#nie sect murder tortoises
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For Wen the Shell Tolls
And the people have spoken for the new Murder Tortoise fic title! :D
Wen Qing was having a very bad day… made only worse when her brother comes to find her because he found something near the Wen village that should not be there - a xuanwu that has gotten remarkably attached to Wen Ning. There is only one thing that can be done - call in the xuanwu whisperer from Qinghe.
#wen qing#wen ning#xuanwu#nie huaisang#su she#minor appearances from various Wen#Nie Sect Murder Tortoises
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On WWX’s parents, when you think about it - almost all the Night Hunts we see in the series are pretty easily handled by the Cultivators. What Night Hunts on the series are dangerous? The first one is the arm - but the arm wasn’t what they were called for. They Lans were called in for walking corpses, which are considered barely a threat by cultivators. The arm was thrown into the mix by an outside force.
The Waterborne Abyss. The Waterborn Abyss was only dangerous because it was unexpected. It was pushed there by the Wen Sect, the Lan Sect had no idea they were dealing with anything more dangerous than Water Ghouls (which are so non-threatening, WWX mentions his main method of dealing with them is diving into water with them). And once they realized it was Waterborne Abyss they managed to seal it and manage it. The Goddess Statue? Yeah, it was dangerous, but only when people made wishes on it. And again, it was really only dangerous for the inexperienced cultivators - WWX was confident either LWJ or JC could handle it, since he tried to get the juniors to call them. He only stepped in when he realized help wouldn’t arrive in time.
The Tortoise of Slaughter wasn’t exactly a normal Night Hunt. The Wen Sect was the only ones who knew what was going on, the others were intentionally put in a dangerous situation where they used as fodder. The murder turtle wouldn’t have even been an issue since it was trapped in its cave and sleeping. Basically almost every dangerous Night Hunt was only dangerous due to outside interference. I suppose you could consider the Burial Mounds a Night Hunt location that wasn’t caused by interference. But if you wanted to be safe, it was as simple as not going there. That’s all you needed to be safe.
Obviously one could just choose not to go on any dangerous Night Hunts. At the end of the novel, MianMian takes her young daughter and non-cultivator husband with her on Night Hunts.
I’m not saying CSSR and WCZ were completely in the right, but I think they had a decent reason to believe they weren’t going to die. Most cultivators have a very good constitution, and can retain their youth through cultivation. Only the Nie Sect cultivators have any real concerns about health, but that doesn’t apply to either CSSR or WCZ.
Again, not trying to say that they shouldn’t have planned for their deaths. But I feel like there is something odd about their deaths, especially since you would think that they would take every precaution to be safe if they had a child. Especially since, compared to other characters with dead parents, we actually know very little about them and their deaths. LWJ’s parents backstories and deaths are covered, JC’s parents are shown in flashbacks, as are JL’s and JZX’s. Even JGY’s parents are covered! It’s just always been a little detail that’s stuck out to me.
...I feel the need to point out that the only night hunt we see where no one comes incredibly close to dying is the one that is a hoax? And the least dangerous of the night hunts we see are the ones that were given to juniors, not fully trained cultivators, and they still nearly died because of things happening that they didn’t expect? And there were a lot of fully trained cultivators at Dafan Mountain; it wasn’t just the juniors! LWJ is known to be an insanely good cultivator and JC travels with a posse of cultivators, both of their presences would do a lot of good that has nothing to do with the goddess statue only being a threat to inexperienced cultivators. If you need either a small army or a guy known for being better than literally anyone else to solve a situation then that situation is a pretty big problem!
As for the Waterborne Abyss only being a threat because it was unexpected... uh, no. We’re talking about a force that drowned who knows how many people and took years to clear up. All the cultivators could do was run and come back with a larger force. The Wens pushed it onto the Lans because it was too big a deal to handle quickly and easily! Also, water ghouls being manageable as individuals doesn’t mean the amount we see in the lake would have been easy to deal with? Sheer numbers would do a lot to make the fight harder! A large force of cultivators could handle them, sure, but we’re not talking about a large force with WWX’s parents; we’re talking about two people. And the Xuanwu not being an issue is, uh... This thing killed a lot of people. Thousands, if memory serves. And was never defeated. It went into hibernation, which suggests that it got itself into that cave to begin with; there’s no evidence it couldn’t have gotten itself out again, or that it wouldn’t have woken up on its own eventually. Hell, we don’t even know for sure that the cultivators did wake it up; it’s possible, if not likely, that they just had extremely poor timing. And uh... the Wens knew what was going on and still ended up having to run despite presumably having prepared for a serious fight, so clearly it’s not just a threat because of a lack of knowledge. Basically if your only explanation for why a night hunt isn’t a big deal is because “Well it wasn’t doing anything until people showed up” for situations that involve creatures that either have killed massive amounts of people or are currently in the process of growing stronger and will likely soon be powerful enough to kill people without people having to go to them... well, if the cultivation world worked on that logic I suspect it would very quickly get extremely dangerous. Also... it’s their job, is the thing. It is the job of cultivators to deal with things that are putting people in danger. They couldn’t just refuse to deal with the goddess statue because “Well if you just don’t make any wishes it’s fine”. They will be getting paid for this. And you can’t just leave something that could gain enough power to start doing things without human interference lying around in the hope that no one will unknowingly (or deliberately; desperation makes people do really unwise things) activate her again? Sure, they can just tell the common folk who are paying them “Eh as long as no one ever fucks up again you’ll be fine”, I’m sure that will go over just fine...
