Bonding Time With Ruoye.

Hello, I'm Ban (they/them), and after four years or so, I find myself again on Tumblr.

I write and translate fanfiction, and I also do cosplay. I've lost count of how many times I've tried to pick up the habit of drawing just to drop it after a while, but anyway, I'm at it once more. As you can see, this time I'm mostly motivated by the author MXTX, whose good old ghost king Hua Cheng lives rent free in my head, but I hope to slowly delve into my other fandoms through this medium as well.

Glad to be back to the hellsite!

ABCDMXTX - Day 12: Lan Zhan.

A friend gave me the idea of drawing Lan Zhan right after his punishment, and I ended up going a bit experimental and trying many new brushes.

List of prompts.

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.

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.

A collection of silly Dragon Age Veilguard doodles I've drawn since finishing the game. Featuring my Rook Eranto Aldwir ✨

Cuando, luego de leer las tres novelas de MXTX, decidí explorar los fanfics dedicados a cada historia, dejé a SAVE para el final. Lo que me hizo retrasarlo fue la reticencia a leer algo en ese universo que no tuviera la comedia emocional y a veces trágica tan característica de la novela, la cual me parece su más grande acierto y lo que la hace una lectura tan particular y disfrutable. Es posible que jamás hubiese dado el paso si no fuera porque ‘open my lungs to let you in’ me apareció un día en Twitter y el resumen, expuesto en una captura de pantalla, me hizo soltar la carcajada. Ghost escribe con sensibilidad e ingenio, su caracterización es fresca, hilarante y capaz de alcanzar ese precario nivel de parodia absurda que hace reír y llorar, y de hacerme volver para releer una y otra vez. Finalmente, decidí pedir permiso para traducir el fic y ahora lo dejo aquí, en español de aires colombianos, con la esperanza de que nuevos públicos puedan acceder a esta expansión creativa del mundo de SAVE.

En español: Abro mis pulmones para dejarte entrar.

En inglés: open my lungs to let you in

ABCDMXTX - Day 17: Quan Yizhen.

Cardinal martial god of the West, the bravest of them all (and the one with the best hair!)

List of prompts.

My cosplay summary 2022 (that I made and immediately forgot about, lol)

Cosplayers: -BotW Link, OoT Link, Xie Lian, Wei Wuxian, Zagreus: Me. -Lan Zhan: Zhuun. -Nyx: Vestahygge

Photo credits: -All Link pics, Zagreus and Nyx: BunKatz. -Xie Lian and bunny Wangxian: Frost. -Flute Wangxian: Kuma.

I did a thing о-о

Hualian Mix'n'Match, day 6 Fisherman Hua Cheng and Ferret Xie Lian

Prompt: Food as an expression of love

Nothing like tricks to defeat a tricky yao —and Xie Lian was looking for an excuse to try his husband's shape-shifting magic, anyway. A ferret is a strange choice for the mission, but Hua Cheng doesn't mind. Giving him treats this way is adorable!

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