#merinnan

[hils79]

Writing patterns

Rules: List the first line of your last 10 (posted) fics and see if there's a pattern! Thank you @merinnan @killerandhealerqueen & @alxina for tagging me 💜

Terms and Conditions

Leaving Wu Xie at home while he heads into Beijing to conduct some business is a lot easier for Pangzi now that they’re retired.

2. Hard to Catch the Wind

There’s a subtle art to getting Hongjoong to take care of his own health and wellbeing.

3. Man, Interrupted

Retirement was never something Pangzi really thought about when he was younger.

4. Alone in the Dark

Deep down Pangzi has always known that one day a tomb he ventured into would end up becoming his own.

5. Here In My Arms

These are the moments Pangzi will cherish until his dying day.

6. Carry You Home

Zhang Qiling is slowly starting to accept that there are people in the world that he cares about, and who care about him in return.

7. Strength in Numbers

Qiao Yifan is still getting used to all this - this being surrounded by people who actually notice him and listen to what he has to say.

8. Any Port in a Storm

“Are you sure you’ll be okay without me?”

9. Life Through a Lens 

The nerves churn in Liu Sang’s stomach, burning up into his throat until he feels like they might choke him.

10. Xiao Xiaoge

“Tianzhen, don’t touch—”

The only real pattern that I can see is that they're all quite short and snappy opening lines. IDEK. I have no idea what I'm doing at the best of times.

Not sure who has already done this so no pressure if you don't want to play but tagging @leatherbookmark @strandedchesspiece @s1utspeare @morkofday @thesilversun @silver-colour @pangzi

[momosandlemonsoda]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers (except me because obvs I have done it). Spread the self-love ❤

Thanks so much for tagging me, @bbcphile, how fun! I ended up rereading some of my older fics for this. Onward!

In no particular order, let's start with Not Too Sentimental, which I wrote for Yuletide in 2014 (which is not, I regret to say, ten years ago! Je refuse!). I based this on the wonderful novel The Girls at the Kingfisher Club by Genevieve Valentine, which is a Jazz age retelling of the 12 dancing princesses. It's gen and about the two oldest sisters, Jo and Lou, who have a love-hate relationship.

Next is the first DMBJ fic I wrote, Reach for their Scabbards, which is Wu Xie/Zhang Qiling/Liu Sang for my beloved @uschickens, who in the best tradition of fandom friends dragged me down into the pits with her. Wu Xie and Xiaoge take care of Liu Sang and then decide to keep him. There's a whole series.

Whatever Our Reckoning is also in DMBJ, a short little fic I wrote because we needed more Hei Xiazi/Xiao Hua/Huo Xiuxiu fic (we always need more but we needed it for a specific reason) and it's a twisty little thing. I like that there's nothing explained and everything explained in under 3k words. I have a sequel started, but I don't know that I will ever finish it.

I wrote With Water and a Star for an exchange and until recently it was the longest fic I wrote without coauthors. I got the assignment and I said to @uschickens, well, @merinnan really loves fake dating but how can you do fake dating with three people? And it turns out this is how. Another HeiHuaHuo fic, and what I loved is that I managed to pull it off, three points of view, a satisfying story, a happy ending. It even has a little post-story sex-tra.

(I feel like I'm pushing it with the extra links but also, this is a self-rec post and I do what I want).

The last one... ok, I'm going to take "5 favorite fics you've written" to mean finished fics. I love my wips, but in terms of finished fic, I'm going to go with No Rug to Sleep On or Fish to Eat. KinnPorsche fandom, Kim/Chay (why did I fall for the most adorable little pairing? because of all the delicious trauma? because they don't end up together at the end? how about both.gif). Kim gets turned into a kitten and events ensue. The tag "Kitten Thinks About Nothing But Murder All Day" is absolutely correct.

This was so fun to do! Tagging @merinnan @foxofninetales @alxina @mekare-art and @starstainedwings, if they want to do it or anyone else. No pressure at all!

[foxofninetales]

Unlearn the Way of Being Strangers by afrikate, cryptive, fox_of_nine_tales, frith_in_thorns, Hils, Merinnan, mimosaeyes, MountainRose, Onmyo-Jin (silvercolour), rainisfallingdown, WindStainedDreams

Fandom: DMBJ | The Grave Robber’s Chronicles and related fandoms

Relationship: Hei Xiazi/Liu Sang/Xie Yuchen

Rating: Teen

Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Action/Adventure, Post-Canon, canon-typical tomb creatures, Injury, Caretaking, Mind Control, Tentacles but not like that

Summary:

Having finally regained his hearing and his health after his Thunder City adventures with the Iron Triangle, Liu Sang is looking forward to a new contract with a new employer. With Xie Yuchen's reputation for competence and the resources he has to draw on, this should be a smooth, professional tomb raid that gives Liu Sang a chance to showcase his skills. What could go wrong? Well, for starters, Hei Xiazi is there.

