Sugardy Candy

Actually I can't believe I'm doing Yuletide this year with a lot going on in RL. It will prove a good distraction, if nothing else, I think/hope.

UPDATE: I missed sign-ups! >_> A lot's been going on, so maybe it's for the best.

Since last year when my supervisor left the company, I've been doing a big part of what he used to do. We had a newbie for a while, but before I could train said newbie properly, they left because they were too stressed. So. Me getting close to tears and burnout over the course of the last 6 months, recovering if there's a respite (despite all odds I actually do like most parts of my job, even if I give it a fatalistic side-eye every other day), and contemplating throwing in the towel every week.

I did manage to get my year-end leave figured out, and the thought of going on break is the only thing that keeps me going for now.

Hoping to read some marvelous History3 fic eventually <3

Updated (finally):

Dear Yuletide author,

Thank you for writing a fic for me. I'm very sorry that this letter is late; I have been distracted. But my appreciation for fics is no less fervent, and here are my thoughts.

DNWs: No coffeeshop fics, no spin-the-bottle or drinking truth-or-dare scenes. If there will be explicit or violent scenes (I can't imagine why), they need to be plot-necessary and character-driven.

Other than that, please feel free to write as your inspiration leads you.

Request 1: Hikaru no Go
Characters: Hikaru, Akira, Waya

( Read more... )

Request 2: The Imperial Coronor
Characters: Xiao Jinyu, Xiao Jinli

( Read more... )

Request 3: Goblin
Characters: Eun Tak, Kim Shin, Sunny

( Read more... )

Request 4: Mysterious Lotus Casebook
Characters: Li Lianhua, Fang Duobing, Di Feisheng

( Read more... )

Yuletide!

I received the most wonderful soderetu Imperial Coroner fic, sky full of mornings,
Chu Chu/Jing Yi/Leng Yue/Xiao Jinyu, which thrills my heart with the beautiful layers and the way characterse traverse the tensions in their budding relationships. Please read it!

So, I am now the mildly bemused and bewildered owner of not one but four photobooks for Hanyu Yuzuru as well as being on fs Twitter as well as subscribing to his YouTube channel. (I didn't even do this for Jay Chou, not when I was at my most fervent fandom-ly worship state. Buying CDs was deemed enough. But I suppose budget constraints then.) His fandom is huge, with some very smart segments and nice people and (as with most fandoms) some rather less desirable ones. Ah well, it's been fun so far, so we'll see how it goes.

Twitter is kind of fun? I follow a lot of politics and books and academia-ly things as well and occasionally it brings a lot of food for thought. But it's so annoying USA-based too, yikes.

And then media consumed. After Extraordinary Attorney Woo, I went on to Sandman which was good and awkward and horrifying by turns - I do so badly with horror that I probably would not see it again, but it was entertaining and it did/does have very high production value, so thumbs up, I suppose. And I would rec if you are new to Sandman and enjoyed some urban fantasy featuring (again) some mysterious beings inspired by Christianity and the (ancient) Greek pantheon. The pretty parts are really very, very pretty.

After that I milled around aimlessly for a bit, and ( such as Goblin Emperor )

Dramas:

I was watching Love Between Fairy and Devil and libitina had a post about the male protagonists in this and Love Like the Galaxy (https://libitina.dreamwidth.org/613285.html), and so I went to watch LLG as well. Which was a pleasant surprise! Wu Lei as the male lead aside, I realised that LLG was chockful of excellent characters like Concubine Yue and Xiao Yuanyi (Cheng Shaoshang's mother) and the empress, not to mention a whole bunch of scheming, nasty-tongued princesses, venal grandmothers, matriarchs, and assorted hangers-on (and also Shaoshang's suitors). All the sniping underneath the seemingly nice and polite language and all those manners and formalities - delightful. Not to mention, there's genuinely good/moral people who unironically insist on such trite virtues as honesty, loyalty, honour, repaying your debts, etc., as a contrast, and it's been very satisfying to watch. I like the emperor's unabashed support of the canon couple, lol.

( Yuletide )

Happy new year!?!?!? Well, however weird and horrifying the world is right now, time keeps moving so apparently we have crossed yet another month.

Yuletide: I still recc like mad, the fic written for me, because it is wonderful: give you all the beautiful things, HiStory3: Trapped fic with Meng Shao Fei/Tang Yi, by yvenger (jjjat3am)

Every time the world looks dark HiStory fic makes it a little more hopeful again. That's not entirely hyperbole - more in the sense (without mocking fic authors) that there really isn't much that is hopeful about the human race for now. But I guess those of us who can, continue to hang on.

For my own Yuletide fic, I wrote Reintegration, a sort of AU-ish take in Nirvana in Fire, on what happens if the invasion at the end never happens, and Mei Changsu has to face to up, well, himself? Like most of my fics, it's more of a talking heads fic and I'm sorry I couldn't do better, RL was stressful. But I hope it was diverting for a moment, anyway.

Dear Yuletide Author:

Thank you for taking the time to write a fic for me, especially in these trying times. I have some thoughts about these fandoms below, but they are only suggestions and please feel free to write where the muse takes you.

DNWs: ...coffeeshop AUs? Canon pairings meeting in childhood (unless they did grow up together). I don't have many strong DNWs, to be frank; so long the actions or descriptions are plausible in the overall logic/context of the fic, I'm okay with them.


