#gifts21
Winter Solstice gift for @gege!
Happy Winter Solstice! I’ve been following your blog since my early days in the fandom. I’m a huge fan of your collection of photosets and gifs.
This is actually the first time I made a fanmix for any fandom. I believe wangxian reached peak hurt/comfort during the post-sunshot campaign era. Add the get-together trope to the mix, and we get ourselves endless dramatic potential. The playlist has twelve tracks mostly from the pop and indie genre. It’s best to listen to this playlist in order, and with the idea that at some point, wangxian establish a romantic relationship. I’d describe the fanmix as a journey towards vulnerability and growth.
I hope you enjoy listening.
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For@tsumi-noaru.
*****
Dark Nights in Qinghe
Wei Wuxian is drunk, which is not unusual.
He is awake in the middle of the night, which is also not in the least unusual.
He is in Qinghe, which is more unusual.
He is also lost, which up until recently would have been quite unusual.
He can’t quite bring himself to care.
He knows what awaits him back at the Nie stronghold in the morning, and it’s basically a big steaming pile of horseshit, not to put too fine a point on it. Meetings. Planning. Maps. Strategies.
He had no idea war could be so boring.
@accidental-child-art. You did ask for comedy of errors and WangXian being extra and everyone else third-wheeling lol… I hope you enjoy this :D
*****
All aboard this drunk boat…
Wei WuXian surveyed his audience, thanking all the stars that Old man Lan and Sect Leader Lan were out on business and it was just him and HanGuang Jun entertaining their esteemed guests. A little worried, he leaned in towards his husband. “Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan…” he whispered urgently.
“Yes, Wei Ying…”
“I…umm, we have a slight problem.”
“What is it?” Lan WangJi asked calmly, unruffled as always.
“The kids drank the spiked tea!”
“You spiked their tea?”
He sounded… a bit alarmed, for Lan Zhan’s standards. Wei WuXian frowned unhappily. “No, I spiked yours!”
For@forrestcat. Happy holidays! Hope you enjoy your gift, and may you and your loved ones have a winter solstice filled with warmth and good food :)
*****
Most of the students in Professor Lan Qiren’s advanced physics class knew better than to talk during his lectures, so usually the only sounds in the huge lecture theatre were the scratching of pen on paper, the occasional creak of a plastic chair, and the professor’s droning voice. Today, however, two of the students had clearly decided to live life on the edge.
“Wait, explain that to me again — what does Lan Zhan have anything to do with why your brother can’t date his brother Lan Huan?” Wei Ying whispered to Huaisang, who was sitting on the other side of Jiang Cheng in the lecture theatre.
Huaisang leaned over Jiang Cheng’s table despite Jiang Cheng’s best efforts to jab him in the ribs with his elbow. “You know they live with their uncle, right?”
For@gilthoniel-o-elbereth. I tried to incorporate some of your likes, such as pining and warmth/softness between Wangxian. Hopefully you like this, and I’m so sorry if it’s too angsty for you. I’m an angst writer, so I feel like I have a different idea of what’s ‘happy’ aksjkfajs. In any case, I really hope you like it!
*****
Safe Haven
The sky was stormy and grey, a thick expanse of clouds obscuring the sun. Wei Wuxian couldn’t force himself to smile at the promise of a coming rainstorm like he’d been able to in the past. He wasn’t even sure he remembered how.
Inside, he knew, Yanli was watching over Jiang Cheng with care. She was tending to his wounds and trying to feed him and Wei Wuxian knew she would do anything to put a smile on their brother’s face. But life didn’t work like that. The only thing that would fix Jiang Cheng was gone, destroyed; never to be returned. It wasn’t a matter of helping Jiang Cheng recover. It was a matter of waiting for the inevitable.
I can’t let that happen.
Wei Wuxian closed his eyes for a second, trying to find peace, to settle himself in the knowledge of what he had to do. There was nothing he wouldn’t do to save Jiang Cheng. There was nothing he wouldn’t do to protect his family.
Winter Solstice gift for @beetleknee!
You said you like the anime more, so i tried my best to put a little more of an anime vibe to my style(but i had trouble lol) but you also told me you read the book, so here’s a part i thought you would like(i do like it a lot myself) Library tiiiime! Really hope you like it, stay safe and Happy holidays to you and your family!
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Here’s my gift for the Wangxian Winter Solstice Gift Exchange 2021 for my giftee @kokobako. I wish you all the best for 2022 :D
*****
Alluring
Lan Wangji was many things, but patient and invested when it came to listening to audiences was asking a bit too much of him.
Luckily, his older brother, Lan Xichen, was the true “Son of Heaven” and Lan Wangji only needed to attend those boring audiences and to act as the Emperor of China while Xichen was away from the imperial palace.
As of now, Xichen was on a secret mission that concerned an upcoming war with Qishan; and until his return, Lan Wangji would need to suffer internally as he sat on his brother’s golden dragon throne and he listened to various woes and pleas.