And I do have to say... you’re saying that night hunts are only dangerous when unexpected things happen and saying that you can just choose not to go on dangerous night hunts, here. So which is it? Do incredibly dangerous things sometimes happen without any prior warning and if you’re unprepared you’re fucked, or can you always choose to only go on safe night hunts? Not to mention that as rogue cultivators WCZ and CSSR would have to take whatever work was available; Mianmian can choose to turn down any fights that seem too dangerous or call in support (who would then take a cut of the payment, I imagine) because her merchant husband (who presumably is still working as a merchant) brings an alternate source of income to the table; if WCZ and CSSR refused to take work or called in help too often, they’d starve. This is a dangerous profession; we’re dealing with the big leagues in MDZS, cultivators too powerful to get killed by small night hunts and too important to risk their necks on large ones unless they choose to (which most don’t, and the only one we see going out despite the risks is, again, insanely powerful), but I don’t doubt for a second that lower rank cultivators die on night hunts all the time. Don’t forget that the people in real trouble from these unexpected dangers on otherwise seemingly pretty safe hunts are juniors; their training isn’t finished yet, they’re not getting sent on really dangerous night hunts because they aren’t ready. The night hunts we see with them, especially when they’re largely unsupervised with just a senior nearby in case things get out of hand, shouldn’t be super dangerous because they’re training, presumably teaching them how to handle a night hunt without just turning to the nearest senior for instructions. Those are the cases where the real danger comes from an outside source because the hunt they were expecting was specifically picked out as being manageable by partly trained teenagers.
Basically, at the end of the day... we see enough to know that things go wrong. Night hunting is as dangerous and unpredictable as any other profession that involves a lot of travelling and fighting. CSSR and WCZ could be the most powerful cultivators ever and only go on night hunts they were sure they could handle and still die due to a situation turning out to be more dangerous than they had planned for. A good constitution is not going to save you from being mauled by monsters, just make it harder for that to happen. There’s no reason to think there’s anything suspicious about their deaths; if there was I’d expect the story to... y’know, go into that? Bring it up as a possibility, at least. We never really see them in flashbacks or hear about them because a) the earliest flashbacks take place several years after their deaths, b) WWX (our viewpoint character) only has a couple memories of them, which we do see, and c) the only people around him who knew them refuse to talk about them for a variety of clear or easily guessed reasons. The way I see it they made no plans for what would happen to WWX if they died because they were short-sighted, and quite possibly still of an age where they were convinced they were immortal. You’d think they would make plans, but... well, you’d think a lot of people would act differently than they do in MDZS. You’d think two people with a young child would try to find a job that didn’t involve travelling around and fighting all the time! This isn’t a story about people making the exact right choice every time. Bad calls by the people in a situation don’t automatically make that situation suspicious. As far as we see in canon WCZ and CSSR died because a night hunt went wrong, as you yourself have pointed out they often seem to, and no plans were made for WWX’s future if they died because they were short-sighted. It’s an interesting headcanon to say that they might have been murdered, but... well, there’s no evidence and no one with any real motive. Maybe YZY if you squint, but if that’s the case it doesn’t make sense that she doesn’t kill WWX, who she clearly hates and wants gone. I don’t know, I don’t buy it.
#mdzs#cql#wei changze#cangse sanren#also is it canon or fanon that jfm found wwx in yiling?#i can't remember#if it's fanon obviously it doesn't matter but if it's canon clearly wcz and cssr weren't avoiding the burial mounds#anon#asks
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First lines meme
Rules: List the first lines of your last 20 stories (if you have less than 20, just list them all!). See if there are any patterns. Choose your favourite opening line. Then tag 10 of your favourite authors!
I was tagged by @theleakypen. Tagging @lanerose23 and whoever else would like to play.
I have exactly 20 fics posted for The Untamed, so this works well!
1. Placefinding. My first story for the fandom! Post-canon, rooftop conversation plus bonus Nie Huaisang. WWX/LWJ, WWX POV.
There is a wedding in the spring.
2. Betweentimes. Originally a sort of collection of Sunshot-era missing scenes, ultimately the first step in a canon-divergent fix-it series. WWX/LWJ, LWJ POV.
He had been prepared to accept the fact of Wei Wuxian’s survival as more than enough.
3. Letters. My first chaptered fic for the fandom. Post-canon family fluff, therapy, Yunmeng brothers reconciliation. WWX/LWJ, WWX POV.
Wei Wuxian will, he thinks, always remember the moment of homecoming.
4. Wing. Short missing scene from evil summer school. NHS/JC. NHS POV.
They wouldn’t have had to do it if Wei Wuxian were there, because he would have stepped in front of the guards before they touched Jiang Cheng.
5. Swordless. Sequel to Betweentimes. Wei Wuxian goes to Gusu when invited by Lan Xichen after the Sunshot Campaign. WWX/LWJ, WWX POV. (This one doesn’t really count as my writing; it’s the line from canon just before the divergence starts.)
