foxinthestars

I am going to be out of town (and probably away from DW) for about a month. I'm going out of state to attend my sister's baccalaureate graduation ceremony. And a fiber fest. And she has really good East Asian supermarkets where she lives. Also legal cannabis. I'm excited to see how this goes.

This time I'm going to attempt the multi-state trip by car. I have a bit more trepidation re: seeing how that goes, but I feel reasonably confident.

It's Yuletide time again! Thank you, kind writer, for volunteering to write a story for me, or for considering writing a treat for me!

I've been doing Yuletide every year since 2011 and it's a precious annual tradition for me. I hope my prompts inspire you and you enjoy Yuletide this year, too!

See under the cut for the things you need to know… ( Includes prompts for Fiber Arts Anthropomorphic, Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War, Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, Pui Pui Molcar, and Toshokan Rocket )

Okay, finish your Yuletide assignment and you can crochet another hat.

For the first time in years, I'm posting a fic that isn't even for Yuletide! After much squeeing and drafting, this is my first actually-posted The Untamed/MDZS fic, too:

The Finest Incense (3434 words) by foxinthestars
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: 陈情令 | The Untamed (TV)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian
Characters: Wei Wuxian, Lan Wangji, Lán Qǐrén
Additional Tags: Canonical Temporary Character Death, Ghost Wei Wuxian, quiet drama, Angst, Wei Wuxian is an idiot, Lan Qiren is a Terrible Uncle, Lan Wangji is Tragically Adorable, But there is a kiss to make it better
Summary:

After his death, Wei Wuxian is unimpressed by the incense and sacrifices offered to ghosts. That is, until a unique and powerful fragrance raises his curiosity ― and his sense of danger.

Also available at FF.net

Speaking of FF.net, I found I'd been neglecting my account and belatedly uploaded my last two Yuletide fics there, as well, so they're now available on my FF.net page.

Hello, Hello! It's Yuletide time again! Thank you, kind writer, for volunteering to write a story for me, or for considering writing a treat for me!

I've been doing Yuletide every year since 2011 --- so this year makes ten! It kind of blows my mind! And kind of let you knows how much I like this exchange. ^_~ I hope my prompts inspire you and you enjoy Yuletide this year, too!

See under the cut for the things you need to know… ( Includes prompts for Mo Dao Zu Shi Q, Merc Storia (Anime), The Prince and the Dressmaker, and Toshokan Rocket )

It slipped my mind for a bit but the directory for the Multi-Fandom Postcard Exchange is open now. There's a pretty good variety of fandoms represented.

My number is 2501 if you'd like to take a look.

So I went and made myself a fanfic-happy The Untamed icon.

Just finished re-watching the Mo Dao Zu Shi donghua's second season. I had been following yhlee's reactions to Season 1 (their attempts to map MDZS onto Legend of the Five Rings were fun to watch even though I know nothing bout L5R), but it's been long enough without an update that it's not fair of me to keep depending on them, so I thought I'd finish the donghua re-watch on my own.

The donghua was actually the first version I saw, and it was enough to get me hooked, but it ended up being my least favorite compared with the drama and novel, and Season 2 (eps 16-23) is probably where a lot of the reasons lie. I remembered it being confusing, and now having seen the story in a couple of complete forms, it seems if anything more unnecessarily confusing than it did the first time. I can see how they're trying to establish important elements, but it's too much, too haphazardly. Say what you will about the drama's long-ass flashback arc, at least it kept things in some kind of sensible order.

( Spoilery character design notes... )

Damned if the donghua isn't cool looking though. It also gives good alternate takes on the characters and doesn't have some of the drama's weird bowdlerization hangups.

Somewhat relevant to The Untamed/Mo Dao Zu Shi interests...

Another novel by the same author is getting a donghua, which is releasing episodes Saturdays on YouTube: "Scumbag System" (the novel title often gets longer translations, e.g. "The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System"). Roughly, take the concept of My Next Life As A Villainess but make it a trope-tastic m/m cultivation fantasy and add an OOC-policing in-universe HUD. The cheap CGI takes some getting used to, but I've found the first couple of eps pretty fun. Ep 1's satirical summary of the in-universe novel's original form is especially worth it.

Here's ep 1. I suggest going into the settings and turning playback speed to .75; especially the funny parts can be pretty rapid-fire.

Welp, it looks like time for me to come crawling back here after a long stretch of nothing but Yuletide letters.

The thing is, I think of DW as a fannish space and I haven't really had a fandom for a while, it's been weird. The last one I had was Yona of the Dawn which (checks old entries) was already on the wane two years ago (the Xing arc really did break me and I still haven't caught back up on the manga, although at one point I got a peek at later chapters and was like "That's a creative decision you made? Really? Okay, I guess..."). In the meantime I did have a flirtation with Fire Emblem, but it didn't really take root or lead to any writing or anything.

It felt like the first time in my life I'd gone so long without that kind of fannish passion, and I was starting to wonder if it was just gone, like had my hormones changed so I wasn't going to do that anymore. If I'd told my late-teen self that such a thing would ever happen, she would have thought it was the most tragic fate possible but I was actually pretty okay. I mean I missed it, I thought it would be a little sad if that phase of my life had passed and gone, but I didn't need it to survive or be happy.

And it looks like it was a false alarm anyway as I have now gone head-over-heels for The Untamed/Mo Dao Zu Shi. (The drama is my favorite version, then the novel, then the animation.) Plotbunnies are bounding through my head, and I even have one fic fully drafted that I should really edit and go beta-searching for. (In surfing Ao3 for others' fics, I get a kick out of tags like "no beta we die like INSERT CANON CHARACTER(S)" but I'd rather do the due diligence if I can.)

It's kind of a mixed blessing, though. Covid social distancing has been challenging for me. On the one hand I do get lonely and find it harder than usual to have satisfying social experiences, but on the other hand I'm tempted to give in to introverted coping and be all like yes, isolation, give me more of that! And now being drunk on fandom seems to inflame the latter tendency, like I'm trying to wrangle feelings where I want the rest of my life to just leave me the bleep alone and let me play with my new toys.

Ah, well, a pandemic is not a good time to pressure myself to get it together...