In that AU where LXC pretends to be LWJ and discovers NMJ's head, what if he went on a quest to put the body of his old friend together and along the way accidentally ran into NHS who's on the same mission. And they realize the other knows! (And... crying?)
AU of Two-Faced (does not take place in the same universe)
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Untamed verse
“You knew,” Lan Xichen said, numb with shock.
Nie Huaisang said nothing.
Lan Xichen had expected tears, to be perfectly honest. Nie Huaisang cried at a particularly strong gust of wind, it seemed, overwhelmed by the responsibilities of being Sect Leader while being, quite frankly, as useless as he was. He was always popping over to ask for advice on decisions he had to make, to try to eel out of paperwork or decisions, to complain about how mean people were being to him…
He wasn’t crying now.
He didn’t have any expression at all, in fact, despite Lan Xichen have broken such earth-shaking, heart-shattering news – about what he’d found in Jin Guangyao’s trophy room, the mutilation of Nie Mingjue’s body, of their oath as sworn brothers, of Nie Huaisang’s own beloved brother –
“Yes,” Nie Huaisang said. “I knew. Did you?”
“What?” Lan Xichen said, not understanding at first – and then understanding all too well. “No! Huaisang, no, never – you couldn’t – you can’t possibly think that I would agree to be involved in desecrating my own sworn brother’s body?”
“I wasn’t asking if you were involved in the desecration,” Nie Huaisang said, and his voice was flat and steady and not anything like the head-shaker that Lan Xichen had grown accustomed to these past few years. “I was asking if you were involved in the murder.”
Lan Xichen’s heart lurched.
“Murder?” he whispered. “But – but da-ge died of a qi deviation –”
“An induced qi deviation,” Nie Huaisang said. “Triggered by the application, for months, of a certain piece of music that was said to calm and correct the body’s qi, but which instead acted as a spiritual poison, wearing down defenses and aggravating the underlying problem –”
“Impossible,” Lan Xichen said. “That’s impossible, it must be. The Song of Clarity is meant to heal –”
“And yet, when I played the version san-ge taught me for da-ge, he always got so much worse,” Nie Huaisang said, and there was the slightest hint of emotion in in him now: his hands were shaking, fingers white where he held onto the fan in his hands too tightly. “Probably because I was trying my hardest with it, rather than trying to remain unnoticed.”
Lan Xichen was glad that he was already sitting down, because he knew his knees would not have supported him. Nausea roiled in his belly. “You’re certain, then.”
“By coincidence, I came across a copy of the correct music for the Song of Clarity,” Nie Huaisang said, his voice dull and lifeless again. “It is not the same as what I learned – and you know the one thing that I’d never have risked with laziness was da-ge’s health. Did san-ge alter it, or did you?”
“I wouldn’t,” Lan Xichen said. “Huaisang – I would never have done such a thing. I loved da-ge, you know that –”
“I thought san-ge did, too.” Nie Huaisang’s eyes were boring holes into Lan Xichen’s skull. “And yet I also remember which one you sided with, every time they fought.”
Lan Xichen flinched. That, he supposed, answered his question as to why Nie Huaisang had said nothing, why he had let him continue to be friends with the man who murdered his friend, his brother – he didn’t think he’d be believed.
Maybe he even thought he would be betrayed.
Maybe he would have been right. If Nie Huaisang had come to him with claims that he’d thought were absurd, farfetched, paranoid, then he would definitely not have hesitated to ask for Jin Guangyao’s thoughts on the matter…
Lan Xichen tasted bile in his mouth. It was not the first time today and not, he thought grimly, likely to be the last.
A thought suddenly struck him, and he suddenly felt cold.
“Were you – pretending? All this time?” he asked. “You made yourself useless to avoid him –”
“No, I actually am pretty much good-for-nothing,” Nie Huaisang said, and for the first time in the whole conversation there was something human in his eyes, a touch of self-effacing humor. “It makes it easier.”
“Easier?”
“It’d be much easier for san-ge to get rid of me,” Nie Huaisang said, and what was truly brutal was in how casually he said it, as if it were obvious. “But as long as I’m weak and dependent on him, he won’t, and he won’t notice as I gather the evidence to destroy him.”
“Evidence,” Lan Xichen said. “What evidence? What have you found?”
What do we do next? He wanted to ask, and he was aware of the irony of asking that of the person he’d spent nearly a decade treating like a baby because he always asked him that question. How their roles had been reversed!
Nie Huaisang studied him for a long moment, then smiled faintly. “Well, er-ge, if you’re sure you want to get involved…”
“I’m sure,” Lan Xichen said. He’d helped cause this; it was his duty to help fix it.
“Don’t regret it later.”
“I won’t,” he said, even though he was pretty sure he would.
