Untamed Fic Snippet
Maybe the start of something. This draft has been languishing in Scrivener where I have the rest of this story sketched out (overall slightly more angsty than this bit might imply) and it might become a proper fic over winter break. It bounces off canon references to WWX pregnant but it's not actually mpreg, more technically-a-gender-swap.
Night hunts were fun and, fortunately for Jin Ling, he, Lan Sizhui, and Lan Jingyi were at an age where they got to do more of them. Jin Ling was also sect leader now and keeping that position without everything spinning out of control had been no mean feat so far, but everyone knew he had the backing of the YunmengJiang and GusuLan sects. That was a double edged sword, but it didn't hurt to have an uncle the entire cultivation world was secretly terrified of and who was willing to show up and smile at specific people for no reason at all. Not that Jin Ling was ever going to admit that to Wei Wuxian.
He needed more cultivation experience, though, and his core could still be stronger, so the crush of sect leader duties and all the political backstabbing they came with had to make time for training and night hunts. In theory, Jin Ling could have, and probably should have, delegated organizing night hunts for his benefit to a member of the sect and made them into sect activities. In actual practice, Lan Sizhui just sent him missives of the next hunt he and Lan Jingyi were going out on with full expectation Jin Ling would come along. Which he did.
Lan Sizhui's night hunts were never random practice; he was very good at finding some really weird stuff. If it was an actual planned night hunt rather than the oh-crap-we're-gonna-die-unless-we-do-something kind of thing, then mostly they were because Wei Wuxian had heard of something weird and was curious. Which meant absolutely anything could happen. That was all fine, and Jin Ling had even sort of, more or less, grown used to Wei Wuxian's constant babbling, which got even worse when he was excited about something. And everything excited Wei Wuxian during a night hunt.
Fortunately, the three of them had discovered it was useful having someone else along to be the focus of Wei Wuxian's manic chatter. Uncle Cheng was the ideal candidate because he argued with Wei Wuxian like he couldn't help himself and Wei Wuxian couldn't not bait him directly. ("Feedback loop," Lan Jingyi had said cheerfully while Lan Sizhui drafted a request for Uncle Cheng's assistance on the next night hunt.) Depending on how weird the initial reports were, Hanguang-jun might also be in attendance, but that was even better because it split Wei Wuxian's attention two ways, and Jin Ling, Lan Sizhui, and Lan Jingyi - the ones doing all the actual work, thank you - only had to pay attention when Wei Wuxian was actually being helpful. The rest of the time they could concentrate on the actual hunting part of a night hunt.
As a system, it worked pretty well right up until it didn't. All six of them were on a hunt - the reports had been very weird - and up to their necks in difficulties thanks to a rogue cultivator and a small army of corpses. The combined forces of the Sandu Shengshou, Hanguang-jun, and Wei Formerly-Known-As-The-Yiling-Patriarch Wuxian should have been more than enough to take him down, but they'd been hanging back because it was supposed to be educational. Then it turned out the cultivator had developed a new sort of curse. Later they realized it adapted its effects to whatever the person being cursed was thinking about when it hit them, but at the time the effects just seemed weird and unpredictable. Between Wei Wuxian's overwhelming curiosity about what kind of curse it was and arguing with Uncle Cheng, he hadn't gotten around to doing anything useful, like taking control of the corpses. Instead he and Uncle Cheng were randomly getting in hits but mostly yelling insults at each other while Jin Ling, Lan Sizhui, and Lan Jingyi were all busy with corpses and Hanguang-jun was fighting the rogue cultivator.
It was all going fine other than the possibility of being torn limb from limb until several things happened in quick succession: Wei Wuxian, laughing, yelled across the clearing at Uncle Cheng, "I would make an amazing woman!"; the rogue cultivator tried to distract Hanguang-jun by throwing a curse straight at Lan Sizhui; Wei Wuxian suddenly pivoted and leapt clear across the clearing to throw himself between the curse and Lan Sizhui; and Hanguang-jun beheaded the cultivator. There was a puff of smoke and everyone, including the suddenly uncontrolled corpses, froze. When it cleared, they all stared at Wei Wuxian and waited but he seemed… fine? Then, still looking very surprised, he blatantly slid his hand into his robes to grope between his legs.
"Huh," he said. Immediately, a delighted grin slid across his face and he spun around to look at a wide-eyed Hanguang-jun.
"Keep your robes on!" Uncle Cheng yelled.
Momentarily diverted, Wei Wuxian turned towards Uncle Cheng with a smirk, "That's not even a challen-" Then he broke off and gasped, his eyes going distant, before he uttered with hushed reverence, "Babies."
Uncle Cheng yelped and shouted, "FUCK no!"
"Oh boy," Lan Sizhui sighed.
"What is happening??" Jin Ling hissed at a cackling Lan Jingyi.
It took the combined efforts of scholars from four clans two months to figure out a way to reverse the process, but by then it was too late: Wei Wuxian was already pregnant. Unfortunately for virtually everyone besides Hanguang-jun, pregnancy agreed with Wei Wuxian.