“If you trust me and Wangji,” Lan Xichen says, “we, the Lan Clan of Gusu, can help you pick up your sword art again.”
6. Shield. Sequel to Swordless. Continuing the now very diverged canon. Lan Wangji makes friends! WWX/LWJ, among other things. LWJ POV.
Lan Wangji has always tried to maintain an open mind regarding the other regions.
7. Sketches. Prompts and snippets from the universe of the previous three stories. Putting the first lines of all three, since they’re different stories really.
It has been three days.
The letters that arrive from the lake village all winter are like nothing Huaisang has ever seen.
Wei Wuxian gets better about looking after himself; he truly does.
8. Coda. AU diverting from canon so late that it’s barely not post-canon. Jiang Cheng doesn’t leave before talking to Wei Wuxian. JC POV.
The boy in blue (Ouyang Zizhen, Jiang Cheng’s brain supplies, heir to Baling Sect, spends a great deal of time in Cloud Recesses, mildly argumentative but loving relationship with his father. Jiang Cheng has always remembered that sort of information easily, a skill that he honed originally because he could be the best at it as with so little else. He has since learned that it is far more useful in his role as sect leader than any cultivation or martial ability; he still struggles with how to feel about that) is hovering over Wei Wuxian, words coming rapid and anxious.
9. Song. Fix-it diverging from canon just after the tortoise fight. WWX/LWJ, plus...how to describe this...a sort of platonic soulbond between those two plus Jiang Cheng and Jin Zixuan.
Wei Wuxian almost does not catch the name of the song.
10. Breath. Fix-it (a bit of a theme here) in which Lan Wangji decides to stay in the Burial Mounds. WWX/LWJ. LWJ POV.
Lan Wangji manages to snatch a breath before the water of the cold spring closes over his head, but terror still shoots through him as he realizes that he cannot get back to the surface.
11. Inhale. Sequel to Breath. WWX/LWJ. LWJ POV.
Lan Wangji’s first morning in the Burial Mounds begins peacefully.
12. Harmony. Sequel to Song. Murder roadtrip #2. Sunshot-era. Jin Zixuan POV.
Technically speaking, Jin Zixuan has a fairly large number of siblings.
13. Company. Fix-it diverging pre-canon. Wei Wuxian comes to Cloud Recesses to rest and heal. There is a kitten. WWX/LWJ. LWJ POV.
Lan Wangji is fourteen when the dying boy comes to stay at Cloud Recesses.
14. The Burial Grounds. Coffee shop AU. Unadulterated fluff. WWX/LWJ. LWJ POV.
“Is there even a point in telling you what I want?” Jin Zixuan asks.
15. Living. Fix-it in which Jiang Yanli was not at the Nightless City battle. WWX/LWJ. LWJ POV.
Wei Wuxian is screaming.
16. Lifeline. Sequel to Living. WWX/LWJ. Jiang Yanli POV.
She needs to go home.
17. Tumblr Ficlets. What it says on the tin. Different stories, so listing all the first lines.
“But Master Song,” Luo Qingyang whines, “there are so many of them. Shelving will take hours, and you just know that tomorrow We—” Song Lan frowns at her, and she rolls her eyes.
The kitchen of Lotus Confections is a weird place.
Wei Wuxian finally loses his temper, as much as he ever does with either of them these days.
“It’s a perfectly fine courtesy name,” Luo Qingyang offers, a little doubtfully.
18. Storm. Post-canon. Wei Wuxian and new family and gendery feelings. WWX/LWJ. LWJ POV.
The storm comes in late summer.
19. Ice. Figure skating AU with trans Lan Wangji and so lots of feelings about sports and gender. WWX/LWJ. LWJ POV.
Nie Huaisang comes out to the world and retires from competition in the same interview, half a year after becoming Qinghe’s national champion for the second time, and two months before they were scheduled to begin their international senior career.
20. Tether. Fix-it in which Wei Wuxian admits to the loss of his golden core and lets people draw their own conclusions as to how that happened. Sunshot-era. WWX/LWJ (eventually). Jiang Yanli POV excepting a few bits.
With the fragment of his mind that is thinking about what might happen later, Wei Wuxian has a plan.
This was a fun game! Patterns: only a few starting with dialogue, and I think those were mostly modern AUs. Lots of short sentences, lots of setting the scene, often without naming the POV character.
Favorite first line: Probably Coda, actually. It’s not at all like the others, and I like how it sets the tone with Jiang Cheng’s POV. Alternately Song, because it sets the divergence point so neatly.
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by JaimeBlue
Where I am linking to contributions of other authors and artists to the Nie Sect Murder Tortoise Universe
Words: 30, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English
Series: Part 6 of The Nie Sect Murder Tortoises
Fandoms: 陈情令 | The Untamed (TV), 魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
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Tortoise Shells and Wedding Bells - Part 1
Can be read HERE ON AO3.
Nie Huaisang was having a very good day. Not a 'my favourite bookseller just got copies of the hottest new spring book' kind of day, nor a 'spent quality time with both my tortoises and my boyfriend and now I'm painting and reading poetry and having the most casual, most relaxing day ever' sort of day. No, this was an 'I am sitting in my brother's office, receiving the one piece of news I have been waiting years for and I can barely believe my ears' sort of day.
