LINKDING

Summary: <blockquote>The most shocking thing about Ghost City was how modern it was. Billboards! Traffic lights! KFC! Xie Lian could never get over the demons taking pictures of street food. The first time she saw it happen, she pulled on Hua Cheng’s sleeve and whispered, “San Lang… why is that man photographing his dumplings?” Hua Cheng glanced at Xie Lian. “People post photos online. On Weibo, usually.” Xie Lian had the vague sense that Weibo was sort of like a public communication array. She wasn’t sure why anyone would share photos of their food there, but she didn’t know anyone who would be interested besides Hua Cheng. “Ah, I see.” “I’ll show you, jiejie.” Hua Cheng fished her phone out of her pocket. Her suit was so low-cut that Xie Lian could barely look at her; the fake fur trim ran down to the navel, exposing the soft curves of Hua Cheng’s breasts and the garish necklace suspended between them. “Here, look through this.”</blockquote> ➤ rule 63 modern au hualian ➤ it is so SOFT and suffused with care that I am all emotions!!!! ➤ also. the outfits. I die. ➤ 3k words in length

Summary: <blockquote>When Mu Qing glanced over at Xie Lian beside him, he was startled to find him already watching him. A small smile played on his lips. “You know, Mu Qing,” he started—and if Mu Qing didn’t know any better he would say he sounded almost shy— “no one else that I fight with feels like a challenge. You’re the best of them all.” Mu Qing’s throat was tight and his face was hot, like he was going to cry. His eyes were quite dry, though. “You’re the best. You always will be.” / Mu Qing can't seem to reconcile the simple facts of his relationship to the crown prince with his more complicated feelings for Xie Lian.</blockquote> ➤ mu qing pov from the xianle trio era ➤ ft. class issues and teen relationship drama ➤ xie lian is an enormous martial arts nerd and a naive but shining prince; mu qing is pining but hyper-aware of class boundaries and how everyone sees him; feng xin is ready to judge ➤ it's so great and succeeds so well at what it's doing, I love it ➤ I love the last scene, which it ends on, about xie lian's appearance after he ascends. perfect ending to the fic ➤ 7k words in length

Summary: <blockquote>After Mobei Jun loses access to his trust fund, he needs a new income source. Luckily for him, Shang Qinghua is rich, single, and inoffensive. What more could you need in a man?</blockquote> ➤ tshirt is a genius, this is SO funny, I'm dying ➤ modern au where mbj is a trust fund baby who's lost access to his trust fund, and what is he going to do, WORK for money?? no. ➤ enter sugar daddy sqh, or possibly findom mbj's paypig sqh ➤ 3k words in length

Summary: <blockquote>In which it really is Shen Qingqiu’s Binghe who returns to him in the aftermath of the initial Bing-ge versus Bing-mei fight, not the original.</blockquote> ➤ post-canon au where post bing-ge vs bing-mei fight, it's bing-mei who returns to sqq ➤ prompts that inspired this fic included “Technically awful attempts at comfort are actually very comforting” and “Comfortee flaunts their hurt in order to get more comfort” and it's perfect actually, I love how THEM it is ➤ sqq having zero clue what to do that's Actually Helpful when someone's injured is soooo funny tbh. but his fussing is what really matters! ➤ 2k words in length

Summary: <blockquote>Su She was warned about Lan Wangji, the way that warnings like this are often shared: whispered humid in the dark, with barely stifled laughter. Did you hear? Lan Wangji chooses boys as if he’s hunting. Once a boy is in his sights, he’s like a rabbit caught in a snare. You won’t be able to escape. He’ll visit unspeakable desires on your body and then abandon you for his next prey.</blockquote> ➤ I love fic that takes Su Minshan seriously as a character, it's a rare delight whenever I come across one ➤ Lan Wangji/Su Minshan during the disciple era, before the guest disciples arrive ➤ lwj is a fuckboy and sms is delighted to discover evidence that lwj despite his airs is the same as everyone else ➤ they fuck about it a lot ➤ content note for nonconsensual somnophilia ➤ PERFECT ENDING omg. ➤ 3k words in length

Summary: <blockquote>He saluted her in that way he sometimes mockingly did, as a loyal general ought to greet the sagest of chief ministers. “Come on, now,” she said. “You can do better than that.”</blockquote>

