Five Ficlets Make a Post
3 May 2018 21:36![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
extrapenguinI have exams to study for but whatever, have five science fiction (three space) fusion AUs for Modao Zushi (aka Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation aka Founder of Diabolism aka 魔道祖师). They likely make no sense and are OOC, as the translation hasn't quite gotten to what makes Wei Wuxian tick, but whatever. Also unbeta'd. If you want a fic for this fandom that has seen a beta, I wrote my very first novella, Heaven and Earth, and put it on AO3. None of the characters therein appear here and vice versa.
There'll be a recpost of various translated cnovels I've looked at recently once I'm done with exams. Last few weeks of May? Anyway, here's Modao Zushi meets various novels off my shelf:
1. Machineries of Empire
"He would not have done such a thing," the Rahal Hexarch quickly replied to Wei Ying's run-through of the facts.
"Rahal-zho?" Wei Ying said.
"All of this happened during the past month. During the past months, he's been discussing the coming Faction Discussion Conference with me every night. He has been alert and well-rested in every instance. He can't have hopped onto a voidmoth and gone there and back."
The Hexarch's brother, Rahal Wangji said, "He did not have to go himself."
Rahal Xichen remained unconvinced.
"Rahal-zho, you know who is the most suspicious person," Wei Ying continued. Mindful of his current status – or rather, the lack of it – and his time with the Shuos, he carefully said nothing more.
To tell the truth, it wasn't like Andan Guangyao was that terrible, as Hexarchs went, or that Wei Ying bore a grudge towards him, Shuos-Andan rivalry be damned – but who else would have killed and dismembered Vidona Mingjue at the time of the Vidonas' greatest aggression towards the Andan?
2. Dichronauts
Wuxian and Wanyin were the first to arrive back at the rendezvous point. The other four pairs of surveyors were still on their treks. Wuxian sidled up to a rock and sat against it.
«So, Wanyin, who d'you think will come first? That prissy Wangji and his Sidler? Hey, what if it's Ziqi and Yinshao? Does the Sun also set in the West?» Wuxian inspoke.
«Fuck off,» Wanyin answered. «Can't you keep your mind on the task for even one day?»
«Hey, we've finished our task already, what're you complaining about?» Wuxian waited for Wanyin's reply, then prodded him. «Wanyin?»
Wanyin shared the echo from the South. Wuxian stared at his Sidler's view. «Someone's coming? Do you know who it is?»
«Not yet.»
Wuxian sighed pointedly. He supposed he should be glad for not being side-blind, but he decided that Wanyin should be more glad for getting to feed on Wuxian's blood and not having to depend on others' charity. Wuxian's original Sidler had died in an accident when he was but an infant, and Wanyin's original Walker had succumbed to a disease. The infant boys had been matched together through the City's services. It went well, mostly – Wuxian wasn't side-blind, Wanyin could live like a regular Sidler, and ribbing Wanyin was lots of fun.
«It's Wangji and Xichen. Don't annoy them, we must be being graded on group cohesion as well.»
«Oh come on, I've showed you Wangji's face; doesn't that sort of expression deserve to be made fun of? Really, he looks so dour he must've wanted to be a bureaucrat. Was becoming surveyors Xichen's idea?»
«Why would I go and ask that? Have you any idea how rude that'd be?» Wanyin snapped.
Wuxian would have retorted, but Wangji sat down opposite to him. Wuxian faced West and Wangji faced East, so Wuxian could grin and easily observe Wangji's reactions as he needled him.
"So, what made you decide to become a surveyor?" Wuxian asked. He ignored Wanyin's inspoken groan.
Wangji stared at him for a while. "It is necessary for the well-being of the city."
Finding new sources of water and food to in the migration away from summer was essential. Wuxian could almost believe that Wangji had been enticed into the job and training with those thoughts. Over Wanyin's inspoken commands to shut up, he asked, "Was it your idea, or Xichen's? With me and Wanyin, I came up with the idea; Wanyin originally thought about doing something more homebound, haha. Not that it was hard to convince Wanyin, you understand-"
"It was my idea," Wangji said.
3. Uplift
Doctor Wei Wuxian, geneticist, part of the dolphin uplift team, collapsed onto the floor of his laboratory on Calafia when he read the latest news.
