Yabanwrites - Blog Posts
This fic was written as part of the TGCF Gotcha for Congo initiative! The request was a piece featuring Ling Wen and Bai Jin, perhaps a character study or a look at their relationship, romantic or otherwise. Ling Wen is one of my favourite side characters, and the whole ordeal with the Brocade Immortal intrigued me greatly since the beginning. To say I was over the moon when the revised edition deepened their story, and allowed us to have a glimpse of Bai Jin while he was still alive, is a severe understatement! I greatly enjoyed working on this little piece, and I hope you enjoy reading it as well.
I've been ultra sick, so I forgot to post what I got done from this challenge.
"Finish a recent WIP" and "Finish any WIP/Free Space" got crossed once I finished posting Treasure Hunting in the Clouds.
"Update your newest WIP" and "Update a partially posted WIP" got crossed with the new chapter of Cariño para Wu Ming.
I want to cross all the slots eventually, hopefully this year. I'll update when/if I do!
(text description in ALT and below the cut)
Based on some rumblings I heard, I ended up quickly throwing together a fun little WIP bingo sheet! I'll admit I largely wrote the prompts for writing, but I think a good number of them should also apply to art!
Ultimately, the goal is to have fun, and finish whatever WIPs you can (without burning yourself out or having a bad time). If you needed a sign to pick up that project you've been putting off, the time is now!
3x4 Bingo square titled "Finish your fucking fics february"
the top three across left to right read "Update your oldest WIP", "Finish a WIP that's been buried deep in your drafts", and "Finish a WIP that you haven't posted yet"
the second row reads "Finish a recent WIP", "Finish a WIP you're scared of" and "Finish a WIP that's been haunting you"
the third row reads "Update a partially posted WIP", "Finish any WIP/Free Space", and "Finish the next WIP in a series you've been avoiding"
the last row reads "Update your newest WIP", "Finish a WIP that's been ignored for at least 6 months", and "Finish the next chapter for a fic you've been meaning to for months"
Ah, how time flies... like Xie Lian had to fly and fly and fly... 🥲
I adore this gif set with my entire soul!
Almost a year ago in May my friend @yabancreations and I were talking about a fic they wanted to write and I made these silly gif animations as a birthday present for them! Ban's fic Treasure Hunting in the Cloud is a Hualian modern AU meet-cute story and it is amazing and fully out now!! ✈️✨
If you answer no, please let me know why, I'm genuinely curious. I don't mean for this to seem like there's one right answer, there isn't, it's just when I post works, I hope to get criticism because I know I'm a flawed writer, and I won't get better if I ignore that. Some people who write fanfiction are absolutely amazing writers, and if they believe that they don't need criticism for their work, then I'm glad that you worked so hard to get there! I just am wired differently. I know a lot of criticism can be seen as hate, and I want to be clear, when I say criticism, I don't mean saying 'this sucks'. I mean an actual look into the work, and pointing out what works, and what doesn't. I would love to get criticism, because it meant my stories were worth thinking about and people think I'm capable of improving.
Anyway I'll focus this post on MXTX authors, because that's the fandom I write in and I want to know what they think specifically
• Chapter 6: A new journey (epilogue)
This fic is complete!
It's time for another Hualian modern meet-cute! Witness the blooming of the most convoluted (kinda?) parasocial relationship, featuring: -Air traffic mayhem -Mistaken clothes -Only one bed -Videoblogging -A gay wedding -Explosives?
Summary: Hua Cheng’s flight gets off to a bad start when the airline arbitrarily gives half of his first class couple’s pod to a stranger. To add insult to injury, he arrives back to his seat only to find that the intruder has mistaken Hua Cheng’s jumper with the plane’s pyjamas! Before he can kick up a fuss, though, something in this man’s face strikes him as familiar…
Wait a second, isn’t this the super cute guy from the last video that Hua Cheng watched while at the lounge before the flight?
• Chapter 1: Take off
• Chapter 5: Landing
It's time for another Hualian modern meet-cute! Witness the blooming of the most convoluted (kinda?) parasocial relationship, featuring: -Air traffic mayhem -Mistaken clothes -Only one bed -Videoblogging -A gay wedding -Explosives?
Summary: Hua Cheng’s flight gets off to a bad start when the airline arbitrarily gives half of his first class couple’s pod to a stranger. To add insult to injury, he arrives back to his seat only to find that the intruder has mistaken Hua Cheng’s jumper with the plane’s pyjamas! Before he can kick up a fuss, though, something in this man’s face strikes him as familiar…
Wait a second, isn’t this the super cute guy from the last video that Hua Cheng watched while at the lounge before the flight?
