: Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Category: M/M

Fandom: 盗墓笔记 - 南派三叔 | The Grave Robbers’ Chronicles - Xu Lei

Relationship: Wu Xie/Zhang Qiling

Characters: Wu Xie, Zhang Qiling, Wu Sanxing, Panzi

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Demons, Supernatural Elements, Tomb Robbing, Pre-Relationship, Getting Together, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Blood, Gore, Blood and Gore, Canon-Typical Violence, Angst, Grief, First Meetings, Isolation, Psychological Trauma, Horror, Trapped In A Tomb, Depression, brief mention of suicidal thoughts, Human Sacrifice, demi wu xie, Ritual Sex, ritual suicide, Dream Sex, Anal Sex, Anal Fingering, Hand Jobs, Outside Sex

Series: Part 2 of the The Path to Paradise series

Summary: Wu Xie was young and too proud to ask his uncles to get him out of the massive fucking trouble he’d got himself into. Which was how he ended up forced to go to a Wang Zanghai tomb and stumbled onto a mystery that should never have existed in the first place.

No-one approached him while he busied himself, something that he would have felt grateful for were it not that he could feel the eyes on him, the constant attention making his skin crawl. It was with no little relief that he finished the little bundle and escaped to the edge of the camp, on the other side of the tents to the fire pit and the men drinking around it. He still felt tense, though, so much so that when he heard footsteps approaching behind him as he knelt and set out the fox treats that he jumped straight to his feet, whirling around and reaching out for something, anything, to… he wasn’t sure what, he just felt in danger.

When he saw that it was just Sanshu, he sighed in relief and relaxed a little, only to tense up again when he saw the tense and worried look on his uncle’s face.

“Sanshu?” he asked. “What is it?” He glanced around nervously, trying to see if there was something in the camp that had gone wrong, or if anything by the tomb entrance seemed off. He couldn’t see anything, though, so returned his attention to Sanshu’s worried expression.

“Xiao Xie,” Sanshu said carefully. “How did you say you met your friend again?”

Wu Xie blinked at him. “Uh… like I told you, Sanshu,” he said. “I met him in the tomb a few weeks ago. He was down there, and he found where I was trapped, and he got me out.”

“How did you really meet him?” Sanshu asked pointedly. “And when?”

Wu Xie blinked at him again, making his eyes as wide as possible. “I don’t know what you mean, Sanshu,” he tried to deflect. Surprisingly, Sanshu didn’t get angry like he usually would, but instead seemed even more worried.

“Your expedition members,” he said, apparently changing the topic entirely, and Wu Xie’s brow furrowed at the change. “How did they all die?”

“Uh, well, there was that spike trap I told you about,” Wu Xie began, and Sanshu just nodded for him to continue. “And there was an arrow trap as well… and one where the floor gave way and dropped some of them so far down we didn’t even hear them land…”

“Those killed about a dozen between them,” Sanshu agreed. “What about the rest? You said there were about fifty of you, right? And you’d clearly left some people behind, too, they can’t have just suddenly vanished. Especially with all the cars and equipment left behind.”

“Ah… they were gone when I got out,” Wu Xie said, his mind frantically whirring. “And, uh, there were the doors that got jammed shut, and another pit, and…”

“And someone with a sword?” Sanshu asked pointedly, and Wu Xie froze.

Read the rest on AO3

#pingxie #wu xie #zhang qiling #dmbj #daomu biji #the lost tomb #fanfic #xantissa #wu-xie gifs

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merinnan · 4 years ago

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Stars fall like diamonds

Set during episodes 5-6 of Chongqi/The Lost Tomb Reboot, and written for Day 3 (Hurt/Comfort) of DMBJ Week 2020.

Thank you very much to @cosmic-existential-crisis for the idea!

