the world’s on fire: let’s write fic

I had a post on my prior Tumblr, but that’s gone. So let’s recreate it, but make it better.

My first foray into fandom, long ago, was when I was a preteen. I didn’t know it was fandom, but I was a Trekkie and read all the Star Trek: TOS novels, and I decided I was going to try my hand at writing one. That attempt has been lost to the sands of time, as it was written on an old DOS computer with Windows 3.1, but I took it SRSLY. This was the early-mid 90s and I didn’t manage to find fandom at that point on the internet at school when I was a freshman in high school and first introduced to it.

Yeah. I’m old, folks.

When I was a teenager, I was introduced to Japanese anime through the Yu Yu Hakusho Poltergeist Report movie. Dubbed, which is hilarious. But that’s when I discovered fandom, because an irl friend was engaged in it. We obsessed over fics, read Gundam Wing, Sonic, Ronin Warriors, Fushigi Yuugi, and Yu Yu Hakusho fanfics. For a while we curated a website and wrote a self-insertation FY fic together. I’ve gone by Rose Thorne online ever since.

Though the friendship didn’t last, the interest in YYH didn’t fade. I’ve got a bunch of largely juvenile YYH fics out there, as well as some Gundam Wing ones. I ordered VHS fansubs of part of the Yu Yu Hakusho series via the internet from Australia. I still have those: they’re relics!

I met my ex-girlfriend on a YYH discussion forum for an archive website when we were both in high school 20+ years ago, and I’m still friends with her and several other people I met through there. For a while I curated a Yu Yu Hakusho yaoi fanfiction contest entitled Green Grapes and Lemonade, which was an in-joke between myself and her. I can’t figure out how to access that website anymore, sadly. I helped judge one of the Gundam Wing fanfiction contests for a while. I remember the inception of Fanfiction.net. I remember when smut was more than just lemon depending on the flavor of it, though I don’t remember what each one meant. I remember when FFN allowed smut. 

Yu Yu Hakusho had a hold on me for over a decade. I met many people through that fandom who have stayed close friends, including my ex-girlfriend and several friends I currently write with. I visited some of them in person when I moved across country and back for graduate school. I even stayed with a couple of them overnight.

Then @chrissysky and I wrote a MST3K fic, Enma’s Torment Theater, involving the YYH characters being forced to read fanfiction (all donated by writers, and including my own) and riffing on it, with a plot surrounding it. And said friend decided we should bring in the Slayers characters.

Now, I had never encountered Slayers, but I quickly consumed everything, including the translated novels. Then I started to write. Chrissy is a Zel/Xel shipper, and holy cow do I love that ship. I met several other people through that fandom, though it was largely dead by that time. The new seasons, Rev and Evo-R, revitalized the community somewhat, and I wound up being a part of a SlayersAdult LJ community and running a Kinkfest with kinky prompts that people could write or draw. At the time I was also participating in the Springkink festival on LJ. I was pretty prolific with writing smut at that point, largely Zel/Xel. Then LJ did one of its purges and it all kind of died.

And I still write it, as I have an epic I’m trying to finish and occasional plot tribbles that like to multiply. @chrissysky and I RPed and collaborated on several fics, and we’re slowly working on turning some of the RP into fic.

One of my Slayers friends got into the Pandora Hearts manga while it was being released in Japan, and dragged me into it as well. I wrote fic and RPed in that fandom for a while, but then some toxic stuff went down and I was soured on it. I left, as did my Slayers friend, and I went back to writing Slayers.

The last few years, I was largely done with fandom, focusing on ‘serious writing’ and publishing a chapbook of poetry and poems in multiple literary journals, and on work. Because I was trying to adult. I’d share some of the links and such to my poetry, but I try not to let my online life overlap with my real life. I’ve had my fair share of online stalkers and threatened doxxers in the 20+ years I’ve been on the internet. Some folks are just creepy.

I still write and publish poetry fairly regularly, and one of my poems made it into an academic textbook recently.

After this post, @chrissysky got me into MDZS/The Untamed by insisting I watch the cdrama right as the pandemic happened, and so I’ve been down that rabbit hole ever since with no signs of surfacing.

My health has, since before the pandemic, been complicated because of at least two autoimmune diseases, and combined with a number of factors that soured me on my job, I was pushing through, really, and I determined I couldn’t do it anymore if I wanted to survive late in 2022. So I’m working to get my health under control and living with my mom while I do, unable to work and some days can barely get out of bed.