• Chapter 1: Take off
WIP initials game!
How it works: You will be given a word. Share one sentence/excerpt from your WIP(s) that starts with each letter of that word!
My word: BLADE (thanks for the tag, @e-n-t-r-o-p-i-c-f-r-o-g!)
I'll only take excerpts from unpublished chapters of works that I already started posting :)
B (from Rotting Waters)
“Beautiful dog, Xuan Zhen” Jun Wu comments suddenly. “What breed is it?”
His voice startles both Mu Qing and Feng Xin. Sabre looks at him too, stretching her strong neck slightly, maybe to sniff. Jun Wu doesn’t move to interact with her, so after a hesitant wag of tail, she sits down.
“It’s an Akita,” Mu Qing replies after a second. “Her name is Sabre.”
L (from The Perfect Gift)
Looking at them go, Link had to admit that the gerudo was surprisingly pragmatic. In their place, Sidon would've lost his goddam mind; he wouldn't have left Link alone until he said something. Even Zelda would be alarmed. Tuori, though? They were content just knowing Link wouldn’t kick the bucket while they finished the job.
A (from Treasure Hunting in the Clouds)
“An explosive?” San Lang asks with less alarm or surprise in his voice than Xie Lian expected, which makes him feel optimistic.
“A grenade, to be precise. I thought it was a steel cup at first.”
“That sounds terribly dangerous.”
His tone is neutral, but Xie Lian tenses anyway.
D (from Rotting Waters)
“Does Jun Wu know you’re bringing her?”
“Yeah, duh.”
“And why didn’t you tell me?”
“Whose dog is it?”
Feng Xin will kill him.
E (from Treasure Hunting in the Clouds)
Even if they weren’t doing… whatever they’re doing, Xie Lian’s flimsy jacket has little to offer against the low temperature and strong winds awaiting them. Already quite familiar with the unpredictability of British weather, he packed a winter coat in his checked bag, but said checked bag got stuck or misplaced at some point along the way back, probably between Los Angeles and Chicago, and he doesn’t know if he’ll ever see it again (he doesn’t have high hopes).
٩(ˊᗜˋ*)و ♡
This was fun! I'm not sure who to tag, so feel free to join if you see this. The word is going to be MAGIC.
Preorders of my Klance Comics are OPEN
You can choose the "Physical Book" only option or an amazing Bundle with exclusive merch. Both of these have some absolutely mega-exclusive extra content:
💌 PREORDER LOVE LETTER
Exclusive Content: 7pg comic with Keith's POV before the main comic takes place.
🌊PREORDER MERFOLK Once Upon the Seashore [ Klance Comic] + Far Out at Sea [Adashi Fanfic+ Illustrations]
Exclusive Content: The updated art of the comic and color illustration for the fic.
• Chapter 4: Descent
It's time for another Hualian modern meet-cute! Witness the blooming of the most convoluted (kinda?) parasocial relationship, featuring: -Air traffic mayhem -Mistaken clothes -Only one bed -Videoblogging -A gay wedding -Explosives?
Summary: Hua Cheng’s flight gets off to a bad start when the airline arbitrarily gives half of his first class couple’s pod to a stranger. To add insult to injury, he arrives back to his seat only to find that the intruder has mistaken Hua Cheng’s jumper with the plane’s pyjamas! Before he can kick up a fuss, though, something in this man’s face strikes him as familiar…
Wait a second, isn’t this the super cute guy from the last video that Hua Cheng watched while at the lounge before the flight?
• Chapter 1: Take off
Ooh can I ask about "Clarity" 👀
Yes, you can, haha... ha /sweats
"Clarity" is an E rated, possibly dead dove, dubcon, top Xie Lian/bottom Hua Cheng project. Also known as "as far removed from what Yaban normally writes as humanly possible."
As I mentioned in the original description, the action takes place towards the end of the novel, and it's as close to canon as I can get with this premise. This means that the dubcon doesn't come from Xie Lian being a dark version of himself, but rather from a sort of "fuck or die" scenario. I make no promises of the smut being sexy —for starters, I haven't written smut since like 2011— because I'm more interested in Xie Lian's internal turmoil than anything. In fact, one of the tags I think I'll add is "this would be sexier if only Xie Lian didn't overthink so much."