The first time it happened, Zhang Qiling wasn’t entirely surprised. He’d known that sharing his blood with Wu Xie would create a connection between himself and the younger man, so when, a few weeks after that, he’d felt suddenly felt a mixture of betrayal and anger that wasn’t his, he’d known where they came from - even if he didn’t know what had happened to make Wu Xie feel such things so strongly. When those emotions became tinged with fear, he made sure that Huo Xiuxiu went looking in the right direction for Wu Xie, and left once he knew she’d found him.

The second time it happened began only a month or so after that, when his nights became full of dreams of Wu Sanxing murdering people in a tomb that seemed to tug at the edges of his memory, or of Wu Sanxing in a house with the dreamer before attacking them - or him, rather, as he knew that this dreamer was Wu Xie and the connection between them hadn’t yet faded. These ones took him by surprise at first, as he hadn’t expected it to be strong enough for dreams to share across the connection, but after the first night he learned to work through them.

The next few times were soon enough after that to not be surprising - Wu Xie’s feelings of panic and concern after escaping the underwater tomb; then his feelings of anger and fear at being locked in a cage to die. That second lot of feelings took far longer to fade than Wu Xie admitted to his friends. He might have projected his usual cheerful persona quite quickly, but those feelings and the nightmares they bred came across their connection quite strongly for weeks afterwards.

The connection still hadn’t faded by the time Zhang Qiling chose to take Wu Xie’s place behind the Bronze Gate, but the Gate itself quite effectively blocked it. In the ten years he spent there, Zhang Qiling had thought it had surely faded away as he expected it to. It was, after all, only ever meant to be a temporary side-effect of healing him.

His first clue that it wasn’t quite gone should have been the odd feeling of disquiet he had before that phone call (“Xiaoge, I’m sick” still echoed in his mind on the darkest nights), but after ten years he’d almost forgotten about it, and his own feelings of shock and sadness at the news had overwhelmed anything else. Perhaps if he’d thought more about it, he wouldn’t have been so startled now. On the other hand, suddenly having the gruesome death of one of your best friends flash in front of your eyes would startle anyone, no matter what warning they might have had beforehand.

“Ouxiang?” He could hear Liu Sang’s uncertain voice behind him when he stopped suddenly, his fingers curling into fists and his breath catching as he stared ahead at Pangzi suddenly pinned to the corridor wall by a long spear. His heart stuttered, then thundered in his ears, his breath catching in his throat as a chill swept over him.

No...no, no, no. He could barely feel himself running forward, but he must have been, because everything got closer. He could see the blood dripping from Pangzi’s mouth. It wasn’t until he was reaching forwards, a shaking hand on Pangzi’s shoulder, that he realised that those weren’t his hands.

“Pangzi? Pangzi!”

That was Wu Xie’s voice. This...Wu Xie was seeing this, and it was coming to him through their old connection, the one that should have faded by now. Which meant that if he was seeing this, not just feeling particularly strong emotions of Wu Xie’s, then this was a nightmare or a hallucination. This knowledge didn’t do anything to lessen the numb feeling of shock spreading through his limbs, or the creeping feeling that there was someone right behind him.

He turned, or Wu Xie did, to see an overlaid image. Zhang Qiling saw a concerned Liu Sang, his mouth forming the word ‘ouxiang?’ again, although he barely heard it. Overlaid with this is what he knew Wu Xie was seeing, a paper-faced figure in old armour that caused a rush of anger to spike through the shock, and Wu Xie attacked it. Zhang Qiling, on the other hand, took a step back to put distance between himself and Liu Sang - just to be on the safe side, in case Wu Xie’s hallucination managed to overwhelm him and make him forget where he was and who was actually there.

“Stay there,” he told Liu Sang, then turned his back on the man. His eyes scanned the hallway ahead of him, trying to see past the hallucination as he/Wu Xie fought the paper-faced soldier and was knocked to the floor. He knew that Wu Xie was a better fighter than that, but the twin feelings of shock and anger that he could feel coursing through him were making the other man sloppy.

