Let's Get Cozy, Friend.

ABCDMXTX - Day 11: Koi Tower.

I am aware of the fact the place is usually called "Golden Carp Tower", but listen, when you're making an alphabet prompt list, some letters are difficult to fill!

List of prompts.

TGCF fic collections

I organised my TGCF fics in two collections:

It looks so neat and nice now, ah~

ABCDMXTX - Day 19: Shen Qingqiu.

Let's pretend it hasn't been three months since the day I was supposed to finish this. A classic case of better done than perfect.

List of prompts.

It's been 83 years, but I finally updated my TGCF metal music AU. Come read about the adventures and misadventures of Hua Cheng living his own Y/N beach episode with Xie Lian at the Shi family's vacation villa!

(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"

ALOK VAID-MENON Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness 1x03 (2022)

So one of my neighbors has a lawn Roomba or whatever they're called, and this thing trundles around looking like a background robot in the background of the original trilogy, and ABSOLUTELY BAFFLING THE DOGS.

They have concluded, I think, that it's some kind of prey animal because right after this video ended they decided to crouch down and stalk it, which means I'm 90% sure I'm going to have to stop Arwen from eating it at some point.

My piece for the fic the color sum by StarsinmyTea, made as part of the TGCF Minibang 2022.

Summary: Xie Lian, Mu Qing, and Feng Xin are finally moving in together. They've worked hard to build up their relationship and are wary of unbalancing that. But people change, whether they want to or not. Xie Lian develops a crush on someone for the first time in years, and he wonders how his boyfriends will react. Feng Xin has known for a while that he doesn’t like sex, and he’s afraid that saying that out loud will cause cracks in their life together. Mu Qing’s therapy isn’t working as well as he wants, no matter how hard he pushes himself. This is the day their relationship reaches a turning point, with their new home as witness.

For wip game: Within Reach!

( I adore this one so much. Hua Cheng's worshippers have always been so interesting to me, and I love the idea of them having very different stories about who he is (ghost; a fox; man; woman; some other animal). And an eye symbol for 'helping' him find his beloved is so touching! Xie Lian picking up on little hints and slowly learning more of his new (not as new as you think my prince) dearest friend and being so tender with his San Lang 🙏 Also it also having Hua Cheng sickfic-hurt/comfort bits! Whump is my jam, and it's not so often I see a good one for Hua Cheng.)

Within Reach! I'm so happy you like it. It was one of my very first ideas for a TGCF fanfic. Alongside The Newcomer and Heavenly Damnation —which was the one I ended up submitting— it was one of the pitches I prepared for the TGCF minibang 2022. At the time, I was translating manhua for Bilibili Comics, from which I learned a lot about Chinese mythology and wuxia/xianxia tropes. This led me to understand just how big MXTX had made the sandbox for TGCF canonverse fancreations, particularly with how loose she made the magic system, and how she built Hua Cheng's backstory up through rumours and half-truths. I thought I could explore this by writing about Hua Cheng's side of the 800 years of separation, but I didn't want Xie Lian to miss out! I then needed a lapse that MXTX had left open to interpretation, and during which Hua Cheng's ability to conceal his story or interfere was limited.

Now, if I wasn't a rabid fan of The Legend of Zelda, I don't think I would've chosen the time when Hua Cheng was sealed in a child form to tell this story, even if it's possibly the best moment for doing so. I don't like children in fiction. I've got nothing about real life children, on the contrary, but the use and connotation of childhood in fictional narratives is more times than not shameless propaganda for reproductive futurism, and I hate it. However, the biggest sidequest of The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask features Kafei, a man who has been de-aged by a curse, and his fiancée Anju, who he's to marry on the same day the moon is going to fall and end the world. Kafei hides from Anju and the rest of the town in shame by wearing a fox mask (known in the game as Keaton mask, being Keaton a golden fox spirit). One good day, I looked at Kafei, thought of Hua Cheng, and had an epiphany, hahaha. If I'm very idle in the future, I'll write a TGCF x Majora's Mask crossover with Xie Lian as Anju, Hua Cheng as Kafei and Link as, well, Link. It'd be the ultimate "target audience = me", reason why I'm not in a rush to write it (I can simply daydream) but this explains the design of Hua Cheng's mask in the cover art I made for the fic. It's just Keaton's mask with Hua Cheng's trademarks, lol. Also, the eye windows/carvings might be Zelda's influence, too. There's a lot of eyes in the series, as they're the weak point of most bosses, and the emblem of the sheikah, a tribe of ninja warriors at the service of the Hyrulean crown.

In general, coming up with ways for Hua Cheng's worshippers to show their devotion and support has been a lot of fun. Hua Cheng will never appreciate the love they have for him or how they want to help him (he only cares about Xie Lian), but Xie Lian will see it and be very proud of him, I think. He's also delighted to be able to take care of his dearest friend during this trying times, and he'll baby him to oblivion, as he should —you're so real for the Hua Cheng whump appreciation, I salute you.

They'll be a bit further from human settlements in the next chapter, so we'll mostly encounter creatures, rogue travellers, and cultivators with their own bewildering theories about Crimson Rain Seeking A Flower. I hope you enjoy it when I finally post it, and thank you for the ask!

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Back to WIP game main post.

MXTX couples can't be separated, so here are the animal gongs to the animal shous I drew before: the extremely good boy Luo Binghe, sly Fox Cheng, and distinguished Hanguang Bun.

This DTIYS was originally meant for Instagram as thanks for 3k followers, but then I checked my tumblr and what a surprise! I got to 4k already? Wow! In that case...

Thank you all so much for 4000 followers!

Tumblr was my very first "social media" besides internet forums, and it still holds a very dear place in my heart. Mostly thanks to the amazing people I met there. ^^

Anyway, as this is a DTIYS, you can check out the rules under the cut if you wish to participate, I hope you'll have fun!

What is a DTIYS?

A Draw This In Your Style is a simple challenge during which an artist creates an illustration, and other people can redraw it in their own style! Go crazy, modify the poses, the interactions, as long as the core elements are there (the three mxtx protagonist with Xie Lian in chibi version), then it counts as submission!

How can you see our submission?

Simply tag me. ^^ As soon as I'll see your submission, I'll reblog it!

Is there a deadline?

Not really, but preferably before the end of 2023.

Will there be a reward/winner?

I don't want this to be a competition, and I don't have anything to offer. My only wish is for you all to have fun!

Thank you all so much for 4k followers! I hope you'll enjoy your stay on my blog. ^^/