I'm not sure of when the idea first occurred to me, but I've been turning it over in my mind for probably more than a year. Here's what I have written so far:
—————
Xie Lian waited until the last moment. He held on, and on, and on, watching how some flowers wilted and dried whilst others turned into fruit that ripened and fell, bursting over dead petals, making a mess of his front yard and the paths he’d painstakingly built from the base of Mount Taicang to his cottage. He had a hunch that Hua Cheng would be back before the flowering period was over, and he wouldn’t admit that such a thing happened until the very last bloom fell.
One hot night of late summer, a sudden torrential rain shook the mountain, washing every single weak flower and most of the fruit away. Lightening felled a maple tree midway down the path, too, blocking transit. After assessing the damage in the morning after, Xie Lian resigned himself. Going back to the cottage, he picked a hatchet from his little trove of used farming tools and put on his new bamboo hat, given to him by a young man from Puqi Village who noticed he wasn’t wearing the original any more. The boy had asked what had happened to it, and Xie Lian had said that he’d given it to someone who needed it.
“But daozhang needs a hat too,” the boy had protested, reminding him of Hua Cheng.
This wasn’t a surprise, and it didn’t hurt. It was only natural that everything and everyone made him think of his beloved ghost. Xie Lian missed him dearly, so what was better than thinking about him to pass the time while he waited? He’d done so in many ways: dusting off his memories, visiting the places they’d shared, talking to Hua Cheng’s many subjects in Ghost City. Reading and wondering. Dreaming. Praying, once or twice, when he’d stumbled upon shrines dedicated to the Crimson Rain Seeking a Flower. That day, the circumstances invited him to reminisce about how swift and efficient Hua Cheng was cutting wood, the strength and elegance of every swing of his axe, and the way he cheekily pretended to sweat so he had an excuse to bare his snow-white, lean torso.
Xie Lian felt his face warm up and sighed deeply. Many days and nights of his heart and thoughts being spurred in dangerous directions by the memory of Hua Cheng’s scalding gaze and mischievous lips had made him familiar with this sort of agitation. In fact, he’d started to enjoy it, although he didn’t indulge much. The intensity of these new emotions and sensations was strong enough that, regardless of how scandalised he was at the prospect, he didn’t expect to preserve his path of cultivation nor the reserves of spiritual power attached to it once Hua Cheng came back. However, he was adamantly against allowing anything to break before that came to happen. After eight centuries and eight months that felt like a millennium each, he wasn’t going to succumb to his own imagination.
—————
When will I finish it? Who knows. I will focus on completing my ongoing fics first, but I'll keep taking notes and writing on the side. This is a very daunting project, so if inspiration strikes, I won't let it pass. Thanks for asking!
Back to WIP game main post.
For wip game: Within Reach!
( I adore this one so much. Hua Cheng's worshippers have always been so interesting to me, and I love the idea of them having very different stories about who he is (ghost; a fox; man; woman; some other animal). And an eye symbol for 'helping' him find his beloved is so touching! Xie Lian picking up on little hints and slowly learning more of his new (not as new as you think my prince) dearest friend and being so tender with his San Lang 🙏 Also it also having Hua Cheng sickfic-hurt/comfort bits! Whump is my jam, and it's not so often I see a good one for Hua Cheng.)
Within Reach! I'm so happy you like it. It was one of my very first ideas for a TGCF fanfic. Alongside The Newcomer and Heavenly Damnation —which was the one I ended up submitting— it was one of the pitches I prepared for the TGCF minibang 2022. At the time, I was translating manhua for Bilibili Comics, from which I learned a lot about Chinese mythology and wuxia/xianxia tropes. This led me to understand just how big MXTX had made the sandbox for TGCF canonverse fancreations, particularly with how loose she made the magic system, and how she built Hua Cheng's backstory up through rumours and half-truths. I thought I could explore this by writing about Hua Cheng's side of the 800 years of separation, but I didn't want Xie Lian to miss out! I then needed a lapse that MXTX had left open to interpretation, and during which Hua Cheng's ability to conceal his story or interfere was limited.
