xi_writes
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"Perhaps if you'd give me a moment to actually execute a technique—"
“Your attackers won’t give you moments.” His grip tightened a fraction, enough to steal your breath.
“They'll use every advantage. Strength. Speed.” His other hand came up, a single span covering your throat, fingers sliding in a slow arc that skimmed your skin and tilted your head up until you had no choice but to meet his eyes. “Intimidation.”
A kidnapping attempt earns you mandatory workplace self-defence lessons.
Your boss deciding to take over as your instructor earns you something else entirely.
Series
- Part 3 of Managing Mr. Qin
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The man's eyes flicked back to her. Eventually, he spoke. "I believe you summoned me."
Sakura suppressed a shiver at the low, silky tones. "What do you mean I summoned you?"
His expression remained impassive, but Sakura got the distinct impression that he thought her a fool.
"You opened the locket. You sealed the contract in blood." The barest curl at the corner of his lips signalled his displeasure as he continued. "You are the master of the geis now."
When medical student Haruno Sakura picks up an antique silver locket at the local flea market, she never expected it to be an ancient magical artefact. Now she's the hapless master to a menacing assassin demon with a thousand-year-old killing curse.
...Is it too late to adopt a cat instead?
[A Halloween-inspired AU, told in short chapters. Written in 2016, now lightly edited and with an epilogue added – just in time for the spooky season.]
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“A piece like that deserves the right setting,” Sylus said, his voice dropping a shade lower, smooth and deliberate, like silk drawn slowly across bare skin. “It would look spectacular on the right neck.”
A museum was missing its jewels.
Your boss was in an unnervingly good mood.
Some people would call that coincidence. You called it Tuesday.
Series
- Part 2 of Managing Mr. Qin
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"Someone's been stealing from me,” Sylus observed, a dulcet honey tone that made grizzled mercenaries remember urgent appointments in other cities.
You'd stopped flinching at it somewhere around month three, mostly because flinching undermined confidence in your abilities, and god knows it didn’t take much to unseat a woman at tables built for men.
"It would appear that way, yes."
Behind every successful crime lord is a long-suffering woman with excellent crisis-management skills, a flexible definition of ethics, and the unenviable task of keeping him profitable, placated, and mostly non-homicidal.
You manage Sylus Qin’s empire. He just hasn’t realised you’ve been managing him, too.
…Or has he?
Series
- Part 1 of Managing Mr. Qin
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"That was close," he said quietly. You could feel the vibration of his words through his chest, the low rumble sending awareness skittering across your nerves.
You tilted your face up, studying his expression in the dim light filtering from the street.
His pupils had blown wide, leaving only a thin ring of blue, and suddenly you couldn’t look away.
You built your career keeping dangerous Praedators off the streets. As the youngest captain of the LCBI's most successful enforcement unit, you're very good at your job. When the unit's increased workload forces you to hire an assistant, you expect competent filing and decent coffee. Xavier Shen, an unremarkable astronomy graduate desperate for work, delivers. He's quiet and reliable, exactly what you need.
But when a dangerous case lands on your desk and powerful interests offer assistance with hidden costs, you discover that your reluctant new partnership with EVER Corp isn't what it seems.
...Neither is Xavier.
[Inspired by Xavier's Catch-22 Deluded Fiction card]
Recent series
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A series of encounters (professional and otherwise) charting the collision of an unstoppable force and an unmovable object. The only question is: who will break first?
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Shen Wei swallows. “And this is why you asked me to—” he makes a vague gesture that means go undercover as your husband “—pretend with you.”
Zhao Yunlan comes to a stop, eyes on Shen Wei. “That’s why the cover is a married couple. The reason I’m asking you is because there are no other options for people to go undercover with.”
Shen Wei scoffs to give himself an excuse to look away. “You certainly know how to flatter someone, Zhao Yunlan.”
Or: Four Haixingren disappear for two months after a stay at a romantic mountain retreat. Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan book a weekend there to find out what happened.
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- Part 8 of miscellanea, or author's favorites
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Bookmarked by xi_writes
04 Sep 2024
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01 Aug 2024
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Close Your Eyes and See Me by marycrawford for cyberbrain
Fandoms: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018)
18 Mar 2023
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It seemed like a good idea to Zhao Yunlan at the time. Take a job as a life drawing model, observe the students, try to figure out if one of them murdered the previous art professor.
Get paid to sit on a chair, basically. Piece of cake, right?
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Bookmarked by xi_writes
19 Jul 2024
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With the reminder of her confession on her mind, Hinata barely notices Naruto let the bag of soil slide back to the ground once more, until he speaks again and his voice is surprisingly quiet, almost—intimate. She thinks of waiting for an answer that never came, and she looks up into Naruto’s eyes and wonders at the feeling in them, the brightness edged in shadows made of war, and she wonders if maybe—
“Here,” he says, and the words are heavy for some reason she can’t quite fathom. “Try again.”
Bookmarked by xi_writes
13 Jul 2024
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Dongfang Qingcang remained steady, almost uninterested, like he’d gone through this conversation thousands of times. He tucked the loose end of the gauze against her skin. “If I’m no weapon, then I am nothing.”
“No. If a weapon is what you want to be, so be it. I won’t stop you. But there is so much more to you than that.”
His face was starless and carefully empty. “Like what?”
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Bookmarked by xi_writes
04 Mar 2024