Fanart of vigilante Kim. His power is manipulating light and shadow as though they're a physical material. He has an uncanny knack for tracking down shiny, reflective objects and often solidifies deep shadows into wings to help him get around more easily.
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Hi have u read dark rise by cs pacat bc I feel like it would be ur vibe
also just finished a restless truth and it was great!!
I have! it is one of my top three YA fantasy books of all time (also up there: in other lands, the queen's thief series) although it must be said that I very seldom pick up a YA book and even then don't often make it through them. the genre conventions are just Not For Me.
but I will begrudgingly follow c.s. pacat anywhere, so.
extremely random question but do you know if there are any detailed descriptions of Formalcraft being performed/used? Wiki isn't being very helpful. Thanks so much!
formalcraft is stuff like ritual sacrifice that can be achieved without any personal magic capacity as long as you know how to perform the ritual. it’s brought up in fate route during one of rin’s lectures on magic, but as far as I know there aren’t any onscreen characters making use of it since its premise is that you sacrifice something else to make up for your own lack of power and all the nasuverse mages who are weak enough that they might have to resort to it are folks like shirou who would never
your best bet is ayaka and elza sajyou’s formalcraft, although their type of formalcraft is written with a different set of kanji so it seems to be a whole different kind of magecraft. I don’t know much about prototype either so I have no idea how much its expanded upon in there
Hi @garsideofthemoon :) Looked around your AO3 a bit and found this little fic, which inspired me to write about phoenix WWX. Bent the rules a lot so the references are very vague and diluted...it kind of took on a life of its own. I tried to combine a few things that you might like. Honestly I had too many concepts that I wanted to fit into this story! Hope you enjoy~
*****
A Song of Flames
Perhaps the fire had always been there.
Wei Ying had tried to explain it to his brother and sister. But how could something like this be explained?
It was not a real fire.
Wei Ying had only experienced two other kinds of fire. One was the small, cozy nighttime campfires on his family’s riverbank backyard at Lotus Pier—campfires he sat around beneath starry skies with Jiang Cheng and Jiang Yanli, telling stories of the mutant heroes that their world both revered and despised.
The other kind of fire, he had seen when he was five years old. It was a torrent of vicious flames that devoured his parents after a car crash, tearing away their flesh like crimson claws.
It was a fire that he somehow escaped. But he did not escape the terrifying memory. He blocked it out of his mind the best that a young boy could.
I really hope you like it! I love imagining Kim and Chay trying to bake together for the holidays, looking up recipes and sharing some photos with the Wik fans ♡
Hi!! Been a fan of yours for yours and just finished A Marvellous Light which I loved!! I wanted to thank you for writing fleshed-out Indian Diaspora characters who felt true to life. I'm Indian and I really appreciate seeing that in the fiction I read
oh, thank you so much! adelaide and catherine romped into the story and became my absolute favourite supporting characters, so I'm pleased you felt I did them justice.
I named kitty (catherine amrit kaur) in honour of the period-appropriate historical badass and indian politician amrit kaur! she is also the reason why addy and kitty went to sherbourne school for girls.
Hi! From the prompt I was inspired by @garsideofthemoon’s Likes: AUs, friends to lovers, shippy fluff, stuff about being queer or being trans/nonbinary. I hope that I did the characters enough justice in your eyes and you enjoy reading this!! Happy Winter Solstice!
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*****
Not Your Boyfriend, Still Your Love
“Lan Zhan!” Wei Wuxian called across the lawn of central campus, waving their arms frantically to get the other’s attention, “Lan Zhan! Wait up!”
Wei Wuxian’s brother, Jiang Cheng punched his arm, “Shut up, idiot, he’s clearly on his way to class.”
But Lan Wangji stopped his walking and turned back slightly to face Wei Ying, face impassive but the fact that he stopped was invitation enough for Wei Wuxian, who ran across the quad and pounced onto the taller man, wrapping both arms around his shoulders and hanging on. Lan Wangji took his weight easily.
“Good morning, Wei Ying.”
“Morning Lan Zhan!” Wei Wuxian chirped, pressing their face happily into the back of Lan Wangji’s neck and smiling against his skin.
Jiang Cheng caught up with them and the three continued their walk through the campus, “Aren’t you tired of this idiot yet, Lan Wangji?”