“Ah, Da-ge, I'm not sure I heard you right. What was that again?”
“I said that after long negotiations with Qin-zongzhu, we have decided to cement an alliance between our two sects with a marriage.”
“Your marriage.”
“Yes.”
“To the Sect Leader's...”
“Daughter.” Nie Huaisang's face was sore from the sheer effort of holding back his ecstatic grin. “I certainly couldn't have married her to you, brat. And the Elders have long been pushing for another heir.”
“An heir that's not me.”
“I thought that would please you.”
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Murder Tortoise Fic Title Poll:
I have the next Murder Tortoise fic ready to post, I just can't decide on a title - so I thought I'd outsource the decision! For context, the next story will be from Wen Qing's POV and take place in a Wen village (post-Sunshot)
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FicPost Game
I saw this post about a FicPost Game where you make a meme of your fic and link to them on AO3... so I did a thing!!! Because of course I did :D There was no better candidate for something like this than my favourite cracky series.
A meme summary of the Nie Sect Murder Tortoises.
It all started with Think Outside the Shell
Then SangYao asked My Shell or Yours
Nie Mingjue was at the Wrong Shell, Wrong Time
Jin Zixun got to be centre stage for In This Garden we Raise a Little Shell
Baby Sect Leader Nie Mingjue is Going Out of my Shell
Mo Xuanwyu and Xue Yang join the murder tortoise family in Good Shells Come in Threes
And Jiang Cheng FINALLY gets a pet in Dumplings on the Half Shell
#ficpost game#nie sect murder tortoises#jiang cheng#nie huaisang#meng yao#nie mingjue#and many many more#I had far too much fun doing this!!!!!!
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could you do a scene from The Nie Sect Murder Tortoises (your choice) from the perspective of one of the tortoises?
Thank you so much for this request! :D It's been far too long since I worked on the Murder Tortoises and you gave me the perfect excuse ;) Here's a little 'missing scene' from the 2nd NSMT fic, Ginger's POV when Nie Huaisang et. al. arrive with a new xuanwu in their midst.
(Not completely polished yet - when it is, I'll put it up on AO3)
~ ~ ~
“Come on, Ginger – doesn’t this chicken look delicious?”
She shoved her beak under her front legs and tried to ignore the man nearby. He smelled only a little like her human, but he wasn’t him.
The man sighed. “All right, I’ll just put it here. You have to eat eventually. Huaisang won’t be happy if he comes home to find you all skin and bones.”
She snuffled into her feet. Thankfully, the man left, leaving her to the peace and quiet of her cave.
It had been weeks since she had last seen her human – the boy had come to feed and pet her, and his face had been wet, as if he’d stuck his head into a pool of water (though the long fur on his head hadn’t been wet at all, just his face). He’d sounded strange when he spoke, and then he’d left. The larger human that smelled just like him came to visit from time to time – he’d always been a rare visitor, with his large metal stick and strange face fur, and in the past, he’d always looked reluctant to be in her cave, but these most recent visits had him looking sad and staying longer than he usually would. She could tell he missed the boy as much as she did.
She closed her eyes and would have tried to sleep, but she knew it was useless. She done little more than sleep for all these weeks and she’d had enough of it – she just wanted her boy back. She could hear the occasional dripping of water from the cave’s ceiling into her pool of water, and it did nothing to soothe her. She let out a low mournful sound that echoed in the large cave.
And then... she felt a tremble.
She lifted her head and looked around. Was this one of those strange things where the ground moved and everything broke? If so she would have to move away from here – there were some rocks hanging from the ceiling that might hurt her if she stayed where she was.
There was another tremble... and she realized this was no shaking ground event. There was something almost even about the trembling.
She stood up and carefully walked out of her cave, her beak in the air and sniffing to find anything amiss. And that’s when she smelled him, her human!!! And... there were other scents with him. Some humans she couldn’t identify... oh, and one she could and had missed so, so much! She began walking faster, following the scents in the wind, growing more and more excited with every step. They were home! Her people were home!
And then she smelled it. Her nose wrinkled and her steps faltered. It... what was it? It smelled almost like her, but that couldn’t be... could it? She had never met anything like her before.
But her human, that had been missing for weeks, suddenly came home with something that smelled just like her.
She narrowed her eyes. Her steps much slower, she continued to follow the scents that were heading to the square cave where the humans lived. She eventually reached the flat ground and stepped through the last of the trees and brush, then craned her neck to look around.
“Ginger!!!”
She turned her head to watch her human leap off a large beast – it looked like her, but larger and with a rougher look to it, and she already didn’t like it one bit – and the boy ran straight for her. When he ran into her and wrapped his arms around her neck, she sighed in relief, twisting her neck so she could lick a stripe along the side of his face.
He was home.
She glanced back up at the other beast, which now had its eyes narrowed at her. She gave her boy another possessive lick and narrowed her eyes at the other beast. She didn’t know where it had come from or what it was doing here, but this was her home, and all the humans who lived here belonged to her. She wasn’t going to just stand by while some stranger stomped into her territory.
Even if he didn’t smell completely unpleasant.