What’s weird is I miss working with students as a professor, but now am the cool auncle to my cousin’s 4 kids (2-17) so weirdly I’m still up with what the younger generations are up to.

About the only thing I can do is write in small doses, and I’m clinging to that. I’m still deep in mdzs, and I’ve participated for several years in a Winter Solstice gift exchange. I hope to do so again this year. I use Six Sentence Sunday and WIP Wednesday to ensure I keep writing.

Vote for the "name" song you prefer!

Propaganda for "Proud Mary": none Defeated Opponents: "Marina" - Rocco Granata; "Carey" - Joni Mitchell; "Rhiannon" - Fleetwood Mac; "Black Betty" - Lead Belly; "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" - Gordon Lightfoot

Gabriel: Marinette, make sure that Adrien never knows about the villain that I was, but instead, that he remembers the times I tried to be a good father.

His request doesn't include lying about anything other than not telling Adrien he was Hawkmoth. He isn't asking that Adrien think of him as a good father, or even that Adrien would remember times he was a good dad.

He's asking that Adrien remember that he tried. It's a request that acknowledges that he was a shitty dad who failed Adrien a lot (to say the least). He knows there isn't much the can be salvaged, but he's asking that Adrien won't remember him as someone irredeemable who never cared at all. That's all he's asking.

And that's what Nathalie is doing. In the Lady Chaos interview everything she says is true. It's framed in a way that emphasizes the positives and omits the negatives. She still acknowledges the negatives, even if she's downplaying them.

Nathalie: Your father may not have made all the right decisions, but one thing is for sure, he was ready to do anything out of love.

That's by and large the extent of her efforts (other than keeping it a secret, obviously). She isn't caught up on making Adrien think of Gabriel in a positive light. When Adrien had to make a decision about whether to allow a statue of Gabriel, she completely had his back and didn't try to influence his thoughts one way or another.

If Marinette was truly following Gabriel's last words, then that's what her efforts would look like. There would be no need to paint him as a hero or to force Adrien to think of him positively, because that's not what Gabriel asked.

But we all know Marinette goes far beyond that. And that's because she isn't following Gabriel's last wish, she's following the version of it that she made up in her head.

Marinette: "'Okay, Marinette, Adrien couldn't handle to know the truth, so be a dear and make sure that he never finds out that I was the big baddie and that he only remembers me as the best great dad ever.'"

That's how she remembers his words. You'll note how most of that is stuff that he never said. He never implied that Adrien couldn't handle to know the truth and he never asked to be portrayed as a good dad. She made that up herself.

That's not the only thing she made up.

Marinette: No! I promised Monarch—I MEAN—Gabriel Agreste that I would say nothing.

Marinette never promised anything to Gabriel. In fact, she never even replied to his final words.

Fic Finder

Apr 13th

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1. Hiya,

I am looking for a fic where wei ying is haunted by himself? like he is unknowingly haunting the place. I might be mixing two fics together tbh. I can't even remember if it was modern or not.

A) Things that I think I remember: post war in lotus pier wwx, jyl and jc notice some haunting type stuff happening around the place and in the end it is wwx unknowingly haunting his surroundings. I don't think he died at anypoint tho, like it was burial mound stuff.

B) But I also feel like I remember a similar modern au fic? I think it had child wen yuan and maybe the other wens.

So at this point idk if I am seriously mixing fics together or not but it is driving me crazy :') thank you anyhow!

1B)

1b is a fic where LWJ is 'cursed' in the modern era when he meets a reincarnation of wwx, the kids explore an abandoned psych hospital!!

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2. I was wondering if I could get help finding a fic from some time ago. It was a short fic less than 10k for sure, but possibly less than 5k. It was a post Canon fic where LWJ, WWX, and WN sit LSZ down to explain to him that he is the bio kid of WN and WWX. I'd like to save it if it's found, but I haven't been able to on my own. Thank you for your time! @dragonfairies

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3. Hello! I request you to help me find a fanfic on ao3.

