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

Ahhh, I'm so excited to finally post this! This is the concubine!SW fic that I've been working on since February? March? Anyway, it's finally done! It's about 40k words (wayyyyy more than I had originally predicted, lmao) and my posting deadline for wipbigbang is on Saturday so I'm gonna be doing a chapter per day every day this week.

Please enjoy:


Chrysanthemum Flowers and Jade Daggers (7710 words) by anecdotalist
Chapters: 1/6
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Shěn Wēi/Zhào Yúnlán
Characters: Shěn Wēi, Zhào Yúnlán, Guardian (TV) Ensemble, Zhù Hóng, Dà Qìng
Additional Tags: just about everyone who's in Guardian makes an appearance or is mentioned, also Zhao Xinci and Zhang Shi are two different people, Shen Xi (Zhao Yunlan's mom) is alive, no Dixing powers AU, wuxia-inspired AU, concubine Shen Wei, prince Zhao Yunlan, Alternate Universe - Historical, kind of, in that Haixing is based on ancient China (Warring States period specifically) here, (except substitute 'leader of Dixing' for general), #when your concubine is the winningest general
Summary: Dixing is one of the last States standing against Emperor Zhao Xinci’s attempt to conquer and unite all the lands. The Crown Prince, Zhao Yunlan, has been fighting at the front lines of the war against Dixing for years when his mother gifts him with a concubine. Shen Wei is beautiful and magnetic and Zhao Yunlan falls in love with him instantly. But Shen Wei isn’t just a concubine; he’s a Dixing spy who’s being embedded in Zhao Yunlan’s household to gather intel and potentially assassinate the prince. He doesn’t expect to fall in love.

Part 2 of Knockin' on Hell's Door is up! Featuring the Ghost King being perplexed by ZYL.

Thanks to a couple of writing sprints, I've made some progress on the alien invasion fic! \o/ Unfortunately, I'm now actually stuck plot-wise so I'm going to have to figure out how to get from Point A to Point B before I can do more.

I tried writing smut for my wuxia fic and ended up writing 150 words of sap, lol.

Anyway, here's a snippet from the Hades and Persephone fic:

( Read more... )

I also started another fic, which brings me up to 4 active WIPs. That's not too bad, right??? Anyway, have a snippet of this one too:

( Read more... )

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! )

Today's the first check-in for the wipbigbang (which I only coincidentally stumbled upon because I apparently never subscribed to the journal, haha, oops) so I thought I'd also give an update for my fic. I'm using the concubine Shen Wei fic for this bigbang, which I've been calling my Scarlet Pimpernel fic because it was initially inspired by this plot bunny. However, I finally looked up the original Scarlet Pimpernel novel and realized that that name doesn't quite fit this fic. So....I think I might start calling this my wuxia fic? Because wuxia films are what I've ended up basing a lot of this on.

Word count at the start: 4,480
Current word count: 8,100 (a little less, actually, because some of those are section titles)

So, good news: I've already met the word count requirement for the fest!

Bad news: There's still so much more to write. :cries:

Worse news: I'M STUCK ON THE SEX SCENE. WHY IS SMUT SO HARD TO WRITE???

( Spoilery snippet of what I've written this week )

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

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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.”

I did a thing! It's a prompt fill for teaotter 's prompt: Zhao Yunlan convinces Shen Wei to dance with him. Night club? Ballroom? Yashou country dances with flower crowns? As long as they're dancing, I'll love it!


truths told by starlight (2305 words) by anecdotalist
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Shěn Wēi/Zhào Yúnlán
Additional Tags: Fluff, War Era, Ten Thousand Years Ago, Spoilers through the end of the series
Summary: The allied forces celebrate a victory with a bonfire and music. Shen Wei and Kunlun are in their own little world.

I swear this is an actual fix-it. There's just some angst to get through first. :)

Anyway! I think it was naye who said that this doesn't have be exactly 6 sentences, so I decided to include more. The first snippet I posted for this is here.

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“Yeah,” Zhao Yunlan agrees. Then, “Wait. Before you go—can I, just one more time—” He’s having trouble forming a complete sentence, putting his desperate desire into words, but Shen Wei understands what he’s asking.

Shen Wei steps up to him and cups a hand around the nape of his neck. Zhao Yunlan wraps his arms around his waist. Their lips meet softly. It’s a tender kiss, one that says ‘I’ll love you forever’ and ‘this isn’t the end for us.’ And then it says, ‘I’ll never forget you’ (which is a lie, because Shen Wei will forget him and they both know it). And then, finally, it says, ‘Goodbye.’

From episode 15 (click for full size), when they're having a celebratory toast after dealing with the paparazzi who discovered Shen Wei's secret.

I really love when Zhao Yunlan sits on a table, I'm finding out....