Wei Wuxian pouted at his brother, “He didn’t tire of being my friend after ten years so it’ll be at least another ten years of being my boyfriend before he gets tired of that, right Lan Zhan?”
“That sentence makes no sense,” Jiang Cheng said, “And you’ve been together for three years, what happens in seven years?”
“Husband,” Lan Wangji said, in the solemn way of his.
Wei Wuxian internally winced, and instead danced away from the other two, “Haha, maybe,” he sung, “You have to ask me first, Lan Zhan! You don’t know I’ll say yes!”
Lan Wangji twitched an eyebrow at him as if to say don’t I?
Wei Wuxian chewed on his lower lip all through class, worrying it like the creeping self-doubt worried at his brain. The problem wasn’t Lan Zhan. He loved Lan Zhan. Had loved him since they were seven and Wei Wuxian pushed an older kid off the swings when he tried to kick Lan Zhan as the quieter kid walked by.
Back then, Lan Zhan was the Absolute Best Thing that had ever happened to Wei Wuxian, nevermind that when they first met a year before Lan Zhan kept tattling on him drawing little comics during class instead of paying attention to the teacher.
“Books are so boring!” Wei Wuxian exclaimed at him across their four-kid table, “I pay attention during math, don’t I? And we don’t have a learning time for drawing so I do that when the rest of you talk about books! It’s more fun than reading dumb old words anyway, look, I drew you!”
Now, fourteen years later, Wei Wuxian still thought that Lan Zhan was the Absolute Best Thing ever, but they were less sure that they were good for them.
Lan Zhan was gay. Had always been gay, since forever. At their first party that Wei Wuxian dragged Lan Wangji to when they were fifteen, playing spin the bottle and during Lan Wangji’s turn landing on their friend Mianmian. His face had screwed up distastefully as the rest of the group hooted and said, rather primly, “I’m not interested in kissing any girl.”
Wei Wuxian turned and was about to apologize to the girl in question, but she just rolled her eyes and responded, “Well I’m not interested in kissing any boy either.”
Wei Wuxian had wondered why those were the only two options, and in his slightly drunken state wondered why he felt between them. (He didn’t kiss Lan Zhan that night, even when Lan Wangji’s next spin landed on him and with no protest his friend leaned over and pressed his lips to Wei Wuxian’s cheek.)
Much later, at Mianmian and Jiang Yanli’s engagement party they regaled Yanli with this tale, everyone shouting their version at each other over champagne and music. Lan Zhan had pressed a kiss to the same spot on Wei Wuxian’s cheek.
By then Wei Wuxian had a much better understanding of who they were. He had a much less clear idea of how his boyfriend would react. They bit the inside of their cheek and kept quiet. At the confused look their friend Huaisang shot them, Wei Wuxian promptly burst into tears and flung himself at Jiang Yanli, sobbing dramatically about their precious big sister getting married and how Wei Wuxian was so happy for her.
“Wei Ying,” a welcome and familiar voice coaxed him out of his thoughts and he looked around him to realize that class had ended and they were the only two left in the room.
“Lan Zhan,” Wei Wuxian responded, smiling at him. The man blinked at him, thinking.
“Are you all right?”
“Aiya, Lan Zhan, you don’t have to worry about little old me! I was up late working on a piece for the gallery opening in a few weeks.”
Lan Zhan nodded, “Yes, my brother and uncle will be in attendance. I thought you could do with the warning.”
Wei Wuxian winced, “They don’t know I’m showing, do they?”
“Uncle does not, I told my brother that I already had a reservation when he offered to get me in as well. He guessed.”
“It’s not Xichen I’m worried about,” Wei Wuxian grumbled, “I’m the feature! I’m going to have to talk to him! They’ll make me, I know he’s one of the bigger doners.”
“The Jin’s will be there as well.”
Wei Wuxian slumped in his seat, sliding down until he chin was pressed into his chest, “Fuck,” he said, with feeling, “I’m going to have to dress extra fancy now. I can’t afford to upgrade my closet – I need new canvases!”
“I’ll buy you something to wear.”
“Lan Zhan, no. You don’t’ have to do that, I’ll figure something out.”
Their boyfriend leveled them with a stubborn gleam in his eyes, “It is as much for my benefit as it is yours and the art program, Wei Ying. Uncle has reason enough to dislike you, let’s not add ‘under-dressed’ to the list.”
