"I'm a leaf on the wind...

Writing Rainbow: Purple fics have been unveiled so I can post two ficlets that I wrote for it!


Purple (Like the Shadows in Your Heart) (3531 words) by anecdotalist
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Zhào Xīncí/Shěn Xī, Zhào Xīncí & Zhāng Shí, Zhào Xīncí & Shěn Wēi
Characters: Zhào Xīncí, Zhāng Shí, Shěn Xī, Zhào Yúnlán, Shěn Wēi
Additional Tags: warning for bigotry (this fic is in Zhao Xinci's pov), Pre-Canon, Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, Character Study
Series: Part 1 of Variegation
Summary:

"If someone were to ask Zhao Xinci later, he wouldn’t have been able to say when it was that things changed between him and his wife."

Purple (Like the Open Fields) (2401 words) by anecdotalist
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Zhào Yúnlán, Dà Qìng, Chǔ Shùzhī, Zhào Xīncí, Zhāng Shí
Additional Tags: Pre-Canon, Character Study
Series: Part 2 of Variegation
Summary:

Zhao Yunlan's first day as Chief of the Special Investigations Department was definitely a memorable one.

This was my first flash exchange and it was...interesting. I think I liked it more because I was participating in it with friends and we got to scream at each other about it. It definitely got me writing, and without having time to agonize over my fics the way I usually do which may or may not have been a good thing.

I very much dislike Zhao Xinci so I never thought I'd write something from his pov but the plot bunny came and wouldn't leave so here we are. Then I wrote sort of a follow-up, and there's a third one that I'm planning on writing. I don't think you need to read the first one before you read the second, for those of you who would prefer to skip anything ZXC-related.

I meant to post this awhile ago because I'd put it together, oh gosh, back in June and I could have sworn that I did but I can't find it on my own journal so here it is: a list of all the Dixing powers we see in Guardian, and some non-Dixing powers as well. I've listed reference eps for the ones I came across during rewatches but it's incomplete so if anyone wants to contribute some ep numbers, please do and I will update this!




PSYCHIC

Controlling people and objects like puppets (Chu Shuzhi, ep. 1, 2)
Levitation (Shen Wei, ep. 1 and ep. 38?)
Conjuration (Shen Wei, ep. 1)
Psychokinesis/Telekinesis (Gao Tianyu, ep. 2; Shen Wei, ep. ?)
Aura reading (Shen Wei, ep. 3)
Dark energy manipulation (Shen Wei, ep. 2; Zhu Jiu, ep. 4)
Ability to share one’s vision with someone else (Shen Wei, ep. 15?)
Psychometry (Ding Dun, ep. ?)
Pyrokinesis (Ye Huo, ep. 18)
Astral projection (Ye Zun, ep. ?)
Apportation - teleportation of an object (Shen Wei, ep. 33?)
Mind control (Zheng Yi, ep. 11; Ye Zun, ep. ?)
Absorption - of powers, people, and inanimate objects (Ye Zun, ep. 35)
Learning Dixing abilities (Shen Wei, ep. 15?)
Reality manipulation (Lai Su, ep. 7; Zu Ma, ep. 24)
Dream manipulation (Nightmare Master, ep. 31)


AIR-BASED

Encasing self in shadows ([unnamed Dixing guy], ep. 1, 33?)
Poison that only affects Dixingren and Yashou (Zhang Danni, ep. 4)
Teleportation through oxygen (Wu Tian’en, ep. 5)
Teleportation through light (Zhu Jiu, ep. 10)
Generating electricity (Sha Ya, ep. 26)
Creating illusions (Mi Lu, ep. 36)


WATER-BASED

Ice formation (Shen Wei, ep. 1; Ye Zun, ep. 40)
Water manipulation (Wu Xiaojun, ep. 5)


EARTH-BASED

Plant growth (Hua Yuzhu, ep. 29)
Changing the composition of the earth (Bao Laosan, ep. 16)


SPACE-TIME

Portal formation (Shen Wei, ep. 1)
Stopping time (Shen Wei, ep. 1)
Exchanging places with a person via a mirror ([unnamed Dixing girl], ep. 5-6)


POSSESSION

Possession of person (Zhang Shi, ep. 30)
Possession of inanimate objects (Chu Nianzhi, ep. ?)


