#mulan tdj crossover

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you wouldn't believe it but chapter 6 of Solidarity in a New Dawn is up. and heads up, it's a pretty cool chapter imo.

[thedeviljudges]

thoughts on a 'tdj mulan' crossover fic??

ABSOLUTELY!!!!!!!!!

yohan being absolutely in love with gaon, not knowing who he truly is underneath the disguise?? gotta figure out the logistics of this, but the thought of yohan as li shang literally so hot??? fjalsdkfja

they've got similar personalities, too, don't they? rough around the edges with a very clear mission that gets kinda sidelined bc this newcomer has Audacity to question authority, but also ends up saving the country and that's kinda, really hot??

brooo the end, too??? where gaon gets to go home and offers yohan to come with him. he gets to meet gaon's parents!!!!!!

i have a hunch that if mushu is kkomi in this au, elijah gets a new pet dragon!!!

no fr the au is really filled with the best tropes that i think would work so well for tdj's characters.

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Promise if y'all KNEW about the amount of planning and plotting i have for this mulan tdj fic you'd be eating it up in it's skeleton form as it is.

Big things coming, as they say. Big things coming.

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i did another thing. posted the first chapter to my mulan/tdj au called 'Solidarity in a New Dawn' which is over on ao3! there's a snippet of the opening under the cut if you're interested. ao3 is the same here: stars_after_dark

SNIPPET:

He mixes the porridge and the soup at the same time, also checking on the tea in the small teapot over the smaller fire. The porridge is ready, but the chicken isn’t tender enough in the soup. All the same, he picks up the teapot with its cups and the entire pot of porridge. 

“Dad,” Gaon says as he watches his father stumble into his room. “I could’ve gotten it myself, you didn’t need to trouble yourself.”

His father tuts and takes the empty bowl from the floor. He scoops in a heap of porridge, then pours a hefty cup of tea. “Your mother is out buying some more herbs and presents for Soohyun.”

Gaon sighs. “What time is it?”

“Time for you to have your porridge, that’s what time it is.”

His father helps him sit up against the headboard and spoons out some porridge for him. His hands shake as he takes the spoon so he eats it quickly, nervous about spilling it. It’s tedious, especially with having to wait for a moment at which no porridge will fall from his tremors, but his father sits with him patiently and talks while pouring their many cups of tea.

“How are you feeling today?” Gaon asks. “You’re very lively.”

“I feel like I could wrestle three bulls at the same time! You see, if you eat all of your porridge and drink your tea as you should do, you’ll be fine.” His dad downs the rest of his tea. “This sickness in my heart is too scared of the power of ginger and turmeric.”

“But Dad, you know I can’t stand the taste of turmeric, and it stains my teeth.”

He tuts again and pours Gaon’s third cup. “Three in the morning, three in the evening, that’s what the doctor said.” Gaon’s starting to resent her a little more with every sip. “Turmeric doesn’t taste of anything, you're too fussy.”

“It tastes like dirt.” A cup is shoved in his face. “Drink.”

He chuckles and sips the tea, now warm. 

His dad shifts to lean against the wardrobe. “How are you feeling, my son?”

Gaon shrugs. “Better than yesterday. Still a bit weak, but I think I’ll be able to go out properly for spring this year.”

His dad smiles and rubs his arm. “I wish we knew,” he says quietly, “I wish we knew why.”

Gaon chuckles and takes his dad’s hand in his. “I don’t think we’ll get an answer even if we ask every year. Things like this happen.” He breathes in and looks out of the window. “The cherry blossoms will start to bloom soon.”

Gaon’s father watches him gaze beyond their window and slowly stands up. He tries to hide the pain in his chest as he takes in a deeper breath. “Come,” he says, grasping Gaon’s arm, “there’s over an hour before Soohyun’s assessment. She’ll be getting ready now.”

The both of them walk slowly to the bathroom where Gaon freshens up. When he goes back to their open kitchen, his mother is frantically storing herbs in ceramic pots and putting sets of jewellery on the table.

“Quick, choose one,” she says, gesturing vaguely at the table. 

Gaon runs his fingers over a purple ribbon for hair tying. Next to it is a different ribbon in a jade colour. He takes the purple in his hand. It would match Soohyun well. From the selection of necklaces and bracelets, a necklace of indigo pearls with swirls of vibrant violet swirls catches his attention immediately. Between every three pearls is a pink star which glitters in the sunlight. It’s the most artistic and elaborate between the rest of them, and an instant match for Soohyun.