“You’re right, of course you’re right, my Lan Zhan is already right. It’s just…” he trailed off, thinking about red dresses and sparkling ribbons. They wondered if they could get away with wearing some makeup, they were out as gay, they were an art student (the top art student, not that any of the adults in their life talked about that), it wasn’t outside of the realm of possibility for a cis gay guy to wear makeup.
“Wei Ying?”
Wei Wuxian jerked out of his thought again and bounded up, “Nothing, nothing! I’ll let you take me shopping tomorrow okay? I gotta go, I’m gonna be late for class.”
Lan Wangji knew that Wei Ying didn’t have class for another three hours, but as his boyfriend rushed past him, pressing a quick goodbye kiss to his lips and slipping from the classroom, Lan Wangji didn’t call him on it. He frowned to himself, tapping the tips of his fingers together in an uncharacteristic display of anxiety.
Wei Ying was lying to him. Or was pulling away from him. Keeping things from him. Lan Wangji respected his boyfriend’s life, understanding that having a life and friends outside of their romantic relationship was healthy and he didn’t begrudge Wei Ying at all.
More and more recently, however, Wei Ying wasn’t having friend dates or art-weekends. Or if he was, he was lying about it. His boyfriend was terrible at lying, at least to him, they grew up together, grew into themselves adjacent and holding hands. He loved him.
And Wei Ying was pulling away. Lan Wangji didn’t know what he was doing wrong. On one of his own friend dates with Mianmian he haltingly expressed his concerns. His friend had frowned at him and tried to reassure.
“Yanli only ever talks about how happy Wuxian is with you. If he was at all unhappy, you know she’d be the first one he’d talk to.”
“If he ever talked to anybody,” Lan Wangji countered, morosely.
Mianmiang patted his hand, “Talk to him, since you’re so worried about it. You two are meant to be. I firmly believe that whatever it is, you two will work it out.” She sipped her coffee and added, “There’s no way he’s cheating on you, anyone with eyes can see how disgustingly enamored he is with you.”
“Says the woman who’s marrying his sister,” Lan Wangji said, rolling his eyes, “If he is cheating on me, who’s side would you take?”
“Moot point. Like I said, there’s no way. Besides, Wuxian can’t live with guilt. We all remember what happened in history 703.”
Lan Wangji’s lips twitched into a small smile at the reminder.
“How’s wedding planning?” He changed the subject.
“Terrible,” Mianmian said cheerfully, “Our future in-laws are insane.”
“You sure you want to go through with this?”
“’Course. And you?”
“Always.”
They clinked mugs in mutual commiseration.
The gallery opening reception started well. Wei Ying, in all their tailored glory, was standing at ease, holding a glass of champagne in one hand and Lan Wangji’s hand in their other. They greeted people who made their way towards them as they stood in front of the first of Wei Ying’s featured pieces.
Everything went downhill fast when The Jin’s rolled in. In a cloud of ostentatious gilt and cologne Jin Guangshan and Jin Zixun entered the room like they expected a royal announcement and (in)appropriate fanfare for deigning to grace the rest of the plebs in the room with their presence.
With quick thinking and a thorough lack of etiquette Wei Ying and Lan Zhan dodged their greetings by ducking behind sculptures and canvases until they found themselves out on the patio. Giggling, Wei Ying wrapped their arms around Lan Zhan’s neck and pressed a series of bubbly kisses across his lips and jaw.
Lan Zhan held him tightly by the waist, enjoying the warmth of his boyfriend’s lips alongside the cool freshness of the outside air. They swayed together until the adrenaline faded and they were left leaning against the railing looking out over the small garden below.
“Will you get into trouble for that?” Wei Ying asked, eventually.
“Uncle is still upset at me for switching to a music major,” Lan Zhan told him, “This will not cause more strife than that ever could.”
“You wouldn’t have been happy in board meetings your whole life.”
Lan Zhan kissed his boyfriend’s hair, “I know. He’ll learn to forgive me for that.”
Their peacefulness was disturbed by the unwelcome edition of Jin Zixun swaggering out onto the balcony. He scowled at the two when he saw them.
“Christ, who invited that low-bred orphan,” he sneered, looking directly at Wei Wuxian.
Lan Wangji bristled, “He happens to be the feature artist, which you would know if you could read the program.”