She nudged her boy to rejoin the other people. He patted her and spoke to her with more human sounds that meant nothing to her, repeating the sound ‘Peanut’ quite often, then he went to rejoin the others to return to the large square human cave.
She waited until they were far enough away before beginning to follow as silently as one her size could, reluctantly curious about this newcomer that thought it could come into her land and allow her humans to ride it.
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WIP Wednesday 06/08
Guess who's writing more murder tortoise fics?
~~
Nie Huaisang was having a very good day. Not a 'my favourite bookseller just got copies of the hottest new spring book' kind of day, nor a 'spent quality time with both my tortoises and my boyfriend and now I'm painting and reading poetry and having the most casual, most relaxing day ever' sort of day. No, this was an 'I am sitting in my brother's office, receiving the one piece of news I have been waiting years for and I can barely believe my ears' sort of day.
“Ah, Da-ge, I'm not sure I heard you right. What was that again?”
“I said that after long negotiations with Qin-zongzhu, we have decided to cement an alliance between our two sects with a marriage.”
“Your marriage.”
“Yes.”
“To the Sect Leader's...”
“Daughter.” Nie Huaisang's face was sore from the sheer effort of holding back his ecstatic grin. “I certainly couldn't have married her to you, brat. And the Elders have long been pushing for another heir.”
“An heir that's not me.”
“I thought that would please you.”
Unable to take it any longer, Nie Huaisang jumped out of his seat and rounded the desk to wrap his arms excitedly around Nie Mingjue's neck. “Da-ge!!!!! I'm so happy for you! I can't wait to meet my new sister! And I'll get started on the wedding preparations immediately. I know just the tailor to use for your robes, and-”
“All right, enough is enough.” Nie Mingjue patted his arm before forcibly unwrapping Nie Huaisang's arms from around his neck. “You will not do a single thing until you've had a chance to meet Qin Su. She and her sect deserve to have a say as well, don't you think?”
“Of course, Da-ge.” Nie Huaisang did not think because he knew nobody's taste was as good as his own, but he was happy to pretend otherwise for his brother's sake. “And when will that be?”
“She and her family will be here by the end of the week for an official visit. We felt we should get it out of the way before the Jin wedding next month – that will likely be our first official public appearance.”
Nie Huaisang nodded, mind already going over his brother's wardrobe to narrow down the best sets of formal robes in order to coordinate with the young Lady Qin – or future Madame Nie. “I promise I will welcome her to the family with open arms.”
“The open arms aren't what I'm worried about.” Nie Mingjue narrowed his eyes. “During their visit, there will be no visits to the xuanwu.”
“But Da-ge, if they're going to be family, they need to meet Ginger and Peanut! And the hatchlings are all gone now so they'll be less protective and territorial.”
“No buts, Huaisang!”
“But-”
“What did I just say?”
Nie Huaisang made an exaggerated tilt of the head. “Ah, I think I hear my name being called. Is it time for saber practice already?”
“Huaisang?!”
“I'll see you later Da-ge! And don't worry, A-Yao and I will make their visit so wonderful they'll never want to leave!”
He slid out the door and closed it behind himself before hie brother could argue any further.
#nie sect murder tortoises#wip wednesday#nie huaisang#nie mingjue#da-ge's getting married to qin su#And of course complications will ensue#because when don't they?
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WIP Wednesday - 01/11/23
A little murder tortoise-verse snippet...
~~~
Wen Qing was half-way through her breakfast when she heard a scoff coming from Granny Wen.
“That miserable good for nothing bastard is back, I see,” Granny Wen muttered, looking out the window.
“Mother!” Wen Liang gasped, placing her hands over A-Yuan's ears. “Not in front of your grandson.”
“I'm sure he's heard worse than that by now.” Granny Wen flicked her dishtowel before returning to the sink. “And it's not like I called him what I really think of him.”
Wen Qing allowed herself a chuckle as she stood up and mentally prepared herself for the coming encounter. The 'good for nothing bastard' was the Jianghu official who was scheduled to check in on them, and he had no doubt already been informed of the xuanwu's presence near the village. She held her shoulders back and put on her most dignified manner as she left the kitchen and approached the cultivator in pale blue who was disembarking from his sword.
“Welcome again to North Wen Village, Su Minshan,” she offered with a proper, formal bow. Whatever her thoughts on the other sects, she refused to let them see her as anything less than cordial and professional.
“Wen-guniang.” Su Minshan sniffed but returned her bow – though his was much more shallow. “We will be joined by a cultivator from Qinghe for today's visit. I hope that won't be a problem.”
She kept her annoyance from showing on her face. “That is what I expected after we alerted the Jianghu to the situation. We didn't want there to be any misunderstandings.”
“I'm certain you didn't.” Despite his words, Su Minshan didn't show any sign of worry or fear upon his face. Either the lack of xuanwu in the village was reassuring, or perhaps less likely, he'd visited the Wen Village so often that he'd come to realize how harmless they really were.
And perhaps pigs could fly.
“Would you like to have a seat until their arrival? Breakfast is being served in the kitchen, and we have tea already prepared – I believe it's that Oolong variety that you enjoyed last time.”
“That would be acceptable,” he said with an officious nod.
