Hey, I realized I could self-promote my fanfics for The Southern Archives/Archives: The Nanyang Mystery here on Tumblr. These are novel-verse canon compliant, but shouldn't conflict with the drama adaptation.
(I have not watched the drama yet OTL. Will probably binge it when it's all out.)
I've noticed an uptick in views since the drama started airing and figured hey, I'd love for more people to be in this fandom! I'd love to hear what you think, too. :)
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Title: Castles in the Air
Rating: T
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationship: Zhang Hailou/Zhang Haixia
Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Trauma Aftermath, Fever, Disabled Character, Canon Disabled Character, Canon Compliant, Bittersweet, Hopeful Ending, Podfic Available
Summary:
Ten months after the end of the Flower Reef case, Zhang Hailou and Zhang Haixia are back in Malacca at loose ends. It's an adjustment. Hailou is doing his best.
Character-driven musings about post-Flower Reef recovery and lingering feelings of guilt and confusion. But there will always be love!
Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/62251657
Podfic Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/70667406
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Title: The Shape of the World
Rating: M
Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Violence
Relationship: Zhang Hailou/Zhang Haixia
Tags: Canon Compliant, Vignette, Established Relationship, Murder, Rough Sex, Biting Kink, They are so in love, could be pre-canon or canon-divergent, Vibes, Happy, Podfic Available
Summary:
The only mirror they have is each other, the way they smile or frown while trading looks in the underbrush or concealed in the top of the canopy, peeking out between gaps in branches like jaguars.
A vignette about Hailou and Haixia and how much they love each other.
Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/78817251
Podfic Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/79989211
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: 盗墓笔记 - 南派三叔 | The Grave Robbers' Chronicles - Xu Lei, Tibetan Sea Flower | Adventure Through the Bronze Door, 藏海花 | Zang Hai Hua | Tibetan Sea Flower (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Wu Xie/Zhang Qiling
Characters: Zhang Qiling, Wu Xie, Bai Ma (DMBJ Series), Zhang Family (DMBJ Series), Night Lady, Zhang Xiaoguo, Bunny - Character
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - His Dark Material, ten year promise, bunny - Freeform, Fix-It, Canon melting pot, mention of self-harm, Wu Xie is not fine, but you know who is?, Zhang Xiaoguo fix-it, Canon-Typical Violence, Night Lady fix-it
Series: Part 5 of Seeing Wonders (a His Dark Material AU)
Summary:
It starts with the opening of a door, and it ends with the closing of a door.
It happened on a completely ordinary Tuesday afternoon. I was sitting on my bed, trying to decide if I should get changed for gardening or if my current clothes will do when, unannounced as he would, Pokerface walked into my room.
I only noticed him when he sat down - or rather slumped in a heap on the floor, leaning against the bed, right beside my legs. This was already highly unusual of him but before I could ask what he was doing he tipped slightly to the side and pressed his face against my knees.
I stared, frozen to the spot. What the fuck? I opened my mouth and promptly closed it again, unable to force out my questions. What the hell had gotten into this guy? His head was uncovered but from this angle all I could see was his nape and the top of his head - admittedly both only slightly harder to read than his face.
Now my first shock receded just enough that I was almost certain I could string together a sentence so I opened my mouth to try again - and then Pokerface's shoulders shook and the took a deep breath. A wet, shuddering breath.
For a moment it did not even register, my brain simply refused what I heard. I stared at his nape, at his shaking shoulders, unable to believe what I was seeing.
Pokerface was crying.
Cold nausea was starting to settle in my guts. What the hell? I knew I should do something but for a beat I was paralysed, unable to form a coherent thought, never mind act on it. The hand I was finally able to extend and lay on his shoulder was shaking uncontrollably.
He responded by feebly squeezing my ankle.
The horrible twist in my gut this gesture caused finally spurred me into proper action: I reached under his armpits and pulled him upwards. He relented and stood up. I sat fully up on the bed, leaning against the headboard and patted the space beside me. He climbed up but instead of sitting with me like I expected he curled up by my side and put his head on my thigh.
