WIP preview I guess? (Guardian)

[extrapenguin]

Have a fic snippet I wrote ex tempore!

Of the majority of people who had soulmates, every one of them had their soulmate's name written on their left wrist. The name would be written clearly and legibly, and every single person who had a soulmate could find theirs with the help of asking people or, in the modern era, the internet.

Everyone, that is, save Zhao Yunlan.

His soulmate's name was written clearly and legibly on his left wrist – in a script no-one could read. He'd gotten a degree in ancient scripts, and based on that, he could guess that the script was alphabetic, but none of his professors could figure out anything beyond that.

He'd mostly made his peace with it, though. After all, it wasn't like everyone had a soulmate, so whether or not he was the one making intimate first contact with aliens, as some of his classmates had once suggested, he had plenty of short-term relationships to have if he felt like it.

So when he was at Dragon City University with the hapless new recruit and met a hot professor, he of course went right for the soulmate reference to figure out whether the hot prof would be potentially amenable. "Shen Wei? That's a very good name! I bet your soulmate is overjoyed to have it on their wrist."

Shen Wei let out a sound of dejection and a betrayed expression spread on his face. "I-"

"Ah, sorry, sorry, I shouldn't have assumed." Zhao Yunlan put on an apologetic expression and noted that Shen Wei still hadn't released his hand. At his pointed gaze Shen Wei finally released it. Interesting; the professor shouldn't be this flustered. "Wasn't it that one in ten people don't have a soulmark? Chatting to you has been nice, but alas, I must now go follow other leads. Here's my business card. If you have any worries or clues, please call."

"Of course," Shen Wei said, gripping the business card to his chest like a maiden in some period drama who'd just received a handwritten note signed by her soulmate.

Zhao Yunlan waved as he led his entourage elsewhere. Far enough that he knew Shen Wei wouldn't hear, he stuck a lollipop in his mouth and said, "That was weird."

"Yeah," Da Qing said, now back in his human form. "What the hell is up with him?"

"M-maybe his soulmate died tragically while saving him from a traffic accident?" Guo Changcheng offered, and okay, that would explain someone having a strong reaction to offhand comments about soulmates, but not the type of reaction Shen Wei had had.

Even mulling it over a bit in his mind didn't give Zhao Yunlan an idea. Shen Wei's reaction to hearing Zhao Yunlan's name was awfully similar to what someone's reaction to hearing their soulmate's name would be, but there was no way to map Shen Wei's name onto the sixteen letters on Zhao Yunlan's wrist. Even if the hot professor were a part-time villain from Dixing, the name on his soulmate's wrist would be in nice and legible hanzi, not an alphabetic script Chu Shuzhi had never seen in his life.

The situation was interesting enough that Zhao Yunlan put a mental note next to it, but not reason enough to go pursue it immediately. Perhaps life would provide Zhao Yunlan with a future opportunity to investigate.

Thoughts?

Comments

[clevermanka]

I am not a fan of soulmate AUs (like, at all) and I was disappointed to get to the end of this, so my thoughts are pretty much just YES PLEASE.

[extrapenguin]

Yay! I find that soulmate AUs' biggest stumbling block is that a lot of them still have a basic will-they-or-won't-they plot, while the soulmates thing means that there's even less narrative tension to that than usual. Here, the tension is more about the how than the whether, with a bonus mystery, so it should avoid at least the worst of the boredom pitfalls.

[clevermanka]

This fandom has made me like kidfic and (now) a soulmate AU. What a wealth of talented creators for this amazing show!

[forestofglory]

Ooo fun! I want know more about the Dixingren language written on Zhao Yunlan's wrist. How do you get Shen Wei's name to be 16 letters long? What is written on Shen Wei's wrist?

Also I want Zhao Yunlan to use his degree to help with a case -- because that would be really cool even if it has nothing to do with soulmate stuff. Though I suppose he could come across some ancient Dixingren writing in the course of an investigation and that could make him have a realization of some kind.

[extrapenguin]

I want know more about the Dixingren language written on Zhao Yunlan's wrist. How do you get Shen Wei's name to be 16 letters long? What is written on Shen Wei's wrist?
The questions would be answered during the course of the get-together, though idk how much about the Dixingian language I should share – people in general hate infodumps, and I'd rather not bore anyone.

I agree that using his degree to help with a case would be super cool, but then I'd have to put together a case where figuring out the extinct script for a dead language would be useful... I do have a quarter of an idea, but that would belong to the sequel.

[forestofglory]

I think it's a good sign when the beginning of a story makes me ask questions that the rest of the story will answer.

I would totally enjoy a linguistics info dump but I can see that other people might not.

I didn't think at all about how hard it would be to write a case like that! I just thought it seemed a Shane for Zhao Yunlan's degree to not get used. Plus fun with linguistics! But yeah it would be tricky sorry.

[extrapenguin]

No need to apologize – I only had the part of an idea after being prompted for it, and I am always amenable to Zhao Yunlan showcasing his skillz. Though if you do have ideas for a case where Zhao Yunlan's degree in Ancient Scripts might come in handy, please share!