His mother laughs. “I said one .” She packs the rest away in a fabric bag. “You have a good eye for these things. Are you ready? We’ll have to go now if you still want to see her as she’s getting ready.”

Gaon nods and goes for his thick cloak. It’s padded with miscellaneous things, from collected lint off of his clothes to the dead hair that falls from his and his mum’s scalp when they brush through it. It’s the thickest, heaviest cloak of the three there (and the most expensive too). Gaon sighs just thinking about how heavy it rests on his shoulders. 

He turns to his father who’s sitting at the kitchen table. “Will you be alright on your own?” he asks.

His dad nods and waves a dismissive hand. “Go, go. I’ll be fine. Give Soohyun my best wishes.” 

With a smile, Gaon pockets the gifts, links with his mother’s arm and they leave the house, waving his father goodbye. 

^this is just a snippet of a longer, 7000 word chapter lmao

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i completely forgot that i made this ' What 'The Devil Judge' character and type of soup are you?' quiz to help formulate this mulan tdj fic and now it's come back to my attention and i want to see what people get:

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Chapter 3 of 'Solidarity in a New Dawn' is out! For those of you who don't know, it's my mulan/tdj au. enjoy pls, it took me so long to write 😭

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Hey! I love your TDJ Mulan fic. Are you taking questions that aren't spoilers? Can you tell us why Gaon is chronically sick in the fic, since it will have an impact on his capabilities as a warrior. Is Cha Gyung Hee an evil empress? Her observation about showing weakness to capture and make a show out of the first predator gave me chillllsssssss

hey! first of all, thank you so much for this ask, and yes i am more than open to answering questions about any of my fics! please, if you have any more don't be shy to send them over.

so firstly, Gaon's chronic illness is a mystery in universe, but it's mainly attributed to a weakened immune system. he was a pretty healthy kid and didn't catch colds too often, just struggled with his breathing after strenuous tasks, but according to his dad, it was nothing a good bowl of simmering eucalyptus couldn't fix up. the winter he turned 13, he had a throat infection which developed further and left him bedridden for the better part of two weeks. given our modern context, we would attribute this to possibly being acute rheumatic fever. after spending the majority of winter ill, gaon eventually recovered, but his body never quite returned to the state it was before he got ill. he has to be more timely in treating infections, and when winter comes around, he constantly feels cold and his body strength weakens significantly. we'll see in the upcoming chapters how he'll manage as a soldier of the imperial army given his body's unreceptiveness to the cold.

i must note that i do not have a chronic illness, but i did base his sickness on my own experience and observations of the effects of covid on both myself and people around me.

as for Empress Cha, i wouldn't say she is an evil empress, but she is extremely selfish. everything she does is for her own selfish gain - she worked hard and lost too much to give up the position she is in now. she's competent enough to maintain the kingdom's integrity, though she fails to observe that there are smaller provinces that are in dire need of support. there are few provinces slowly being taken over by the Raiders of the North to help build their army, but there may also be other powers at play there 👀

i'm so glad to have answered this ask! it gave me more to think about in terms of certain characters, and questioning their own morals was really fun and interesting. chapter four is in the works as i type this, so i hope you look forward to reading it! thank you again :))

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me: posts new chapter at 2am on a wednesday

me an hour later (3am): why hasn’t anyone read it yet :((

anyways new chapter of solidarity in a new dawn is out!!

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Hey! Tell us what you're cooking up for your TDJ Mulan story 😎

i'm cooking a three course meal, yall best be ready to dish out them yelp reviews

As we saw at the end of chapter 3, we've nearly been introduced to all of our main cast, so look forward to see some popular character interactions as well as how Soohyun and Gaon will fit themselves into the Imperial Travelling Army. For future chapters, there's a lot more to explore with the world of the monarchy, threats to the throne and reasons why certain characters are in the positions that they find themselves in. The entire fic is plotted out already along with the next two chapters, I just need to finish them now!

so to answer your question: i'm cooking a whole three course meal with freshly squeezed juice on the side, so yall best be ready to dish out them 5 star yelp reviews

thanks for the ask!

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i implore you, if you are reading my mulan fic send me a comment! or a message! i love seeing what you think about what i've written, or any theories you have, anything!! writing fanfiction is really lonely when you open yourself to a community and get nothing back. what am i writing for at the end of the day? yes i write for myself, but i also write to share what i love with other people who also love it.

it wasn't a great feeling seeing all these other amazing fic authors get so many comments for #justacommentfest and i didn't even get one. i'm sure you can see how easily fics get abandoned or deleted. because what's the actual point? that's just how i'm feeling though