Excerpt:

Liu Sang wiped his nose irritably; if there was some sort of hyper-allergenic mold down here he was going to be livid–

Oh. His fingers and the back of his knuckles were smeared with something dark, and a flash from his flashlight lit it up bright, virulent red.

"Oh fuck, uhh–" he had tissues somewhere, right? Shit, he’d emptied his pockets when he got doused…

"Use this," Xie-ye said, handing him... was that silk? Definitely too nice a handkerchief to bring into a tomb – unless, apparently, your name was Xie Yuchen. "What happened?

"Nothing," Liu Sang said, reluctantly taking the handkerchief. It really was far too nice to get bloodstains all over it, but it seemed it was that or nothing. "No, really," he added as he held the handkerchief to his nose, catching Xie Yuchen's sceptical look. "I didn't hit it, or smell anything, or get anything in my face, or anything like that. It just started bleeding." He shrugged. "It's just a nosebleed. They happen."

“Did you hear anything before it started bleeding?” Hei Xiazi had materialised next to him, holding up some more standard paper tissues.

That triggered a niggling in Liu Sang's mind. There was something he was supposed to do. He shook his head to try to clear it. The door was open. Right. He needed to map the mechanism he could hear.

"Hey, did you hear me?" Hei Xiazi asked, putting something in his hand. What had he said before? Something about listening?

"I'm listening, the floor's hollow–"

"I'm asking you about the bells, Sangsang," he repeated. "Stop listening, put your white noise in."

There were people on all sides now, the medic, and Mop, and Xie Yuchen was touching his shoulder, and they all had nice, solid heartbeats that he didn't want to stop hearing, actually. "No, no, I'm listening–"

There were suddenly too many hands on him. He felt claustrophobic. He tried to bat them away but they kept coming back. Someone forced his earphones in his ears and turned up the white noise, and suddenly the world felt bleak, like he had lost something precious. He needed to listen. Why didn't they understand?

He tasted some warm and salty on his tongue and his knees hurt – had he fallen? Where was the music?

He tried to get up again, but someone had a hand on his shoulder and he just couldn't get the leverage. Warm, sticky, salty, unswallowable something filled the back of his throat and he was going to choke, off, off, get off–

He heaved over onto his side and coughed, violently enough that his ribs ached. In the harsh light-and-shadow, the ground misted red in front of him.

Commentary:  

This fic came about over on the Yucun Discord when Jin suggested cooperatively group-writing a fic just for the fun of it. Well, you can't go wrong with that DMBJ standard, the tomb crawl, and all of us are whump enthusiasts (in fact , I think most of the authors still lovingly refer to this by its working title, Tomb of Whump) so we set out to make our boys suffer and see where the plot took us. Nine months, 176k words, and a whole lot of hurt and comfort later, the entire fic is available to read on AO3!

Image credits 1 2 3 4

[dual-domination]

✨six sentences saturday✨

rules: post 6 sentences of an unfinished work

I was tagged by @forerussake HI THERE ERU, THANK YOU \o. It's Monday. I'm sorry Ç_Ç It took me a while to find a part in my recent docs that I wrote alone and that it's not too revealing (I'm co-writing this fic with Deputy Chief and almost everything in the last chapters are major spoilers XD) So, here, have a Weilan moment:

Quietly as he walked hand in hand with Zhao Yunlan, Shen Wei observed the two millennia of art preserved there, thoughtfully. "I used to spend long hours here when I lived in the monastery," Zhao Yunlan commented softly, even a sigh there had an echo. "It's peaceful here..." Shen Wei touched the nearest wall, the pedestal of one of the many Buddhas lining the stones. "Temples carved into rocks in the mountains are places I have visited many times over the past millennia." "When I was in sorrow, staying here was like a painful memory of a loneliness that I had never experienced in this life, but I always had a hope that only in a place like this that loneliness would end. I don't know what that really means. When I was young, at least it meant that Lin Jing would always miss me and come find me here and take me back... or bring me food and stay here with me."