"What's up?" his dolphin assistant Kao asked. She was one of the first of the next generation of fins, and the first one whose genome Wei Wuxian had personally worked on. This was her first time seeing the normally wisecracking and dolphin-like doctor become deathly serious.
"We're fucked," he said. "We're absolutely fucked." As she said nothing, he continued, "The Streaker discovered something, and when it broadcast it back – the face of a dead sophont from an unknown species – the rest of the Five Galaxies declared war on us. And also on each other." He swallowed. "That might buy Terragens Council some time, but – it has been nice knowing you."
He was interrupted by the door opening. The tall, icy, and austere Lan Wangji from Security strode in.
"The Brothers of the Night are coming," he said. "We must all evacuate."
Wei Wuxian thought quickly. The Ebony Shadows were quicker to accelerate underwater than a fin, but fins had a higher top speed and better endurance. His neo-fins would stand a chance. "Kao, go onto the speaker and tell every fin to swim off and be careful." He turned to Lan Wangji. "I take it we won't have time to depart for Earth?"
"Earth is also under siege." He paused to listen to his earbud. He turned back to Wei Wuxian, and for a moment, his expression almost seemed readable. "The Soro are also coming. I have been assigned to protect you."
4. Pushing Ice
Tensions were once again high on Janus. Wei Wuxian wanted nothing to do with the politics. He'd joined the rockhopper's engineering staff on a whim, and had mostly managed not to anger any of the crew, despite his occasionally lackadaisical ways and lack of any sense of shame.
He suited up to get away from all of it and walk on the surface. Nursing the robots was an excellent excuse.
Resources were scarce, so Wei Wuxian did actually go and repair his robots while he watched the objects transiting along the lava lines, dark dots momentarily eclipsing the bright lines against the ice and then passing by. He'd heard they'd discovered a spinning pillar with infinite torque, over in the Maw. He'd drafted a preliminary attachment to draw power from it, but it depended on Wen Ning getting the forge vat to work and spool superconducting cable.
With the resources allocated to the project – soon to include Wei Wuxian himself – he suspected that the fuel crisis was closer than predicted. With that suspicion, some of his desire to rib people had turned into exhaustion, but he recognized that he was now an essential part of the functioning of the social system, so he'd have to annoy everyone as before. Perhaps desperation would bring back his devil-may-care attitude. At least his shift partner was Lan Wangji, who was a delightful target.
5. Memory of Water
Every day, Wei Wuxian walked past the Tea Master's house to the plastic graves, not returning until late into the night.
Every day, the Tea Master's brother Lan Wangji watched him go. He'd heard that the boy worked hard to get goods to work and could repair anything in exchange for water, and that was why the Jiang household's lady had yet to throw him out, despite the drought. Lan Wangji guiltily drank the water from the spring in the fells, but his late father's explanation of the tragedy of the commons still held true. He and Xichen still went to the central square in turns to queue for the meager allotment of water the government provided them.
Some days, Wei Wuxian came back with his arms full. Some days, he walked past, empty-handed and dejected. Most days, he had an item or two.
One day, we walked straight to the Tea Master's door.
In his hands, he held a few flat plastic discs and a plastic cylinder with rounded-off ends and a handle on top.
"Lan Zhan," he said, annoyingly using Lan Wangji's birth name. "You have to listen to this."
Lan Wangji did not quite know how to react. He made a small noise of not quite assent.
Wei Wuxian leaned closer, and Lan Wangji was torn between the desire to step away and the desire to reciprocate for long enough that Wei Wuxian could whisper into his ear, "They claim there's lakes of fresh water, beyond the borders."
Lan Wangji froze. Wei Wuxian slipped in and set up his system – the discs held some information that the cylindrical object could turn to sound, when it was powered on – and they listened to the discs. Parts of the record were missing – it must've originally been longer – but there was no lie in Wuxian's words.
Wei Wuxian stared at him expectantly once they'd finished the final disc. He considered his words carefully. "The log is old. It might have changed."
"I'm going to go look. Lan Zhan, could you live with yourself if you didn't go see for yourself? Will you come with me? It'd be easier with two, and Jiang Cheng's not coming."