Crossposted to Dreamwidth. Comment here or there. ♥ Blue :)
Night hunts were fun and, fortunately for Jin Ling, he, Lan Sizhui, and Lan Jingyi were at an age where they got to do more of them. Jin Ling was also sect leader now and keeping that position without everything spinning out of control had been no mean feat so far, but everyone knew he had the backing of the YunmengJiang and GusuLan sects. That was a double edged sword, but it didn't hurt to have an uncle the entire cultivation world was secretly terrified of and who was willing to show up and smile at specific people for no reason at all. Not that Jin Ling was ever going to admit that to Wei Wuxian.
He needed more cultivation experience, though, and his core could still be stronger, so the crush of sect leader duties and all the political backstabbing they came with had to make time for training and night hunts. In theory, Jin Ling could have, and probably should have, delegated organizing night hunts for his benefit to a member of the sect and made them into sect activities. In actual practice, Lan Sizhui just sent him missives of the next hunt he and Lan Jingyi were going out on with full expectation Jin Ling would come along. Which he did.
Lan Sizhui's night hunts were never random practice; he was very good at finding some really weird stuff. If it was an actual planned night hunt rather than the oh-crap-we're-gonna-die-unless-we-do-something kind of thing, then mostly they were because Wei Wuxian had heard of something weird and was curious. Which meant absolutely anything could happen. That was all fine, and Jin Ling had even sort of, more or less, grown used to Wei Wuxian's constant babbling, which got even worse when he was excited about something. And everything excited Wei Wuxian during a night hunt.
Fortunately, the three of them had discovered it was useful having someone else along to be the focus of Wei Wuxian's manic chatter. Uncle Cheng was the ideal candidate because he argued with Wei Wuxian like he couldn't help himself and Wei Wuxian couldn't not bait him directly. ("Feedback loop," Lan Jingyi had said cheerfully while Lan Sizhui drafted a request for Uncle Cheng's assistance on the next night hunt.) Depending on how weird the initial reports were, Hanguang-jun might also be in attendance, but that was even better because it split Wei Wuxian's attention two ways, and Jin Ling, Lan Sizhui, and Lan Jingyi - the ones doing all the actual work, thank you - only had to pay attention when Wei Wuxian was actually being helpful. The rest of the time they could concentrate on the actual hunting part of a night hunt.
As a system, it worked pretty well right up until it didn't. All six of them were on a hunt - the reports had been very weird - and up to their necks in difficulties thanks to a rogue cultivator and a small army of corpses. The combined forces of the Sandu Shengshou, Hanguang-jun, and Wei Formerly-Known-As-The-Yiling-Patriarch Wuxian should have been more than enough to take him down, but they'd been hanging back because it was supposed to be educational. Then it turned out the cultivator had developed a new sort of curse. Later they realized it adapted its effects to whatever the person being cursed was thinking about when it hit them, but at the time the effects just seemed weird and unpredictable. Between Wei Wuxian's overwhelming curiosity about what kind of curse it was and arguing with Uncle Cheng, he hadn't gotten around to doing anything useful, like taking control of the corpses. Instead he and Uncle Cheng were randomly getting in hits but mostly yelling insults at each other while Jin Ling, Lan Sizhui, and Lan Jingyi were all busy with corpses and Hanguang-jun was fighting the rogue cultivator.
It was all going fine other than the possibility of being torn limb from limb until several things happened in quick succession: Wei Wuxian, laughing, yelled across the clearing at Uncle Cheng, "I would make an amazing woman!"; the rogue cultivator tried to distract Hanguang-jun by throwing a curse straight at Lan Sizhui; Wei Wuxian suddenly pivoted and leapt clear across the clearing to throw himself between the curse and Lan Sizhui; and Hanguang-jun beheaded the cultivator. There was a puff of smoke and everyone, including the suddenly uncontrolled corpses, froze. When it cleared, they all stared at Wei Wuxian and waited but he seemed… fine? Then, still looking very surprised, he blatantly slid his hand into his robes to grope between his legs.
"Huh," he said. Immediately, a delighted grin slid across his face and he spun around to look at a wide-eyed Hanguang-jun.
"Keep your robes on!" Uncle Cheng yelled.
Momentarily diverted, Wei Wuxian turned towards Uncle Cheng with a smirk, "That's not even a challen-" Then he broke off and gasped, his eyes going distant, before he uttered with hushed reverence, "Babies."
Uncle Cheng yelped and shouted, "FUCK no!"
"Oh boy," Lan Sizhui sighed.
"What is happening??" Jin Ling hissed at a cackling Lan Jingyi.
It took the combined efforts of scholars from four clans two months to figure out a way to reverse the process, but by then it was too late: Wei Wuxian was already pregnant. Unfortunately for virtually everyone besides Hanguang-jun, pregnancy agreed with Wei Wuxian.
Crossposted to Dreamwidth. Comment here or there. ♥ Blue :)