This is part of later chapters of In endless mist and rain, drawing your silhouette again and again (I won't say the number here bc it's scary and we still don't have the last chapters to know how many to add on ao3).

Tagging @tazzy-ace @fixaidea @jaimebluesq @merinnan @alxina @xantissa @foxofninetales @hils79

[nemainofthewater]

WIP ask games!

Thank you for tagging me @terresdebrume!

Rules: make a new post with the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! and then tag as many people as you have WIPs.

Ok, some of these were ideas that i considered and then put on the back burner for exchanges, so I might prune some of these (and also because... wow. So many WIPs). Though i do have quite a few ones i started for an exchange but ended up writing something else instead. Decisions, decisions....

-a brief flirtation with portraiture

-BoY tang lian centric

-F5k2024

-guardian f5k

-how to tame a horse

-LQR amnesia

-Omg OT3

-QHJ/WRH arranged marriage

-reincarnated WKX

-shadaras FIAB

-shang chi heart attack

-shi shen ling heart attack

-SVSSS calamitous beauty SY heart attack

-twilight sequel thing

-untamed fandom5k

-weaponised incompetence

-yuletide 2023

-YYS summer of horror

Wow that's 18 people... can I even remember 18 people i know lol.

ok, @thebansacredbanned @luzzeagain @nineveh-uk @minnarr

@foxofninetales @incendiaglacies @sinni-ok-sessi @shen-daozhang

@thelaithlyworm @merinnan @vaynglories @thawrecka

@commandersya @yletylyf @tavina-writes @miss-ingno

@robealafrancaise @inimitablereel and anyone who sees this and wants to play!

[pinkbalrog]

FanCam tag

I was tagged by @giazzurra. Thanks! :)

I listened to Eve’s and she seems very interesting indeed. :) I like the tone shifts and it’s clear that there are some romantic entanglements going on. Nice.

Rules: Pick 5 songs you think would be used for fancam videos if your OC was canon and tag 5 people.

I’m doing this with the main character of the story I am currently working on. Hester is visiting a monastery for deeply personal reasons and the magic consumation isn't one of them. This was hard! I don't usually do music lol.

Duke Ellington by The Mountain Goats

White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane

Uninvited by Alanis Morrisette

The Rite of Spring (ballet) by Igor Stravinsky

Astronaut by Amanda Palmer

Tagging @bluecatwriter, @merinnan, @lokidokeyartichoki, @mejomonster, @shadowvalkyrie

If you want to!

[amidalogicdive]

Rules: pick a song for each letter of your url and tag that many people.

@merinnan and @kholran tagged me, thanks y'all- cuz all the letters in my name, 😆- here we go!

A - A Long Time Gone - ELO

M - Midnight City by M83

I - I'll Wait by The Strumbellas

D - Don’t Be so Serious by Low Roar

A - Aquarius Apocalyptic- Stop Light Observations

L - Light by Sleeping at Last

O - Outro by M83

G - Gravity of Love by Enigma

I - I Found by Amber Run

C - Constellation by Far Out, Karra

D - Dog Days Are Over by Florence + the Machine

I - Immortalized by Hidden Citizens, Keeley Bumford

V - VILLIAN -by K/DA

E - Everything Black by Unlike Pluto, Mike Taylor

Omg, tags... @ataraxetta @xantissa @cmy-kat @grimmvertigo @obeyyournavigator @lordzuuko @victimofvices @epicwalrus @noxulric @jaecomments @jazzraft @milo-makes-art @eirenical @yofriesenburg

[xcziel]

continuing on the Theme of Liu Chang being hot in glasses, we have many, many instances as Liu Sang in The Lost Tomb Reunion: The Sound of the Providence aka Reboot)

as well as examples here of the literal dozens of gifs of emo Liu Sang in Hua Mei in multiple fantastic posts by @merinnan

[hils79]

9 Fandom Peeps to Get to Know Better:

Thank you @thesilversun & @merinnan for the tag

3 Ships You Like: God, there are so many. I've been in fandom for decades and I've always been a multishipper. So let's go with ships I'm into at the moment Wang Pangzi/Wu Xie/Zhang Qiling, Di Feisheng/Fang Duobing/Li Lianhua, Hei Xiazi/Xie Yuchen

First Ship Ever: Buffy/Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

Last Song You Heard: I've got my music on shuffle while I write this and currently The Black Cat Nero by Ateez is playing

Favourite Childhood Book: Anne of Green Gables

Currently Reading: The Magpie Lord by KJ Charles

Currently watching: Love Me, Love My Voice

Currently consuming: Nothing but I had a curry for dinner a couple of hours ago

Currently craving: Inspiration for something to do until bedtime

Tagging: @vanillav @taffyislost @1ebilcat @sirauraelius @killerandhealerqueen @strandedchesspiece @pangzi @fan-man-huaisang @morkofday (if you want to that - and if you're not tagged, but want to have a please do)

[xantissa]

I don't think we told you but @alxina and @merinnan have officially started our book!