It takes place during wen attack on cloud recess. Wwx uses music cultivation and gets the spirits of the lan ancestors to help fight the wen. Thank you for all your help and keep up the good work.😊

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4. looking for this fic. I believe it's a time travel one (either wangxian or just one of them). It takes place during the cloud recesses arc. What I mainly remember is that resentment really likes wwx to the point where it keeps following him around. the resentment of the abyss turns into this cute resentment creature that's always with him and that it's publicly known that he has it with him. @simonsaysonsteroids

FOUND? Turn a little faster by apathyinreverie (T, 42k, WangXian, WIP, cracky idea taking itself quite seriously, Time Travel, far too many people know, WWX assumes he's mostly hallucinating, those around him are taking his timetravel far more seriously, Humor, Pining LWJ, Oblivious WWX, Cloud Recesses Study Arc, Yin Iron, POV LWJ, time travel outsider pov, WWX Leaves the Yunmeng Jiang Sect, Lan Yi is bamf and the only Lan with any sort of sense, Falling In Love, Canon Divergence, Fix-It, BAMF WWX, Crack Treated Seriously)

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5. hi, this is for the fic finder. recently read a fic where wwx was pregnant but didn’t know it, and went to his room after dinner with bad cramps but gave birth in the night instead and stated quiet through all of it in fear that they’d take his baby away. lotus pier sends the lans a letter telling about the baby, lwj sneaks in drunk through wwx’s window sometime later because they locked him in his house to not let him see wwx. lan xichen and jiang yanli basically handle the diplomatic parts of it. can anyone help me find it again?

FOUND? When Life Gives You A Fucking Baby by SpringWinter (T, 52k, WangXian, JC & WWX & JYL, LSZ & LWJ & WWX, LXC & LWJ, WIP, Childbirth, Suprise Pregnancy, Mpreg, Mutual Pining, when you have a kid and you still think he doesn’t like you back, Cute, Happy Ending, Angst, Mild Gore, bc of the birth that shit is gnarlY, they’re ziji your honor, JFM’s A+ parenting, YZY’s B+ Parenting, its barely any better im not gonna lie, like its the bare minimum, the bare minimum, Family Drama, Drama, Trauma, JYL is SICK of everyones SHIT, BAMF JYL, BAMF WWX, that man just had a baby hes ABSOLUTELY a BAMF in this fic WWX im sorry ;-;, Crack Treated Seriously, Canon Divergence, Canon Era)

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6. Hello! For fic finder, please. It was a fic where Wei Wuxian became a god (after dying? maybe?). He loses most of his memories as a human. He has beautiful silk robes, a crown of gold lotus (maybe?): I remember he was very ornamented. He had gold coins that could transform into a sword. He would give boons to people and helped rebuild Lotus Pier. I think it was a long fic but I am not sure if it was complete or not when I read it probably two years ago. Thank you for any leads! @gloriousclotpole

FOUND? A Celebration In White by Enigmatree (T, 31k, WangXian, JYL/JZX, WIP, Afterlife AU, Underworld, There are enough dead characters in canon that I can legitimately do this lol, god AU, :(, Happy Ending, Thirteen Years of WWX's Death, BAMF WWX, Deity WWX) but it's not a perfect match.

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7. Looking for a fic that may have been deleted. I thought it was by DeviyudeThoolika. Lan Zhan and Wei Ying are undercover cops. Wei Ying dresses up as a woman for a job (casino heist?). Red dress with a slit. He has to shave his legs, which is quite a job. I remember that Wei Ying shoves his gun in Wei Ying’s crotch early in the story. I apologize if this was actually a Yizhan story. I may be conflating several together. Thanks in advance for any suggestions! Thanks for what you do!! @cschistory

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8. please please help me lovely people. i was reading an angsty canon divergence where lans agree to take in wen remnants if wy destroys tally. at one point he hides it inside his abdomen. LZ is trying/failing to show he cares, lans are avoiding WY. wen remnants living in deserted lan servant village. and somehow i lost it! not showing up in my history. help???

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9. Hi! I am looking for a fic which was modern day and they had lost cultivation. Scientists find a cultivator, the Yiling Laozu, frozen in a block of ice and when they thaw the ice surprise! WWX was somehow still alive. He moves in with LWJ and learns about the modern world. I think WWX also helps bring the study of cultivation back to the modern world. Thank you!

FOUND? 🧡 The Shade of Old Trees by Kryal (T, 363k, WangXian, Ridiculously Long Notes, History, Canon Divergence, Modern AU, Slow Burn, Worldbuilding, Slow Life, Action/Adventure, Magic Returns, BAMF WWX, [Podfic] The Shade of Old Trees by semperfiona_podfic (semperfiona))

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10. Looking for a fic that has at least a large chunk take place during the Sunshot Campaign. Wei Wuxian has some sort of foot injury (possibly leading to amputation?) that he hides at first, and then it gets worse. Might have been caused by a sword shard or an arrowhead, but I might be thinking of a different story. Could MAYBE be an arm injury but I’m pretty sure it was foot. There’s a fair amount of mental angst and feeling like he is useless for not being able to be on the front lines fighting, and also just in general feeling like he is a ‘useless cripple’. Possibly he invents (or improves?) prosthetics. Possibly he makes talismans. Pretty sure there’s some variation of yunmeng siblings. Possibly there is a decent amount of Jin Zixuan. Possibly this is no golden core WWX, and that’s why he hid his injury. Pretty sure it’s at least 40k or more, and over a year old, likely older. And it’s finished, with a happy Wangxian ending.