She escorted him back to the kitchens where Granny Wen already had a tea service prepared. As Wen Qing and Su Minshan sat down, they settled into what had become an unusually agreeable habit they had begun after discovering a common interest – discussing Imperial politics and gossip.
“Since the assassination attempt on the Third Prince's life,” Su Minshan continued after updating Wen Qing on the latest gossip from Beijing, “the entire palace has been in an uproar. Sadly, as usual, the palace guards are focusing their investigation on nearby noble houses and foreign incursions.”
Wen Qing sniffed. “Idiots, but I can't really blame them. You and I both know that any intrigue begins and ends in the Imperial harem, but the investigators are almost as afraid of the consorts as they are of the Emperor. Though they couch it in terms of not wanting to upset the Emperor by interfering with his harem, just so they don't have to admit to being afraid of a handful of women.”
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WIP Wednesday - 11/09
I think this will speak for itself.
~~
Wen Qing was having a very bad day. It certainly wasn't the worst she'd ever had – it wasn't a my uncle is threatening my brother again to make me do his bidding day, or a my uncle died in his failed attempt to take over the Jianghu and now my clan is being held by his enemies and I think they want to kill us sort of day. Compared to those sorts of days, her day really wasn't that bad.
But it still felt miserable. Or perhaps that was simply the bad batch of turnip stew she'd had the night before.
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WIP Wednesday 08/17 - the 2nd
Since the last one was on the serious side, I thought I'd offer a spoiler for another fic in the form of a single image:
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Fic Stats Game
Thank you @fortune-maiden for tagging me! This is going to be fun :D
rules: give us the links to your fic with the most hits, second most kudos, third most comments, fourth most bookmarks, fifth most words, and fic with the fewest words.
(For simplicity's sake, I am choosing to only count completed fics... of which I have 95 in the MDZS/Untamed fandom, wtf?!)
1 - Most Hits - Think Outside the Shell - Yep, I am completely unsurprised that my first Nie Sect Murder Tortoise fic is #1. It seems to have scratched an itch many people had :D For those who haven't heart of/read it, it's a simple gen fic where, during the Wen indoctrination camp's trip to fight the tortoise of slaughter, NHS tames the xuanwu because apparently he already has one at home ;) This began my fun cracky series and will forever hold a special place in my heart.
2 - 2nd Most Kudos - When Fate Opens a Window, Let Us Fly Through It - I check my stats semi-regularly so technically this doesn't surprise me because of that, but it *does* surprise me how well-liked this fic was! It's NieLan, the first of my "Lan Ribbon Marriage" series. The plot? NMJ & LXC are teenagers and in love with each other but too married to their duties to do anything about it. They wake up in the middle of the night to find LXC's ribbon wrapped around both their wrists, and when LQR enters, NMJ finds out this is the first step of the Lan sect's marriage rites! The secret is that NHS & LWJ teamed up to tie them to each other and have them found out by LQR. It's cute and fun, and was a blast to write - and the series is complete with WangXian and SangHui follow-ups :D
3 - 3rd Most Comments - This category is the reason I chose to only include completed fics, because works in progress tend to get a lot of comments in general with people wanting to encourage the author to continue the story. So the answer is therefore... He's No Bully, He's My Friend - I adore this story and it's special to me, a modern day AU where NHS is homeless and comes across a pit bull that he befriends, and the dog turns out to be a cursed JC (It's SangCheng, but the shipping is minimal at the end after JC becomes human again, so if you prefer gen fic, you might enjoy this one). But this story in particular has a reason that it got so many comments - because the wonderful @takonxmz asked to podfic the story, and many people found their way to it through their recording (which is amazing and I totally recommend if you have an hour or so!!! There is art too!!!).
4 - 4th Most Bookmarks - I'm going to choose the list in my stats because those numbers include both public and private bookmarks (we can see how many there are, we just can't see who bookmarked the private ones) - Think Outside the Shell - My only surprise is that this one wasn't higher on the list! But a SangCheng, a SangYao, and (*checks eyesight*) a WangXian fic all came out ahead of it.
5 - 5th Most Words - I'd Rather Share With You - This is the WangSang fic I wrote for the 2 Cakes fest last year! NHS' first year at Gusu and a storm hits, damaging several homes of Lan disciples, who are all assigned visiting disciples' quarters to share - and LWJ is assigned to room with NHS. It's sweet and they're young and soft (and also petty, and definitely don't get along at first) and, yeah, it's a fun fic. (It's a good thing this tag came out now - later this month, I will have a 50k fic coming out that will skew all the stats lol)
Bonus - Fewest Words - Technically, my 3 lowest word counts aren't fics at all - they're the AO3 entries I did to show off my fanart for the RBB fest this year. So the lowest word count of an actual fic is... The Perfect Spiritual Pet - This is just a cute little gen fic where the One Braincell Trio create an array to find NHS the perfect spiritual pet in the hopes of getting NMJ off his case. They don't know what the animal is, but it's cute, lazy, and perfect for NHS (it's a 3-toed sloth).
So, I shall tag... @gekidasa @roseclaw @thebiscuiteternal @eastofakkala and anyone else who'd like to participate!