As the paper-faced soldier pulled the spear free and hallucination-Pangzi’s body fell limply to the floor, Zhang Qiling felt his own stomach clench in response to Wu Xie’s feelings of grief finally starting to overwhelm the shock and anger. The corridor the hallucination was showing seemed to be familiar to Wu Xie, he could tell, but wasn’t one that he and Liu Sang had come across yet. He took several steps forward anyway, trying to feel where Wu Xie was. It had happened before, when he’d felt something from Wu Xie through their connection, enabling him to know in which direction to send Huo Xiuxiu that time, or where exactly Wu Xie’s kidnappers had taken him that other time. He hoped it would happen again this time.

The paper-faced soldier advanced on him/them, spear raised, before a black blur hurtled into it and slammed it into the wall. Zhang Qiling didn’t need to feel the wave of relief through the connection to know that he’d now appeared in Wu Xie’s hallucination, and couldn’t help the tiny smile that quirked his lips. Of course he’d always come to Wu Xie’s rescue, even in a hallucination. He could hear Wu Xie call out to him, before his eyes were caught again by Pangzi laying on the floor, the relief short-lived as the grief returned. He could hear sounds of fighting - he presumed that was himself fighting the paper-faced soldier - but Wu Xie didn’t look in that direction, his gaze fixed on the third member of their Iron Triangle, so unnaturally still and quiet now. His insides churned, and tears stung at the corners of his eyes.

Wu Xie, it’s not real. Zhang Qiling had never tried to send anything through this connection before - he’d never even let Wu Xie know it existed, since he’d expected it to be only temporary. This time, though, he tried to project that thought back in the other direction, tried to will Wu Xie into hearing it.

A loud crashing sound, like something - or someone - being thrown through a wall was what pulled Wu Xie’s attention from the horrible sight in front of him, and Zhang Qiling felt him stand and turn. He saw himself through Wu Xie’s eyes, down on one knee and looking ahead to where the paper-faced soldier was on fire and trying to put itself out, and didn’t so much hear Wu Xie think his name as much as he felt it. It felt...nice. It felt like it belonged in Wu Xie’s thoughts, as if it appeared in them enough to be at home in them.

He didn’t have time to dwell on that thought before Wu Xie was jumping over the rubble to get to his side, then pausing as he spotted jars of oil and running for one of those instead, hurling them at the paper-faced soldier to make the fire spread and burn hotter and more fiercely. Again, Zhang Qiling couldn’t help the smile that tugged the corners of his mouth at Wu Xie’s quick thinking, even though he was feeling almost-overwhelming grief and rage. How dare you, he could feel Wu Xie feeling, punctuated with each jar he threw, each growl that accompanied it. How dare you kill my friend. You will burn for this.

Wu Xie , he tried silently calling again, to no avail. The hallucination version of himself got to his feet, and oh, didn’t it feel strange to be standing next to himself, to glance at himself out of the corner of his eye and see himself there , not as a reflection in a mirror or pond. Even more than seeing himself, he could feel what it felt like to stand next to himself - or, at least, what it felt like to Wu Xie. It felt warm, in a way that came from within, not from the flames lapping down the corridor. Despite the situation the hallucination had them in, it felt safe. He shook his head. He didn’t have time to think on that right now, to get caught in Wu Xie’s thoughts and feelings, not when Wu Xie was stuck in a hallucination somewhere in this tomb, with who knew what around him. Zhang Qiling hoped that wherever Wu Xie was, he wasn’t walking around while hallucinating so strong, and tried again to sense his location through this vision. Down, he thought. A second level of the tomb, although he hadn’t yet seen any indication of how to get down there.

The last jar of oil thrown, Wu Xie in his hallucination took a step back and coughed slightly, the combination of exertion and smoke burning his lungs. This time, the stomach clench that Zhang Qiling felt wasn’t one that Wu Xie was feeling, but was entirely his own as he realised that this was what Wu Xie expected to feel at what was, for them, a relatively mild effort. This was what Wu Xie was putting himself through, even as he smiled and assured them that he was fine. He’d known that despite the words Wu Xie was most certainly not fine, but feeling the pain that Wu Xie was feeling for himself hammered it home in a way nothing else quite could.