(1) HiStory3 - Trapped
Meng Shao Fei

( About him )


(2) Thousand Autumns
Shen Qiao, Yan Wushi

( About them )


(3) Nirvana in Fire
Mei Changsu, Lin Chen

( Thinking of... )


(4) HiStory3 - Make Our Days Count
Xiang Haoting

( About him )

Dear Yuletide Author

Thank you for writing a fic for me! My main fandom these past year has been MDZS | Untamed, but it's such a massive fandom that it doesn't qualify for Yuletide anymore, which also reminds me to show some love to the other fandoms I've been putting to one side. I should add that these are only suggestions, so if you have a better idea, feel free to write as the muse takes you. These are just my ramblings. So... here goes:

1) Tokyo Crazy Paradise

In one sense, it's pretty scary to think that TCP was supposedly set in 2020 (this very year) and it was supposed to be a more brutal but technologically advanced world. Now we're here and... hm, some escapism in TCP's projected future isn't bad. My favourite couple, Tsukasa and Ryuji have now gotten together and it would be cool to see how are they managing their lives as adults. I would love to see a future where they're still grappling with Tsukasa's essential set-up as a cop/cop-wannabe and Ryuji's duties as Sandaime, despite their devotion to each other. If they have children, please do not have either parent come across as ultra-cutesy (it was cool only when Kamo-san did it), but where they wryly acknowledge "you cop, me gang leader, let's do this as a team".

If there is some (more) tension where Tsukasa acknowledges her own gender confusion (either as something in the past or ongoing), that would really be great, but it is not necessary.

2) History 3: Make Our Days Count

I have only one requirement for this: it must be an AU, where that horrid event which shall remain unsaid did not happen. I want a future where they're both grad students and TAs, or both are tenured professors. Especially a fic where their respective students are rivals (maybe Xiang Hao Ting and Yu Xi Gu each specialised in a different discipline) and each group has a tiny bit of crush on them, but because rumour on campus is that they're attached and (horrors! even married) and their fans adore them too much to be disrespectful in any way. It's all very soft and sweet and fantasy-like, just the right balm for the cruelty that was canon.

3) History 3: Trapped

Much as I love the male characters in this series, one character that has always intrigued me is Zuo Hongye. She's passionate yet really rational at the same time, and she's surrounded (from her perspective) by idiot men. How did she feel when she realised that she was in love with Gu Daoyi (and also the age gap between them)? Not to mention when she realised that her adopted brother Tang Yi is interested in Meng Shao Fei, a cop? And she still has to run a company while massaging a lot of men's egos, when really, she could do so much more if all these men just did stopped deluding themselves (referring to you, Gu Daoyi) or harbouring secret revenge plots (you, Tang Yi). I would love an introspective piece, or a casefic where either Gu Daoyi or Tang Yi (or Meng Shao Fei) try to 'protect' her while some gang-related matter comes down, when Zuo Hongye could have solved the problem with her business acumen in a fraction of the time.

4. Nirvana in Fire

I've always wondered what happened to the Yans, as they don't seem to appear in Nirvana 2. So, I'm looking for fic that sheds a bit of light on what happened with Yan Yujin, after the battle where they accompanied Mei Changsu on his swansong. It would be also interesting to explore, along the way, if he (and Xiao Jingrui) ever found out if MCS was Lin Shu, or they continued to know him only as MCS all along. Preferably also a fic that shows how clever YYJ really is, as well as show his upright moral character: perhaps he came to assist MCS on some jianghu matter, or to solve a trading dispute that involved Da Liang in some way.

Bonus is if Marquis Yan came along for the ride. They had a rocky start as father and son, but in NiF they became such a strong team, and it would be great to see that relationship again.

DNWs: Violence solely for the sake of violence, especially scenes of violence against women.

Hope everything had a nice break!


I'm so gleeful to get a Trapped fic, you don't even know. Much thanks to whomever wrote this for me, because it's what I've always wanted! Thank you again!

Double Date, Meng Shaofei/Tang Yi, Jack/Zhao Zi, HIStory3 - Trapped

And I'm so moved that someone wrote this Are You Human Too? fic for me! Thank you so much!

Lets Be Boring, Nam Shin III/Kang So-bong


***

Other recs

The Untamed | MDZS

A Bell That Tells Us to Rise and Fight, AU, Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian, Jiang Cheng/Wen Qing, Jiang Yanli/Jin Zixuan, WIP, by DeerstalkerDeathFrisbee

Dimples, Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian, by bodhan

Hope everyone had a nice, relaxing day and best wishes for Happy New Year!


***

As for Yuletide this year, I'm especially delighted to get an Are You Human Too? fic because it's the one series I've been quite obssessed with this year:

Not Chess, Laura, Nam Shin, Nam Shin III, by FlyingQuetzal

What I really loved about it was that it's Laura's POV of Nam Shin. Thanks so much, Yuletide author!

And a few others I read randomly:

Your Real Name, Spirited Away, role reversal, by ___

She who is best prepared, Legally Blond, Vivian, Elle, by ____

Offerings from the Oven, modern take, Chalion series, by ___


AND this really weirdly wonderful fandom tagged as Medieval Manuscript Illustrations:

rosy as a flushed red apple skin (never been as sweet), barnacle geese, battle snails, penis tree, by ____

the sap had risen, penis tree, explicit, by ___

In the Time of Kings, battle snails, by ___

Hilarity.

Dear Yuletide author

Thank you so much for offering to write a Yuletide fic for me! I'd be excited to read whatever you write, so just take my thoughts below as some out-loud musings and speculations. Just one thing, though: I'm not really keen on explicit or gratuitous sex or violent scenes, though it's fine when it's part of a story and not just as the main attraction. Hope that helps!

( Are you human too? )

( Goblin (K-drama) )

( Nirvana in Fire )

( 还珠格格 | Huán Zhū Gé Gé | Princess Returning Pearl )