If they discovered water, they would be either government-approved saviors or more likely placed on the execution roll. Then again, Lan Wangji was already on the execution roll for water crimes due to the spring he and Lan Xichen were hiding.
"I'll come with you," he said to the boy whose comings and goings he watched every day.
There'll be a recpost of various translated cnovels I've looked at recently once I'm done with exams. Last few weeks of May? Anyway, here's Modao Zushi meets various novels off my shelf:
1. Machineries of Empire
"He would not have done such a thing," the Rahal Hexarch quickly replied to Wei Ying's run-through of the facts.
"Rahal-zho?" Wei Ying said.
"All of this happened during the past month. During the past months, he's been discussing the coming Faction Discussion Conference with me every night. He has been alert and well-rested in every instance. He can't have hopped onto a voidmoth and gone there and back."
The Hexarch's brother, Rahal Wangji said, "He did not have to go himself."
Rahal Xichen remained unconvinced.
"Rahal-zho, you know who is the most suspicious person," Wei Ying continued. Mindful of his current status – or rather, the lack of it – and his time with the Shuos, he carefully said nothing more.
To tell the truth, it wasn't like Andan Guangyao was that terrible, as Hexarchs went, or that Wei Ying bore a grudge towards him, Shuos-Andan rivalry be damned – but who else would have killed and dismembered Vidona Mingjue at the time of the Vidonas' greatest aggression towards the Andan?
2. Dichronauts
Wuxian and Wanyin were the first to arrive back at the rendezvous point. The other four pairs of surveyors were still on their treks. Wuxian sidled up to a rock and sat against it.
«So, Wanyin, who d'you think will come first? That prissy Wangji and his Sidler? Hey, what if it's Ziqi and Yinshao? Does the Sun also set in the West?» Wuxian inspoke.
«Fuck off,» Wanyin answered. «Can't you keep your mind on the task for even one day?»
«Hey, we've finished our task already, what're you complaining about?» Wuxian waited for Wanyin's reply, then prodded him. «Wanyin?»
Wanyin shared the echo from the South. Wuxian stared at his Sidler's view. «Someone's coming? Do you know who it is?»
«Not yet.»
Wuxian sighed pointedly. He supposed he should be glad for not being side-blind, but he decided that Wanyin should be more glad for getting to feed on Wuxian's blood and not having to depend on others' charity. Wuxian's original Sidler had died in an accident when he was but an infant, and Wanyin's original Walker had succumbed to a disease. The infant boys had been matched together through the City's services. It went well, mostly – Wuxian wasn't side-blind, Wanyin could live like a regular Sidler, and ribbing Wanyin was lots of fun.
«It's Wangji and Xichen. Don't annoy them, we must be being graded on group cohesion as well.»
«Oh come on, I've showed you Wangji's face; doesn't that sort of expression deserve to be made fun of? Really, he looks so dour he must've wanted to be a bureaucrat. Was becoming surveyors Xichen's idea?»
«Why would I go and ask that? Have you any idea how rude that'd be?» Wanyin snapped.
Wuxian would have retorted, but Wangji sat down opposite to him. Wuxian faced West and Wangji faced East, so Wuxian could grin and easily observe Wangji's reactions as he needled him.
"So, what made you decide to become a surveyor?" Wuxian asked. He ignored Wanyin's inspoken groan.
Wangji stared at him for a while. "It is necessary for the well-being of the city."
Finding new sources of water and food to in the migration away from summer was essential. Wuxian could almost believe that Wangji had been enticed into the job and training with those thoughts. Over Wanyin's inspoken commands to shut up, he asked, "Was it your idea, or Xichen's? With me and Wanyin, I came up with the idea; Wanyin originally thought about doing something more homebound, haha. Not that it was hard to convince Wanyin, you understand-"
"It was my idea," Wangji said.
3. Uplift
Doctor Wei Wuxian, geneticist, part of the dolphin uplift team, collapsed onto the floor of his laboratory on Calafia when he read the latest news.
"What's up?" his dolphin assistant Kao asked. She was one of the first of the next generation of fins, and the first one whose genome Wei Wuxian had personally worked on. This was her first time seeing the normally wisecracking and dolphin-like doctor become deathly serious.