I was quite lost.
The last twenty or so years have equipped me with a large amount of varied life skills, but comforting people just wasn't one of them. My mind was going into overdrive both figuring out how to act and trying to keep the mounting worry, dread and anger at bay. Because, fuck, this was Pokerface. I was aware he was capable of crying but I have never, not once in my life have witnessed him doing it. What on Earth could have happened to hurt him this bad?!
I took a deep breath. Me spiralling was the last thing he needed right now. I looked down at him: he was hugging my legs, quietly sniffling. My vision swam as I put my hand back on his shoulder.
'I remembered something' he muttered into my trousers.
I swallowed around the lump in my throat. That made sense, and it was by far the more preferable option compared to him getting hurt in the present time. Still, knowing his past, I dreaded what fresh horror he would reveal.
'On the street... there was a young mother with her son. Seeing them was what brought it back... I saw her. There, in Motuo.'
Relief flooded me so hard it knocked the breath out of me and left me boneless. His mother. He remembered his mother. Not one of the countless, unspeakable atrocities committed against him but gentle Bai Ma.
'I'm glad' I whispered 'I'm glad, Xiaoge.'
We stayed there for a long time, long after his tears finally dried.
藏海花 | Adventure behind the Bronze Door (TV) | 沙海 | Tomb of the Sea (TV)
Words: 5,000
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Wu Xie/Zhang Qiling, Wang Pangzi & Wu Xie & Zhang Qiling
Additional Tags: Friendship, Pining, Getting Together
Summary:
Xiaoge has gone behind the Bronze Gate. Wu Xie is handling it well.
As the Wu Sect's heir, Wu Xie's whole life has already been decided. He is to be arranged to marry someone he doesn't love, set to continue his lineage by providing heirs and deal with endless duties as the Sect Leader. However, Wu Xie yearns for something more - Something related to his San-shu's disappearance and the assassins that came for his life, and secrets he allegedly knows. He's saved by a mysterious man Xiaoge, who appears to be someone that could give him the freedom he craves.
In order to get what he wants, and help Xiaoge get what he wants, they make a deal.
So I saw @foxofninetales's post with original art for DMBJ where Pangzi tries to commission a new Iron Triangle photo, and my hand slipped, and now there's fic for it!
These days weren't treating Pangzi that badly. He could now be chopping scallions for the braised fish at dinner (they had to be chopped to an inch of their lives because how else are you supposed to serve the dish? Like some sort of a savage?) to the tune of: "Pang-shu you're so fast! I can barely see your knife moving! That's so cool!"
Pangzi would blow the strand of hair away from his face and toss his head back to get it out of the way before proceeding to chop the scallions to even more of an inch of their lives without saying anything in response, because that itself was a response, wasn't it? And Pangzi could be humble sometimes. Sometimes.
Xiao Mei would lean in over the table where her homework had been lying in utter neglect for the entire evening and hook her chin on her hands while watching him. "You know, the other day I saw this movie where this man was killing people with chopsticks, and I think that could be you, Pang-shu!"
That interrupted Pangzi's fantasy, making him freeze, his hands stilling over the cutting board.
Pangzi made a mental note to check who was letting Xiao Mei watch these kind of movies, unsupervised.
Xiao Mei, unperturbed, continued. "He just sort of slammed the table, making the chopsticks fly up and then he slapped one of them and it went flying right into the other man's eye! It went straight into his eyeball with a squelching sound! It was so cool!"
At which point, Wu Xie sauntered in, evidently hungry, because he wasn't looking at Pangzi, he was looking behind him where the braised fish was on the stove.
"No, you can't get a little taste before dinner, Tianzhen," Pangzi responded tiredly, having seen this scenario repeat a thousand times, and resumed his chopping. Xiao Mei's eyes went wide again. She seemed to have stopped breathing.