And things would be more tolerable, if only…
No. It was useless to think about this right now. About him.
Wei Ying.
Because Wei Ying, as one of China’s most wanted bandit, would never be tolerated close to the imperial palace ever again.
Not now. Not ever.
For@hualianaddict. May your Wangxian Winter Solstice be bright and full of new wangxian art and written words. Hope you enjoy my little cannon-Frankin-Fic.
*****
Homecoming
A cool breeze parted the canopy of leaves and sunlight danced along the stone steps. The forest was alive with the sounds of bird song. Lan Sizhui closed his eyes and took a deep breath.He thought of the thousands of times he had ascended the steps. When he was younger he would recite the Gusu Lan clan rules for every step he took, a reminder to himself of the rules he followed to allow him to stay in Cloud Recesses.
One of his first memories was waking in the medical pavilion to the smiling face of Zewu-Jun. He was the adopted son of the Second Jade of Lan and he would be treated as family. Once he was old enough and Hanguang-Jun was out of seclusion he would be taken down to Caiyi Town. Hanguang-Jun and Sizhui would walk the market and try food from different vendors, pick out new books or paper and ink. Hanguang-Jun would encourage him to play with the other children but Sizhui always refused, never wanting to leave Hanguang-Jun’s side.
By the time they would walk back to the Cloud Recesses, Sizhui would be exhausted. Yet he insisted on walking the steps on his own. He would only make a few steps before the strong arms of Hanguang-Jun would lift him up. Sizhui would fall asleep and wake in his bed. By the next morning Hanguang-Jun would have gone off alone on another dangerous night hunt.
Happy Winter Solstice to @kr15xxx! You gave me a lot to work with and here’s what I put together out of your prompts of: overprotectiveness, dark!LWJ, sentient Burial Mounds, angst, and chronic pain.
*****
A Hollow Place to Rest
In hindsight, it had been too easy to separate him from Wen Ning.
The two of them had already been a little on edge, traipsing through the familiar valley of the Qiongqi Path with a mixture of forced levity (from Wei Wuxian) and cautious optimism (from Wen Ning), when they were apprehended by a surprise.
“Lan Zhan!” Wei Wuxian had exclaimed. “Are you here to escort us personally? I had no idea we called for such lavish treatment! Or could you just not wait another moment to lay eyes on my peerlessly handsome face?”
Looking back, it was easy to see the places where Lan Zhan stood tense, how his eyes never landed too long anywhere in particular, how he moved in closer than his personal space normally allowed. But at the time, Wei Wuxian had just been happy to see his friend; even as the weeks grew easier (as steadily as their crops), it was still hard living in the Burial Mounds. Seeing Lan Zhan and speaking with Lan Zhan was more relaxing to Wei Wuxian’s weary spirit than an hour’s soak in any hot spring.
For@louzhan. Ok so this is what I’m fondly referring to as my innocence project au, cos I recently watched the Netflix show and it inspired this. Basically in a modern au where everyone has a dragon shift, wwx is framed for something he didn’t commit and is sent to prison for like, 30 years or whatever. Wwx and lwj are working with the modern cultivation equivalent of the innocence project to try and get wwx found innocent and released. Lsz is like 4 during this fic, and in this au wangxian developed a braincell and got married when lsz was 2, then a year later wwx was framed when he was 3. Eventually wwx is released, but imagine that his prison stay is this au’s equivalent of him being dead 13 years lol, with an eventual happy ending.I was initially just gonna draw, but I got bit by the ‘write flirty letters’ bug so have this instead lol. I sort of mashed up your requests, but I hope you enjoy this anyway!
*****
behind bars
Winter Solstice gift for @trashforxueyang!
Went with your witch AU prompt + added some ruffles and frills ♥ Hope you like it !
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For@rymyanna . Happy Winter Solstice! I hope this fits your likes: fluffy, facing the common enemy of Wei Wuxian’s fear, and also idiots to lovers.
*****
Operation Barking Dog
Lan Wangji’s attention was always on Wei Ying, so he couldn’t help but notice his uncharacteristic silence following their stop in Lanling during their travels. He couldn’t place a reason for his zhiji’s pensive mood.
Jin Rulan had been hospitable, if prickly. Had, in fact, called Wei Ying “dajiu,” even in front of other people—or perhaps especially, as though laying claim. Protection, perhaps, as much as a boy so young, sect leader or no, could offer. Wei Ying had seemed overwhelmed by it each time, which could potentially explain it.
The new sect leader had asked for Wei Ying’s counsel on several occasions on sect matters, clearly feeling the loss of Jiang Wanyin, who might have helped him otherwise.
“You were head disciple,” Jin Rulan had argued when Wei Ying tried to demur. “You got tons of training on this sort of thing, but… Well, xiao-shu—I mean, Jin Guangyao never taught me about sect matters. He kept saying it could wait until I was older.”
