I tag @kookaburra1701 @dirty-bosmer and @greyborn2
Tag the first lines/first paragraph of three of your current works in progress!
I feel like I've shared most of my current wips to death over the past few weeks, so I'm going to pick three wips that probably won't see the light of day for a very long time, if ever.
"An Account of Artaeum"
(A journal-style fic detailing Nilandur's time as a Psijic)
Fifth of First Seed, 4E 169 – My Arrival
The Isle of Artaeum was described to me many times in my youth, treated as something half myth, half history. A full account of the history of the Psijic Order was one of the Five Pillars of Altmeri education (before the events of the Void Nights), but it had been widely phased out by the time I entered university due to the Thalmor’s rigorous re-education guidelines. Despite this, the legends and lore of the Psijics lived on as part of our rich and varied history, even as the likelihood of their return to Nirn grew dimmer and dimmer with each passing decade. Never in my life could I have predicted their attentions might have been turned to me.
"Arvel the Hero"
(A thought experiment fic in which Arvel the Swift doesn't get hit by that swinging trap gate, but the LDB does. Uhhhh.... I'm gonna include more than just the first paragraph because it's my blog and I do what I want).
As soon as Arvel pulled free from the last of the frost spider’s webbing, he bolted.
The man who’d cut him down let out a shout of surprise. “Hey! Get back here you slippy shit!”
Fool, Arvel thought with a grin. Why should I share the treasure with anyone? And by the look of his rescuer (and his sour-faced Dunmer companion), they didn’t seem like the type too keen on sharing either. Harknir, Bjorn, and Soling were as good as dead.
His feet pounded against the stone floor as he ran as fast as his legs would carry him. He skidded around a corner and through another hall of burial chambers. The slope of the floor carried him faster, almost too fast. He skidded around a large pillar, hooking his fingers into the rock to swing himself around the bend, gaining more momentum. His pursuers were hot on his tail, the clank of their armor close. He sprinted ahead, moving too fast to notice the raised stone plate in the floor until he was on top of it. A trap!
Time seemed to slow to a crawl as his foot landed on the very edge of the pressure plate, and for a split second Arvel thought he’d managed to step around it. Then it sank beneath his weight, immediately followed by a clunk and a groan as the trapped gate unlocked. His step faltered, his joints locking up with fear, and he teetered precariously between moving forward and falling down. The spiked gate was swinging towards him with a shriek like a wounded beast. It would kill him. He would die in this gods-forsaken crypt.
Fueled solely by an animalistic will to survive, he leaned into his off-balance momentum and sprung sideways, diving headfirst into an open crypt. A skeleton clattered and crunched beneath his hip as the massive gate missed his outstretched foot by only a few inches. There was a scream, cut short by a wet thunk, and Arvel watched from the crypt as the spiked gate slowly swung back into place, its spikes stained red and glistening in the low torchlight.
“Shit!” He let out a hysterical laugh that trailed off into a wheeze. “Oh shit…” The trap had taken his pursuer out. What luck!
"Send Your Child Unto Me"
(Working title, lol. My Dark Brotherhood fic that I'll probably be picking away at for years to come at this point lol).
Caius returned to consciousness slowly.
His head felt like it had been split down the middle, pounding in time with his pulse and sending bursts of electricity deep into his eye sockets. He groaned, if only to prove to himself that he wasn’t dead–that he could still make noise. As he opened his eyes, the room materialized in a blur of nauseating angles. Dried drool plastered the side of his cheek and his right arm had gone numb beneath his own body weight. He made a gurgling, frustrated sound as he attempted to move, flattening his hand against the ground in an attempt to push himself upright.
Wooden floor.
The air around him was stagnant and foul-smelling, like piss and sweat. There were noises, but everything sounded as if Caius’ head were under water.
WWX wasn’t brought into the cultivation world but instead but was brought up in a temple (shrine maiden/priest vibes). Resentful energy is flooding the land and the cultivators can’t handle and then they see this one area not as badly affected. The cultivators look down on the priests because they focus more on talismans and believe in “myths” instead of sword-based cultivation. They let more people die until someone important gets murked (maybe Jin zixun) before they go ask for an “exchange of ideas”.
