My titles are either blandly descriptive or some kind of unholy running commentary (I literally could not remember what the 'poe hates this ice planet' fic was even about, gave it a quick glance and went, well, what it says on the tin, pretty much).
The Wu Xie fic will definitely get finished (though this one probably won't be all that long) - actually I can get back to that now that I've got a working draft of the exchange fic...
Right, Weilan barrier fic. That's the one I was writing before I got distracted by the exes fic. I've got 1.7k of it already, so this one's got a good chance of getting finished, too. Here's the first bit of it, which doesn't quite get to the central conceit (Shen Wei is caught on one side of a barrier and is slowly depleting himself to stop it from causing harm, Zhao Yunlan is on the other) yet, but hey.
*
Shen Wei is in the middle of an explaining an example of mutation bias to one of his third year classes, when a change in the air around him hums through his bones. The sudden charged power in the air is almost enough to vibrate his teeth, the fine hairs on his arms standing up in protest.
The hand holding the chalk to the blackboard drops to his side. He’s distantly aware how strange he must appear to his students, speech arrested mid-sentence in a way entirely uncharacteristic of composed, self-assured Professor Shen, but the sense that something is wrong has sunk deep under his skin, prickling along nerves that have only just relaxed into this new era of peace.
“Excuse me for a moment,” he says, abrupt enough that even the student in the backrow who’d been dozing jerks upright, even though Shen Wei keeps his voice quiet and calm. Jia Jia is watching him with worried eyes from the corner with her laptop – while he would prefer to teach only with a blackboard and his voice, some of the computer models really are useful for visualisation purposes, and this way his graduate student can get a few more hours of paid work each week – more attuned to his tells than his less regular students.
Not alerting his students to any strangeness is already a lost cause, so Shen Wei steps over to the largest window to look out, ignoring their stares on his back. He’d half hoped he wouldn’t see anything, despite the wrongness in the air, but as soon as his gaze focuses the anomaly becomes clear – there’s some kind of veil shimmering in the air at the edge of campus, turning it bluer than it should be, interrupted by tiny flashes of light.
This, Shen Wei reflects with some tiredness, has the potential to be very troubling indeed.
He turns back to his class. Every pair of eyes is rivetted on him. He smiles blandly and says, “A situation seems to be developing. Class is adjourned for today, but I suggest you stay put until the issue is resolved.”
Shen Wei doesn’t wait for the inevitable questions, which he would currently be unable to answer, and protests, which he doesn’t have time to answer, and makes his way out of the lecture room with swift strides. He leaves his bag – there’s nothing in there that would be likely to help him.
As soon as he steps out of the biology faculty building, any hope that this is going be a small matter to resolve fades into a probability so small it’s not even worth considering. Charged air tickles over his skin, ruffling his hair as he stares at the shimmering blue dome that encases the entire campus, cutting it off from the outside world.
That would be alarming enough, but he’s almost certain that the wall of energy is moving. Shrinking, in fact.
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The Wu Xie fic will definitely get finished (though this one probably won't be all that long) - actually I can get back to that now that I've got a working draft of the exchange fic...
Right, Weilan barrier fic. That's the one I was writing before I got distracted by the exes fic. I've got 1.7k of it already, so this one's got a good chance of getting finished, too. Here's the first bit of it, which doesn't quite get to the central conceit (Shen Wei is caught on one side of a barrier and is slowly depleting himself to stop it from causing harm, Zhao Yunlan is on the other) yet, but hey.
*
Shen Wei is in the middle of an explaining an example of mutation bias to one of his third year classes, when a change in the air around him hums through his bones. The sudden charged power in the air is almost enough to vibrate his teeth, the fine hairs on his arms standing up in protest.
The hand holding the chalk to the blackboard drops to his side. He’s distantly aware how strange he must appear to his students, speech arrested mid-sentence in a way entirely uncharacteristic of composed, self-assured Professor Shen, but the sense that something is wrong has sunk deep under his skin, prickling along nerves that have only just relaxed into this new era of peace.
“Excuse me for a moment,” he says, abrupt enough that even the student in the backrow who’d been dozing jerks upright, even though Shen Wei keeps his voice quiet and calm. Jia Jia is watching him with worried eyes from the corner with her laptop – while he would prefer to teach only with a blackboard and his voice, some of the computer models really are useful for visualisation purposes, and this way his graduate student can get a few more hours of paid work each week – more attuned to his tells than his less regular students.
Not alerting his students to any strangeness is already a lost cause, so Shen Wei steps over to the largest window to look out, ignoring their stares on his back. He’d half hoped he wouldn’t see anything, despite the wrongness in the air, but as soon as his gaze focuses the anomaly becomes clear – there’s some kind of veil shimmering in the air at the edge of campus, turning it bluer than it should be, interrupted by tiny flashes of light.
This, Shen Wei reflects with some tiredness, has the potential to be very troubling indeed.
He turns back to his class. Every pair of eyes is rivetted on him. He smiles blandly and says, “A situation seems to be developing. Class is adjourned for today, but I suggest you stay put until the issue is resolved.”
Shen Wei doesn’t wait for the inevitable questions, which he would currently be unable to answer, and protests, which he doesn’t have time to answer, and makes his way out of the lecture room with swift strides. He leaves his bag – there’s nothing in there that would be likely to help him.
As soon as he steps out of the biology faculty building, any hope that this is going be a small matter to resolve fades into a probability so small it’s not even worth considering. Charged air tickles over his skin, ruffling his hair as he stares at the shimmering blue dome that encases the entire campus, cutting it off from the outside world.
That would be alarming enough, but he’s almost certain that the wall of energy is moving. Shrinking, in fact.