For @apprenticedmagician, they asked for fic and I picked soul marks as the subject because I have always wanted a reason to write a soul mark fic so thank you thank you for giving me the excuse. I hope there is an appropriate amount of angst and fluff because it is very hard to convince Lan Zhan to cooperate sometimes.
*****
Missing Pieces
There were so many times over the years that Lan Zhan wonders if it would be better if the handprint on his shoulder had just burned away like it should have when Wei Wuxian died.
Lan Zhan had screamed after his soulmate when Wei Wuxian threw himself to his death off the cliff. Feeling like he wasn’t getting air no matter how hard he breathed he waited at the top of the cliff for the searing pain of the soul mark as it burned away showing that his soulmate, Wei Wuxian, was gone. Instead of feeling the agonizing pain in his shoulder to match what he was feeling in his heart, what had come was only an intense tingle. It was like a limb falling asleep with the sensation of tiny insects crawling over where Wei Wuxian’s handprint marked the skin of his shoulder. He’d heard enough stories about people losing their soulmates and what happened afterwards to know what he was feeling wasn’t normal but It had been impossible to strip his robes off to check his shoulder on the remains of the battlefield.
Behind him were the groans and cries of the wounded from the battle but Lan Zhan didn’t care. His duty should be to help with the aftermath. He should be helping to assess the wounded and making sure to gather those of the Lan Clan that remained in one place to treat the wounded and to begin preparing to gather the dead.
Winter Solstice gift for @la-muerta!
Here are some of my favorite lines from “Saying Your Names” by Richard Siken. I hope you like it. Happy Holidays!
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@drowningbydegrees-fanworks. I hope you like it!
*****
It Has You In It
Wei Ying runs into the love of his life while rushing back to his hotel.
He’s staring at his phone, processing the meeting-that-could’ve-been-an-email that had taken four hours of his time. He’s not even in the city for more than two more days before his flight out, what do they expect him to–
Anyway.
He walks into someone’s chest and drops his phone. The other person doesn’t even budge, doesn’t flinch back or make a sound while Wei Ying scrambles to catch his phone and to apologize at the same time. Fails at both.
The phone hits the hard concrete and instead of saying anything smart, like, “I’m sorry, I wasn’t watching where I was going, are you alright?” he says, “Uuuh, okay, wow.”
Dear@rinamyeon,
I was inspired partly by your prompt for “farming/gardening AU” - but it went differently than what I’d expected, and turned into a monster. I promise you, despite the somewhat concerning tags, this is going to be soft and fluffy and tender AF, with only the lightest sprinkling of angst - like sea salt on a chocolate chip cookie. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to finish the whole thing before the deadline like I’d hoped, but I hope you like the first instalment of this WangXian Cottagecore!AU.
Love,
xxx
*****
what is essential (is invisible to the eye)
The oldest video on Hanguang-jun’s YouTube page is a simple one. It’s just over four minutes long, and shows a pair of hands making tea in an elegant red-brown teapot, set to gentle guqin music overlaid with natural birdsong. The video focuses on his hands and the teapot, in a pool of golden sunlight, and cuts off just above his fine-boned wrists, his long fingers center-stage. The video ends after he pours pale golden tea, in a near silent stream, into a tiny glazed cup with blue clouds patterned around the rim. It has three-and-a-half million views on YouTube alone, and the top rated comment is a sonnet about his hands.
However, true fans of Hanguang-jun know that before the first tea video (there have been several since), there was another video which was taken down just after his first viral success.
For@leahlisabeth. Okay, so when I initially started writing this fic I had a difficult time trying to decide how I wanted to go about it but ultimately decided on this. Then, a couple weeks into writing, I was looking at one of my old works for inspiration when I noticed that you actually left a comment on that fic! I still haven’t updated that particular work but I hope that this gift will cater to your taste! I definitely got a bunch of ideas from your prompts and loved working on it! Happy Winter Solstice!!
*****
i see forever in your eyes
Wei Ying is unpacking with Lan Zhan when he gets the call. It is a Friday night, probably sometime past nine when Wei Ying’s phone rings.
“She’s gone,” comes the hoarse voice of Wen Qing. “The grief must have taken a toll on her and now she’s gone.”
Wei Ying doesn’t even need to ask who. He has grown very close with the Wen family in the last five years and was particularly fond of her cousin, Wen Mei. She was spirited and stubborn and willful, always getting into trouble with Wei Ying—but also only eighteen when found with child. She was fortunate that her boyfriend, Hao Zhou, was supportive. When he first heard the news, he lifted her in his arms and spun them around the room with tears streaming down his eyes. Wei Ying still recalls having to stop him before anyone tripped or fell. They were young, in love, and maybe a little reckless but they wanted a family—their family.