He took a deep breath, scanning the actual corridor ahead of him, not just the hallucination. There had to be a way down to the next level somewhere. Wu Xie also took a deep breath, one that he could feel as he was experiencing this hallucination as Wu Xie. This breath was a more painful, gasping one, and he/Wu Xie glanced up every so often at the screaming paper-faced soldier as it collapsed to the floor, every inch of it covered in flames. He felt his own presence beside him, steadying, calming, comforting Wu Xie just by being there. Another thing to set aside for now, and perhaps think on more deeply once this was over.

“Pangzi,” he/Wu Xie whispered. Just speaking the name brought forth a memory of the earlier part of the hallucination, and dragged the grief back up to the surface now that there wasn’t a life-or-death situation to be a distraction. “Pangzi is dead.”

His hallucination-self didn’t say a word, didn’t even make an audible movement, yet Zhang Qiling could feel the weight of his focus regardless. If this connection between them meant that he could feel Wu Xie’s strongest emotions, see his nightmares and hallucinations, even to the extent of being able to find him, then it seemed that for his part, Wu Xie was able to sense when he was the focus of Zhang Qiling’s attention. A small part of him suddenly wondered if that was actually due to this connection, or if it had always been there. Wu Xie has always seemed to know when he was looking at him from the first moment they met.

“Pangzi...gone…,” Wu Xie whispered again, still not looking up from where they stared at the stone floor. He could feel fingers digging into his knees as their grip tightened. His throat felt like it was closing up over the words, over the very air he was trying to drag into his lungs. He closed his eyes for a moment, then dragged in another shuddering breath before standing and turning to his hallucination-self.

Dark eyes that he could fall into forever (Where did that thought come from? Wu Xie!? ) stared back at him from an expression filled with a quiet devastation. That was how he would have felt on hearing that news if he hadn’t known it was just a hallucination, he knew that. Wu Xie might be his only connection to this world, but Pangzi was his only other real friend, the only other person he cared about just as much.

“Come on,” Wu Xie said. “Let’s take him home.” He began to walk back towards where Pangzi lay, each step feeling heavy and leaden, and that cold feeling spreading back through his limbs as a small kernel of guilt began gnawing next to the grief. He felt something grab his backpack, pushing him to the side, and turned to see his hallucination-self stepping between him and the paper-faced soldier which had somehow managed to get to its feet instead of turning to ashes. It hurled its flaming spear towards them, and he could feel his eyes widening in horror as Wu Xie realised what was going to happen a moment before that spear plunged into his hallucination-self’s chest. Warm, wet blood - his blood - splashed across their face. He stared in frozen horror as the soldier and spear finally fell to ashes, and then he was moving forward, catching his hallucination-self as he fell backwards.

He lowered him to the floor, leaning over him and seeing the bloodied hole in his chest, a ‘no no no no no’ screaming inside his head over and over again. He shook slightly as he put one hand on his hallucination-self’s chest, and could feel Wu Xie trying to convince himself that it wasn’t as bad as it looked, that it was going to be okay, just like every time previously when he’d been injured.

“Xiaoge,” Wu Xie whispered.

Wu Xie, he tried to call back. Wu Xie, don’t be sad. It’s not real.

“It’s okay.” He/they lifted his hand, looking at the red blood coating it, then put it back down before lifting it again. He repeated the motion, feeling cold and numbness spreading through his entire body, shaking from shock and disbelief. He glanced up at his hallucination-self’s face, at the smile there, and the trail of blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. There was a slight glow to his skin that Zhang Qiling was quite sure wasn’t there whenever he saw his own reflection, and a warmth to his eyes as he looked up that he’d never had the opportunity to see before, but certainly knew that he felt it whenever he looked at Wu Xie.