Now, if I wasn't a rabid fan of The Legend of Zelda, I don't think I would've chosen the time when Hua Cheng was sealed in a child form to tell this story, even if it's possibly the best moment for doing so. I don't like children in fiction. I've got nothing about real life children, on the contrary, but the use and connotation of childhood in fictional narratives is more times than not shameless propaganda for reproductive futurism, and I hate it. However, the biggest sidequest of The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask features Kafei, a man who has been de-aged by a curse, and his fiancée Anju, who he's to marry on the same day the moon is going to fall and end the world. Kafei hides from Anju and the rest of the town in shame by wearing a fox mask (known in the game as Keaton mask, being Keaton a golden fox spirit). One good day, I looked at Kafei, thought of Hua Cheng, and had an epiphany, hahaha. If I'm very idle in the future, I'll write a TGCF x Majora's Mask crossover with Xie Lian as Anju, Hua Cheng as Kafei and Link as, well, Link. It'd be the ultimate "target audience = me", reason why I'm not in a rush to write it (I can simply daydream) but this explains the design of Hua Cheng's mask in the cover art I made for the fic. It's just Keaton's mask with Hua Cheng's trademarks, lol. Also, the eye windows/carvings might be Zelda's influence, too. There's a lot of eyes in the series, as they're the weak point of most bosses, and the emblem of the sheikah, a tribe of ninja warriors at the service of the Hyrulean crown.
In general, coming up with ways for Hua Cheng's worshippers to show their devotion and support has been a lot of fun. Hua Cheng will never appreciate the love they have for him or how they want to help him (he only cares about Xie Lian), but Xie Lian will see it and be very proud of him, I think. He's also delighted to be able to take care of his dearest friend during this trying times, and he'll baby him to oblivion, as he should —you're so real for the Hua Cheng whump appreciation, I salute you.
They'll be a bit further from human settlements in the next chapter, so we'll mostly encounter creatures, rogue travellers, and cultivators with their own bewildering theories about Crimson Rain Seeking A Flower. I hope you enjoy it when I finally post it, and thank you for the ask!
—————
Back to WIP game main post.
From @/thisonethereader on BlueSky:
I’ve been following treasure hunting in the clouds and am stoked for your next chapter ^_^ where did your inspo come from? So many airports for poor Gege 😭. (Also sincerely hope you’ve never been THAT effed over by flights <3)
The seed of that entire AU is this tweet, which reads:
@/eddy_sarah: Had a new experience tonight: on hour one of a six-hour flight, I got up to use the bathroom and when I came back the guy beside me was wearing my sweatshirt
I found it hysterical and shared it on Puqi Shrine, the TGCF Discord server where I spend most of my time, elaborating on the spot with some clever and funny interventions of other members. Later that day, my good friend @tiiracotta told me on DMs that they found the idea hilarious as well, and we brainstormed some more—we decided together that Xie Lian would mudlark in his free time, for example. Tiira ended up making the animation featured in the fic as a birthday present to me, which gave me the final push to write!
I'm happy to say that, although I've gone through my fair share of airport misadventures, it's never been as bad as Xie Lian's experience in this fic. I keep putting this poor man through the exaggerated, horrible version of everything that happens to me, hahaha.
I'm determined to post the end of the fic before Christmas. I'm glad to know you're looking forward to it, and thanks for asking!
—————
Back to WIP game main post.
Hi! 💜 For the wip ask game: please please please, tell me more about in memoriam 👀
Hi! Of course, let's see: both In Memoriam and Scars surged from my curiosity about how Wei Ying (and Lan Zhan, plus the rest of the cast) processed Wei Ying's change of bodies in the long run. The novel shows some of it, yes, but it's such a strange occurrence! Surely there's more to it than saying, "alright, this happened. Moving on~"
Specifically for In Memoriam, I thought about the people who used to know Mo Xuanyu. His family was killed at the beginning of the novel, and no one in the Jin clan cared about him, but there are more people in the world. Someone had to remember him dearly from his childhood years, right? I thought of their reaction upon learning that who they used to know as an odd yet sweet child of the local gentry is now a completely different person. What an unholy aberration it must look like for someone outside the Jianghu who can't even imagine the power of cultivation! That's why I chose a former nanny, someone humble who looked after the clan's kids when needed, isn't well-read nor has contact with the Jianghu—she might even be wary of cultivators. She's gentle and a little superstitious, and would definitely die of horror and shock if they told her what happened with xiao Xuanyu. Her last wish is to see him because she's had dreams of something terrible happening to him, and thus her family decide to lure Wei Ying to the Jin territory with an outrageous story in order to ask him privately to help, so the old lady can leave the world with no worries.
That said, I never planned to make the fic about their meeting, but rather, of the before and after, and the narration is a third person vaguely close to Lan Zhan's perspective. Wei Ying goes to see the nanny without giving it much thought, but the experience makes him face the fact that he was shoved into an already started life that had memories and significance and an identity, and he comes back pretty shaken. Most of the fic would be about how he and Lan Zhan come to terms with it together.
I find writing for MDZS pretty intimidating. The worldbuilding and characterization are both very solid, I don't find as many crevices to get in as with TGCF. I don't know if I'll ever post any of these ideas. Have a preview of what I have written, to compensate, and thanks for asking!