As in just started, just prologue and a bit of first chapter done!

No idea how I will write a book without the feedback that I'm used to getting during writing when I post fics.

[momosandlemonsoda]

Last Line Tag Game

Thanks to @bbcphile tagging me!

Rules: in a new post, show the last line you wrote (or drew) and tag as many people as there are words (or as many as you feel like).

His mother's plan unrolls in front of him—forcing him to move home from the dorms, then setting him up with [Princess], pushing forward her agenda to have him make an advantageous marriage by the time he graduates from university.

I feel like tagging 39 people is a little much, so tagging: @foxofninetales, @alxina @merinnan @mekare-art @omgpurplefattie @thesilversun @busarewski @hils79 @starstainedwings @kingsandbastardz @acequinz @nope4ever @lyselkatz @tiny-breadcrumbs and whoever else wants to play!

[eirenical]

9 Fandom Peeps to Get to Know Better:

Tagged by @merinnan. Thanks! ^_^

3 Ships You Like: FeiHua, PingXie, Yan Dan X Ying Yuan x Yu Mo (started an Immortal Samsara rewatch last night, so sue me. At least I know @slangerogkatter will appreciate that one ;D)

First Ship Ever: ...I have distinct memories of constantly telling @tirrasae when we were in high school that "Captain Kirk and Uhura should get marriiiiiied." But I'm honestly not sure if that was 1) even genuinely a ship and 2) if it was, if it was my first one. I'm pretty sure it wasn't. XD

Last Song You Heard: (Side note: very much approve of your listening choices, merrinan ^_^) Also uh... it was probably whatever my last morning alarm was, which means it was something from the MLCB OST. Probably... 一壶莲花醉 by Hu Xia. ^_^

Oh, also whatever the Hangzhou City background music is on the DMBJ game that's been playing nonstop because I have the game open on my phone next to me. XD

Favourite Childhood Book: I'm not sure what really counts as "childhood" for the purposes of this question, but probably the answer either way is Snow Dog by Jim Kjelgaard. I was OBSESSED with that book for a decent chunk of elementary school. Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry was was up there, too.

Currently Reading: NOTHING REALLY. Everything I started reading I Have since stalled out on. I was able to read again for like... TWO WEEKS and then the ability to focus on reading left me again. *sobs aggressively* But if it ever returns, the books I was in the middle of when I stalled where Into the West by Mercedes Lackey and The King's Avatar/QZGS (全职高手) by Butterfly Blue (蝴碟蓝).

Currently watching: AHAHAHA. I'm watching too many things and almost all of them are rewatches. Nothing new. Things I'm rewatching with watchalong friends: The King's Avatar with @buriedbybooks and @thearchivisttheprime), Mysterious Lotus Casebook with @elenothar, South Wind Knows with @kalypartemis. Things I'm rewatching on my own: Immortal Samsara and I just finished up Leverage and and moving on to Leverage Redemption. Also just recently finished rewatching all of The West Wing. ^_^

Currently consuming: Nothing at the moment but my tummy is a-grumbling, so maybe I should fix that. XD To anyone following my MCAS saga, though, I am happy to report that most of my sense of taste has finally returned from the war! So that's exciting. ;D

Currently craving: A break <-- ...omg, merinnan that is such a mood. TT^TT But also these curry puffs with cucumber salad that the Thai place in town used to serve. Unfortunately, they're closed and will never serve them again. TT^TT

Tagging: if you've been tagged in this post, consider yourself tagged to do it ^_^, also if you just see this post and want to do it, please feel free ^_^, and specifically: @bbcphile, @difeisheng, @fixaidea, @takethewatch, @adorablecrab, @sephstones, @doh-rae-me, @ anyone who I'm forgetting because my brain just went splat. XD

[kholran]

Fandom: Tomb of the Sea, The Lost Tomb Reboot

Chapters: 14/14 (Complete)

Rating: M

Relationships: Zhang Rishan/Liu Sang, Background Ships Mentioned (Iron Tri, Xiao Hua/Huo Xiuxiu/Hei Xiazi, Kan Jian/Luo Que)

Warnings: Canon-typical violence, PTSD, background character death, brief mentions of suicidal thoughts, trauma, injury, angst with a happy ending

Additional Tags: Pacific Rim AU

Summary: 

When the Bronze Gate opened for the first time and released a massive beast, the world changed forever.