“You-!” The Jin’s face turned red, it was well known secret that Jin Zixun failed the entrance exams and Guangshan had to pay for him to get into the university’s business program.
“He’s also the Jiang Cheng’s brother, which you well know,” Lan Wangji said, glaring at Jin Zixun. Jiang Cheng was currently top of the business program that Jin Zixun failed to get into on his own merit. “And he’s my boyfriend. So far he has much more reason to be here than you.”
Wei Wuxian couldn’t help but wince slightly at the proud way Lan Zhan called him his boyfriend, unfortunately the Jin noticed and grinned, smelling blood.
“Is he your boyfriend by choice,” he taunted, so venomously that Wei Wuxian actually took a step back, and only belatedly realized how that looked to both Jin Zixun and the love of his life.
“Lan Zhan,” He started to say, reaching out to grab his sleeve.
“I guess not,” Jin Zixun sneered, “I knew the Lans were a bunch of snobby ill-breds, no wonder you were forced to be with a man. Your uncle knew he didn’t want his disgrace of a nephew passing on the family genes.”
He didn’t see the fist that connected with his nose with a sickening crunch. He fell back heavily and looked up dazed. Wei Wuxian was standing over him, gripping their right hand protectively with their left and glaring down at him.
Jin Zixun, for the first time in his life, wished that someone wouldn’t pay attention to him.
“No one is forcing me,” Wei Wuxian said, “I love Lan Zhan. The day he asked me to be with him was the best day of my life. His uncle loves him for more than his career choices, but I guess you wouldn’t understand that, would you? Your uncle would drop you with hardly a thought if you strayed from the path he set.”
Jin Zixun knew that was true, after all, Jin Guangshan had dropped his own son when he confronted him about some of his more lecherous business practices, and Jin Zixun had assumed that that was how it was for Lan Wangji too. He pulled himself to his knees and fled with as much dignity as he could.
Wei Wuxian turned to Lan Wangji, who was staring at them with guarded eyes.
“A’Zhan, what he said wasn’t true. I know you’re not forcing me. I love being with you. I just…”
“Wei Ying,” Lan Zhan said when Wei Wuxian hesitated for too long. “Are you… not happy with me?” he fumbled too. And the two stared at each other, the tension between them felt insurmountable, but neither wanted to walk away. Neither could walk away from the other. There was tension and confusion, but there was love there too.
“I don’t want to be your boyfriend!” Wei Wuxian blurted, and instantly he knew that was the wrong thing to say because Lan Wangji’s face fell, his chin trembled for a moment as he forced himself to maintain control.
“No, wait! Lan Zhan that’s not what I meant. I love you, I want to be with you I do! More than anything.”
“Then why can’t you be my boyfriend?”
“Because I’m not a boy!”
Lan Wangji blinked. Of all the things he had expected Wei Wuxian to say, that was not one of them. He was caught completely by surprise and all he could do was gape (though elegantly) at his love.
“You’re not…” he repeated.
“A guy. Right.” Wei Wuxian smiled at him, though it was forced, a learned defense mechanism.
Lan Wangji closed his eyes and breathed. When he opened his eyes he saw his Wei Ying staring at him, hope and fear mingling in his gaze and Lan Wangji suddenly didn’t care about anything else.
“Girlfriend…?” he offered.
Wei Ying shook their head, “No. No Lan Zhan, I’m not… not a girl either. Most of the time I feel more masculine than I do feminine, but… not always. And like tonight, to spent so much money to get the suit tailored for me – and I love it and I love how you look at me when I’m wearing it. But tonight I felt more feminine and I really wanted to wear a dress and I couldn’t because you didn’t know and it’s a formal event and everybody would be here and no one really knows, not that it’s a sure thing and it might change and I know that’s a lot for you-“
Lan Zhan reached out and rested his fingers against Wei Ying’s lips.
“I want to be with Wei Ying, too.” Lan Zhan told him, “If he is a boy, or girl, or neither, or both. You are Wei Ying and so you are who I want.”
Wei Ying’s eyes teared up, he couldn’t help it. “Lan Zhan,” he whined, “You’re being too nice to me. It’s not allowed!”
Lan Zhan quirked an eyebrow, teasing, “Am I not allowed to say nice things about my boy- about my Wei Ying?” He quickly corrected himself and met Wei Ying’s gaze guiltily. “Sorry.”
“It’s fine, we can figure out vernacular later.”