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Twenty questions for fic writers
Thank you to @dual-domination for tagging me! :D
1. How many works do you have on AO3? 118 (including WIPs) - and this does not include my very early fanfic from the days before AO3 (though I hope to put those on one day)
2. What's your total AO3 word count? 842,883
3. What fandoms do you write for? Currently exclusively writing for MDZS/The Untamed - nothing else has quite gripped my entire consciousness as much as this fandom and its characters have.
4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?
Think Outside the Shell (aka my first Nie Sect Murder Tortoise fic), Gen fic where Nie Huaisang domesticates the xuanwu - 657
When Fate Opens a Window, Let Us Fly Through It, NieLan accidental (but really orchestrated by NHS) Lan ribbon marriage fic - 521
Under the Cold Qinghe Mountains, WangXian with dragon!LWJ and background SangCheng (this is so weird because I am NOT known as a WangXian writer at all!!!) - 494
It Was You All Along, SangCheng post-canon where NHS wore a mask to take part in a courtship tournament for JC, and now is the time to reveal himself, with a side of Yunmeng Shuangjie reconciliation - 468
Wrong Shell, Wrong Time, Gen (with background SangYao), the 3rd of my Nie Sect Murder Tortoise fics but my personal favourite (JGS gets eaten by a xuanwu and the only witnesses are Nie Huaisang, Meng Yao, and Jin Zixun - and Nie Mingjue is trying to find out what really happened) - 415
5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? Yes! I respond to every comment if possible - I think the only ones I might not respond to are where someone says something as a placeholder and that they'll give another comment saying more, but never do. But yeah, every comment however big or small means the WORLD to me, so the least I can do is send back a thank you :D
6. What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? I think this is probably Mercy - it ends with NHS foregoing his revenge against JGY to give him a quick death with his reputation intact and it broke my heart to write.
7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Hard to pick since in general I tend to go the happy/hopeful ending route, and what constitutes a happy ending can be a very individual thing (e.g. for many the "married with children and a white picket fence" is the ideal happy ending, though I'm of a different opinion). If I had to choose, I think it would be a tie between Bed of Roses (modern day SangCheng, where the guys don't just get together but NHS can finally visit with his family again after 2 decades apart), and In This Garden, We Raise a Little Shell (I did the seemingly impossible and gave Jin Zixun a happy ending that people actually seemed to LIKE no romance just a JZXun/Garden ship lol).
8. Do you get hate on fics? Now? No, not really - every now and then there might be a comment that's a little less than stellar, like a criticism of a direction I went in or saying I was too generous in giving a certain character a happy ending, but that's very minor. Once upon a time? Yep - I stared writing back around the turn of the millenium when anti-gay crusaders were ecstatic going onto people sites and commenting that they would be going to hell because they're such sinners, etc - I once wrote a fic where a character was in Montreal with family on the day remembering the Ecole Polytechnique massacre, mostly gen but at the end I had him get a hug from his boyfriend - since I didn't put it as a ship in the description, I had comments, very unpleasant comments, about it.
9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? Yes!!! I enjoy it, I hope readers enjoy it too. And I've written all kinds - romantic, casual, kinky, mistaken identity, multiple partners, dubious noncon, m/f & m/m (and I have an idea in the works for a f/f). I think the only I haven't written is smut where one is trans (am not trans myself, and I think I would worry too much about how to say things and worry I'm using the wrong terms or being accidentally disrespectful), serious dead dove stuff, or A/B/O (the latter is a squick of mine).
10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written? I have written crossovers, though very few recently. The craziest one was probably one called Things To Do in L.A. When You’re Insane - it was a crossover between the A-Team, Skinner (an old horror movie with Ted Raimi and Ricki Lake), Lunatics: A Love Story (another movie with Ted Raimi), and Xena: Warrior Princess, where characters from the original 3 modern-day canons were reincarnations of the triplets Joxer, Jett & Jace from Xena. It was weird but fun!
11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not to my knowledge. Lots of accidental 2Cakes situtations, but that's all.
12. Have you ever had a fic translated? No - I did receive a comment asking if someone could translate one of my fics into Russian once, but I never heard from them again.
13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Yes!!! In 2 different ways. My old fandom friend JoeyRZ and I co-wrote a Xena/seaQuest crossover that turned out so well, and our writing styles were so similar that nobody could tell where one of us started and the other ended :D It was great!!! Also, way back in the day we used to do Round Robins - A story told from one person to another (e.g. the order is chosen at random, one person writes the first scene, the next the following, etc etc until a story is done), sometimes with themes (I remember the centaur sex one and the "copy such and such writer's style" one, both had been on KSAres if I remember right). They were great, low-commitment and high creativity community activities that I would LOVE to see make a comeback!!!
14. What's your all-time favorite ship? For this, I'm going to consider both romantic and platonic ships, and I'll list for a couple of fandoms. Back in my Xena days, I know Joxer/Ares was huge for us Joxer fans, but I was a multi-shipper to the core... so I think actually the platonic Joxer&Xena&Gabrielle was my favourite to explore because they were totally found family :D Back in seaQuest, I loved Tim O'Neill & Miguel Ortiz both platonically and romantically - even when I shipped Tim with other guys, they'd always know that there is no Tim without Miguel :D And currently, even though I enjoy shipping Nie Huaisang with several others, my heart belongs to SangCheng.