They meet WWX who is next in line to be High Priest. His knowledge and understanding surpass that of others and his intimate knowledge of talismans and arrays puts him above the rest. The cultivators go there and barely hide their prejudices except for the Lan and Nie. WWX tells them they can leave. Anyone that wants to actually listen and help can stay. The Lans love knowledge and the Nies just want a solution. It wouldn’t be a fic of mine if it didn’t have Jiāng bashing. Jfm and YZY (Lqr too) recognize WWX. Yzy makes snide comments during the meeting because of course the “son of a servant” is able to climb to a high position and they need his help to survive. Jc is pissed cause jfm is relieved that his friend’s son is alive like the brat he is. LWJ for his part falls in love instantly. They’re older in this story so LWJ can communicate better lol also competency kink is *chefs kiss*
WWX teaches the clans about the ancient scripture and how they needed to cleanse different spiritual areas for the rest of it to follow. Some people (sect leader Yao) aren’t convinced and are rude so LWJ uses the silencing spell on them. The meeting continues and they assemble a team comprised of some of the top disciples from the great sects and some from the minor. They go around and cleansing the resentful energy while wwx resets the barriers and array formations in the area to keep it cleansed. during the journey wwx and lwj become closer as he was the only one that was intrigued by wwx's inventions and knowledge. they fall in love, the world becomes stable once again. idk lwj marries into the temple and becomes the High Priest's husband lmao
I should be working on the edit of Gaslight but I just found an story of mine where a jock and a nerd were best friends, but instead of falling in love the jock helped the nerd ask the school’s goth girl out on a date and it was wholesome
(and then the goth was a vampire but that’s less important)
modern au - large extended Lan family - more omegaverse tropes
so for this au, I want to lean more into a submissive wwx. he will still be smart (Molecular gastronomist major in uni) but after losing his parents and suffering the abuse and abandonment from the jiangs, he just wants a stable home and family so doesn't mind handing over control with lwj who can provide it. also, he knows lwj would never take advantage of him.
mini backstory for wwx is the same as canon: his parents die and he's taken in by the jiangs. yzy is still abusive, wwx isn't the closest to jyl and jc even getting bullied by jc. at age 14 jfm buys wwx a small cheap apartment and gives him enough money in his account to sustain himself each month before leaving him on his own. Facing ridicule from his peers WWX transfers schools (he has to go to jfm’s office and ask for his signature) since omegaverse is an exploration of gender imo, WWX wears the girls uniform and switches back and forth depending on how he feels. Something he wasn’t allowed to do under the Jiangs household. There he meets wq, wn, nhs and LWJ.
For the Lans everyone is alive and they’re one big happy family. Lan An is the grandpa who’s a romantic and still very much in love with his wife who passed away. Qhj and madam Lan are alive and well and happily married. Lqr is the doting uncle because he didn’t have to raise his nephews and still has the influence of his father. Lan Yi is the rich aunt who shows up to the family functions with a new partner every time. There are more Lan family members and they get together for everything! Birthdays, holidays, graduations, a work promotion. These people love getting together. When Madam Lan learns about Wwx, she tells LWJ to invite him to the next get-together. he's basically adopted into the Lan family. they adore him and love his cooking (he had to get good at it for survival since he lived alone and then it became a passion/comfort hence his major) and they are just waiting for lwj to claim him. lwj himself wants to be worthy of wwx, so he waits until after they both graduate uni to propose. (they are already living together and dating while in uni)
one day at work (he works at a flower shop) an old woman approaches him saying he looks like someone familiar to her. turns out it's bssr, his grandmother. they get together and explain how she didn't know about him (her and cssr had a falling out and cssr eloped with wcz and they never reconnected) she didn't know her daughter died or that she had a grandson. anyway for a year wwx leaves lwj to spend time not only with bssr and the rest of her family but he gets to meet the Wei's.
while he's gone, lxc introduces to the family his omega, meng yao. I don’t want to back them bad guys but there will be tension involved. Jgy wants to be accepted by the family so he does his best to be the perfect son in law (they’re not married yet btw) and he is accepted into the Lans. Fast forward to WWX coming back. Jgy and LXC are excited to share news about Jgy’s achievement since it’s rare for omegas to last long in his field. The Lans congratulate him but some are confused cause Jgy is more work oriented than following societal norms. Enter LWJ who was running late because he went to pick WWX up at the airport (he also tried to initiate car s*x but was stopped lol). Anyway the Lans attention turns towards WWX. Jgy sees the Lans in a new light with WWX around. Lqr who he always talked to respectfully and didn’t try to overstep his boundaries is now loudly yelling and chasing WWX around the living room. Madam Lan who is always supportive and kind to him is pampering WWX, something he’s only seen her do to her sons. The children are a lot more lively playing along with WWX’s mischief. The Lans don’t treat him badly and in fact treat him better than his father ever has but this is different than what he’s used too. LXC notice’s Jgy’s mood plummeting. He speaks to LWJ basically insinuating that LWJ shouldn’t have brought WWX today cause now no one is recognizing Jgy (Jgy’s achievement was kept secret though). LWJ ignores him and they go back to where the other alpha’s are.