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Hey, thank you for sharing your knowlege :) So based on your post about language rules surrounding Lan brothers: if Huaisang might be his given name, then Lan Xichen is calling NHS by his given name while calling his own brother Wangji? XD And also calling Meng Yao "A-Yao"? ...What does that mean? I'd always assumed NHS's name would have had to be courtesy name since he still uses it as sect leader, or at least no other name is ever mentioned after the time skip.
Oh god. Sometimes I really wonder why I allow myself to spew random thoughts -- especially my headcanons. But hey! You’re inviting me to share my thoughts so here you go! :)
First of all, there is an equal chance that huaisang is NHS’s courtesy vs given name. We don’t know. We are not given another name for him. I know fandom assumes that it’s his courtesy name so I wanted to throw out the other possibility. We don’t really talk about it much and it’s a fun thought. I know given names in CQL/MDZS tend to be single character and courtesy names tend to be double but historically people can have double character given names and single character courtesy names so that really isn’t binding.
Second of all, we have NO IDEA how old characters are when they are given courtesy names. I headcanon golden core formation because that makes sense to me as a coming of age thing for cultivators. We also don’t know how early on the courtesy names are determined -- wwx chooses Jin Ling’s courtesy name before he’s even born. Is that a Jin clan thing? And why is the generation character of the Jin clan tied to their courtesy names? There is a chance that every clan does it differently.
So, I'm going to answer your ask assuming 1) golden core formation, for most clans, triggers the bequeathing of a courtesy name and 2) that huaisang is his given name. As we know well, NHS detests cultivation because of his family’s history with the sabre spirits etc. He does a half-assed job of it. AND it’s noted in the novel that yes, he forms a golden core, but it’s barely a thing. You can call it a golden core but it’s definitely NOT strong and NOT something to be proud of. He is a weak cultivator -- and this is by his choosing. (of course, i headcanon he later cultivates with fan and brush but that’s an entirely different post and i’m not gonna get into that right now). So based on nhs’s relationship with his golden core, I can see LXC calling NHS huaisang for two reasons. 1)NHS doesn’t care for his courtesy name. It’s not something he embraces or values. He won’t tell people to call him that. (We also see this with Jin Ling. He really doesn’t like his courtesy name so he actually gets mad when people use it. Preference still matters.) 2) LXC has known NHS for a LONG time. Huaisang is an affectionate way for LXC to refer to NHS and this affection is rooted in NHS running around as a kid in CR before he had a golden core. As an older brother figure, he’s allowed to keep using it -- especially if NHS doesn’t really like his courtesy name. And if NHS doesn’t really use his courtesy name, there’s no reason for people to use it either? We just don’t have actual data to make that guess. Also, if you respect him as sect leader, you’re going to call him Sect Leader Nie. If you're his friend, you can call him Nie-xiong. If you don’t like or respect him, you might as well call him NHS, right? His reputation doesn’t really inspire awe. Again, context gives us so little information. :)
Ok. So the second part of the ask -- “A-Yao”. First of all, what, LXC, nicknames?! Are you really so starved for affection in CR that you start using nicknames? Seriously?! (This is why I ship them as a ship that crashed and burned in the most horrific ways. So much pain and i love it.) The level of fondness is so deep. Asdl;kachjahlj.
That aside, JGY was Meng Yao -- Yao being his given name. He didn’t start cultivating until later. His mom calls him that. He’s not “educated” in the old classic sense. His standing in the cultivation world is LOW. All of these point to Yao being his given name. I think GuangYao is JGY’s courtesy name. (And before you go, “Can you use the same character in your given and courtesy names?” yes. Yes you can. In fact, Li Bai of drunken poetry swordsman epic shenanigans fame is Last name Li, Given Name Bai, Courtesy Name TaiBai. And both Bais are the same character. Yes. there is historic precedence for this.And it’s Li Bai and it feels like he really didn’t give a f*ck. I think it’s hilarious, btw.) Like Zi of Zixuan and Zixun or Ru of Rulan, the family/generation term is part of the courtesy name. (Note: Because of the comment that Rulan’s Ru is the generation character and part of the courtesy name, I assume Zixuan and Zixun share the Zi as their generation character and so those names are their courtesy names. We don’t have that sort of indicator for the Nies so it can go either way.) LXC calling JGY/MY “A-yao” can be referring to MY/JGY’s courtesy and given name so it’s not necessarily rude. But as LXC doesn’t usually give nicknames, this is just VERY VERY FOND.
sheronm replied to your post “what kinds of things, narratively speaking, do you think help keep...”
I think letting the character drive the story is important. In a story where Steve brings Tony food, it's really about Tony growing as a person (learning to accept care) more than about Steve's choices. In a story about Tony making Steve a Cap suit, there is no choice for Steve to make (he can't choose not to wear it in most of these stories) so the choice is on Tony to make the suit. (tbc..)