——————
“I am talking nonsense, aren’t I? I'm sorry, Hanguang-Jun,” he said and leaned on Lan Zhan’s chest, looking up at him with eyes filled in equal parts with mischief and adoration. “I really want to see them try to explain their scheme to my face, and they won’t dare doing so in front of you. They are not worth your time, anyway; it would even stain the reputation of the Gusu Lan Clan to meddle with such affairs, don’t you think?”
“They will try to kill you.”
Wei Ying smirked and stretched a bit in order to get close to Lan Zhan’s ear.
“Let them try,” he purred, malicious. “Let me have some fun.”
Lan Zhan could feel Wei Ying’s slender fingers slide across his chest, drawing his collarbones and making little circles around his burnt scar. He didn’t falter.
“I’ll behave, I promise.” Wei Ying smile turned into a kiss against Lan Zhan’s neck. “I’ll be good, very good. I'm only ever naughty with you.”
“Stop it.”
“I can’t fly on a sword, so I’ll take Little Apple with me. It'll be a good bonding experience.” Wei Ying sat straight to see Lan Zhan in the eye and offered him the most innocent, purest smile, exquisitely fabricated. “Your uncle will be happy to have some peace; maybe you yourself will remember how much you enjoy silence and how bothersome I am.”
“Wei Ying…”
“Isn’t it true that I am bothersome, and that I love to bother you, and that you love to be bothered by me?”
Lan Zhan couldn’t stop the smallest smile from briefly appearing on his face. Wei Ying noticed it, and he was delighted.
“It is true, it really is!” he said, and leaned forward to point one finger at Lan Zhan’s chest. “Yet don’t tell me you don’t feel at least a bit tempted to have one day of your little five-to-nine clan rituals without my sabotage.”
Lan Zhan frowned slightly. Perhaps Wei Ying was the one in need of a break. He had always been a walking terror, ill-adapted to discipline and routine. Maybe the night hunts were not enough to compensate for the rather domestic, uneventful rhythm of the Cloud Recesses. That was understandable, but why did he want to go alone?
“Lan Zhan, are you pouting at me?”
—————— Back to WIP game main post.
For the WIP game, The Newcomer one sounds so cool!! I'd love to hear more about it!
Heavy spoiler warning for Heaven Official's Blessing. Hi! Right, so, The Newcomer. I came up with the idea around two years ago, while re-reading the Ghost City arc. Do you remember how the mortal who's betting against Hua Cheng when Xie Lian arrives uses his daughter's lifespan and fate in marriage as a wager? It established fortune/fate as a sort of currency in the world of TGCF, a notion that later got reinforced by things like:
-How Hua Cheng can transfer luck in games of chance to Xie Lian -How Shi Wudu could use He Xuan's divine fate to make Shi Qingxuan ascend instead -How Jun Wu physically took Xie Lian's fortune away from him with the second shackle and scattered it among mortals (or so we hope, because Xie Lian asked for that to happen, but with Jun Wu, you never know) -How Jun Wu can put his resentment to bake in the Kiln and cook curses of horrible misfortune with it, which was what made Hong'er's brief life so miserable
The whole thing is quite intriguing. Does the Gambler's Den have a vault of good and bad fortunes in different areas of life, that they've been hoarding for centuries in order to offer them as rewards to new patrons? How, where, and from whom did Hua Cheng learn the magic required for such a thing? Does part of his extremely good luck come from gambling earnings, or is it all his, and the house has its own separate reserves? Is there anyone able to audit these transactions and confirm that there's no cheating and everybody involved gave their informed consent, which seems to be the requisite for the magic to work without breeding resentment (as opposed to a stolen fate, like the Blackwater case), or do they have to believe in what Hua Cheng says because he's too strong to be opposed or challenged?
If I have those questions, surely some characters in the story could have them too. Cue the new Earth Master, formerly an overseer of a big mining operation at the service of the Chinese empire, who swears that he was coerced into betting his extraordinarily auspicious fate in marriage in the Gambler's Den, and claims that Hua Cheng used it to marry Xie Lian, because otherwise there's no way "any respectable god would agree to marry such a vile monster." He ascends shortly after Hualian get married, which in turn is not too long after Hua Cheng's return. Many gods are still resentful towards Hua Cheng for his past deeds and the fanfare of the bells singing him praises every day, so they rally with the new Earth Master to see if they can take him down. Naturally, Xie Lian doesn't believe any of it for even an instant. He's devastated by the turn of events, and when he's told that he should not only stay away from the case because he's biased, but also stay away from Hua Cheng altogether until they determine if their love is legitimate or the product of a fate switch, he almost gets into his second calamity era and locks himself in Paradise Manor, refusing to leave until the case is closed (he's too strong for anyone to force him out, so at least there's that).