METAPHYSICAL

Encasing self in shadows ([unnamed Dixing guy], ep. 1, 33?)
Healing (Shen Wei, ep. 2, 3)
Stealing faces (Jia Hui, ep. 4)
Making body parts be as strong as steel (Deacon, ep. ?)
Becoming water (Wu Xiaojun, ep. 5)
Hardening lower body ([unnamed Dixing guy], ep. 16)
Exchanging life force to remove illness - activated by merit brush (Feng Qubing, ep. 22)

---

NON-DIXING ABILITIES

Precognition - from exposure to Hallows (Zhao Yunlan, ep. ?) and serum (Zhao Yunlan, ep. 40)
Changing someone’s personalities - from serum (Kong Jing, ep. 25)
Superhuman strength - from serum (Ouyang Zhen, ep. ?)
Psychometry - from serum (Guo Changcheng, ep. 39-40)

No Sunday Six today because instead, I wrote a one-shot ficlet. :D I was feeling the itch to write something light and fun, kinda silly and crack-y, and none of my active WIPs was satisfying that itch. So: one-shot it was. This features Zhao Yunlan, Ye Zun, and Shen Wei snarking and fighting the good fight together. Against vampires!

Anyway, here it is:


Revere the Night (2640 words) by anecdotalist
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Yè Zūn & Zhào Yúnlán, Shěn Wēi & Yè Zūn
Characters: Zhào Yúnlán, Yè Zūn, Shěn Wēi
Additional Tags: Canon-Typical Violence, Canon-typical flirting, Pre-Slash, (between ZYL and SW of course), Vampires, Vampire Hunters, Alternate Universe - Night World Fusion
Summary:

In which Zhao Yunlan (vampire hunter) reluctantly teams up with Ye Zun (vampire) to stage a rescue.

Knockin' on Hell's Door (4502 words) by anecdotalist
Chapters: 1/?
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian - priest, 镇魂 | Guardian (TV)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Shěn Wēi/Zhào Yúnlán
Characters: Shěn Wēi, Zhào Yúnlán, Zhào Yúnlán's Mother
Additional Tags: Canon-Typical Violence, Alternate Universe - Mythology, Inspired by Hades and Persephone (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore), novelverse, suggestion of cannibalism
Summary:

When the depths of the underworld are more welcoming than the land of the living, you know you have a problem. Zhao Yunlan isn’t sure why the Ghost King keeps letting him wander in, but he’s not complaining.

I'm having so much fun writing this that I couldn't wait to post it so here's the first part. It can stand on its own, but I do have some of the next part written so fingers crossed that it won't take me forever to update it.

I don't know if anyone else is having a hard time with pulling up relationship and character tags when posting to AO3 for Guardian because of all the tonal marks but I am. So I copied and pasted the more common name tags into a google doc so that I could copy and paste from there into AO3. I'll list them here too in case anyone else wants to use them. (I'm happy to add others if people want; these are just the ones I saw most often.)


Relationships:

Shěn Wēi/Zhào Yúnlán
Chŭ Shùzhī/Guō Chángchéng


Characters:

Shěn Wēi
Zhào Yúnlán
Dà Qìng
Chŭ Shùzhī
Zhù Hóng
Lín Jìng
Wāng Zhēng
Sāng Zàn
Guō Chángchéng
Yè Zūn
Zhāng Shí
Zhào Xīncí

Sometimes I think about posting more often but I don't, in all honesty, have much to say, lol. I've been rewatching Guardian with a couple of folks (we're going slowly this time around); thinking about picking up vidding again so I can make a Ye Zun vid, a sappy Weilan vid, and an angsty Weilan vid (yes, I've thought enough about this that I already have some concrete ideas; the problem is that my vidding software is on my old laptop and I think I have to uninstall it from there before I can install it on my new one); and watching BTS performances (I also indulged myself yesterday and bought a physical copy of their album, the concept photos are so soft).

Anyway, writing updates!

520 exchange: Went live on Monday! I got the most amazing gift from kitshunette - Wherever the tide takes me. It's artwork + plot for a Pacific Rim AU which I adore (I look for those in pretty much every fandom I'm in). Please check it out if you haven't already.

