do i detect a dischordant note in love's tender refrain?

Fandom: Mo Dao Zu Shi
Pairings/Characters: Mo Xuanyu, Wei Wuxian (mentioned), Nie Huaisang (implied), Lan Wangji (mentioned; implied); Mo Xuanyu/Himself, Mo Xuanyu & Wei Wuxian, Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian (mentioned; implied), Mo Xuanyu -> Nie Huaisang (one-sided)
Rating: Explicit
Length: 4,927
Content Notes: Body Modification (voluntary), Cannibalism (mentioned as part of the culture), canon-typical ritual bloodletting, Classism, First Person POV, Needles, Scenery Porn
Creator Tags: Masturbation, Voyeurism, mermaid Mo Xuanyu, Non-Human Genitalia, Prehensile dick, Worldbuilding, Abyssal Mermaids, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, In that most of the sects are benthopelagic sea critters, And Wei Wuxian actually gets to talk to Mo Xuanyu, Monsterfucker Mo Xuanyu, POV Mo Xuanyu, Hair Kink (minor), self-bondage (minor), Misunderstandings

Creator Links: (AO3) LesbianlazerOwl; (Dreamwidth) lazerowl; (Twitter) gay_lazerOwl

Theme: Unreliable Narrator, Cultural Differences, Interspecies Pairings, Languages & Linguistics, Mermaids, Pining, Worldbuilding, Xeno/Alien Biology

Summary: Mo Xuanyu lives alone at the edge of the habitable world, continuing Wei Wuxian's work and strengthening his cultivation. One day soon, he hopes to surpass the Yiling Laozu's power and follow him into the unknown. Complications arise.

Creator Notes: (Cut for length.) ( Continue. )

Reccer's Notes: LesbianlazerOwl’s AU where the Jiang and Jin Sects are deep-sea merfolk is a strange and rapturous gem that turns Lovecraftiana upside-down (from the POV of a character embodying everything Lovecraft abhorred: a queer Asian—here turned sea creature—looking to monsterfuck.)

With all the haughty smarter-than-the-sheeple dudgeon of the alienated Emo Kid, Abyssal Merman! and Seeker of Arcane Knowledge Mo Xuanyu follows his idol the Yiling Laozu’s forbidden explorations of the mysterious and unfathomable surface—where, according to rumor, he found love with an eldritch air fairy! (Should the author ever see fit, I’d love to read a Wangxian prequel.)

LesbianlazerOwl compresses an incredible amount of atmosphere and implicit worldbuilding into just short of 5000 words, in ways that encourage still further speculation (the Sunshot Campaign is referenced; what could justify such a name in this world, and what were the Wen—creatures of the infernal blazing heights of the Epipelagic Zone?)

Fanwork Links: Rise and Shine, by LesbianlazerOwl for Shadaras: https://archiveofourown.org/works/42602655

Collections: Mutual Masturbation Exchange.