As I mentioned, Ling Wen takes on the case to get some fresh air and see if that can get her out on parole. She's in terrible terms with Hua Cheng, but I think she's too pragmatic to try to use the chance to get back at him. Instead, I think she'd be genuinely interested in finding out whether the old fox is as cunning as people paint him to be.
That's what I have defined so far. The rest is rather nebulous because there are a lot of possibilities, both in regard to what actually happened, and also in regard to the POV(s) I want to focus on. I could stay with Ling Wen and show how the Earth Master mirrors the men who looked down on her and mistreated her through her life, or I could focus on Hualian, or do a mix of both... I have started the story two or three times, testing the waters, but I'm still unsure.
Thanks for asking!
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Back to WIP game main post.
Last Line Game
Tagged by @e-n-t-r-o-p-i-c-f-r-o-g weeee
The last line I wrote:
The sight is so that Xie Lian concludes he’s still dreaming. The proportions of this person are mythological. How tall can he be?
If you're reading this and want to join, feel free!
WIP Game!
I was tagged by @e-n-t-r-o-p-i-c-f-r-o-g. Thanks!
Rules:
Make a new post with the names of all the files in your WIP folder.
Let people send you asks with the title that most intrigues them, then post a snippet or reveal something about it.
Tag others to continue the game.
I'm going to provide a little more information besides the titles, because otherwise, picking one feels too much like a shot in the dark.
UNPUBLISHED:
In Memoriam: MDZS, postcanon. Wei Ying is asked to pretend he's Mo Xuanyu and bid farewell to the former nanny of the Mo family, so she can pass away in peace.
Scars: MDZS, postcanon. Wei Ying asks Lan Zhan if, given the chance, he'd erase the scars left by his punishment.
First night: TGCF, missing scene. During the first night he spends in Puqi shrine after meeting Xie Lian on the ox cart, Hua Cheng ponders about what kind of life the prince has lived the last eight hundred years, and about the function of his second shackle.
Clarity: TGCF, canondivergence. Hua Cheng comes back from his second dispersion early, but he's barely there, unable to move or speak on his own. Afraid of exposing his beloved to any malignant actor while in such vulnerable state, and tormented by how much and in how many ways he missed him, Xie Lian locks them both inside the Mt. Taicang's shack until he can come up with a solution.
Pearl Memories: TGCF, postcanon. Xie Lian decides to learn how to style hair properly, and in return, he learns about what happened to the lock of hair he tied around Hua Cheng's finger during the land of the tender incident.
Haifisch: TGCF, mermaid AU. To unwind from his gruelling job and difficult circumstances, Xie Lian has got into the habit of screaming underwater while he swims at the bay, unaware of the fact that his sorrow smells like blood in the water for Hua Cheng, a siren that feeds from despair.
The Newcomer/King of the Ghosts: TGCF, postcanon. A new earth master ascends and immediately accuses Hua Cheng of having stolen his auspicious fate in marriage and use it for himself in order to marry Xie Lian. Seeing in this a chance to free herself from her bureaucratic prison, Ling Wen offers to take care of the case.
The Secret Garden: TGCF, postcanon. Xie Lian is a tireless worker, and while Hua Cheng deeply admires that of him, he's also desperate to make him settle and rest after so many years of struggle. Perhaps making Paradise Manor feel like a real home could do the trick.
Picture perfect: TGCF, modern AU. Hua Cheng begrudgingly agrees to participate in a photography project of his fellow uni student He Xuan, under the condition that he won't have to remove his eyepatch. However, when he arrives to the studio and meets Xie Lian, an incredibly charming man who's missing the right leg, he fears he might be persuaded into exposing his own scars.
The fantasy creatures pitches: SVSSS, MDZS, TGCF (but they aren't crossovers). Chinese mythology AUs. I wrote six pitches for the Tails And Scales fanzine, two for each novel. They picked one from TGCF, but I can talk about the other five.
Fairy Boy: Zelda BotW, missing scene. The story of Link growing up and how he ventured into the Lost Woods to find the Master Sword at age 12. It's entirely told in rhymes, like a children's bedtime story.