My gift to @merinnan for this year's DMBJ Small-Medium Ship Exchange! I couldn't resist a RiSang-flavoured PacRim AU.

[dual-domination]

Last line challenge

I was tagged by @forerussake thanks Eru! :D

rules: in a new post, show the last line you wrote (or drew) and tag as many people as there are words (or as many as you feel like).

Last line I wrote is for Chapter 23 of In endless mist and rain, drawing your silhouette again and again for Guardian + DMBJ (which only has 3 chapters posted, as me and Tazzy didn't know this fic could even become a multichapter, much less a story the size of The Return of The King - unfinished, no idea how long it'll be when finished). So, here's the last line:

Being alive would mean that absolutely everything had changed; being alive meant having a soul - and Shen Wei did not have a soul.

tagging @tazzy-ace @alxina @xantissa @merinnan @foxofninetales @hils79 @jaimebluesq @miss-ingno @lacommunarde and I always forget someone...

[the-marron]

Rules: pick a song for each letter of your url and tag that many people.

The Albatross

Hell is Forever

Eyes Closed

More

Afterlife

Rewrite the stars

Rattle that lock

Ohne Dich

Night Crawling

Tagged by @babischlong-six, thanks dear 🐙

tagging: @baiyubai, @forerussake, @elfiepike, @miss-ingno, @fixaidea, @minnichan , @merinnan , @clevermanka , @emys-123

[cnovelartreblogs]

with tumblr dying, do you know of any open discord communities for danmei and cnovels?

Hey hey!

The only public fandom server I'm part of for Chinese media (...virtually the only public fandom server I'm in at all, and my personal main hang-out spot on Discord...) is @merinnan et al's Daomu Biji server.

It's the nicest, chillest, most welcoming public fandom server I've ever been in - not that we haven't had our moments of drama, but they've been rare, and I've always felt comfortable there - and I've made a lot of friends too. That said, if you're not into DMBJ and/or as obsessed with Zhu Yilong as I am, I can't imagine it'd be a great fit.

Also, so - I'm @unforth, and my day job is that I own and operate an indie micropress, Duck Prints Press, that publishes original work by fanartists and fanauthors. As part of that, I and the staff involved with that run a "Book Lover's" Discord server. While it's sort of a combo "about the Press" and "about all queer books" and "about whatever we feel like talking about" server, we do end up talking about danmei a fair amount because multiple of the people involved in the Press, including obviously me, are into that kind of thing. Like we do a weekly chat on Wednesday about what we're reading and yesterday's was like, "here's one mlm YA book! here's a thriller in Dutch! here's the Yuri manga I just read! And here are the eighteen bajillion things we're all currently reading on Bilibili oh and I started Poyun." You're certainly welcome to join us. What we talk about there really boils down to what the people who are there want to talk about, ya know?

About a million years ago, I started building a cnovelartreblogs Discord server myself, but I've been so frackin busy the last couple years that I've never managed to finish setting it up the way I'd like. That said, it's got penciled in rules and channels for some of the more popular cnovel fandoms (mostly danmei, tho there is a Please Don't Laugh section). If I could get help moderating it, I could open it.

I just really don't have the ability to do it myself anymore, my days right now are like:

wake up

scroll tumblr and do upkeep on the art side blogs (while sitting with my kids and helping them get ready for the day) (1.5 hrs or so)

study Chinese (while sitting with my kids and helping them get ready for the day (.5 hrs, tho I wish it was more, if I can manage more than 30 minutes then I can actually try reading a real damn book but I only have the time maybe once or twice a month)

work (7 to 8 hours on weekdays, often more on the weekends, bonus if my kids are around and my wife is at work, such as tomorrow)

try to be a good mom (all the hours)

errands, chores, kid after school activities, etc. (1 to 3 hours a day)

read while snuggling kids on the couch and trying to ignore the tv (an hour if I'm lucky)

sleep (8ish hours, I hope)

there's just no wiggle room left for me to do any extra fandom stuff right now, sigh.

(sorry to whine about that part. it's not relevant. I just got my covid booster yesterday and I feel terrible today so I'm feeling sorry for myself. it's truly not a bad life overall I'm just perpetually exhausted)