"We're fucked," he said. "We're absolutely fucked." As she said nothing, he continued, "The Streaker discovered something, and when it broadcast it back – the face of a dead sophont from an unknown species – the rest of the Five Galaxies declared war on us. And also on each other." He swallowed. "That might buy Terragens Council some time, but – it has been nice knowing you."
He was interrupted by the door opening. The tall, icy, and austere Lan Wangji from Security strode in.
"The Brothers of the Night are coming," he said. "We must all evacuate."
Wei Wuxian thought quickly. The Ebony Shadows were quicker to accelerate underwater than a fin, but fins had a higher top speed and better endurance. His neo-fins would stand a chance. "Kao, go onto the speaker and tell every fin to swim off and be careful." He turned to Lan Wangji. "I take it we won't have time to depart for Earth?"
"Earth is also under siege." He paused to listen to his earbud. He turned back to Wei Wuxian, and for a moment, his expression almost seemed readable. "The Soro are also coming. I have been assigned to protect you."
4. Pushing Ice
Tensions were once again high on Janus. Wei Wuxian wanted nothing to do with the politics. He'd joined the rockhopper's engineering staff on a whim, and had mostly managed not to anger any of the crew, despite his occasionally lackadaisical ways and lack of any sense of shame.
He suited up to get away from all of it and walk on the surface. Nursing the robots was an excellent excuse.
Resources were scarce, so Wei Wuxian did actually go and repair his robots while he watched the objects transiting along the lava lines, dark dots momentarily eclipsing the bright lines against the ice and then passing by. He'd heard they'd discovered a spinning pillar with infinite torque, over in the Maw. He'd drafted a preliminary attachment to draw power from it, but it depended on Wen Ning getting the forge vat to work and spool superconducting cable.
With the resources allocated to the project – soon to include Wei Wuxian himself – he suspected that the fuel crisis was closer than predicted. With that suspicion, some of his desire to rib people had turned into exhaustion, but he recognized that he was now an essential part of the functioning of the social system, so he'd have to annoy everyone as before. Perhaps desperation would bring back his devil-may-care attitude. At least his shift partner was Lan Wangji, who was a delightful target.
5. Memory of Water
Every day, Wei Wuxian walked past the Tea Master's house to the plastic graves, not returning until late into the night.
Every day, the Tea Master's brother Lan Wangji watched him go. He'd heard that the boy worked hard to get goods to work and could repair anything in exchange for water, and that was why the Jiang household's lady had yet to throw him out, despite the drought. Lan Wangji guiltily drank the water from the spring in the fells, but his late father's explanation of the tragedy of the commons still held true. He and Xichen still went to the central square in turns to queue for the meager allotment of water the government provided them.
Some days, Wei Wuxian came back with his arms full. Some days, he walked past, empty-handed and dejected. Most days, he had an item or two.
One day, we walked straight to the Tea Master's door.
In his hands, he held a few flat plastic discs and a plastic cylinder with rounded-off ends and a handle on top.
"Lan Zhan," he said, annoyingly using Lan Wangji's birth name. "You have to listen to this."
Lan Wangji did not quite know how to react. He made a small noise of not quite assent.
Wei Wuxian leaned closer, and Lan Wangji was torn between the desire to step away and the desire to reciprocate for long enough that Wei Wuxian could whisper into his ear, "They claim there's lakes of fresh water, beyond the borders."
Lan Wangji froze. Wei Wuxian slipped in and set up his system – the discs held some information that the cylindrical object could turn to sound, when it was powered on – and they listened to the discs. Parts of the record were missing – it must've originally been longer – but there was no lie in Wuxian's words.
Wei Wuxian stared at him expectantly once they'd finished the final disc. He considered his words carefully. "The log is old. It might have changed."
"I'm going to go look. Lan Zhan, could you live with yourself if you didn't go see for yourself? Will you come with me? It'd be easier with two, and Jiang Cheng's not coming."
If they discovered water, they would be either government-approved saviors or more likely placed on the execution roll. Then again, Lan Wangji was already on the execution roll for water crimes due to the spring he and Lan Xichen were hiding.
"I'll come with you," he said to the boy whose comings and goings he watched every day.