ONGOING:
Heavenly Damnation: TGCF, modern AU, metal music. After eight years of taking on awful gigs to stay afloat, Xie Lian is forced to confront his past when issues with the registration office bring him back to the capital. The difference? Hua Cheng, who has been his biggest fan since the beginning, is now ready to help him out of the hell Bai Wuxiang put him into.
Treasure Hunting in the Clouds: TGCF, modern AU. Hua Cheng bought a first class couple's pod to fly back to London after a business trip to the USA, but the airline forced his hand at the last minute and shoved a stranger in the other half of the bed. Hua Cheng hates this at first, but he changes his mind when he sees who's his impromptu pod mate.
Within Reach: TGCF, canondivergence. During their long walk towards Mount Tonglu while Hua Cheng is in his sealed child form, he and Xie Lian encounter humans who tell stories and legends of Crimson Rain Seeking A Flower, and decide to make a game out of it in order for Xie Lian to learn more about his secretive companion.
The Perfect Gift: Zelda BotW, post canon. Unauthorized sequel of the orphaned fic "A Most Convenient Marriage". On a mad race to eliminate the new threat looming over Hyrule, Link comes to terms with his strained relationship with Zelda and the blooming love he shares with Prince Sidon.
This... is hella lot more than I expected to have, lmao. Feel free to ask about as many titles as you want. I'm just now starting to use Tumblr again, so I'm sorry if I'm being inopportune with the tags: @ardenrabbit, @edenwolfie, @peachylixir, @callmefoxypepsi.
Answered questions:
The Newcomer/King of the Ghosts
In Memoriam
Treasure Hunting in the Clouds
Within Reach
Clarity
If you see this, reblog and put in the tags what extremely niche research topic you've found yourself derailed by while attempting to write fanfic. Bonus if it was supposed to be PWP.
Preorders are open for Tails And Scales, a MXTX fantasy creatures zine! It's packed with beautiful art inspired in Chinese mythology and the wonderful stories of Scum Villain Self-Saving System, The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation and Heaven Official's Blessing. It also features fanfiction, and one piece was written by yours truly, as you can see above. This is the first time I join a fanzine, so I'm pretty stocked! I hope you like my take on Hualian and dragons~
Get your bundle at tailsandscalesmxtxzine.bigcartel.com. There's time until December 1st!
Random question for my fanfic writing friends:
When you go to AO3, what’s your total word count?
Here's a reimagining I wrote of the scene in book 4 where Xie Lian gets drunk at the graveyard. Mind the tags, please.
Summary:
Didi (弟弟): Younger brother.
Drunk for the first time in his life, Xie Lian accidentally falls in an open burial pit and finds that he’s not alone.
Canon divergence from chapter 185 of the original/unrevised serialized edition.
Images for my fics
My archaic ass refuses to use a proper image hosting service, so given that I have to move my dumb fic memes once again, I'll try to host them here.
Isn't that my cat?
Grow on me
Didi
Heavenly Damnation:
Treasure Hunting in the Clouds:
• Chapter 3: Cruise Altitude
It's time for another Hualian modern meet-cute! Witness the blooming of the most convoluted (kinda?) parasocial relationship, featuring: -Air traffic mayhem -Mistaken clothes -Only one bed -Videoblogging -A gay wedding -Explosives?
Summary: Hua Cheng’s flight gets off to a bad start when the airline arbitrarily gives half of his first class couple’s pod to a stranger. To add insult to injury, he arrives back to his seat only to find that the intruder has mistaken Hua Cheng’s jumper with the plane’s pyjamas! Before he can kick up a fuss, though, something in this man’s face strikes him as familiar…
Wait a second, isn’t this the super cute guy from the last video that Hua Cheng watched while at the lounge before the flight?
• Chapter 1: Take off
• Chapter 2: Climb
It's time for another Hualian modern meet-cute! Witness the blooming of the most convoluted (kinda?) parasocial relationship, featuring: -Air traffic mayhem -Mistaken clothes -Only one bed -Videoblogging -A gay wedding -Explosives?
Summary: Hua Cheng’s flight gets off to a bad start when the airline arbitrarily gives half of his first class couple’s pod to a stranger. To add insult to injury, he arrives back to his seat only to find that the intruder has mistaken Hua Cheng’s jumper with the plane’s pyjamas! Before he can kick up a fuss, though, something in this man’s face strikes him as familiar…
Wait a second, isn’t this the super cute guy from the last video that Hua Cheng watched while at the lounge before the flight?
• Chapter 1: Take off
It's time for another Hualian modern meet-cute! Witness the blooming of the most convoluted (kinda?) parasocial relationship, featuring: -Air traffic mayhem -Mistaken clothes -Only one bed -Videoblogging -A gay wedding -Explosives?