15. What's a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? Toooo many, I even have a folder titled "Neglected WIPs".
16. What are your writing strengths? I think I'm good at dialogue, and at seeing the world through another character's eyes, particularly to where their opinions and mine might differ greatly.
17. What are your writing weaknesses? Figuring out how to end a scene (and keep writing and writing long past when it should have ended), impatience (particularly in the editing stage - I just want to get the damned thing online even if it's less than perfect), lack of confidence in my writing (which affects me actually getting to writing it). I'm having a good day so that's my answer, but on bad days that list can go on far too long.
18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? It would have to be one I'm familiar enough with, and I would always put a translation next to it - never assume everyone else knows the same combination of languages that you do (e.g. some people have accused me of not being bilingual because I don't speak spanish - doesn't matter that I speak english and french fluently, learned some Russian in uni, and am picking up bits and pieces of random mandarin at the moment, etc etc).
19. First fandom you wrote for? Technically this would be the Muppets - I wrote a story about Gonzo the Great for a class project in 6th grade. But when it comes to grown up fic writing, I think it was Xena - I know I wrote a couple of Red Dwarf fics around the same time so I'm not 100% sure which came first, but Xena was my first HUUUUUGE fandom experience :D
20. Favorite fic you've written? I have no idea how to answer this - I've written a lot in several different fandoms, and there have been ones in each I'm proud of, including fandoms I try to stay away from these days (HP). But maybe because there's so many and they're so varied, I just can't bring it down to one or two favs.
Tagging: @lowkeyed1 @gekidasa @roseclaw @thebiscuiteternal - and anyone else who'd like to join in :D
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Never Have I Ever written a crackfic?
Thank you for the ask!
This is a resounding YES - in fact, I created my own little fun crack universe! My Nie Sect Murder Tortoises is definitely crack treated seriously, from NHS domesticating the Tortoise of Slaughter to Xuanwu babies making their way into every major sect, right down to my Let Jin Zixun Garden agenda!
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Not tagged but gacked from @ibijau because I thought it would be fun.
Post the following:
top 5 works you’re most proud of that you released in 2022 (not necessarily your most popular)
your top 4 current WIPs that you’re excited to release in the new year
your top 3 biggest improvements in your writing over the past year
your top 2 resolutions (ways you wish to improve your writing/blog) for the new year
and your number 1 favorite line you’ve written this (last) year!
top 5 works you’re most proud of that you released in 2022 (not necessarily your most popular): So, in chronological order...
Reality is Overrated - NHS stuck in the 'perfect' dream world and Jin Zixun has to get him out
Another Man's Grief - after Jin Rusong's death, JGY lies in wait to find out the answer to his biggest question - who actually fathered his 'son'.
Lover, Please Stay - WangSang for the Mixtape exchange that turned out so well
Maybe if the Stars Align, Maybe if our Worlds Collide - NHS/Jinzhu smut but with tons of world-building that I might want to revisit
He's no Bully, He's my Friend - SangCheng but where JC is a dog and NHS is a homeless man on the streets who finds him, and they save each other along the way. This just gave me such warm fuzzied and I felt so proud with how I handled it.
your top 4 current WIPs that you’re excited to release in the new year
After the Hallmark Movie Ends - SangCheng, JC and NHS have just been dumped by their significant others for small-town childhood sweethearts at Christmastime (sound familiar to anyone? lol) and meet over drinks at the airport while trying to get home.
Nie Sect Murder Tortoise-verse - There is one big fic "Tortoise Shells and Wedding Bells" that will be split into 2 fics (Part 1/Part 2) because another fic will take place in the middle of it time-wise - this one will involve... the Wen :D
A very kinky scenario featuring Nie Huaisang, a blindfolded and oblivious Jin Zixun, and an 'educational session' for soon-to-be bride Jiang Yanli.
A Peacock that rests on his feathers is just another turkey - I'm really crossing my fingers that I get this one completed, it's my "Jin Zixuan plans the Phoenix mountain hunt and accidentally changes everything" fic
your top 3 biggest improvements in your writing over the past year
I've been more open to taking chances with new ideas/pairings
I've been able to get myself to write regularly even when I'm not always in the mood
I've become a little more aware of when I'm doing certain things (like always talking about emotions in someone's eyes) and trying to see if there are other ways I can word them
your top 2 resolutions (ways you wish to improve your writing/blog) for the new year
I want to be more aware of when my Western/white POV might be inadvertently interfering with my portrayals of either ancient China or Chinese diaspora people in modern day AUs
I want to work on my art as well as my writing - am trying to get back into my acrylic painting and am using fandom as an excuse (will have 1 piece for the Reverse Big Bang and might have one or two more)
and your number 1 favorite line you’ve written this (last) year!
I'm going to cheat and do 2 because one's comedic and the other is serious.
Serious (from "Another Man's Grief") - "Jin Guangyao would never, ever kill his own child for any reason... but then, Jin Rusong had never been his."
Comedic (from "A Well Intentioned Blocking") - “Because I can't make my own decisions.” -- Nie Mingjue waved over at Jin Zixun. “Apparently not.”
I will tag @fortune-maiden @pbaintthetb @dual-domination @artsy-alice @kaz3313
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