“Xiaoge, it’s okay,” Wu Xie repeated, trying to convince himself more than anything else.

It is. It’s okay, Zhang Qiling tried to tell him again. His actual self put one hand against his chest, trying to calm the heartbeat that had begun racing erratically in time with Wu Xie’s, stuck in horror and shock. His hallucination-self tried to sit up slightly as Wu Xie still desperately looked for something, anything, to stop the bleeding and patch the wound. Zhang Qiling knew as well as Wu Xie did that it was useless, that the injury to his hallucination-self was fatal.

It’s not real, Zhang Qiling said again, trying and hoping that Wu Xie could hear him. He didn’t add that if such a situation had happened, however, that he would have done precisely what his hallucination-self had done and given his life to save Wu Xie without hesitation. The fact that it had happened in this hallucination was proof enough that Wu Xie knew that as well as he did.

“Xiaoge.” Perhaps no-one else would have noticed, but Zhang Qiling both heard and felt the catch in Wu Xie’s voice, and felt a tear cutting through the sticky blood on their face. Below him, his hallucination-self’s eyes were half-closed, but still fixed on him. Wu Xie was still caught up in denial and disbelief, but Zhang Qiling noted that fact and how his hallucination-self was struggling to keep his eyes open and fixed on Wu Xie for as long as possible, and nodded to himself.

If I had to die, he thought to himself, not trying to send this one to Wu Xie, then I would want the last thing I saw to be you.

“Xiaoge,” Wu Xie whispered again. He/they lifted his hand again, looking at the blood, then back at Zhang Qiling’s hallucination-self. They watched the slight smile faded from his lips as he lost the fight to keep his eyes open, his body falling limp under Wu Xie’s hands and his head lolling to the side. He felt Wu Xie freeze.

“Xiaoge?” He lifted his hallucination-self’s shoulders, shaking him slightly. “Xiaoge!” He shook him again. “Xiaoge!”

Nothing brought a response, and he could feel Wu Xie’s rising panic. “It can’t be. It can’t be. Xiaoge! Xiaoge? Xiaoge!” With each call, he shook his hallucination-self’s body again, trying to get a reaction, any reaction. His hallucination-self’s eyes remained peacefully closed in a face that Zhang Qiling was quite sure was smoother and softer than it actually was in reality. “Xiaoge. Xiaoge.”

“Pangzi’s dead.” Liu Sang’s voice broke through the soft, frantic pleas. He and Wu Xie hadn’t even realised the other man was there, but didn’t look up, too focused on desperately trying to wake his hallucination-self. “Now ouxiang is, too. Everyone is dead all because of you!” he spat. He/Wu Xie froze again, still refusing to look up as Liu Sang’s words echoed in their ears almost as loudly as their own breathing. “Sure, you don’t have much time left,” Liu Sang continued, “and now you’re just going to take all of your friends with you, aren’t you?!”

Each word fell onto Wu Xie’s heart like a hammer against an anvil, and in the upper level of the tomb Zhang Qiling’s fingers curled into fists at the hallucinations accusations.

Wu Xie, no, it’s not real…

“How can you be so selfish?!” Liu Sang shouted.

“Shut up!” He/They shouted back, raising one hand. Still, he refused to lift his gaze from his hallucination-self’s still form. “How can Xiaoge die?” he asked, disbelieving. This couldn’t be happening.

It’s not happening.

“He’s Zhang Qiling. How can he die? Xiaoge can’t be dead...can he?”

I’m not. Wu Xie, please, wake up. He had to find Wu Xie, had to get to him and get him out of this waking nightmare, reassure him that none of this was real and that he was fine. He was sure that Pangzi was also fine, wherever he was. He turned on his heel and began heading back the way he’d come. Perhaps the way down to the next level was that way instead.

“Xiaoge. Xiaoge!” He/Wu Xie was calling his hallucination-self again, shaking him again, trying to wake him up in one last, desperate effort to convince himself that this Zhang Qiling was simply unconscious, not dead. He looked down at his hand again, at the dark blood seeping into his glove.