Summary: Hua Cheng’s flight gets off to a bad start when the airline arbitrarily gives half of his first class couple’s pod to a stranger. To add insult to injury, he arrives back to his seat only to find that the intruder has mistaken Hua Cheng’s jumper with the plane’s pyjamas! Before he can kick up a fuss, though, something in this man’s face strikes him as familiar…
Wait a second, isn’t this the super cute guy from the last video that Hua Cheng watched while at the lounge before the flight?
• Chapter 1: Take off
Chapter 2: Games
Summary: “Nobody really knows who this person could be, or why Lord Crimson Rain is looking for them,” Yu Liling continued, coming close to the pavilion with Xie Lian and Hua Cheng in tow. “There’s lots of speculation, but my ancestor who travelled to Ghost City heard there from a good source that they’re a ‘noble immortal Taoist.’”
As people said: no winds, no waves. The only rumours that passed the test of time were those that hid a little bit of truth within. Hua Cheng felt Xie Lian’s eyes on him, but he kept his face schooled and his eyes on the cloth fox.
It took over ten days for Xie Lian and Hua Cheng to walk from the inn where they met with the emperor to the entrance of Mount Tonglu. What happened during that journey? And most importantly, what would've happened if things had gone differently during that journey?
Expect folk stories told by Hua Cheng worshippers, Xie Lian figuring out stuff he could've realised one hundred chapters ago, and a Ghost King simultaneously hating on his child-like appearance and getting the best out of it.
Canon divergence from chapter 143. Contains many spoilers from the book!
Read on Ao3.
Chapter 1: Fever
Summary: In the past few days, by his own initiative, Xie Lian had hugged and carried Hua Cheng more times than he could count. He'd held his hand for hours at a time, he kept squeezing his cheeks and nuzzling his hair. He shared blankets with him every night and made his hair every morning. His attention brought Hua Cheng a level of comfort and reassurance he hadn’t even imagined before. Even the smallest gesture of tenderness coming from Xie Lian could push all the rage of the volcano to the far corners of Hua Cheng’s mind and make him forget that it was there.
Perhaps that had been the problem. Perhaps Hua Cheng had got too comfortable basking in Xie Lian’s attention, shamelessly taking advantage of his good heart until, due to his carelessness, a wave of the mountain’s evil influence impacted his brain directly, taking him out of commission like a stupid novice.
It took over ten days for Xie Lian and Hua Cheng to walk from the inn where they met with the emperor to the entrance of Mount Tonglu. What happened during that journey? And most importantly, what would've happened if things had gone differently during that journey?
Expect folk stories told by Hua Cheng worshippers, Xie Lian figuring out stuff he could've realised one hundred chapters ago, and a Ghost King simultaneously hating on his child-like appearance and getting the best out of it.
Canon divergence from chapter 143. Contains many spoilers from the book!
Read on Ao3.
Hi! I wanted to know if the lyrics for all the songs in withering lotus and rotting waters were written by you? And if you would let me use them someday if they are yours. Not for another written work or anything like that but to use them for a song?
Hello! Yes, all the lyrics are written by me, except for the verse of Queen's "My Fairy King" in Withering Lotus, chapter 7, and the "Song of Yue Boatman" in Rotting Waters, chapter 4.
And yes, you can musicalize them as not-for-profit/non-commercial projects! Preferably as metal songs, but if that's not your genre, it's fine too. If you do it, please send me a link, I'd love listening to them 🤩
That's right, we have an update!
Thank you Tiira for this wonderful piece, everything you do for Heavenly Damnation is gold 🤟
The story of Heavenly Damnation, the TGCF Heavy metal AU by @yabancreations continues with the second part Rotting Waters! Here is a moment from chapter 4!
TGCF fic collections
I organised my TGCF fics in two collections:
It looks so neat and nice now, ah~
Chapter 4: Something for Xie Lian
This story is complete! Right in time to alleviate the void left by the ending of season 2 of the donghua (what will be of our Wednesdays now?)
One of my goals for 2024 is to write in a more relaxed and spontaneous way, and here's my first step in that direction.
Summary: After a series of unfortunate events, Xie Lian’s old friends allow him to crash their couch for a few weeks. Upon arrival, Xie Lian is amazed by the amount of online shopping Feng Xin and Mu Qing do, and even more by the extremely awkward timing of the local postman who brings their parcels. How is it possible that this man only rings whenever Xie Lian is in the shower?!