In the other room with the omegas and children, Jgy makes a pointed comment at WWX about his time with the Jiangs, thinking that he lived lavishly while Jgy had a rough upbringing. Anyway WWX gets up and leaves the room having a panic attack. Madam Lan has to get LWJ to calm him down. Madam Lan is obviously pissed, but keeps control of herself. She leaves to get a plate of food to give the two while they’re resting (panic attacks are mad draining lol). Back with the others who are now pissed at Jgy for ruining such a happy moment and upsetting their favorite nephew. Jgy’s plan of gaining sympathy backfired. LXC pulls him to the side exasperated but understanding Jgy’s train of thought explains why his family is upset and about WWX’s past. Thinking everything has been resolved, LXC goes to reassure his mother but it only infuriated her more. She calls Jgy an outsider and that LXC had no right to tell about WWX’s past. LWJ walks in, in the middle of the argument. He becomes furious attacking his brother. The other alphas break them apart but it’s WWX that gets LWJ to calm down. LWJ says that LXC can’t be trusted not only because of this but I have a past event I’m debating on adding or not as well but wangxian leave the party to go home. Feeling frustrated that her family is in shambles and the party was ruined madam Lan storms off to her with QHJ following her. The others eat a tense dinner before going home early.
Wangxian on the other hand unwinds with a bubble bath and soft s*x, formalizing their bond with matching bites, no longer wanting to wait until the mating ceremony. A couple weeks go by and LWJ returns to work (Rich king can work from home) when WWX gets back into the routine of stopping by at his job to bring him (+ Lqr’s lonely ass) lunch. LXC tries to speak with him but outside of greetings WWX is forbade from speaking with him so he runs away.
A few months later everything has calmed down though there’s the occasional side eye from someone in the family towards xiyao but the next event is better than the first. The rule to not speak with lxc is lifted and the biweekly sunday dinners with just the main Lan family starts again (LWJ was ghosting the but then his parents and uncle started showing up at his house instead lol)
Further down the line when xiyao and wangxian are both married WWX gets pregnant first. Everyone is happy but Jgy. Feeling like he doesn’t measure up to the favorite son in law who’s now giving grandchildren and feeling like a failure for not giving his alpha children (this isn’t coming from the Lans but societal pressure and his bastard father).
haven't had the chance to write recently but I have a random wangxian idea that’s stuck in my mind and I have no idea if I'll ever write it but I needed to get this off my mind lol
warnings just in case (cause I'm afraid of the tag system here lol): age gap, dark twin jades
wwx gets taken into the Lan sect. I don't know who found him but he is sickly when found. because he spent a while in the infirmary as a child wwx turns to focus on medical cultivation. he's still the genius that we know and love, even when it comes to martial cultivation. somehow he lives with lqr (because I'm a sucker for LQR and WWX bonding). the twin jades are older so they're like 15 when wwx is brought into the sect at like 5-6. they're excited to have a new didi, especially lwj since he's a loner, and watching over baby a-ying is a good way to pass his time when he's not busy. wwx starts making achievements in his Medical cultivation work getting the attention of WRH because WQ is his prodigy. the two become friends and do experiments together. wwx also places first during the discussion conference, getting the attention of jfm who has been looking for the boy for years. he asks wwx if he wants to come back with him to lotus pier and the Lans shut that down. time skip to the war where wwx makes a name for himself on and off the battlefield. after the war he takes on the task of helping out at the nursery with all of the new orphans. the wen remnants break out of the prison camps somehow lead by WN and live in the burial mounds. WWX still keeps in contact with the wen siblings and helps them get supplies. A-Yuan's mother is alive and gives birth in the burial mounds and asks wwx to take the baby with him cause they can't take care of him (no food, money, limited shelter, and no breast milk for the baby) wwx heads back with the baby and tells the truth to lxc, lqr and lwj about his birth but they hide it from the others. lwj at this point starts looking at wwx differently now that he's an adult. seeing him with a newborn pushes him to make his move. they start courting at some point but it's only known in gusuLan for the moment. idk how this happened but jgy is living in the CR because of dark lxc but they're not relevant to the story. after the siege (only Jins and Jiangs) fierce corpses start showing up but they don't attack anyone. a conference is called, wwx does an autopsy of the body, checking it for resentful energy etc, sees the whip marks from zidian on the body, brings it up in front of the council. jc gets angry (because his crimes of killing random demonic cultivators is being exposed not to mention the possibility of the Wen remnants might come back. they will btw) after the conference jc attempts to attack wwx while he's holding a-yuan, lwj stops it before he can. diplomatic issues arise.
i don't know where it's going with this but jc is going to get his ass beat by either lwj or the random people he's killed over the past few years so yeah!