"Did you know Pang-shu, knife skills require both motor skills and muscle memory? I've read that it takes years to get it right! Can you teach me sometime?" Xiao Mei asked, and Pangzi heard Wu Xie let out a tiny snort. Pangzi puffed up with the implied praise.
"I can teach you to slice scallions, no problem," Pangzi replied.
"You're lapping all of it up," Wu Xie said, grinning at him over the counter.
"Shut up, Tianzhen, at least she wants to learn something," Pangzi muttered under his breath.
"At least she wants to learn something from you, you mean," Wu Xie said, eyeing the scallions on the plate. "I'm persona non grata, as far she is concerned," he added, with a mournful air. "Especially after the school thing. How was I supposed to know that me turning up to her school was somehow indicative of the fact that you were no longer there? She was crying, Pangzi, I didn't know what to do!"
"I know," Pangzi replied soothingly.
"What are you two whispering about? Is Xie-shu asking you not to teach me?" Xiao Mei piped up from the table.
"There you go," Wu Xie said tiredly. "I can't do anything right, it seems."
"You have your Xiao Bai, and Xiaoge has that Jinx, so it's only fair that I get my own fan, right?" Pangzi said, trying to lighten up the mood. What he didn't expect was Wu Xie to slam his fist down on the counter, making the plates rattle and then look at him with gleaming eyes.
"That's exactly it! That's what this is! She doesn't hate me or Xiaoge! She just likes you! She's your fan!" Wu Xie blurted out like a man possessed.
"Who's a fan?" Xiao Mei asked suspiciously, looking at Wu Xie intently.
"I am," Wu Xie responded shamelessly, and then shoulder checked Pangzi. "Of your Pang-shu."
"No!" Xiao Mei said, getting up from the table and slowly walking over to them. "You can't be his fan!"
"Why not?" Wu Xie asked, curling his hand on Pangzi's shoulder and giving it a little squeeze to demonstrate his point.
"Because... because, that isn't fair!" Xiao Mei said, her voice getting shriller with every word. "You get to live with him! That is against the rules!"
"Against what rules?"
It was Xiao Bai, and Pangzi had forgotten that Wu Xie had invited her to dinner. Well, less fish for everyone, what did he care?
"You should know!" Xiao Mei exclaimed, pointing at Xiao Bai, who was smiling beatifically at Wu Xie and ignoring everything else. "I know you want to live with Xie-shu, too!"
Pangzi snorted, then tried to cover it up when Wu Xie shot him a betrayed look. "This is what I was talking about," Pangzi said in a mock whisper, and Wu Xie pulled his hand away from his shoulder.
Xiao Bai smiled again, baring her teeth this time. "Of course I do! I offered to take up a bookkeeping job at Wushanju if it meant that I could stay here."
"Wang Meng would want a raise," Pangzi mumbled, just loud enough for Wu Xie to hear.
"No, no, we're not having this discussion now. Is everything ready, Pangzi? I'll help you carry out the plates." Wu Xie pulled the plates off the counter and beat a strategic retreat, and Xiao Bai immediately followed.
"Let me help you," Xiao Bai said with enough sweetness to poison a diabetic.
It was later at dinner that they realized that Liu Sang was supposed to join them, too. What was this? Some sort of unofficial fan meet?
"Ouxiang," Liu Sang said, in a low tone of voice which made Pangzi's skin crawl. "I got you something."
Xiaoge didn't even look, spooning up his soup with the kind of single-minded attention that he gave to his sword-training.
Liu Sang pulled out a brown paper packet and pushed it towards Xiaoge on the table. "I know you liked these scallion buns, so I got them for you."
On his other side, Wu Xie let out a hissing sound. "That's the shop where you need to stand hours in queue, not to mention days, if they run out! However did he manage..."
Pangzi let out a self-satisfied sound. "What did I say Tianzhen, about you and Xiaoge and your fans?"
"You are now smug that you have one of your own," Wu Xie said, smirking, catching Xiao Mei's starry-eyed look from across the table.