Lan Zhan nodded, whatever his Wei Ying wanted. He should know that Lan Zhan would do anything in his power to make happen.
Wei Ying fell forward, knowing Lan Zhan would catch him. “We can go home if I want? We don’t have to stay? You’ll make up something about being sick and I’ll just have to take you home and take care of you?”
“Mn.”
Wei Ying snuggled into their boyfriend’s chest and thought about it for a minute. “We should stay. The school put so much work into the event and I don’t want to disappoint them.”
Lan Zhan ran his fingers through Wei Ying’s growing hair, “You are not a disappointment, to anybody.”
Wei Ying laughed wetly, “Yeah, sure. You know both your uncle and my mother are out there, right? They’re going to hate me so much more when this comes out. He’s going to try to disused you from seeing me, again.”
“I will not let him. Besides, at least he can’t complain about me dating a man anymore.”
Wei Ying pulled away and wiped at his face, he laughed now, and smiled a true smile at Lan Zhan. Lan Zhan’s breathe caught in his throat as he stared at the gorgeous creature before him. How had he gotten this lucky? What deeds had he done in past life to deserve someone like Wei Ying to choose him.
“He’s not gonna know how to complain about me now,” he laughed, “His face his going to get so red.” He straightened up and mimed stroking his beard, “Wangji,” he mimicked, “You cannot publicly date a man, your name is attached to the company and it will hurt our image. But ha! Jokes on him! I’m not a man!” He clutched his stomach and bent over he was laughing so hard.
It was, admittedly, an overreaction. But Wei Ying had told his boyfriend, his best friend since they were kids, that they weren’t a boy or a girl, and Lan Zhan had just.. accepted them. It was more than Wei Ying had dreamed about, to be honest. He was giddy with it. He finally collected himself enough to look up at Lan Zhan, he saw a small smile on his love’s face as he watched him.
“I love you,” he said, feeling it truer in that moment than any before because now they knew that Lan Zhan accepted their love, would accept their love fully.
“I love you,” Lan Zhan replied, equally earnest, and they wrapped each other in a caress of a kiss, tender and chaste and so, so loving.
Slowly, friend by friend, person by person, with the support of Lan Zhan, Wei Ying came out. To some it was casual, a dropped joke or teasing comment letting some of their friends the new norm.
(“My little brother came to see me,” Jiang Yanli teased gently, hugging Wei Ying tightly for a moment.
“A’Cheng’s your brother, Jie, can’t I just be your younger sibling?” His voice was light, all teasing and laughter, but his eyes watched Jiang Yanli carefully. She studied them for a moment before breaking out into a welcoming grin.
“Of course! I’m so lucky I have a younger sibling to help me pick out my wedding dress!)
(Nie Huaisang and Jiang Cheng were over for an all-nighter video game and dumpling party. After winning Mario Kart for the forth time in a row Wei Wuxian got up and stretched out their fingers to go refill their drinks so they wouldn’t get any controlled thrown at them.
They came back into the room while their friends were complaining, “-the worst!” Nie Huaisang finished saying.
“I swear to god he cheats,” Jiang Cheng replied, voice coming out muffled through the pillow he had pressed over his face.
Wei Wuxian cleared their throat, “Excuse you,” he said lightly, “That’s ‘I swear to god they cheat’, if you please.”
Their eyes met Nie Huaisang who raised his eyebrows at him in question. Wei Wuxian nodded back and Nie Huaisang rolled his eyes at them.
“What? What do you mean? Who’s they?” Jiang Cheng said, emerging from the pillow-land-of-failure.
Nie Huaisang rolled his eyes again and smacked Jiang Cheng upside the head, “Your sibling just came out to us, idiot.”
“What? We already knew he was gay!”
“They still are!” Nie Huaisang said, and at Jiang Cheng’s confounded look, explained.
Wei Wuxian, after recovering from their laughing fit, said, “Now are you ready to have your ass handed to you, little brother?”
“Gods, fine. Fuck, you’re so annoying, I hate you.” But he smiled at them over the rim of his glass.)
On Lan Zhan’s and Wei Ying’s wedding, seven years later, Lan Zhan pulled Wei Ying into a swaying embrace at the reception, the red skirts of their dress glowing in the fairy lights surrounding them both, and murmured, “I am so lucky to be yours, Wei Ying.”