[forestofglory]

Hmm... someone is using Dixingren powers to forge artifacts? Some one from YOHE is somehow running around in the present leaving strange messages? Ye Zun's mindcontroled minions can suddenly write in a strange script and use it to communicate? I'm really just throwing things at the wall here.

[extrapenguin]

Alas, those all run counter to the worldbuilding I have, but thank you for the help nonetheless!

[forestofglory]

Oh well. But from what you've said else where the worldbuilding sounds great! I'm here for Dixingese: the Conlang.

[rheasilvia]

Very interesting! I like it a lot. :-) Are you planning on writing the entire story?

[extrapenguin]

I do plan on writing the entire story of the get-together, though I often have trouble writing multiple WIPs concurrently, so let's see how that meshes with the spaceship rental one. I'll see if I can bang out some more of this while I'm still away from my desktop, then make choices based on what mood takes me.

[rheasilvia]

That sounds like an excellent plan. :-) I also have a hard time writing multiple stories in parallel, but it's good to have options when one story just won't cooperate.

[zeest]

These two are made for soulmate AUs and this snippet is really intriguing!

[extrapenguin]

Aww, thank you! I do think that the time travel and general identity hiding situation make potential soulmates plots significantly less likely to become snoozefests, yes, though idk if I'd go so far as to describe these two as being *made* for soulmate AUs. :P Also, soulmarks are an excuse to show my dinky worldbuilding! *waves tiny flag*

[zeest]

Fair. It was the "finding each other in any timeline" thing that made me think they're particularly suited to soulmate AUs.

Ooh, now I'm curious to know how the soulmarks tie into the worldbuilding!

[extrapenguin]

The soulmarks are but an excuse to include the worldbuilding, lol. Though I did come up with a handwavey excuse to have text on most people's wrists!

[mekare]

I’d love to read more of this, esp. about the writing system in Dixing 10.000 years ago.

[extrapenguin]

Yay! I must admit that this whole thing is just a vehicle for showcasing Dixingese: the Conlang. And some stuff about language loss and legacy and heritage, because that's how I roll.

[mekare]

That sounds great!

[phyrry]

Hah! I was thinking Shen Wei's name might be written in some sort of obscure Dixing seal script, but sixteen letters? Curiouser and curiouser.

Oh Shen Wei, ever destined to have way more clues about what's going on than his soulmate, and yet, be completely unwilling to reveal them. Sigh.

And Zhao Yunlan?
...like a maiden in some period drama who'd just received a handwritten note signed by her soulmate.
... yes, that's... that's exactly what just happened. (Except the handwritten part, but come on, digits.)

[extrapenguin]

Oh, in this case, the author has more clues than Shen Wei, who is actually pretty baffled and betrayed by the day's happenings. The Dixingians used to have their own language, script, naming conventions, etc. before being assimilated into the human norm. The rest of the fic would deal with that, in addition to the get-together and first dates.

[jo_lasalle]

I want more! I love the matter-of-fact style in a "soulmate" situation. I LOL'd twice in this short section.

so whether or not he was the one making intimate first contact with aliens, as some of his classmates had once suggested

LOL! <3

[extrapenguin]

Yay! I'm glad you enjoyed it, and, uh, I already have most of the next scene written.

Soulmates are soulmates, and if one knows one will be compatible with that person, well, the only question is where to find that person. Zhao Yunlan's task is made harder by the text being unreadable, but hey, he still has a soulmate he's compatible with, even if he'll be making intimate contact with an alien :P

[jo_lasalle]

Excellent! EXCITE!

And hey, I love obstacles, it can't be too easy. *g*

[extrapenguin]

Indeed! It wouldn't be much of a story if it were just "Hey, we're soulmates, let's cuddle!" - they must be given something else to do as well. Like a quest to figure out wtf is written on Zhao Yunlan's wrist. (Meanwhile, Shen Wei cries miserably into his pillow, because he met Kunlun again, and Kunlun is actually his soulmate, but Kunlun doesn't recognize him orconsider him his soulmate. While he will recover, he did have a very terrible day.)

[tinny]

Heheee, I love the "intimate first contact with aliens", that would be a nice spin on the soulmate trope :DDD, and also Guo Changcheng's "comforting" explanation, muahhaa.

I am actually intrigued what kind of script his name would have been written in. Even as a primordial being, why would his name be written in an alphabetic script? (I love puzzles.)

Also: *of course* he'd go and get a degree in Ancient Scripts.

I like it! (I think Weilan is the only pairing where I don't mind the soulmate trope, because the canon is just so exceptionally suited for it.)

[extrapenguin]

This, like everything else, is fully dramaverse, with no novel knowledge used or required. Shen Wei simply has a non-hanzi name for other reasons. This entire fic and the soulmate premise are simply my excuses to do conlanging and worldbuilding. :D

I've now written over 2k of my soulmate AU, soon to feature more Da Qing snark as well. I'm glad Guo Changcheng's "comforting" explanation was enjoyable!