It’s likely that there are several fics that fit this, and it’s also possible I’m combining more than one fic in my memory. Thanks for the help looking. @worthlessnepenthes

FOUND? 🔒 a star called sun by thelastdboy (E, 120k, WangXian, SL/XXC, JC & JYL & WWX, JYL & LWJ, WWX & WN & WQ, JYL/JZX, Canon Divergence after Xuanwu Cave, Fall of Lotus Pier, But worse!, Power Imbalance, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, Not Everyone Dies AU, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Canon-Typical Violence, Sunshot Campaign, Miscommunication, Heavy Angst with a Happy Ending, Slow Burn, Major Character Injury, Loss of Limbs, Chronic Illness, Seizures, WWX’s Three Months in the Burial Mounds, Wēn Remnants Live, Wēn Remnants Deserve Better, WWX Creates a Sect | Yílíng Wèi Sect, Additional Warnings In Author’s Note, Hurt/Comfort, Selectively Mute LWJ, Service Animals, Crows) It has 18 chapters, though.

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11. Looking for a fanfic that had the two of them as team leads for Disney or another theme park and there was a misunderstanding that lead to Wwx thinking that Lwj didn’t want to work together with him. I think while it was Disney they had changed the settings to reflect the clans/ territories

FOUND? 🧡🔒 Night of the Living History (an edutainment special!) by Aerlalaith (T, 51k, WangXian, Modern with Magic, Workplace Relationship, Fluff and Humor, Museums, living history, Some Plot, Slice of Life, Injury, a minor haunting)

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12. Hello, I am asking for a fic finder.

The fic I remember was set in modern era. WWX has returned to life maybe for one night only outside a dance club where Sizhui is being bullied or mugged for his purse. Sizhui takes him to a hotel lobby for some reason, maybe a reward, and LWJ sees him and knows it's him and they spend the night together angsting that it might only be one night. The story ends with WWX waking in the morning still with LWJ. @shinyobsessed

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13. I am looking for a fic that was set after the core removal and burial mounds where wen qing realizes somehow that wei wuxian can rip out another person's golden core without there needing to be surgery to or a willing donor. She then transfers wen chaos to him (I think it was wen chao's..might have been a different villian's core). Thank you, keep on doing the Lord's work.

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14. Looking for a fic, set in the modern Au. All I can remember is nei hauisang and jiang Cheng used to babysit Lan zhan when he was younger and Lan zhan had called the cops on them stating they were trying to poison him. Wei wuxian did not know Lan zhan when he was younger but he heard this story at like a dinner. Thanks. @icydreamerinquisitor

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15. Hi! I’m looking for a Wangxian fic on AO3. It’s a modern AU where Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian are already in a relationship at the beginning, but they don’t know much about each other’s pasts. They’ve been living abroad, so the people from their past don’t even know they’re together. Wei Wuxian works for the government (I think). At some point, Lan Wangji receives an invitation to a party or formal event that brings them back to Gusu—or a similar place. That’s when everything starts to reconnect. Wei Wuxian ends up meeting the sect leaders again, and while his past is somewhat similar to canon, no one dies in this version, and he remains on good terms with his Yunmeng siblings. The story contains lower than 10 chapters if I remember correctly. @mortallykeenmoon

FOUND? Crazy, Rich Cultivators by ShanaStoryteller (Not rated, 13k, WangXian, Modern Cultivation, Idiots in Love, Misunderstandings, POV LWJ, īthis started as a crazy rich asians au but quickly got away from me, light moments of angst but mostly shenanigans, [Podfic of] Crazy, Rich Cultivators by ShanaStoryteller by AuntieIroh)

Relationship: Jiāng Yànlí & Jīn Zǐxuān, Lán Zhàn | Lán Wàngjī & Wèi Yīng | Wèi Wúxiàn, Jiāng Chéng | Jiāng Wǎnyín & Wèi Yīng | Wèi Wúxiàn, Jiāng Yànlí & Lán Huàn | Lán Xīchén, Jiāng Fēngmián & Lán Qǐrén, Lán Huàn | Lán Xīchén & Niè Míngjué