"Well, it wouldn't be fair otherwise, would it?" Pangzi replied, picking off the meat from the fish. "Let's take a picture of us after dinner. We shouldn't let them eat the meal for free," Pangzi said, gesturing towards Liu Sang on Xiaoge's side trying to shift the plate with the fish surreptitiously to Xiaoge's side of the table, and Xiao Bai, who had put down Wu Xie's favourite beer next to his plate and was beaming happily.
"Of us?" Wu Xie echoed, surprised.
"Of the three of us. You, Xiaoge, and me. Like the old times. The one we had doesn't count. I didn't have enough muscles back then to flex."
After dinner, since Wu Xie had spread the word, Liu Sang and Xiao Bai had taken up position in front of the table. They had pushed the extra chairs away and had convinced Xiaoge to stand in the middle of the room, with his back to the double doors, which he never did if he could help it. Wu Xie had assured him it would only be a second, since digital cameras these days could take a hundred photos in a minute. One photo would be snapped in a second.
It did not take a second.
After three or four aborted attempts where Xiao Bai claimed that Liu Sang was poaching all the good angles, and then the fight over the lights, then the squabbling over who could get their idols to smile when they said "cheese", Xiao Mei stepped in. She peered into the phone screens as Liu Sang and Xiao Bai were checking the photos and wrinkled her brows in distaste.
"I have to do everything myself," Xiao Mei proclaimed before pulling Pangzi's phone from the table and unlocking it with practiced ease. Wu Xie's eyebrows shot up next to Pangzi, and he could feel it, because Wu Xie was squeezed in next to him and was now craning his neck to look at him.
"You didn't even share the code with me," Wu Xie hissed.
"I didn't share it with her," Pangzi remarked tiredly. "She figured it out."
"Xie-shu could you look to the front, please? You're ruining the shot," Xiao Mei said from across the room.
And then they heard the click of several hundred shutters, and Pangzi kept staring fixedly at the camera as Wu Xie hissed under his breath. "Burst shots! She's taking burst shots!"
When it was time to look at the results of the photo session, Pangzi cracked open a bottle of plum wine that he had been hoarding for the last few years.
"Let's see which one we can use," Pangzi said, looking at Liu Sang's phone. Wu Xie peered over his shoulder as Liu Sang started swiping the screen. There were well over twenty photos and every single one of them was a close up zoom of Xiaoge with Wu Xie's disembodied hand draped over his shoulder. Wu Xie made approving noises, but Pangzi wasn't pleased.
"You were supposed to take photos of all three of us. Can't count, Jinx?"
"I couldn't fit all of you in the same frame, sorry," Liu Sang remarked with a shit-eating grin and Pangzi would have launched himself at him if Xiao Bai didn't step in.
"Maybe you can use one of mine?" she asked sweetly, maybe a little too sweetly, now that Pangzi thought about it.
And Pangzi had to suffer through fifty photos of Wu Xie wedged in between two phantom shoulders, and some of them were blurry, and out of focus, as if Xiao Bai's hands were shaking as she took the photos.
"Next!" Pangzi remarked tiredly.
Then as he looked at the photos Xiao Mei had taken on his phone, Pangzi didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Every single one was of him. And there was at least a hundred of them in his gallery.
"You know what?" Pangzi said, looking over at Wu Xie who was smiling ear-to-ear as Xiao Mei flipped through the photos. "Let's just ask Wang Meng to photoshop the best ones into one photo, all right? I think that would work."
And that was how the monstrosity over the kitchen wall came to be (Wu Xie's words, not his) of a giant blown up photo with the three of them awkwardly mashed in. Their shoulders weren't aligned, and Xiaoge's photo had a hand when Wu Xie had pulled his to the front, and Pangzi looked like he was about to burst a vessel in his forehead, but it was also the best photo they ever had.
And if he had secretly saved all of the photos to his phone? No one had to be any the wiser.