Now if the fic deals with Steve's choice to accept Tony's design (i.e. trust his suit) then suddenly the story is about Steve. If the fic with Steve bringing Tony food is about Steve making the choice to go down to the lab even though he's scared of rejection, now it's about Steve making the CHOICE and it's about Steve. It's less to do with PoV and more with who changes/grows in the story and who is an active agent of their fate.
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That’s an EXCELLENT adittion. Character choices definitely shape what the story ends up being about, and, as you said, it’s all about what the focus is. I really love this insight.
sheronm replied to your post “In the vein of 'what the writing says about you': if you had to pick...”
Wow, I like this :)
:)
It’s something that I think has firmed up in my mind over the last few years. A lot of my earlier original fiction, and even some of my fanfic, was depressing as hell. And, just for the record, I don’t think there’s anything whatsoever wrong with writing dark fiction. If that’s your personal truth, then you should write it.
But for me, I think the darkness was - performative, a little bit? It was writing to someone else’s truth, not my own. And I’ve increasingly been asking myself over the last few years what I want my fiction to say. Writing is about putting down your own personal truth in words, so what’s mine? And I think that’s it: optimism. The belief that things will work out. Even if I have to aggressively set my jaw and drag the optimism out of myself at times.
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No pressure: 11. How do you get inside a character's head? Are some characters easier to write than others? Why?
Thank you so much for asking!
Usually my writing starts from a posed problem. For example, my recent story, The Fabric of Reality, started with the idea of what if Tony saw Steve in a coffee shop, but couldn’t talk to him. So from there, I usually get in what a character would be thinking about that situation, what they’re worried about, their motivation, what they want and/or need. That’s how I get into a character’s head – by looking at how they would solve a problem and what unique perspective they bring to that problem.
About the characters that are easier to write than others – I find characters like Steve to be easier when characters have personality traits, concerns/worries, values, similar to mine or people close to me in life. I can draw on that experience to help with characterization.
The other side of the coin is Thor – he is spectacularly hard because of the space prince angle but because of his character – who is he, why does he make the choices, how to avoid making him a bro-caricature. He’s an necessary character in Avengers Assemble fic so I’ve had to stretch to include him in fic.
Wow, these were very difficult questions! I hope the answers made sense.
Danny "let's make friends" Rand meets S1 Punisher :D (IDK you don't have to I just think it's hilarious). Did you write this already? If you have, ignore me, I'm so behind on reading all fic.
I have not written this! And you’re right, it’s adorable. XD Slight AU of 1x04.
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The van slammed into Madani's car, and it went tumbling sideways, and Frank was already stomping on the brakes, already thinking he was going to kill Lieberman, goddammit -- she was a cop, she was doing her job, this ... wasn't how he'd meant this to go, fuck, fuck, fuck. He stormed over to the van, where Lieberman had skidded to a halt and looked like he’d figured out that things had gone pretty far sideways, now that it was too fucking late, thanks a lot you idiot.
"What do you think you're doing?" he snapped at Lieberman, and then he turned around and discovered that some other idiot wearing a hoodie was dragging Madani out of her flaming car. Fucking hell, now what. Gang member? Gun runner? He had to go get her away from this new son-of-a-bitch before she got perforated.
"Go home!" he snapped at Lieberman, and drew a pistol as he strode over to stop whatever was about to happen to Madani.
The guy in the hoodie looked up, and he was wearing a scarf over the lower half of his face, so nothing at all suspicious about that. "Her foot's trapped," he said matter-of-factly, just like Frank wasn't holding a gun that could be pointing at him between one heartbeat and the next. "Lift up the seat, right there, would you?"
Between the two of them, they hauled Madani out of the flaming wreckage of her car. Frank glanced over to see that Lieberman had, thankfully, taken Frank's advice-slash-order and gotten the fuck out of there.
"You people are gonna get hurt, drag-racing late at night like this," the stranger said earnestly. He had a young-sounding voice. Some idiot kid, Frank thought, who had been, what, holding up a liquor store or something, and came out at the sound of the car accident to help? Hell of a place, this city.
"Thanks for the advice," Frank growled as he laid Madani out on the sidewalk.
"She looks pretty badly hurt." With that, the kid just up and pulled off his hoodie. He had curly blond hair and a T-shirt underneath. He started to lay the sweatshirt over Madani, but Frank snatched it out of his hands. "So," the kid began, "do you want me to call an ambulance, or --"
"I got this," Frank snapped. "Get out of here and forget you saw anything."
The kid hesitated, but Frank ignored him and laid the hoodie, still warm with body heat, over Madani. And for some reason that made the kid give a little nod. "Okay, but no more drag racing, and I'll be watching!" he said, and parkoured up the side of a building and vanished.
This town, Frank thought. This damned town. Well, at least the odds were good he'd never see that asshole again.