Zhang Qiling felt the exact moment that Wu Xie finally realised that his hallucination-self was dead.

It felt like something inside him shattered as he fell back onto the cold stone and scrambled backwards, still unable to take his eyes from the still form.

“It can’t be. This cannot be,” he repeated. “Xiaoge didn’t die because of me.” He began to shake, casting his eyes around without actually seeing anything. Beneath him, the stone dug into his thighs and hands, and the blood on his face had gone from wet to sticky, with the edges of it starting to dry. He tried to focus on these physical sensations, rather than on the cold nausea rising in his stomach, on the way whatever had shattered inside him kept shattering into smaller and smaller pieces, each one a tiny knife that stabbed and slashed at him over and over again as he could no longer deny what was in front of him and what he’d just lost. On the floor above, Zhang Qiling’s footsteps staggered to a halt, and his hand curled where it was pressed against his own heart.

“Pangzi...Pangzi...Pangzi’s gone, too.”

Wu Xie. Wu Xie, please, stop.

“Pangzi...Pangzi died because of me.” He latched onto this thought, one of the few clear thoughts currently in his mind. If they hadn’t come to the South Sea King’s tomb, no-one would be dead. “Pangzi died because of me.” Xiaoge died because of me. Xiaoge and Pangzi had only come here because I wanted to come here. “Pangzi died because of me.” Xiaoge died because of me.

Zhang Qiling’s hand curled against itself more tightly, the nails digging in and that flash of pain tearing him out of Wu Xie’s thoughts enough that he could separate what were his and what were Wu Xie’s. He could still feel Wu Xie’s guilt and loathing, the blame he was heaping on himself as he looked at the hallucination Zhang Qiling again. “How could you die before me?” The utter despair accompanying that question almost dragged Zhang Qiling back down into Wu Xie’s thoughts. Just barely managing to catch himself and keep himself and Wu Xie separate, Zhang Qiling took a deep breath and sat down, concentrating on Wu Xie, on their connection, and on his thoughts.

You didn’t get me killed, and you didn’t get Pangzi killed.

“I didn’t get you killed,” he/they said. Zhang Qiling hoped that that was a sign that this was working.

“It wasn’t me,” Wu Xie said, his breaths coming almost as fast as his heartbeat. Zhang Qiling forced his own breathing to a more sedate and regular pace, forced his heartbeat to calm down.

It wasn’t you. We’re not dead. It’s not real.

“It wasn’t me,” Wu Xie said again, more loudly.

It wasn’t you.

“It wasn’t me!” It wasn't you. Wu Xie, wake up.

“It wasn’t me!” Wu Xie shouted again, and then, suddenly, Zhang Qiling’s vision cleared. All he could see was the tomb hallway that he was actually in. through their connection, he could feel Wu Xie’s heartbreak and guilt and grief still remaining even though the hallucination was now broken.

Wu Xie, it wasn’t real.

He stayed where he was, sitting on the stone floor of the tomb and concentrating on keeping his breathing and heartbeat calm, his emotions stable, until he felt the emotions coming from Wu Xie fade away enough that he couldn’t feel them any more. Only then did he stand up and keep moving.

Down. Wu Xie was somewhere down below, on the second level of this tomb. That, at least, was more than he’d known before. Perhaps once he’d made his way down there - oh, after collecting Liu Sang - perhaps then his tapping messages would reach Wu Xie and Pangzi, and theirs would reach him.

Then once they were together and had got out of this place, he and Wu Xie could talk about the hallucination. He thought for a moment again about what he had experienced about how Wu Xie felt around him.

Perhaps they’d talk about more than that.

#dmbjweek2020 #chongqi #dmbj #daomu biji #wu xie #zhang qiling #pingxie #liu sang #reunion: the sound of the providence #fic #hurt/comfort #mostly hurt with a little bit of comfort #not really character death #angst #blood #hallucinations #pre-relationship

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