• Chapter 2: Climb

Xie Lian knows the sound of a well-oiled machine when he hears one. And the pleasant rumbling that tickles his eardrums must be from one stopped right outside. Which is odd. Only because Xie Lian usually repairs broken machines. It’s incredibly rare for an already fine-tuned engine to seek him out for help. And even if so, they are always accompanied by another that requires attention. This machine isn’t here for a repair. It isn’t here for him. Xie Lian isn’t that lucky.

My piece for @tgcf-reverse-big-bang 2024! All the love for my partner @princessofxianle, who wrote the fic "Welcome to the Gu Ring" based on it. It was amazing to exchange ideas and see this little universe expand!

Read:

紅簾前 "Before the Red Curtain" - song from TGCF donghua Season 2 Episode 2 (lyrics translation)

This is the song played when Hua Cheng taught Xie Lian to roll dice. Some of the lyrics from this song are kind of abstruse, so there're definitely elements of my interpretation, see lyrics translation below:

如影拂輕幔 亦如夢飄轉

Like a shadow brushing against the light curtain, like a drifting and whirling dream

翩翩花雨 遊入長街盛宴

A shower of dancing flowers travels through the festivities on the long street

人聲作伴 四下皆歡 未斷

Accompanied by the noise of the crowd, the celebration is all around and unceasing

隔淺淺一線 倏然驟暖

Seperated by a thin line, the warmth grows all of a sudden

繞指間紅線 繫兩端輕纏

The red string around fingers tied around two ends gently connects them

緣起驚鴻 結作銀蝶相盼

Fate brought us together when I laid my eyes on you; longing for each other, fate connects us with the silver butterflies

盅裡玲瓏 幾番輾轉

The delicately carved dice in the cup tossed and turned

凝眸處依舊 映晨星斑斕

The one I gaze on still looks the same, with morning stars reflected in his eyes

逐世間逢故人 裁長夜銜離恨

Pursuing an old aquintance in this mortal world; the long night grows shorter, I taste the regret of seperation

一朝一夕織紅簾 相認

Day and night, weaving the red curtain so we'd recognize each other

遣游絲爭繚春 染心花舞紛紛

Send out gossamer in the air to entangle the spring, the joy in my heart blooms like dancing flowers

手心溫 擲年輪 皆遊刃

The palm is warm that tosses away years as skillfully as it wields knives

不語或忘言 咫尺卻難辨

Speechless or forgetting to speak, you're hard to recognize even close in front of me

切念浮想 猶似經久未見

How I long for you, so many thoughts of you on my mind, as if I haven't seen you in a long long time

迷雲飛幌 流螢熠熠 怎斂

Streaming curtains in misty clouds and glowing fireflies, how do I gather it

望眉宇模樣 恍若從前

Watching your face, it looks the same as it was in the old days

無止或無端 悲喜中縈牽

Without end, without cause, lingering and tangling in sorrow and joy

眇眇幽火 曾映照伴人間

The small feeble flame was once your companion, casting a light on you in the mortal world

粲然一笑 萬事隨煙

With a bright smile, the burden of everything dissipates like the smoke

天縱難垂憐 只為一至願

Even though the heavens could not pity you, yet only for this one most earnest wish

逐萬變知所向 予此間知所眷

Chase all the changes in the world to know the direction, and know who's the one dear to you in this mortal world

但見月缺覆月圓 相連

See the full moon turns into the sickle moon, and lovers together under the same moon

此身虔渡此程 等千年更繾綣

I travel through this life with great faith and devotion, love only deepens over a thousand years of waiting

寄明燈 枕遙夜 伴夢眠

Send off the bright lanterns, in a faraway place I sleep and dream

一朝一夕織紅簾

Day and night I weave the red curtain

My brain for the whole of January: what if Lucanis but Gokushufudou Way of the Househusband

Some screenshot redraws and other things

Starring: Lucanis as Tatsu, my Rook Eranto Aldwir as Miku, Spite as Gin, Viago as a Former Yakuza Boss, Viago's Snake as Yakuza Boss' Dog, Assan and Manfred as random animal neighbors and Strife and Emmrich as Rook's adoptive parents(?) for some reason.

• 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

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"

when did “lmao” become shorthand or w/e for “i’m fucking suffering”

• 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

Xie Lian knows the sound of a well-oiled machine when he hears one. And the pleasant rumbling that tickles his eardrums must be from one stopped right outside.

Which is odd. Only because Xie Lian usually repairs broken machines. It’s incredibly rare for an already fine-tuned engine to seek him out for help. And even if so, they are always accompanied by another that requires attention.

This machine isn’t here for a repair.

It isn’t here for him.

Xie Lian isn’t that lucky.

And yet, there’s a knock on his door.

...

fic inspired by artwork (LINKED HERE) by @yabancreations aka my amazing partner for this year's @tgcf-reverse-big-bang !!!

Chapter 3 of "Rotting Waters", the second fic of my TGCF metal music AU series "Heavenly Damnation", is up!

To celebrate, let me share with you this portrait of Bai Wuxiang with his legendary eight-string guitar, Zhu Xin. Art by the equally legendary @ilymir_EZGbora, thank you so much!

Read here:

So I thought this was commonly known internet navigation (but apparently it might just be those of us who have been using the internet since the 90’s who still know it). Or so it seems based on… a grumpy comment I got.

When you see an arrow like this:

It means you click it to expand out a hidden section.

It’s an accordion section/menu! It’s useful in web design to hide information that may be overwhelming under specific headers so people can only see what they need.

Here I’m using it for people who need the content warnings to be able to check, but for those who don’t need them and don’t want to be spoiled to just move right past without accidentally reading anything.

It’s still the user’s responsibility to click the arrow and read things as they need! But it is all warned. (And, yes, the all encompassing issues are already a tag on the fic, I’m just providing additonal warnings per chapter.)