My own offering was: Human Courtship Rituals, As Witnessed By A Member of the One and Only Cat Tribe for Blue. As you can guess, it's a fic about Weilan from Da Qing's pov. I had so much fun writing this fic.

....I feel terrible about this but I am very very behind on reading the 520 fics. I don't know if this happens to anyone else but my reading in a fandom tends to drop significantly when I start writing in it. I think it has to do with having trouble pulling myself out of my own headcanons and stories enough to immerse myself in someone else's? It's harder with long fics than short ones which sucks because I generally love long fics.

wipbigbang: I submitted my snippets yesterday for the art claims so *fingers crossed* that my fic will get picked up by an artist. The fic itself is coming along slowly. But it's looking like it's gonna be over 20k words when it's done.

Alien invasion fic: Still stalled. I actually know what's supposed to happen next, I just keep putting off writing it.

Other fics: I have an idea for a Weilan fic inspired by BY and ZYL's new shows, though I haven't watched any of them so it's really just the premise of the new shows and not the shows themselves. I started writing a Hades/Persephone fic based onbonibaru's prompt at the bunny farm. I had the urge to write a really angsty canon tie-in fic earlier today but that passed.

520 Reverse Exchange: I'm done with the fic! And it's been posted! I managed to keep it relatively short - it's just a little over 3k words. Hopefully my recipient is happy with it. *crossed fingers*

wipbigbang: I had a minor freakout about this last week, because I thought the deadline was much sooner than it actually is (in July, phew!) but it's all good now. I've finally outlined my wuxia fic so I have an idea of what I actually have to write and how things get from point A to point B which is nice. There's just so. much. more. to. write.

current wordcount: 11,325 (that's inaccurate, though, because it's including the summary and my outline notes)

future fix-it/alien invasion fic: This one stalled a bit while I wrote my 520 fic and then had my freakout over the wipbigbang but hopefully I'll be able to get back to working on it now.

current wordcount: 15,605 (this is all fic)

I have managed (barely) to refrain from starting any more fics, but thanks to a plot bunny left by bonibaru I now have an idea for a novelverse Weilan fic loosely based on Hades and Persephone.... *facepalm*

( Anyway, have a snippet from my wuxia fic! )

A general update on this fic: I've reached the point where the action happens (i.e., when the alien invasion starts)! Huzzah! \o/

Current word count: 12,552 (it feels like it should be much higher but alas, me thinking about this fic a lot doesn't equal actual words written, lol)

Today's snippet is from an earlier scene, because I can't help going back and editing stuff I've already written. >.<

---

A statue of him. Holding the Guardian Lamp—the actual, real Guardian Lamp—over his head with an outstretched arm. His other hand is tucked into a pocket of his pants. He’s grinning widely and there’s a lollipop sticking out of his mouth.

“Oh no,” he breathes out, aghast. He covers his face with his hands. Dear ancestors.

I want to post some of the juicier snippets from my WIPs but I also don't want to spoil too much so this is getting much harder to do, lol.

(The summary for this fic is here, if you're interested.)

---

This version of Shen Wei works with a new aeronautical division of the bureau as a pilot. She flies simulated space crafts and engineers make adjustments to calculations and designs based on her feedback. One day, two highly placed officials—going by their suits and the wide berth that everyone gives them—are watching her simulated flight from an observation platform. “Minister, are you sure we should keep pursuing this? You remember Ma Gui’s warning about space?”

“I very much do remember the warning that he had left for us. But it has been over ten thousand years. Things surely have changed since then.”

I realized I haven't posted a snippet from this one for awhile, so here's a bit from the less-angsty fic.

---

Shen Wei takes a seat on a bench in one corner of the room. There’s no telling when the Crown Prince will come by, so he uses the time to focus on his breathing and steady his nerves. This is a little different than his usual missions but it’s well within his abilities to complete. Certainly he’s a better candidate for this than his brother, whose flair for the dramatic would get him into trouble from the outset. His insistence that everyone, including his own twin brother, call him only by his self-proclaimed title of Ye Zun for the duration of the war is evidence enough of that.

Some time later, a gentle knock against wood brings him out of his reverie. He can see three shadows through the screens on the doors to the guest pavilion that they’re waiting in. One of those is one of the Empress’ ladies, who announces softly, “Empress Shen, the Crown Prince Zhao Yunlan is here.”