#tluc

Chapters: 4/7 Fandom: 陈情令 | The Untamed (TV), 魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Jiang Cheng | Jiang Wanyin/Nie Huaisang Characters: Nie Mingjue, Jiang Cheng | Jiang Wanyin, Jiang Yanli, Lan Huan | Lan Xichen, Lan Zhan | Lan Wangji, Jin Guangshan, Jin Ling | Jin Rulan, Meng Yao | Jin Guangyao, Wei Ying | Wei Wuxian, Nie Huaisang Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Arranged Marriage, Wei Wuxian gives up the Stygian Tiger Seal, and it causes Problems™, featuring Nie Huaisang unlocking his final form, and Jiang Cheng's crippling inferiority complex, 3zun | Venerated Triad Dynamics, talismans for fun and profit Summary:

In the end, the whole affair is a bit anticlimactic. Nie Huaisang, second son of Qinghe Nie, goes to his knees before another clan’s ancestors and rises up as Nie Huaisang, Chief Consort of Sandu Shengshou, Leader of the Yunmeng Jiang. He isn’t quite sure what he’d been expecting when he decided to marry a near stranger for the sake of political intrigue, but it certainly hadn’t been whatever this is.

“The Yunmeng Jiang are something of a myth up north, you know,” Nie Huaisang muses. “In Qinghe they say if you bring a Jiang disciple fishing, the carp will leap into the nets on their own.”

Jiang Wanyin snorts. “Wouldn’t that be a pretty trick.”

“They also say the Jiang Clan can command rivers to run backwards,” Nie Huaisang continues impishly, “and that they dance naked during monsoons.” 

The sect leader scoffs. “You’ll be waiting a long time if you expect to see me dancing naked in the rain.”

“A shame,” Nie Huaisang sighs, fluttering his fan. “Thankfully, patience is my favorite virtue.”

“I can’t believe you tracked it for three days,” Jiang Wanyin grumbles. “Ugly little thing like that.”

“It was a lovely bird!” Nie Huaisang protests.

“It shit in your sleeve,” the sect leader points out.

“It was a decent bird,” Nie Huaisang amends.

ASLKFJDSLDKJ ok this just made my day. I really didn’t expect this level of engagement around a rarepair fic, but I’m so glad you guys are liking it! Cheers, anon! 

Tell us about your current project(s) – what’s it about, how’s progress, what do you love most about it?

Oh ho ho...you’ve activated my trap card.

Right now I’m mostly working on The Law of Unintended Consequences: a SangCheng arranged marriage AU featuring NHS (a shrewd socialite with two faces. human personification of the knife roomba) and JC (a secret romantic who keeps trying to outrun his own mythology. an unevolved scorpio). Neither of them marry for love, but they grow into it along the way. 

(I also have WIPs that I’ve been working on in bits and pieces, including: Untitled Wangxian foster dads AU, Dig Two Graves- wherein JGY ascends and becomes the god of revenge, Untitled Detective Nielan AU, and Customary Vices which is just XXC/SL & gratuitous pwp.)

In terms of progress, I have about 4.7k of TLUC’s Ch. 2 written right now, Ch. 3 is already outlined (AH I CAN’T WAIT FOR THAT CHAPTER), and the rest of the fic is basically plotted out. (Work is starting back up again on Monday, so I expect my progress will be a little slower in the foreseeable future.)   

The thing I love most about it? Watching all of the puzzle pieces slowly fit together!! There’s something v. satisfying about writing a fic as plotty as this one and watching the storyline evolve in parts. I love the political theater of CQL/MDZS.

Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?)  

AAHHH I AM SO GLAD U ASKED!! Okay, okay, okay....I want to tell you guys things without spoiling anything, so I’m going to be careful with what I share. Pls forgive me. 1. The hairpin is important. U have probably already guessed this. It features in the final scene of TLUC. Its meaning changes in that final scene. That’s all I’m gonna say about that.

2. The quick reference NHS makes to NMJ & LXC arguing is also...important. U will see more of this soon.

3. I headcanon that NHS does a lot of his cultivating through practicing the Three Perfections. (Feel free to dunk on me about this headcanon bc I am new to this fandom and I probably have an imperfect understanding of cultivating/golden cores.) NHS canonically hated saber practice and probably found meditation boring, right? HOWEVER there are tons of articles out there about calligraphy as a spiritual practice, calligraphy and meditation/stress relief, etc. and wouldn’t that be totally in-character of NHS? Who was always soft because he wanted to be, who only paid attention to things he was interested in, but also didn’t want to be useless to his clan? Idk I think about alternate cultivation methods a lot. 4. THE BIRDS. I won’t say a ton, but u may have guessed where this particular plot device is headed. Magpies are (erroneously) called the thieves of the bird world. I thought it was appropriate that NHS would use magpies to contact the handler that steals the hairpin bc the handler is......a thief. Pls stop booing, I know I’m not being particularly subtle here.

5. Clues for future scenes (1 or 2 in particular): Nie Huaisang has never not been a Nie. 

No, I will not explain.

Jiang Wanyin starts an argument. Nie Huaisang has 99 problems and his husband is all of them. Jin Guangshan decides to ruin one (1) man’s day.

Bonus Feature: Nie Mingjue & Jin Guangyao duet “I Won’t Say (I’m In Love)” with NHS on backing vocals.