Summary: <blockquote>Shi Qingxuan rarely felt tempted to drink much when she was hanging out with Ming Yi. It was easy enough in her presence, even while sober, for Shi Qingxuan to reassure herself, Everyone loves you and you're the most beautiful person around and Ge is proud of you and you are wished well in every room you leave.</blockquote> ➤ also on dw at https://appendix.dreamwidth.org/9769.html ➤ and dvd commentary at https://headstone.dreamwidth.org/12520.html ➤ the destabilizing sense of uncertainty sqx has despite at the same time having a deep well of trust for and delight in Ming Yi's place in sqx's life! and that same sense of uncertainty/certainty in her own self too, and the ways in which the backstory segments intertwine with the now

Summary: <blockquote>Hua Cheng huffs out a laugh. “You do have terrible luck,” he agrees. “And mine is quite good. But you don’t know that you wouldn’t win it back. Play with me?” “San Lang,” chides Xie Lian, voice crinkling gently as it’s swept along to the midpoint between amusement and fondness. “Are you going to let me win again?” “Depends,” says Hua Cheng, “on what you’re betting, Gege.” / A search, a gambling table, and the events thereof.</blockquote> ➤ a great look at the two of them in a mid-canon stage in their relationship, and the careful dance the two of them are engaged in, getting closer and closer to each other, has a delicious frisson here

<blockquote>Okay. Shi Qingxuan liked to have fun. Everyone knew that she liked to have fun—she was the Young Lord Who Poured Wine, after all. It was her thing. But she was, genuinely, fairly restrained and dignified! She was classy! She did not get up in her lady form and beg for random male officials to take her clothes off!</blockquote> ➤ early days beefleaf!

<blockquote>"I've read about this somewhere," Shang Qinghua said, tapping her chin. "You wrote it," Peerless Cucumber snapped. "Chapter 258, remember?" "Haha," Shang Qinghua said. "No." She thought for a moment. "This isn't one of the curses we'd have to get married to break, right?"</blockquote>

<blockquote>Meng Zhi is a good friend.</blockquote> ➤ yessss

<blockquote>“I’m going to kill the Ghost King,” said White Dragon Devouring Moon. “Hmm,” said Xie Lian.</blockquote> ➤ I can tell there's vast amounts of context I'm missing to make this land with full force, but it's still great ➤ (coming back to it later with context; IT'S SO GOOD)

<blockquote>In the weeks before Shang Qinghua's marriage to the King of the Northern Wastes, he invites Liu Qingge to go fishing.</blockquote> ➤ good at creating vibes!

<blockquote>In his dreams, Xiao Jiu is dead. Post-canon, Yue Qingyuan receives a series of unsettling visitations. It's probably nothing to worry about. "Tell me, Sect Leader: in your vast and storied experience, what do the dead usually want with the living?"</blockquote> ➤ tags: <blockquote>#sometimes a ship is just two codependent assholes who deserve to haunt each other for all eternity #and that's okay #look I think this is a fix-it but ymmv </blockquote>

<blockquote>One morning, Shen Qingqiu woke up a changed man. Yue Qingyuan is left trying to figure out what happened to make him so relaxed and affectionate.</blockquote> ➤ love getting to see a time loop from the pov of someone outside the loop

<blockquote>Shang Qinghua is cursed to be silent until true love sets him free. He's pretty sure that's never going to happen.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Mei Changsu was a pale, delicate-looking scholar with a gentle smile and a smooth, mellow voice, the kind that stirred the worst of Lin Shu’s scorn. (time travel AU)</blockquote> ➤ aaaahhhhh!!!!!!

<blockquote>“Look, this is easier!” Shizun says, making a gesture with his fan that encompasses both Ning Yingying and Luo Binghe. “With you and I, Binghe, it’s... well...” He clears his throat again. “There’s a lot to say! But you and Yingying are just friends! Simply say that and the plant will release you and go dormant.” We’re not friends, Ning Yingying thinks, at the same time as Luo Binghe says aloud, “We’re not friends.” -- Ning Yingying gets caught in a wife plot.</blockquote>

<blockquote> Shang Qinghua sighed. “Well, I suppose men will always be led by their bedpartners.” [...] As Liu Qingge left the other peak lords behind, he considered this latest weapon in his arsenal. Could he use it to defeat Shen Qingqiu, and finally become Yue Qingyuan’s favorite? And, more importantly, would it be dishonorable? No, he decided. It would be the bond of warriors. Liu Qingge wants to be Yue Qingyuan's favorite shidi. Shen Qingqiu doesn't want to let him. Yue Qingyuan just wants his martial brothers to get along. And nobody gets what they want. </blockquote> ➤ delicious complicated relationships that never get resolved! sort of gen, sort of poly?