Characters: Jiang Yanli, Jin Zixuan, Lan Zhan | Lan Wangji, Wei Ying | Wei Wuxian, Jiāng Chéng | Jiāng Wǎnyín, Lán Qǐrén, Jiāng Fēngmián, Lán Huàn | Lán Xīchén, Wēn Ruòhán, Wēn Qíng, Wēn Níng | Wēn Qiónglín, Yú Zǐyuān, Nie Mingjue, Meng Yao | Jin Guangyao

Additional Tags: Epistolary, Food, Music, Secrets, Resentful Energy, Cultivation Sect Politics, Character Death, Politics, Assassination Attempt(s), Attempted Kidnapping, Hostage Situations, Mentioned Wei Changze, Disobeying Orders, Hijinks & Shenanigans

Summary: Lan Xichen misses his didi.

Notes: See end.

Previous fic in the series: “the thing with feathers”

Chapters: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27

AO3 link

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Dear Didi,

Shufu returned to the Cloud Recesses without incident. 

He said your travels went safely, and I’m glad to hear it. It is hard to believe we will be apart for three seasons—two was hard enough. I understand the reasoning, though I will miss having you to celebrate my birthday with, and celebrating yours. 

Please let me know if you forgot anything and need it sent to you, and I will happily make sure you receive it. I doubt you forgot anything, though, as you’re so organized. You make it difficult for your xiongzhang to be of help to you. 

I look forward to seeing how much you grow in the time we are apart, but I do hope we visit Lotus Pier at some point. I rather enjoyed my stay there, and would be happy to visit again. Even if only for routine sect business, it would be nice. 

I had to postpone writing the rest of this to attend xiao lessons. I enjoy learning more about my Liebing through cultivation. Every day it feels more and more like another spiritual tool, like Shuoyue. Shufu tells me this is a good sign I am bonding with my instrument. 

I just received a letter from Nie Mingjue. He wrote to me that he tried to grow a mustache, to see what it would look like after Jiang Wuxian asked where his mustache was. He has since shaved it off because he didn’t like how it looked, even though it did make him look older. 

I thought that was funny, and he did say I could tell Jiang Wuxian he will not have a mustache now or ever. Please pass that information to him. I suspect he will find it funny as well. 

Please give the Jiangs my well-wishes,

Xiongzhang

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Dear Xiongzhang,

I am grateful to hear of Shufu’s safe return. Our travels were safe and uneventful, though A-Ying would disagree because he found a market that had nice wares and he considers that an event. 

I will miss celebrating your birthday, but I am sure I will find a suitable gift to send to you. Perhaps we should have quiet celebrations on each other’s birthdays so it feels less like we are apart. 

My unpacking has revealed I have not forgotten anything important. Anything else can be acquired in Lotus Pier. I appreciate your concern. You are a good xiongzhang, and I will always need you. 

A visit to Lotus Pier would be lovely for you, and I would welcome seeing you. It will be interesting to see how much you grow, as well. It will be the first time we will be apart so long. 

A-Ying found that very funny, though he doesn’t remember asking Nie Mingjue about his mustache. It is a funny anecdote to share with us. I am glad to hear you are in contact with him, as he is a good friend to you. A-Ying hopes to meet him and Nie Huaisang again at some point. 

Our arrival was met with a large dinner with some of the extended Jiang clan, welcoming A-Ying home. Jiang Lian has grown so much bigger in these months away, and A-Ying was sorry to miss it. She is learning to write and uses complete sentences to speak now. 

Jiang Wanyin is still somewhat surly, but it’s clear he loves getting attention from Jiang-zongzhu and Yu-furen, and he was very excited to show A-Ying his progress with learning to use a whip. It was quite a show. 

Jiang Yanli passes on her well-wishes. She has continued to make progress in her cultivation and in her studies. She has grown to look less like a girl and more like a young woman. One of the things A-Ying found at the market was a well-made lotus hair clip, and she was happy to receive it, pinning it near her ear. 

Jiang-zongzhu and Yu-furen are also well, and pass their well-wishes also,

Lan Zhan

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It’s officially my birthday! I’m glad I could get this out today. I turned 43. 

The boys will turn 13 this year, so still two more years of letters left before the Lectures! Poor Lan Xichen is so lonely with his brother gone, but hopefully it’ll give him time to foster other relationships. 

didi - little brother 

furen - madam

shufu - uncle

xiongzhang - elder brother (formal)