#convenientalias

ohhh this is a fun one because possibly the last time I did this meme the answer would be don't ship it (because I prefer it platonically) and now the answer is ship it, with caveats, those caveats largely being that I'm less interested in a romantic relationship or a platonic relationship for these two than a whatever the hell have those guys got going on relationship.

but, you know, close enough.

What made you ship it?

I've been obsessed with this relationship from the jump, pretty much. the first time I watched the untamed I watched the opening, looked between jiang cheng and wei wuxian, and went "oh that looks like fun" and you know what, I was right. initially I was like "eh I don't want actual chengxian because I prefer them more as brother-ish" but over the arc of my time in fandom and possibly partially out of spite that has turned into "I don't particularly need them to touch dicks or whatever but unresolved sexual issues do add some extra piquant spice to the whole thing, so"

which is about where I am now. it's kind of "my feelings about thor/loki" vibes, honestly, w/r/t the "so tangled up in each other painfully and intimately that it doesn't matter what specific shape the relationship takes, just that it's a mess.

What are your favorite things about the ship?

god!!! that it's a fucking emotional trainwreck all the way down. even at the time when their relationship is "purely" positive there's all jiang cheng's issues happening already, and things just kind of Get Worse from there, and even if you're a yunmeng shuangjie reconciliation truther (I am, personally), there's a long way to go to get there at the point canon leaves off. there's so much pain and love and devotion and suffering between these two characters and what am I here for in a ship if not pain and love and devotion and suffering. and intense bonds where the love makes it worse, that too.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

I don't interact enough with the chengxian side of fandom to really know what's unpopular there.

Jingsu

I ship it!

What made you ship it?

Because of how my friends introduced me, I went into NiF expecting to probably ship it, and, yeah. That intense loyalty combined with the identity porn is a powerful combo. I was not yet cooked, but I was definitely in the fry pan, during that "I want to make you the Crown Prince," scene.

2. What are your favorite things about the ship?

The intense loyalty, and in both directions. They would both do almost anything for each other, up to and including "lie about own identity so the other one does not do something stupid to protect me." Especially combined with the way this intertwines and conflicts with their high ideals.

3. Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

I'm somewhat ambivalent to their relationship pre-canon. It just doesn't have as much crunch as what they have in canon.

Mei Changsu/Mu Nihuang

What made you ship it?

You know the scene in the abandoned house? With the hug? That plaintive "gege QQ"? Yeah, that's what made me ship it.

2. What are your favorite things about the ship?

The tragedy of-- it could have worked out great in the first place, they were affianced and they were a good match. But then the Chiyan case happened. And they can't ever have that possibility again. They can love each other! But not openly. And not without a metaphorical hourglass right behind them.

3. Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

I'm not sure I have one? Other than 'oh boy would it be a whole political thing for Sir Su to marry the Duchess of Mu and is thus really unlikely to happen?'

Mu Nihuang/Xia Dong

Why don’t you ship it?

I want to ship it, I feel somewhat obligated to help show up for the femslash team, but.

At the beginning of the show, their relationship is chilly, because they are both convinced that the other one is one the 'side' that got their husband/fiance killed. They think that the other one is a good person, if misguided, but. it's a hell of a bridge to cross. And this makes for a great platonic relationship but raises large questions about how they get in a romantic one, especially if you want both characters to have a sort of nice time.

And then partway through the show they find their husband/fiance and then they're just really distracted.

2. What would have made you like it?

The thing is, I really like that tension in their relationship because of the Chiyan case! I wouldn't be interested as much in their relationship if it was gone, but it is the thing stopping me from shipping it, so. Hmm. Kind of a difficult to solve.

3. Despite not shipping it, do you have anything positive to say about it?

Thanks for asking! (If you end up reading Messenger, I hope you enjoy it!) 😀

Trillium

(another WIP set in @staidwaters One more lie... -verse. Hwi & Seon-ho on the road.)

What we call the trillium ‘flower’ is no flower at all...trilliums have no above-ground stems or leaves. Instead, the plant is a fragile extension of its underground rhizome, a process that happens, hidden and secretive, for up to seven or more years before a trillium grows from seed to a mature, blooming plant.

They weren’t even two days on the road when they had their first (post-death) argument about, of all things, a horse. Yi Bang-won had, inconceivably, decided not to kill them after they survived the first round of arrows and spears. That had been an odd hesitation that Hwi could not recall having seen before in his eight years of service to the lord, prince, and now King of Joseon. But Bang-won had given them enough supplies for a few weeks -- enough to load down a pack horse, also provided-- and sent them into the wilds. 

[Send me an AU & get 5+ headcanons about it]

Looks like we’re getting Emperor Jingxuan!  No way this’ll end absolutely horribly for everyone involved!

Jingxuan takes after daddy dearest and arranges for all his most dangerous brothers, cousins, aunts, and uncles to die. (Okay, it’s mostly Consort Yue doing the planning, but you gotta make sure it looks like it’s Jingxuan’s idea.)

Jingyan, our darling waterbuffalo, is spared- but only because he’s not a threat & honestly more use outside the capital.  He was called back to Jinling for the funeral, but once all that’s done, he’ll be right back out where he belongs.

This means MCS only has until Jingyan leaves the capital again to depose a different Emperor then the one he was planning on, get Jingyan to be crowned emperor (thank god Jingxuan doesn’t have a heir yet).  I mean, he could do it while Jingyan is out of the capital, but that’s so much harder.

He immediately sets Prince Yu up to get into fights with the newly crowned Emperor, as he’s currently the most powerful Prince who wasn’t already crowned, so he’ll be a threat Emperor Jingxuan and Consort Yue will actually pay attention to while he’s being sneaky.

Nihuang & Consort Jing are conspiring to get Jingyan to safety if/when Emperor Jingxuan turns on him. They quickly figure out who MCS is and MCS is like: Is it really that obvious? (no, they’re just that good.  Get used to it)

Prince Yu and Emperor Jingxuan kill each other (oops).  Prince Jingyan is in a favorable enough position to ascend the throne.  MCS doesn’t die, but the new Emperor Jingyan also doesn’t know MCS=LS (yet).  

We now have MCS sitting as an advisor to the Emperor, trying to cull all the bad parts of the court while Jingyan is pissing off most off them.  It’s a goddamn miracle Jingyan hasn’t been assassinated yet (a miracle and MCS+ Lie Zhanying’s hard work)

Thank you so much. I'm always in desperate need of good fics. These sound amazing, I think I have that Bachelor thing on my to be read list but these others are all new to me.

Omg this is so sweet!! I’m incredibly flattered and I am planning on crossposting but you know that post that’s like “Your worst nightmare: a post on AO3 called “A collection of drabbles” and it has a million tags for every ship ever made and like six different fandoms and it fills up your whole screen and it’s also always at the top because it updates several times a week?” This would become kind of EXACTLY that, and I don’t want to annoy people.

I’m trying to figure out a way to be as little of that as possible (a series with collections divided by fandom? aggregate posts once a week?), and I’m probably going to hold off a bit so that I can post a bunch at once instead of spamming the tag. They will go up at some point soonish tho.

4. total number of words you wrote this year

According to AO3, 72,734 words, but this is incomplete because I haven’t posted everything I’ve written. If I add WIPs and unposted fic, it’s 114,989.

14. a fic you didn’t expect to write

Mother Sky and Father Deep. It was a very intense fic that exploded into being when @inklesspen sent me an ask saying that surely there must have been at least one Hork-Bajir-Controller in the Yeerk Peace Movement. At first I thought no, impossible, and then suddenly, some version of how it might kind of be possible came and hit me upside the head.