<blockquote>The weather on Qing Jing Peak was never just boring. It was either gloriously sunny, with a blazing blue sky and charming little birds twittering among the bamboo, or dramatically storming, rain pounding against the walls, the perfect backdrop for a furious confrontation or declaration of all-consuming love (read: lust). So when Shen Qingqiu woke up to a light, uninteresting drizzle falling from a dishwater sky, he knew instantly that something was wrong. Binghe was plastered against his back, too big, too warm, his palm pressed to his chest over Shen Qingqiu’s heart as if needing, always, the confirmation that he was alive. Shen Qingqiu could feel his erection pressing against the curve of his lower back, knew that if he wanted to he could shift his hips, grind backwards, and Binghe would wake and be on him in moments, pulling the sleeping robes from his shoulders and latching his teeth into the column of Shen Qingqiu's throat, marking him, over and over, as his. So that was all normal. There was something else, something more abstract, that was off.</blockquote> ➤ the one where sqq is forced into the realization that the plot is over, he now just...lives in a normal world with real actualized people around him, including both himself and binghe, and then has to handle this idea through the means of sexy roleplay because he he can't actually admit to himself that he can be a person with wants and desires and for that to be okay; it's both very funny and very tender

<blockquote>After Maigu Ridge, Shen Qingqiu told Luo Binghe he would follow him anywhere. So why doesn't Luo Binghe seem to understand what he meant?</blockquote> ➤ author's tags: #get together fic after they already got together #shen qingqiu say words out loud challenge

<blockquote>“I thought you were just a reader!” Shen Qingqiu yells, gesturing with his teacup and spilling some drops on his sleeve. “You’re the hack author himself? Master of plotholes? King of red herrings? Is this a stallion novel or a cultivation novel? It’s impossible to say, either way you’ve taken a dump on every genre convention! And the ending, I didn’t even get a chance to comment on it—” Shang Qinghua pushes himself back from the table, eyes wide. “Shen Yuan?”</blockquote> ➤ just reread this fic and it's as fun as it was the first time! ➤ in which sqq and sqh were exes back in the real world ➤ they figure out who each other are and immediately fall to bickering over what actually happened in their relationship ➤ these two are SO FUNNY and SO RIDICULOUS and my heart gave a pang anyway! truly the magic of cumplane ➤ I love them and they're the worst <3333 ➤ 2k words in length

<blockquote>For the first half-day of the 105th Immortal Alliance Conference, Yue Qingyuan almost felt like everything might go off all right. Unlike the last time Cang Qiong Mountain Sect had hosted the Conference, the speakers were in the right order—the head of Huan Hua Palace needed to feel important, given the quantity of silver he sunk into this money pit every fourth year—and no one had skimped on the service on the sect leaders' platform. Beautiful, buxom women in soft pastels played popular compositions on the qin and circulated with trays of beverages while the sun rose high above the day-drinkers. Standing by the balcony with a cup of wine in his hand, Shen Qingqiu looked pleased. Ah, if only that welcome expression weren't so worrisome.</blockquote> ➤ the one where they're co-chairs of the conference!

<blockquote>They were always close like this, and Shi Qingxuan thought—oh, someday. Someday one of us will reach out and hold on. Someday I’ll kiss him for real. It was a nice idea to turn over in spare moments, glowing and pretty and fun. Easy and simple and free, just like everything else in their life. - Five times Shi Qingxuan and Ming Yi almost start something, and one time they—</blockquote>

<blockquote>or, the famous strategist mei changsu plays xanatos speed chess against truth serum: the fic. </blockquote> ➤ yessss

<blockquote>Ivan knew better than to accidentally marry Gregor Vorbarra. He absolutely, absolutely knew better. But that still didn't stop it from happening.</blockquote> ➤ (sequel from Gregor's point of view, A Marriage In Motion Will Stay In Motion: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20223463

<blockquote>7 September - Peter wires that he will be back next week.</blockquote> ➤ a very good depiction of what it is like to be waiting for something wonderful

<blockquote>An answer to the prompt: Write a quick story of falling in love for each of Tamora Pierce's the Circle of Magic characters.</blockquote>